Thursday, January 9, 2020

A Turquoise and Porcelain Bead Necklace

Here is a sweet choker I made using my own porcelain beads along with real Arizona turquoise and small crystal chips.
I guess you could say this is a necklace that comes from the earth.
Using a white porcelain clay body, I am able to roll it out to a very thin consistency. 
  I work with very basic tools, the rolling pin among my favorite. Many lucky ceramicists have fancy slab rollers. I don't. After working with clay so long I seem to feel when I have arrived where I want to be. If not, I do it over.  
 Next I add the texture.The "how" is a bit of a professional secret. Choosing several lengths of a "somewhat" consistent nature, I cut them off with a very sharp edge and let them dry out somewhat.It is best to clean them up when they are in this "leather hard" stage. I smooth off each end with care, but  sometimes they break. Tedious work. 
As you can imagine it takes a Lot of beads to make any necklace,  bracelet or earrings. And I do all three so there are sets, as well as individual pieces.When dry, they enter the kiln for the first " bisque" stage. After that, there are not so porous and I can add the iron oxide stain.There is a final, high fire stage to make everything totally hard. I think these beads will survive longer than we do.
 These are  colors of the red rocks of Sedona, AZ. , where I live and have my studio. No two beads are ever exactly the same, and  the small differences make each piece a unique creation  by yours truly, V. Norton