More Faux Redware

I was working on a special order vessel this weekend along with some more of the "redware" type beads I was so excited about in my last post.

This is the final vessel. After a couple of false starts, we wound up with the perfect thing for the person who wanted it. Her business includes the word "spiral" and there's one on both sides.

Then, on to the faux redware beads. I tried a couple with a blue background, attempting to inscribe hearts and other shapes.

I was using Ivory to do the inscriptions and I think that was my first mistake. Ivory is not as "stiff" as the brown and they turned into shapeless blobs so you won't be seeing them here. I knew I could do this "branch" pattern. I love the way they look and expect them to become more refined as I go along.

I had googled redware to find old patterns and made some quick sketches of things that I want to try as time goes on.

I do think these or some variation of them will be my "hometown" charm. I can't wait to make a full bracelet of them - 'course then I'll have to go buy the right clothes to go with them. Oh the perils of jewelry making!

Inspiration!

So many ideas going through my head - and in so many directions!

First, I had a really nice response to the wire wrapped focals I showed last week, and it was suggested that I try wrapping crystal points the same way.

This is just a small one, maybe an inch or so long. It had a nice uneven "glob" on the top which made it really easy to catch up into the wire.

I'm not showing the first one I tried. First, it didn't photograph well and second, it was large and in my opinion, it looked overdone. I tried wrapping it in a figure eight and adding a number of stones and coils. Well maybe I'll show it later(!) and you can draw your own conclusions. I suppose in the right situation it could be appropriate.

The second is a bead which was inspired by something I saw online yesterday. I actually tried to copy the bead I saw, but got a somewhat different result. The one I was (yes) copying had a mossy look to it, but mine came out of the kiln looking like a piece of redware pottery.

My first reaction was that it would be perfect strung up with some of Tina's herbal beads and I'm definitely going to do that, probably with a charm that says "Grow".

My second reaction was that this is a direction I would like to follow, adding other colors and making a whole collection of redware beads. Redware pottery is an art form that is closely associated with our area. It involves the use of colored glazes, painting with slip (colored, liquid clay) and sgraffito (scratching a slip-covered piece to expose the red clay underneath) . We have a few plates commemorating our marriage and our son's birth with beautiful PA Dutch designs on them that were made that way and this has the very same look.

Having just signed up for yet another charm swap with the theme of "Hometown", I think I know now how to handle it! My first thought was red roses, for Lancaster, the Red Rose City (after the English War of the Roses, Red for Lancashire and White for Yorkshire). Another idea was some sort of quilt design, but now.... I think it will be redware.