MLBetterly Art

Free Valentines for Your Love Bug

2012-01-25T18:29:00.001-05:00

Hello love birds!

I decided to make some Valentines for my daughter to give out at school this year and I thought I'd share them with you guys too! All you have to do is print them out on white card stock, cut them out, punch holes where indicated, insert a lollypop of your choice and that's it!

Jada wrote "From Jada" with a heart on the backs of each of them.

I promise no other kid in their class will have these. :)

Click on the link below to download the PDF. FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY

LOVE BUG VALENTINES

Happy Valentine's Day!

XXOO
Moriah

Need A Little Help From My Friends

2012-01-25T13:42:00.000-05:00

My husband, Joel was blindsided recently when he was told that he would need to come up with almost $6,000 to pay for his tuition for his second year of college. No one ever warned him that this would happen. a $55,000 loan has already been secured but now he has to come up with an additional $6,000 to be able to sign up for classes this year.

We are doing all we can on our end to try to raise the funds. We're selling everything we can sell, I have been applying of a second job at various places here in town and Joel is working hard to pick up extra work too. BUT, we're still in need of a little help.

Please take a moment to read the blog I have set up for him. Any help you can offer, whether it's a cash donation or simply spreading the word would be of great help. Cash donors will receive gifts.

This is so completely out of our comfort zone to ask for your help but this is so important to my husband and our family. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Click on the image below to find out more. <3

XXOO,
Moriah

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry

2012-01-22T01:39:00.001-05:00

This was the case today, for sure.

I spent two weeks trying my best to prepare a fabulous birthday party for my daughter. Today was the big day.

Just about everything that could go wrong, DID! Sigh...

First, our ladder wasn't tall enough for us to be able to reach the tree limbs so I could hang the pom poms here and there all over the yard. So, we strung fishing line going across the yard in three places and hung the pom poms that way. I hated it.

Then we tried to hang the sheets which went up fine but when we tried to hang the signs (Concessions, Games, etc etc) on the line with the sheets, the wind just whipped them all over and you couldn't see them, so we took them down. Sigh...

I had planned for 80 balloons but the helium tank crapped out after about 18. Huge sigh...

Then, another issue, the coupling I bought for the pastry bag was too small for the tip so I couldn't pipe on the icing for the cupcakes like I wanted too either. Grrrrrr. So, I just slapped it on with a knife.

The last issue, the cupcake sleeves that I spent hours designing, printing out and cutting, were too big for the cupcakes and looked ridiculous so those got thrown away. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I was so disappointed and so frustrated and really felt as though I had failed my daughter. I came in the house to collect myself before people started showing up.

I heard voices and giggles so I told myself it was showtime, sucked it up and put a smile on my face. When I walked outside I saw my daughter and realized from the smile on her face that she thought everything was perfect.

We played games, ate a bunch of Carnival food and attacked my daughter with silly string. The party went an hour over the scheduled time and at the end of it, Jada walked up to me, put her arms around me and said, "Thank you so much, Mom! This was the best birthday ever!"

And that my friends, made all of the frustration and disappointment go right out the window. It also made every single minute I spent cutting things out and hours of painting and planning worth it. This little face....

made me realize that I was being way too hard on myself. She loved her party and I love her, to pieces.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JADA!

Here's a few shots of what went right... lol

Next year? We're going somewhere where we can just show up with a cake. I'm going to leave party planning to the professionals from now on. :)

Now it's time to get back to work! I have a commissioned ornament to finish up as well as a few commissioned pendants.

XXOO
Moriah

Carnival Poster Tutorial

2012-01-20T22:18:00.002-05:00

I spent quite a few hours over the last two days working on some Carnival posters for my daughter's birthday. I posted them up on Facebook as I finished each one and then thought it might be fun to show you just how easy they are to make in case you were in need of some posters or party decorations yourself.

I started with a big piece of brown kraft paper. You don't have to use that though. Poster board, several sheets of construction paper that's been taped together, an old sheet, anything will do.

