Kalaya Steede

Mandalas have been on my mind a lot lately.   Struggling to find my truth.   I find making these in the studio calms me. Vitreous enamel, steel, and silver. Silver and copper ring Even though I knew that hard solder melts at 1450 degrees I still had to try enameling the copper.  In theory the solder should not have run.  If I only took it out of the kiln a minute sooner this may not have happened. A total melt down but I love that color!  :) Vitreous enamel, copper, and 22k gold leaf My intention for the above mandala was a ring.  The challenge was difficult but I managed to make it. Vitreous enamel, copper, 22K gold leaf, and silver I feel myself pivoting once again and feeling the need to create amulets and talismans but in sculpture form. Each person's life is like a mandala - vast, limitless circle. We stand in the center of our own circle, and everything we see, hear and think forms the mandala of our life...everything t...

Merci beaucoup for all the lovely words on the last post The Risk to Bloom .  I am truly touched by everyone who stopped by. I bow in gratitude. I felt such a flow of energy when making Riesgo (Risk).  I am wondering if I will be able to make anything like it again.  It is not the final product that I want to create but the feeling of the moment while creating.  I very much would like that feeling to return.  Oh well...time to move on.  Ha!   So what is stirring in the studio today? A commissioned ring! I said,  "I would NEVER do commissions" but what am I doing?  I am making a ring that I have been COMMISSIONED to make!  There is a reason why I was warned never to say never. The mission was to make, in her own words, "an obnoxious ring!" .  Hmm...define obnoxious: very annoying or objectionable .  Sure...I can manage that...I think. And this is what I came up with... The lines were made with my...

For our anniversary I made my husband a ring AND I gave it to him 4 days before our anniversary.   I knew from the start that it could of been disastrous because I have never set a stone directly on top of a ring before. But the only way I can get better at it is to just make it and keep making rings.  So I faced my fears and just jumped in. Usually I take FOREVER to make anything as some of you may know.  However, I was on a deadline and it took me only 1 day to make it.  Unbelievable!  Also, the ring actually fit! The band was textured by going through a rolling mill.  I then cut the length and width needed.  I used Contenti's Blank Ring Sizing Chart . Choose the ring size and then added 0.5mm to that because the width of this ring was over 4 mm.  This ring was 8 mm in width overall.  The stone is turquoise and measures about 6 mm.  Making the bezel to go around the stone was easy.  The hard part was filing the bezel t...