BTW - Inside my bead box

This is my Etsy box. Beads I have on Etsy or will put up soon.

Beautiful Sunrise

It is a beautiful day in New Mexico! Off to New Mexico Clay for a Silver PMC class.

Blog Hop - Thanks for stopping by

I want to thank everyone for stopping by today. I think you have probably figured out that it is the view from the hill that uplifts and inspires me.  Keep stopping by to enjoy the view. And be sure to check in regularly at the BOC blog and website to see all the fun events. 

 

Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

Blog Hop - Thinking of Spring!

Springtime in New Mexico is a wondrous time. Wildflowers everywhere! The birds that have flown south pass this way going back north. Up a little higher in the mountains, deer and bears are a regular site. I grew up as a city girl with occasional outings to the country and jumped at the chance to relocate to New Mexico when Glenn and I got married. His family has been living in this area since the 1840's and those kind of roots are getting rarer to find.  Words just do not do justice to the Beauty of Spring.

And the winner of the Hummingbird is..#4 Lorelei Eurto...email me at sedillohillstudio@gmeil.com.

Blog Hop - Some of my Jewerly

Here is a necklace I made with one of my hummingbird pendant. I don't make a lot of them due to the nature of Raku. Delicate pendants like this don't survive the thermal shock very well. But sometimes, you just gotta take that chance...

Raku Humminbird with Raku, wood and glass beads

Blog Hop - 2nd giveaway

When I work out on the porch, I wind up sitting under the hummingbird feeders. Last time I was able to work outside, I had an Anna's Hummingbird keeping me company. 

Raku Hummingbird

Leave a comment to win this pendant.

Blog Hop - My Studio Space and the winner is....

We have just built our house and have plans for a real studio, but for now, our studio space is where ever we are. 

Our wheels and kilns are outside, our dining room is fully consumed and we have a worktable in the living room.  I can’t wait to take it all outside once the weather turns nice again.

The winner of the first giveaway is Commenter #2 rockcreekcreations. Please email me at sedillohillstudio@gmail.com.

Blog Hop - 1st giveaway

I will be giving this pendant away. Leave a comment and the winner will be selected randomly.

Raku Pendant

Close-up

Blog Hop - Some of my Jewerly

We have been making beads and pendants for several years, but have just started making finished  jewelry. Here is one of our early pieces;

Blue Raku beads and pendant, wood beads and waxed Irish linen macrame

 

Bead of Clay - Blog Hop

Welcome to The View from the Hill, the blog for Sedillo Hill Studio. We are Glenn and Kathy Amspaugh, Raku Ceramic Artists from Sandia Park, New Mexico. We specialize in Raku beads, pendants and figurines

Rainbows over the South Mountain of the San Pedros

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Sunset over the Sandia Mountains

Glenn and Kathy

Emotions in Earth

This is a yearlong project at Beads of Clay for the exploration of the expression of emotion through earth clay components of a line of jewelry – wearable or not – that expresses the emotion most prominent in your life this year.

Since I am new to jewelry making and struggling to find my style, this seems right up my alley. So first, a quick examination of my life.

Right now, in my life, I have everything I’ve always wanted. Loving husband, wonderful child, a secure day job, and some small success as an artist. Sure, there are things left undone and things that I would do differently given a chance, but overall, I have a good life.  Not much emotion to work with, but staring out the window at the mountains, I feel peace wash over me. I have always felt at home in mountains, but in these mountains, I feel at Home.

From my house on Sedillo Hill, I can see the most of the mountains of the Turquoise Trail. The Sandias, the San Pedros, Sange del Christos, and on a clear day, the Jemiz and more. Layer upon layer of mountains. Juniper green fading to gray in the morning light. Lit with golds and coppers in the sunset. Purple mountain majesty in the evening. Over the top, every color blue imaginable and clouds so perfect they look like they are painted on velvet.

Ok, I see where I am going with this. Check in over the next year and see if I get there!

Layered Heart

,

Braclets.

I used the instruction on http://makebraceletsblog.com/ to make 2 bracelets yesterday...

Leather, wood, Raku beads and a Vintaj brass hook.

 

 

Glass and Brass on memory wire.

From the Firing - part 2

Most of the pendants were put on a chain or leather thong and went to the Old Stone Schoolhouse Gallery for their Valentines show on Friday.  There was a good turnout despite the record low temperatures and snow. After a almost a week of being snowed in, it was good to get out.

Some of the pendants are still waiting and then the others got some nicer chains. The large Steampunk heart paired with a chunky copper chain. More knitted copper chain for a read heart and tiny copper chain for the rectangular piece along with a couple of Raku beads and a small Raku pine cone pendant created an Arts & Crafts style necklace.

Steampunk Heart

Red Heart with Spool-knitted copper chain

Arts & Crafts Necklace with copper chain and Raku beads and pendants.

From the Firing

Pendants, fresh from the kiln

Pendants from the second firing

Hearts, closeup

More closeups

Sometimes a piece comes out exactly like you plan

Sometimes a piece comes out totally differently than you expected.

Firing Day!

Is there anything more exciting than firing day? It's like the Circus, Prom, and Graduation rolled into one. We are glaze firing the heart pendants today. With other ceramic processes, that would take many hours, but with Raku,the firing takes about 40 minutes then roughly 20 minutes in the reduction bucket....Photos coming soooon!

Quick Post - Goldfish

Bead Racks...

A-frame rack

The hardest part of getting started with making Raku beads and pendants was finding a way to efficiently fire them. Inspired by the rack in

Mary Harding's You Tube video, Glenn came up with several designs that work for us. The A-frame rack is extremely stable but takes up a lot of kiln space. The rectangular racks take up much less room, but are not quite as stable. All

Rectangular rack

of the racks can be strung on both sides, so you can get a good number of  beads or pendants on any of them. 

The most important consideration 

in a bead rack is how well you can 

grip the rack with the tongs to move 

the rack from the kiln to the reduction

bin (aka trash can).

 

Gripping the rack with tongs.

Spool knitted chain

Our daughter's First Lego League (FLL) tournament was on Saturday and to kill time between rounds I took my spool knitter and some 28g copper. Spool knitting is a great portable craft and the results are surprisingly good. Some sites with instructions on spool knitting with wire are:

http://www.wigjig.com/jewelry-tools/WJU/techniques/chains/pg03.htm

http://www.beadinggem.com/2010/06/how-to-spool-knit-wire-jewelry.html

I made the focal piece several months ago with the intention of pairing it with leather, but I was just not loving it. The spool knitted chain is just the right touch. The beads are (of course) Raku with a copper lobster claw closure at the front.

BTW, the kids did really well in the tournament. It was their first time competing and they came in 4th (out of 24) for the Mindstorm Robot mission.

Recharging....

After a busy Fall -> Winter of production, we took a break over Christmas. Now we need to get back into production mode. We went to Aspects of Clay (our local clay studio) and cranked out 40 or so pendants - mostly hearts - for Valentines Day. There is nothing like a clean well stocked studio to recharge the creative power. At least, there is nothing like a clean studio at our place!! So glad we have to option to work out of a studio when we get the urge.

Waiting to be fired

Bead Table Wednesday

Pendants from my work table

Bead table Wednesday - a look inside my bead box. Here are raku beads and pendants waiting to become jewelry.

Some beads from my work table

Starting to design for Valentine's Day...

Leather lace, glass seed beads and Raku beads.

Close up