Guest Vendor at Stone Bluff Cellars Oklahoma Winery

Good Christmas Shopping here the Saturday after Black Friday! I will be Guest Vendor at their winery shop:

Earthquake!! in Oklahoma 5.6

OK, so it was not like the old 1974 movie, but it was strange. The surprise to me was the loud roar/rumble sound, then the house started shaking. Nothing fell off the shelves or walls, but we could feel the house moving. Please, please, don't tell me we will have to add this to the extreme heat, ice storms, and tornadoes, too?

New Copper Earrings Handcrafted from Copper Metal Clay

I love the look of copper. Well, I love silver and bronze, too! It's all good! When I was finishing these earrings, I was placing them on a mug and it really looked spectacular -- all of the bling together takes on a real Gypsy look. So fun. Still addicted to making earrings!

You can see what's new by clicking here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PrairieCoastArt?section_id=10581102

Planet Earth... no, Planet Mercury

Copper and Bronze Metal Clay Kiln Firing

Copper and Bronze clay require an oxygen free environment when firing in a kiln, so they need to be buried in carbon. A lot of instructors and websites sell stainless steel pans for this use. I've found that using a wine bottle glass mold and some kiln shelve pieces instead of the stainless steel works great!
I much prefer the molds to the stainless steel pan!
The Stainless Steel pan makes such a mess, I decided to try the wine bottle mold I had and kiln shelve pieces. The photo above was before covering with the carbon on top.
What a mess...this is what happens to steel at 1500 degrees! It flaked all over the kiln.
First firing was too hot and the pieces were a weird combination of burnt and were not sintering at all points. I had to fire three times lowering the temperature to get the adjustment right.
Crispy critters:

Even though it took some tests and trials, metal clay is such a great material to work with. It requires just a few tools and a kiln. Silver clay can be fired without a kiln by torch flame. So far I've worked with fast-fire bronze, copper and silver (PMC).
Here are some pieces that are dried, prepped and ready to be fired.
You can see successful :-) finished pieces in my Etsy shop by clicking here.

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow, SNOWWW

Record breaking snow this week and more to come:

Mother Nature may have a follow-up punch in store for Green Country – though a much lighter one than this week's record-breaking blizzard. News Link

My Studio and Metal Clay adventures

Here is a photo of the desk and storage space in my studio (taken about a month ago). The pottery wheel is also in this same room as well as storage shelves. It may never look as neat and tidy ever again! This morning it is full of everything scattered everywhere (no photos allowed)! Also a photo of my new adventure in metal clays. In this photo above are the bronze clay pieces that I have molded and cut prior to firing in the kiln -- the final stage is sanding and drilling holes in the clay before it becomes solid brass and too hard to manipulate. I hope to blog more about the metal clay process soon...

Funny Thanksgiving Story

This is from a fellow jewelry artist on Etsy, she posted this hilarious story on the forum and I asked her if I could share it on my blog:

*****
From adorned7:

I have fond memories of Thanksgiving as a child. I came from a large warm-hearted and very loud Polish family who were all great cooks. Usually on Thanksgiving the men would sit in the living room, have a beer or two while the women were all in the kitchen cooking. On one particular Thanksgiving( I was about 10 years old) my Aunt Margie, who lived down the street and who was the loudest one in our family, invited all the women over for a hot toddy. My mom, grandma and I walked down the street to her house. My first revelation that the drink may have been a bit strong was when she set the pot holders on fire. Second clue was seeing my mother, grandma and aunt Marge skip down the road, arms linked and singing all the way back to our house. I though it was great! My third clue was seeing my Auntie mashing potatoes and when a clump would fly out and land on the table next to me she would just scoop it up with her hand and throw it back in the pot...lol! The night ended with my dear grandmother laying her head down next to her empty plate and falling asleep. That was the last time Aunt Marge served hot toddy's on Thanksgiving.

******

Thank you adorned7 for sharing your funny story! Laughed so hard I cried. Laughter is good medicine.

