Kalaya Steede

No...we did not torch anyone! However, I did teach three lovely gals how to torch fire enamel yesterday. The hardest part was deciding what color to use!  I seem to always want to use red. What is your favorite color?  Red...no wait...purple!!!  ( Monty Python and the Holy Grail ) We sanded, painted, sifted, laughed, screamed, and fired! Hannah taking control of the torch! Their mission was to make a pendant to wear out the door.  Were they able to complete said mission? YES!!! The finished pieces. Now for the close ups! Hannah's Sybil's Leslie's I was not able to photograph Leslie's piece well...booooo!!!  You have to see it in person.   It really looks fabulous!   They all did a wonderful job at picking out what colors went well together and Sybil did an excellent job at torching her piece.  That was not an easy feat because it was HUGE but she adjusted! Too bad I do not have ...

And it has not been me!  Hahaha!!!  I am just kidding.  There are lots of things that has been keeping me away from the bench these days.   For one, I was recently invited to do a guest post on Love My Art Jewelry !  Eeee...so exciting!  I get to share my journey with others. And... two, working on organizing a workshop in Mexico! Where in Mexico you ask? In this really cool, old town known as San Miguel de Allende. I am organizing this workshop with an amazing artist!    Jesse Bert  to be exact and his home is right there in San Miguel!  It is going to be packed full of fun, adventure, and FUN! Students will focus on the construction of belt buckles. Similar  to this one (which you might of seen already)... Botas by Jesse Bert and this one (which you have not seen already)... Jesse Bert the back side because it is just as important... Jesse Bert and this one... Jesse Bert Is that carved eb...

Bonjour!  Lately I have been thinking about making a belt buckle for myself.   I do not know why.  It is not like I wear my shirts tucked in or anything!  But it would be nice to have a REALLY cool buckle! So when I saw this fantastic piece by artist Jesse Bert I just HAD to share!   Photo by Jesse Bert   Come on...take a close look!  Check out those pointy ends.  Have you ever seen anything like it?  I mean the boots that is.  I hear it is the trend in northern Mexico and started in Dallas of all places!  The boots are known as botas vaqueras  exóticas .  Apparently these are worn at night clubs and anywhere one wants to make a statement. Oops...I digress...anyway the botas vaqueras exóticas was the inspiration behind the piece shown above.  Also included was this iron grate, as Jesse describes "...wonderful iron grate I found on the ground in a village of the mountains of Oaxaca.  I crea...