I have been away for a while, busy with family events and grandkids. Now I am back in the studio creating new pieces for all of my jewelry designer friends out there.
I know this first image is messy, but in reality studio work in ceramics is not a tidy process. I try to keep things as clean as possible, but I am working with mud after all. This muddy process is very satisfying when I add the finished items to my shop and get new “likes” and purchases from the listing.
In my messy photo, you can see I began creating some leaf-textured bracelet bars in a diamond shape. I have to roll out the clay, cut and stamp the design onto the clay, then cut the holes for wires, leather, or whatever the artist decides to use to link the bead to others. Then I clean up the edges and place the pieces on a drying rack. By the way, all of the stamps I use are my own designs made from clay which is formed, then bisque-fired. The entire process is imperfect, so each bead becomes a unique creation. I work in small, limited-edition batches to keep things fresh for me and for my customers.
After drying the pieces are cleaned up one more time. I put them in a bisque fire to harden the clay. Then I glaze each piece by hand-brushing layers of glazes, and fire again at a Cone 5, 2200° F. It takes at least 10 hours to cool after firing, which takes an entire day. Once cool, I then touch up each bead to make sure there are no sharp edges. The glaze basically turns to glass, so if there are imperfections they can be very sharp. I have injured my fingers several times. Once polished, they are ready to photograph and load onto my shop.
Here is the finished piece. You can find it in my Etsy shop, until they are sold out, of course. I would love to hear from you and see what you are creating!
Debbie
Debbie Johnson Ceramics 