New Etsy Listings - Clay Carving!

I listed a few new necklaces on our Etsy shop, FirelusterPottery. These new pendants were made using a technique that I've been trying; clay carving. Some people call it clay lifting, and that's a very good description of what it is.

I use a tool, that has a sharp edge, to cut into the leatherhard clay, and lift it from the surface. Some lines I carve with a scalpel. When the clay dries, I fire it and apply glaze for the second firing.

The trick with this is getting the pattern correct the first time. There is no second chance to fix a boo-boo. You get what you get, and hopefully, you did it right the first time. I liked doing the carving, but there is a definite learning curve. I messed up a few until I got the hang of it. Now I have a couple of tricks that help me get it to come out right the first time.

The first picture is a pendant made from cone6 porcelain. The flower design is carved into the clay when it's leather hard. I love the glaze; a sort of buttery color I call butterscotch. It looks just like when you melt butter and caramelized sugar together. The second photo is of another porcelain pendant glazed with Coyote glazes in Crazed Copper and Archie's Base. Those two together make a wonderful combination. There's lots of nice crazing with some frothy looking light blue in there, too.

The last photo is a pendant made from stoneware. This stoneware is from Axner, and has a good amount of grog in it. That made it harder to carve, but also gives it a lot of texture and character. The glaze is a green shino. I like how the green breaks to brown in the thin areas.

This is a technique I want to explore further. I have many more pendants to list, and will be doing that soon. I have a few earmarked for use in necklaces that will use beads I made earlier. Keep a lookout in my etsy shop for more additions within the next week.

Bringing wood to life

Sandra Healy is a California artist who makes exquisite wood sculptures of animals. I discovered her etsy shop, SandraHealy and have saved her as one of my favorites. She's got an eye for the essence of a creature and brings it to life in her basswood carvings.

I've always been fascinated with wood carving, and I love the naturalistic, yet stylized portraits of Sandra's. Her animals are carved simply, but with the essential characteristics that make you feel that these are individuals, each with their own personalities. Her carving of the King Penguin and chick is one of my favorites. This piece just makes me smile to look at it. I also love the Bluebird carving, one of her many birds.

In her item descriptions, Sandra says she carves the basswood with knives and chisels, and airbrushes the color with water based inks. Her art is truly collectible, very reasonably priced and each piece is adorable.