Kalaya Steede

I have come full circle. This Saturday will be my 2nd Freret Street Festival . This marks my one year anniversary of doing markets.  Woohoo!!! Here is me one year ago at the Street Festival. I revamped my booth display this week. I felt that the pieces were not popping, and the props were actually crowding the table so the eyes could not rest on any one thing. So all of the displays were removed for a more wabi-sabi look. A more simple look. I will take a picture tomorrow for you. The forecast is predicting 60% rain...likely! Wow! Do I melt in the rain? YES! hahahaha...well...not really but still! Here is a sneak preview of some of the pieces you could see if you came out for a visit. Some pendants... I was playing with scraffitto enameling.  Lots of fun but time consuming.  All of these were done in a kiln except for the middle one.  That was torch fired. Some dangle earrings... but the real fun was this... 'Wonder' brooch I wond...

"A man, a plan, a canal, Panama" Like I said in my Facebook post... it starts with a vision and then becomes a reality. by Kalaya Steede I am sure this happens to most of you.  Friends and family just hand you stuff and say, can you make something out of this? Sure...because I have the power!!!  Hahaha!!! In reality the object can, and will, and HAS sat on my bench for months, sometimes years until inspiration strikes. My inspiration was my friend, Tysheena, turning 30 years old. At first I was given a guitar pick that she is currently using but me being all sentimental and stuff asked for something a little more personal. I said... How about giving me you very FIRST guitar pick?   And so she did and it too sat on my bench for about a year. When I make a piece I usually start off with a plan and try to visualize how the piece is going to look like and make some notes.  I decided that I was going to get out of my way and just do i...

Does everything I make have to be great? NO!!! But sometimes it sure feels like it.  Every now and then this creature that is locked up inside of me comes out and starts whispering in my ear... pss...Kalaya, that is not good enough... no one is going to like that... look, that artist work is better than yours... you really should be making things that are going to sell... maybe you should just quit... AaaaHhhhhh!   So then I become paralyzed.  I question every step I make and end up not making anything at all.   And this is where I have been for an entire week. Full of FEAR!!! How does one get out of it?  I have not a clue but after a week here is what worked for me.  First I had to talk to myself in letting go of the outcome.  To just roll with it and realize that it was going to be okay no matter what.  That is when I went to the bench and made a piece.  It sort of helped that it was Valentine's ...

Oh I think summer is on its way.  Those days of hot and humid and feeling like you are swimming in sweat.  So I took advantage of it not being quite here yet by swinging on the hammock, reading a lovely book, and feeling the breeze sweep across my face and hair.  What a lovely start to Friday, huh?   Our Auntie and Uncle are back home here in New Orleans from their new home in California.  I tell you this because on my bench lies a piece of copper with a hummingbird cut out of it and it has been sitting there since last summer.  My intention was to mail it out to her...A Year Ago! Hehe! I was kind of paralyzed with the piece.  Thinking it had to be perfect and my skills were not up to the task.   I wanted her to have this piece today.   It must of been the fastest piece I have ever made EVER (~2hrs)!  Remember the humming bird was already pierced ahead of time and has been aging on my jewelers bench for months. ...