Buffalo Sightings - Tall Grass Prairie

OK, you can tell I love all things Prairie because of the name, and this was an exciting outing. Tall Grass Prairie -- where buffalo are roaming much as they did hundreds of years ago. I took these photos on a very hot sunny day with my Nikon D60. The sun was not at a good angle but hey, you don't want to be running up to a 2,ooo lb buffalo to get to his other side!

From the website: The bison, or buffalo, once totaling around 30 million in number, were kings of the prairie. These magnificent animals can be up to six feet high at the shoulders and weigh a ton or more - so huge that early settlers thought it was the bison that had cleared the trees from the prairie. They roamed the range in herds of dozens to millions, never overgrazing, always moving, granting the land time to recover. Like fire, they were a mainstay within a delicately balanced ecosystem...

More information about Tall Grass Prairie Preserve CLICK HERE.

Brookside Artzz Show

This show we just did last weekend was HOT, and I don't mean 'rockin, but I mean literally sweltering! The Oklahoma heat index this summer has been brutal. If it's 92 degrees, it feels like 102 degrees. I was wiped out by the end of the day. Thank the Good Lord for a nice bagel shop nearby ('Old School Bagels') that has great ice tea (and bagels, too)!

Mimosa Tree (not the champagne drink...)

I've been wanting a Mimosa tree for years. You cannot find them at the landscape places -- my guess is that they are 'wild' in Oklahoma. A volunteer seedling came up in a crowded flower bed, so I decided to give it a premier spot and transplant. I've set up the patio umbrella to give it some shade from the still hot summer sun.

Here is the seedling I just planted:


I'll post updates if it is a successful transplant!

ooh la la.....sparkly.....

Someone stop me, please, I am so addicted now to making earrings.... ooooh so sparkly....

Grapes in the Hot Summer - a Nice Surprise

I've had this vine for awhile now, it started in a pot, then moved and transplanted several times. It went nuts this summer and really produced a lot of grapes -- the good old fashioned kind with actual grape seeds IN them.

Earring Bonanza

A whole bunch of new earrings soon to be listed for sale online. Freshwater pearls, natural turquoise stone, and Czech glass beads, handmade dichroic glass beads. Way cool. An earring bonanza!

Happy Birthday United States of America!

"Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

More Route 66 Photos

Beautiful Blogger Award

I had a nice surprise and was awarded a "Beautiful Blogger Award" along with several other bloggers listed by Visual Journey Photo! Thanks so much and I enjoyed viewing all the photos on your blog, too!

Plum Dreams Coming True

Finally, five years of nurturing fruit trees and keeping them alive through heat waves, this year we get plums, lots of plums. They don't keep long, so I made jam! By choice, these babies have not had any chemicals sprayed, so they are not perfect and that's fine with me! Just like Joni Mitchel said in her song.... "give me spots on my apples, but give me the birds and the bees". These are Bruce plums, really tart.

Plum Jam Recipe:

6 cups chopped pitted plums
6 cups sugar
1 box sure jell

Wash pint size mason jars and lids in dishwasher sterlize (heat) mode.

Measure 6 cups chopped and pitted plums into 6-8 quart pan (heavy bottom stainless - non aluminum). Add 6 cups sugar and box of sure jell. Bring to rolling boil over high heat, stirring continually. Boil 1 minute, simmer for 5 minutes while continuing to stir. Remove from heat. Skim off foam. Fill sterilized pint size mason jars to 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe rims, cover tightly. Boil jars 5 minutes in large pan (tops covered with the boiling water). Remove and cool -- the tops will pop in after a few mintues.

Are you comfortable Dazy Dog?

Route 66 Blow Out - Sapulpa

We will have a booth at the upcoming ROUTE 66 BLOW OUT, June 5th 2010. Dichroic Fused Glass Jewelry, earrings, pendants, recycled wine party sets with wine bottle dishes and wine charm sets. Plus pottery and much more! See you there!