Kalaya Steede

So much has happened these past two weeks I don't EVEN know where to begin . So let me start off by saying... dun...dun...DUUUUN... I have been accepted into RHINO Contemporary Crafts Company.   RHINO stands for R ight H ere I n N ew O rleans. I am so excited to be a part of this tribe. Looks ominous, right? This was how it looked on my first day. Along with learning the ropes I had to also get my work in there.  Wait...what? I have to have inventory? So I desinged some volcano earrings to mark the occasion because I'm going to be  EXPLOSIVE!!! LOL!  I just had to say that.   These were made with antique roofing copper and fresh water pearls. Which led me into making a silver pendant. Freshwater Black Pearl Flip-side So that is the big news of the past couple of weeks. I just finished making somemore volcano earrings with labadorite AND they are wicked cool!   Well, to me they are.   ...

I have NO IDEA! I searched and searched for some cool historical fact to tell you but came up with NADA!!! Except for it has evolved for 2000 years...blech. I think it says a lot about a person though.  I wonder what social cues it gives off and if it gives off the WRONG ques? I just finished listening to 'The Will To Adorn' on NPR.  I would have liked it to be about why we adorn ourselves with jewels but no luck. Anywaaaay...here is the last few processes of the buckle from last week. Above I have from left to right, liver of sulfur (LOS), baking soda, and water.   I do the three dump method... Patina (LOS) Baking Soda (to neutralize) Water I used to use the solid LOS but my envirnonment is just too humid and the stuff goes bad real quick.  So I use this gel LOS.   Liver of Sulfur  Extended Life Gel Buuuut...sometimes I use solid LOS just because. Here is the buckle all ready to be riveted. All together now wit...

How do you all approach commissions? I utterly love them.  It is a chance to work close with the client and design something pretty bad ass ! Remember my list from last week? Step... 1.  This is going to be AWESOME The design... Nothing fancy here.  The difficult part was figuring out the font. Do you all realize how many fonts there are? I think I need a degree in graphic design and an MBA!  We need to know how to do so many things! OH I digress...I used PnP paper. First try was a bust only because I forgot to clean my metal! Oh Kalaya!!! On the second try not all of the letters transferred.  I just filled them in with my trusty oil based sharpie there. Etched for 45 minutes using electrolysis with sodium chloride and cleaning every 15 minutes. I got a pretty good etch.  I etched off close to half the thickness of the metal. I am hypothesizing that the uneven etch across the sheet is due to my tubing in th...

What once was old is new again. So I get this text from a friend it goes something like this... Friend:  I really like those earrings but I don't do dangles. So... Could you make it into a necklace? Me:  Sure!  I can do that.  No problem. (because I'm a metalsmith and can do ANYTHING) Friend:  Can you put the down first then up? Me:  Wait, what? You want both ? So that's how the conversation went which led me down this journey of WTF? So I begin the process. I had drawn up an idea. Trying to keep things simple. But I wasn't feeling this.  That bar was not going to make this hang right and I was walking down the road of soldering this then that.  Things could get messy. Frustration now sets in. Why oh WHY?!!! Why did I agree to do this? Why didn't I just leave it alone? Then I make a ring to dangle them on but it changes the feel of the piece  ENTIRELY! More frustration. WHY?!!...

When was the last time you played with your friends? Do adults even have play dates? I had so much fun playing with my friends the other week that I  JUST  had to share the experience. Don't get me wrong. I get together with my friends often but it mostly consists of drinking vino and eating. Not a bad thing at all but what else CAN we do? I had this idea to make lip balm.  I found this cool site about how they made their own lip balm.  It looked easy but what did I know?   And besides...tackling a new project is always safer in numbers! HAHAHAHA!!! So here is a link to the site that inspired me to make lip balm. Overthrow Martha This was a good website but being a trained scientist the recipe was lacking some details and I am ALL about the details! Here is what we started with... Calendula (Dried-from herb shop here in New Orleans) Jars for lip balm Essential oils Pan for double boiler Beeswax (Organic) Coconu...

Three tomatoes are walking down the street -- a poppa tomato, a momma tomato, and a little baby tomato. Baby tomato starts lagging behind. Poppa tomato gets angry, goes over to the baby tomato, and squishes him... and says, 'Ketchup.' So Ketchup already! Believe me I'm a trying. I attended the 26th Annual Bayou Boogaloo & Cajun Food Festival in Town Point Park, Norfolk, VA. I wanted to thank the Bayou Boogaloo in Norfolk, VA because they brought us up there and really took care of us New Orleanians.  It was hotter then HOT up there and they kept on bringing the ice out to us for the entire fest not to mention the plethora of other things they did for us.   Jill, Chris, Sam, Brandii, Alan, and Morgan And many thanks to our fearless leader, Morgan of the Arts Council of New Orleans.  She made sure we weren't FREAKING out. I was very happy with my booth and how the lights set a different mood.  FUN!!! But I have got to figure out how to h...

Yes that's right!  This girl, and 23 other artists are being packed up on a bus by the Arts Council of New Orleans , and they are sending us up north to Norfolk, VA for the  26th Annual Bayou Boogaloo Music and Cajun Food Festival ! So stop on in and visit me if you are there this weekend and take a look at this beautiful Louisiana Opal. On the metaphysical side of things the flashes encourages insight and the quartz stimulates our psychic awareness. This baby has so much fire it may burst into flames!  LOL!!!  Then I made earrings with some New Orleans tokens. I even came up with a different design.  :) Well...that's a wrap.   Today I will be packing up my bins to load on up in the truck tomorrow.   I'll be posting my adventures on my FB page throughout the week so keep me company! In the meantime STAY COOL! Namaste Kalaya