Kalaya Steede

Yes I have returned from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico safe and sound! Was there any doubt?  hahaha!!! Oh how I have missed San Miguel and my friends who live there.   It is breathtaking when we round the corner of the hill as we approach the city and see the cathedral and all the lights below. I said to myself... Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes. I have much to share with all of you.  However, I must get everything in my head organized first.  Which is not an easy task.  Ha! I just wanted to drop a "Hola" and wish everyone a fantastic Friday.      ॐ Namaste Kalaya

"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...

So what does that mean? Here in NOLA it means you best be sporting your Black and Gold Baby!!! I certainly am... This is a dual purpose shirt.   Half Saints (football) and half Hornets (basketball) but they are not the Hornets no longer.  I will not discuss that right now but anyway I am showing my love! I should go venture outside to see how much love our city is showing today but it is just too HOT for that! Anyhoo... what have you all been doing? It is my good friends birthday today.  She is flirting with thirty!  Hahaha...Flirty Thirty...who came up with that?   I found this cute diy tutorial on sisterstuff blog which had me asking, now why didn't I think of that? .  It is a bouquet of Blow Pops!!! Finding a box that would fit 30 Blow Pops was kind of a challenge.  At first it was becoming a bit overwhelming and then I said... self, just get on with it.  Stop over thinking this!!!  Once I did that everyt...

Do you see that?  That is right.   It is 98 outside with 52% humidity!  Which makes it a whopping heat index of 102 degrees!   I must of been out of my mind when I decided to take a bus to downtown this afternoon?  Lucky for me I got picked up because I missed the bus.  Oooops!!! Anyway I went to see my Stepies in action at the Contemporary Arts Center here in NOLA.  I went because Stepie #1 told me he had something for me to see.  In his words "It's badass and I need to show it to you!".  Hahahaha!!! He called it 'Zombeh'. I LOVE it! You see, I do not stay in the studio 24/7.  In fact it is kind of hard to with life happening all around you.  How else am I going to get inspiration? This past week I had to remake a ring because I made it a size 9.5 when it should of been a 9!  Gotta hate when that happens.   I am really diggin' these anticlastic rings.  What kind of rings are your favs? ...

Get out of the studio!   You know...my a/c has not stopped running since noon!  I believe it is just getting hotter and hotter here in NOLA but you know what? It would not be NOLA without that summer, HOTTER THAN HELL, heat! Okay enough of that.  What have you all been up to? I have been making this and that. Mostly making rings and etching my heart away. When I sit down to make a piece I often think about what I want to say or what kind of energy I want it to have. Do I want to attract love or do I want to invoke inner peas...hmm...I mean peace? Maybe I want to provide protection? Since prehistoric times metals, crystals, stones, and symbols held power and mystery. When I make my pieces I like to incorporate some sort of protection for the wearer, usually there is a piece of turquoise somewhere. This past week I started off making my mother her long awaited bullet casing pendant.  On the casing I etched the Rune symbols for Journey and Protecti...

Bonjour! I have been on a ring making journey and in the past week I have probably made at least 7 rings!  Would that count as a ring a day?  HA! Anyway, my most favorite rings are anticlastic. Anticlastic is defined in which the two principal curves bend in opposite directions, like a horse saddle. Curves in the metal are so beautiful to look at and follow,  kind of like our bodies.  Have you ever lay there with your hand in front of your face and just follow the curves of your hand? Absolutely beautiful! Here is a ring that I recently made on commission. Notice the gentle curves and feel how smooth they are. Well this journey of anticlastic forming has led me to making my own anticlastic or sinusoidal forming stake.  I was going to purchase one but why do that when you can make your own? I started off with a block of rock hard maple (7/8" thick) and transferred a template a friend gave me. After about 40 minutes I was able to ...

Summer is definitely here in NOLA and although I cannot stand the heat I love the summer rains. Sunny one minute and then the clouds provide us with shade and you hear distant thunder.  Then if we are lucky it will rain and give us some relief but sometimes it just increases the humidity and NOLA becomes one big sauna! So many things have been happening...mostly with kids but who wants to hear about that? Today I am officially back in the studio. Hooah! I am making some rings that have to be enameled but I hit a wall.   Paralysis ensued and the ring sat on my bench for about two weeks!  Yes...it has been that long.  I think my Muse took a vacation. It was all about choosing a color.  So I decided to make myself some sample colors.   How tedious, right? I was told that the cure for creative block was to go into the studio and start doing tedious things, i.e. make 30 pairs of ear wires.  That is a cure to get unblocked for sure...