Then I printed out some coloring book pages from the internet that had a carnival themed image. I decided to make 5 posters but for this tutorial, we'll just be focusing on this image:

The next thing you're going to need is a projector. What if you don't have a projector, you ask? Well, there's a couple things you can do if you don't own a projector.
1. Go buy one. I got mine at Hobby Lobby about 5 years ago. I used a coupon and only paid about $30 for it.
2. Ask your local library if you can borrow theirs. Sometimes (depending on your library) they will allow you to use theirs as long as you use it at the library. In this case, you could take your paper and a marker to the library, transfer the image using their projector and then go home and paint it. You can also ask your child's school if you can use one of theirs.
3. You can freehand draw the image onto your surface.

Here's the projector I used:

and here's one of the places you can buy it from:

http://www.dickblick.com/products/artograph-tracer-projector/#photos

Okay, so assuming you're using a projector, you print your image small enough to fit under the projector. In my case, I made the image 4 inches by 4 inches. Next I set up my projector so that it would make the image on the wall the size I needed and then I hung my BIG piece of brown paper on the wall.

I grabbed a sharpie marker and traced the lines from the projector onto the paper. Once I was finished I decided what words I wanted on the poster and wrote those in too.

Now it was time to paint! I broke out my craft acrylics and got started.

I painted the elephant gray and then added some purple and metallic paint too...

Don't worry about covering up your marker marks with paint, we're going to paint those lines back in later.

Next I painted in the tusk, eye and toe nails, as well as the ball.

I chose my colors for the lettering and painted those in too...

Now that everything has been painted in, it's time to paint those lines back in. I outlined everything in black paint with a small brush.

One last step and we're done! We have to paint back in the lines on the elephant that we covered up with paint. We need to define his legs and add some detail to the trunk, like this...

If you're having trouble seeing the lines you painted over, just refer to your original image and use that to guide you.

And there you have it! a Carnival poster for your child's birthday party, using things you already had around the house!

Here are the other ones I made too:

The party is tomorrow and I plan on taking lots of pictures of the set up so be sure to check back and see how these posters looked out in the backyard, at the party!

Go forth and make posters!

Moriah

Cupcake Stands Tutorial

2012-01-19T13:27:00.000-05:00

As most of you know, I am preparing for my daughter's 10th b-day party this weekend and have made some of the decorations myself. I thought I'd share with you how I made the cupcake stands for the treats table at the party so you can make some too!

First, I headed to my favorite thrift store on half off day and bought 5 different candle sticks. These may be called something else but that's what I call them. They're the tall stands that you put large pillar candles on. Then I bought 5 plates that were the size I thought would work best on the stands.

When I got home, I pulled out the silicone and ran a nice bead of it around the edge of the candle stands. I turned the plate upside down and then positioned the stand in the middle of the plate. Using my finger, I wiped around the edge of the stand to make sure there was a nice seal.

I set it aside and let it dry completely for 24 hours.

Once dry, I broke out my clear gesso and added a coat of it to the plate only. The reason I did this was I wasn't sure if the spray paint was going to stick on the slick ceramic finish of the plates. By adding the gesso, I gave the plate a little tooth for the spray paint to stick to. Again, I let that dry over night.

Then I was ready to spray paint! I picked up some little cans of spray paint at Joann's in the colors that would match the carnival theme I was going for. For this one, I chose to use the hot pink.

I flipped the stand over so that the plate was on the paint stand and started by spraying the bottom of the plate and metal stand first.

I let that sit outside and dry for about an hour before flipping it over and spraying the rest of the stand. NOTE: You're going to need to spray the stand again when you flip it upright. I noticed on all of mine that the first spray didn't cover all of the bends, nooks and crannies. So, when I flipped it upright, I hit it again to make sure everything was covered. Once it's all covered, let it dry over night and Viola! You have an awesome cupcake/dessert/cake stand for your next party!

If this is too plain for you, you could go crazy jazzing it up too. Add some trim around the lip of the plate, maybe some beaded fringe. You could add a clear dome lid, etc etc. Use your imagination and have fun with it.

