Jarita's Creations

A little about me and my creative adventures. Here I will share both my successes and not-so-successes. I will share the lessons learned and accomplishments made. I look forward to feedback, helpful advice, and making new friends!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Triangles are fun!

Continuing my jewelry theme...I really love beads! I think making jewelry is a lot of fun! I found an article in a Beadwork magazine that gave directions on making a triangle component using the circular peyote stitch. I used Delica pink ice translucent beads as the primary color and Miyuki metallic teal rainbow for the accent color along with Swarovski rose crystals. As you can see, this turned out adorable and it inspired me to design a necklace. I can't make the focal component yet because it will be made of clay, but this is a sketch of the idea: I will use a twisted coil for the triangular frame and design loops on each corner. I will add tiny leaves, probably from the china-doll ficus, in sets of three. I will run a beaded loop through the focal piece's corner loops and connect the centerpiece to beaded triangles (one on each side). Then, I will add a beaded strap. I will also add a beaded tassel to the bottom loop on the focal piece. I'm thinking to create a loop and toggle-bar from beads.
I wrote all this down in a sketchbook for my reference. I am posting it here just to share. I wrote more details to myself like the exact pattern of the neckstrap and how to connect the individual components, but I find it kinda hard to explain it all in words. Hopefully, I will be able to create the centerpiece shortly after I get back home and then I can share exactly what it looks like. For now, I am still out of town. I am going to make as many of the components from here as I can, but I think I am only going to be able to make the triangle components ahead. I believe I need the focal piece to make the connecting loops and even the straps...No, I should be able to make the triangles, the loops they need to connect to the straps, the straps themselves, and even the toggle and bar. The only pieces that I have to wait on are the loops and connecting beads that will join the triangle components to the ceramic focal component and the tassel that will be suspended from the bottom loop. Ok, I'll get to work and keep posting my progress.
I think this will be adorable! I can't wait to get it finished and share it with everyone!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Jewelry Ideas

Ok, I'm up in Rhode Island, far from home and all my pottery supplies for the nine more weeks! I think I'm having serious withdrawals!

I find myself thinking a lot about design ideas and decided to try to write some of them down. Since I have decided to work smaller and create jewelry, I'll start with those ideas.

Before I left Missouri, I had designed some ornaments using small hand-extruded coils. One of my jewelry ideas expands off of that. I want to create a rectangular frame that includes a little loop centered on the top and another centered on the bottom. The top loop is obviously for a bail; the bottom loop is to add a beaded tassel. I want to adorn the frame with teeny, tiny leaves. To create the necklace, I want to design a chain, probably three strands of a semi-precious stone joined with swarovski crystals. I haven't decided on colors yet, maybe tones of green and amber.

I have more ideas that I will try to post later.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Leading up to my current creative brainstorming

Maybe a little background information is necessary here: I first discovered clay about 20 years ago. Back then, it was mostly slip-casting, but I would also handbuild with the scraps. After a few years of distractions, I returned to clay about 11 years ago, redirecting with a more original, artistic orientation focusing on hand-building with coils of clay. I have been fortunate to increase my time and attention within the last 3-4 years on my pottery (although, I still can't seem to provide my undivided attention to it).

Three to four years ago, I concentrated on building exquisite coiled bottles, and over time, developed long, graceful, curvy necks on round-bellied bottles. As these bottles became more and more complex, I realized that I had focused so much attention on building them that I had neglected my finishing techniques and I was fearful to fire these gorgoues bottles for fear that I would ruin them through poor finishing techniques.

So, I redirected my learning curve and decided to improve my glazing and firing skills. Only, I didn't want my practice pieces to be my coiled bottles that I had spent extensive amounts of time creating. I needed a faster production method to create pieces for experimenting. I have physical limitations and can not throw pottery on the potter's wheel, so I opted for a slab roller instead. Oh, and I have really enjoyed that darling little NorthStar Portaroller that I purchased a couple of years ago!

Life events have a tendency to affect my artwork. Last year and the year before, I created pottery based on a flower shop theme because I used to own a flower shop and could easily associate with that. The most frustrating part was that I felt like I couldn't provide my undivided attention to it. I found myself spending a lot of time assisting my teenage and young adult kids to resolve issues. So the pieces that I built were nice, but not too grand. I didn't like starting a piece to find myself interrupted and being unable to complete it, so I kept most of my work where it could be built within a couple of hours.

This year, I find that I must be out of town for a couple of months. I can't build my pottery while I'm out of town because I lack the setup and tools to do so. But, I will still have creative time where I may work on other interests. Since pottery is my first love, I want to create items where I can incorporate pottery with my interests in beadwork and crocheting. Again, though, due to the lack of long periods of uninterrupted time, I must keep my projects small. (Also, I think people are currently more willing to splurge on little happy moments rather than invest in a little bit more expensive niceties.) I am currently working on some necklace designs where the chain is woven beadwork with a coordinating ceramic focal bead. I also have some button designs to use with my crocheted scarflets. I am always brainstorming up new ideas!

Well, that kind of explains where I will be heading and where I have come from. This blog rambles somewaht, but if you already know me or are just getting to know me, you will see that I'm just like that! Throughout the year, I will add ideas and progress to my blog.