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
Here is my latest mixed media creation, "Windows of Words." Nine, small metal boxes covered in handmade , or other intriguing papers.Inside are provocative quotes and I even wrote a poem myself.
It is now showing at the Jerome Artists' Coop Holiday Show in Jerome AZ. for December 2019 and January, 2020.
As a professional calligrapher for the past 35 years, I am always collecting quotes; tin boxes; papers and more, and then some more..... Remember opening those little windows at holiday time? This was my theme. The wood has a slightly tree shape if you notice. Using several alphabets such as Roman , Uncial and Italic it was fun to interpret these sayings in a different style. I invite the public to stop by and explore this interactive art.
Here is a fun little pitcher from my latest firing.My hand shows the relative size.
As I went to the icebox this morning to add milk to my tea, and I had to lift up the whole carton, I thought " a pitcher would be a handy thing about now". But not this pitcher, this one goes up to the gallery.
All around the base are the hand carvings of the red rocks of Sedona, AZ, that I see outside my studio. I have also incorporated this design into my mugs , with the turquoise glaze, and the oxide to color it.This is high fired porcelain clay so it can go into the stove of microwave.I used a clear glaze inside so the contents are visible . It is actually the clay itself with a clear glaze over.
Of course it is totally food safe. Standards are very high in our country for glaze materials. Who knows what you get in a store or which country they are made in and what are their rules?
Since this is our Veterans' Day holiday, I would say "Support
our service people... and your local artists! "
I just unloaded my kiln and found this little jewel, my
"White Porcelain pueblo". It is made from porcelain,
This style of my handmade bowls came from my artistic imagination and the environment I live in.The color you are seeing is actually the clay itself, with a clear glaze over. I like the smooth, modern feel of this basic image.
As I say in my description tag, "...This is the view from outside my studio here in Sedona, AZ. I see our town, or pueblo, red rock silhouettes , cactus, and critters .The outer stain is the red iron oxide that colors our red rocks." There is a bit of artistic license here, but truly this is what I see all around me. The critter is a little snake, which lives somewhere around here, even when we don't see him.
I find with clay, it often tells me how to shape it. I make this style in three sizes. All fit so nicely in your hand, and the clear color shows off food or other items one might hold within. Although there is a similarity in my style within this series, each pot is totally a one of a kind, signed by yours truly, V. Norton.
This is me at a local lake in the white mountains here in Arizona.With the rain, I am garbed in my poncho and hat. It is always necessary to be prepared when one is at an altitude of 7,000 feet. What causes these trees to be so green? Yup: water.
Off in the distance are Canadian geese eating out at their delicious cafeteria. Native wildflowers surround me. The smell of the pine trees waft over the breeze that comes with force, and then dies down. This is my first time to explore this area, and I am enchanted.
I write in my artist Biography : " I draw my inspiration from the native landscapes, people and animals, to create my present and evolving works in clay". Here is nature painted in a broad brush stroke. I am in awe of all the different climate in my home state. I am filled with gratitude to be here.
I am surrounded by the White Mountain Apache tribal lands, which are left mostly natural, except for those black cattle you run into on the back trails. They have a casino and I did explore into their towns. A lot of change in the last 100 years, is all I can say.
I guess I wrote about this area because it is nature in a rather pure form and that is good for my head, my soul, and I hope my art.
