Quick post here! My buttons this last week/weekend at Stitches West, in Santa Clara, California. Sabrina, of Anzula, does the yarn and fibers...and hosted my buttons!
Go ahead and click on the image--the larger version ("All Sizes" option on Flickr) is great!
Busy week for me--I hope to have buttons up on Etsy by Friday, if not sooner. I've recently added three necklaces...more jewelry coming soon.
vika.etsy.com
These buttons (and others!) are headed up to the SF Bay Area with Sabrina Famellos-Schmidt, at the end of this month, for:
STITCHES West 2009
at the Santa Clara Convention Center
February 26th through March 1
You can find them on the Market Floor here:
Anzula
Booth 1037
I've blogged recently about a visit to Sabrina's house while she and friends were dyeing. That same day, she agreed to take my buttons with her to Stitches. Ever since then, I've been working my buttons off...
Pics below of her yarns, or visit her blog, too:
http://anzula.blogspot.com/
100 Porcelain buttons in the green state.
I started handbuilding with clay years ago and enjoy photography, very much. The processes from both have influenced how I make buttons.
I don't have button molds.
Instead, I roll and texture entire slabs with themes that interest me, then crop small vignettes. Each button is the "same," and yet just a little bit different. They go together without looking like they rolled out of a factory. Each one is unique.
These have already been cut, hand smoothed, drilled, and all edges beveled (including the holes, front and back!). I'm careful to work when the clay is leather hard, not completely dry; it cuts down on dust.
Next? I'll be signing the backs with a paintbrush, glazing, kiln loading, and firing.
I only fire once. It conserves energy.
There are 200 more buttons out of camera range!
I met Sabrina Famellos-Schmidt several weeks ago, after making a presentation during a local Pecha Kucha evening sponsored by Arc Hop.
My pendant necklaces are based on spindle whorls and Sabrina spins!
She was kind enough to invite me to her home when she and two friends, Sue and Diane, were dyeing finished skeins. It was amazing to walk into the backyard and see this feast...even more amazing to walk into the garage and view the work that had already been dryed and re-skeined, ready for sale! Eye-popping and jaw-dropping all at the same time.
First batch out of new (new to me) porcelain kiln. The kiln interior is 6"x6" and came with no furniture (shelves).
I made my own out of high fire sculpture clay (lots of grog/resistant to shock and warping). They survived nicely and that saved me quite a bit of money. Plus, they are thinner than commercial shelves, so...I can fit more in the kiln!
These buttons are approximately 1-1/4" diameter. All but the bottom button are approximately 1/8" thickness. The bottom button is more suitable as a toggle, or for use on heavy material; it is approximately 1/4" thickness.
The left and top button were pressed in molds made of cast-off machinery parts.
Flowered Bottle
Spontaneous and unplanned; I think it made itself.
Handmade porcelain tile and kiln polished glass cabochons laid out for setting on glass bottle with inset circle. Look for lively green grouting on this mosaic later!
I make these mosaic works using my own handmade porcelain tiles, glass shards that have been remelted in the kiln, dish fragments and repurposed microwave turntables.
I usually decide what my border will be, set it, and the design takes off from there. I don't have a plan. However, I'm influenced--I love Central Asian tile work patterns and colors.
I like creating them in microwave turntable plates because it allows the light to shine through the glass tiles, plus, I like knowing the old turntables haven't become trash but something valuable again. I also fire the majority of my tiles only once, to conserve energy.
These are lovely for display, or as insets for a tiled wall, portal, or table.
This one is in process, partially set and still ungrouted.
15" Diameter