Here's all 5 of the ones I made for the b-day party:

Notice that they're all different heights? When they're different heights they will make your table setting more dramatic and interesting. You'll get to see how I arrange them on Sunday when I do a post about my daughter's party. You'll get to see everything I did and how I put it all together. Stay tuned! In the meantime.... GO MAKE SOME GOODY STANDS!

XXOO,
Moriah

Cotton Candy, Balloons & Pom Poms

2012-01-17T19:31:00.001-05:00

I've been working like mad to get everything together for my youngest daughter's birthday party this Saturday! Almost ready! Here's some of the goodies I've made and gathered and still have to work on...

A Little Bit of Everything

2012-01-14T03:28:00.001-05:00

Hello beautiful people!

Man oh man have I been B-U-S-Y! My youngest daughter is turning 10 next weekend. DOUBLE DIGITS! She's so excited. Anyway, I have been working day and night to prepare for her b-day party. We're going with a Carnival theme. I made up some sweet little invitations in Photoshop. They were Admit One tickets. :) I wish I had snapped a shot before I handed them off to my daughter to give out, DOH!

I have been cutting things out that I have printed either from the internet or my own design for days. I actually have a blister on one of my fingers from it. Thank goodness for the internet! So many free resources out there for people planning a party on a budget. I was able to get templates for making cupcake toppers and cupcake sleeves, pinwheels, mustache straws, popcorn boxes, popcorn bag tags, you name it.

I also bought some stuff at the Dollar Tree and iParty too. I tried to make as many things as I possibly could with what I had around the studio. I still have to make Carnival posters, tissue paper pom poms, table garlands, cotton candy bag tags, a label for the "Guess How Many M&Ms are in this Jar" game. I have to paint some wooden eggs for the egg relay race (much cleaner than dealing with real eggs) too. Oh yeah, almost forgot, I need to print up some tickets for the kiddos to write their guesses on for the M&M deal-e-o.

Whew, I need a nap...lol.

I also went to my favorite junk shop on half price day and picked up some striped and colorful sheets to use as backdrops and some candle sticks and plates to make cupcake stands in varying heights. I also picked up two King size pillow cases that have a thatch design on them to use as potato sacks for the potato sack race. Sweet!

We'll be serving up cupcakes, corn dogs, caramel apples, and popcorn. You know, Carnival treats.

I don't know who is more excited about this party... me or my daughter. I have been staying up late every night working on this stuff in hopes of having it all done by Thursday. I've been enjoying every bit of it (except the blister, OUCH!) I'll be taking LOTS of photos before the ~~mess makers~~ party guests arrive and during the party too, of course. I'll definitely share some of them here so I can show off all of my hard work.

On the business front, I completed two commissions this week. The first one was for a great Facebook friend who wanted a cross with a Rose of Sharon on it and then glazed in the burgundy and olive green combo glaze. I tried two other designs before I did this one. This one turned out AWESOME! I was so proud.

The buyer was super happy with the photo I sent her and can't wait to receive it. (It's on it's way, Sherry!)

The other commissioned piece I created was for another Facebook friend who wanted the same design she had bought from me before but in a different glaze. The first one she bought was in a denim glaze. She bought it for a friend and liked it so much that she was contemplating keeping it for herself...lol. Instead, she decided to order one for herself. Here's how her pendant turned out...

I love how the blue turned out, so pretty! Thanks, Laura! It's in route!

I also made a few more pendants to add to my ETSY SHOP.

These were inspired by Valentine's Day...

These were inspired by things I gathered with my daughter at the park by her school one day....

Locust Berry Pendants:

Rouge Berries:

and a fern leaf: (SOLD THANK YOU)

Then I played around with a few designs I had laying around. I really like this geometric design...

(SOLD THANK YOU)

And then just some random designs. I'm loving that blue and green!

And that about wraps it up. I need to drag my rear to bed, I'm exhausted. Have a great weekend everyone!

XXOO
Moriah

Love Is In The Air

2012-01-12T17:28:00.004-05:00

Click on the picture to view it bigger!

Faith In Humanity Restored!

2012-01-11T23:05:00.003-05:00

It seems like I have been a magnet for rude and nasty people lately. I was really starting to subscribe to the saying, "No good deed goes unpunished" and was also beginning to think that people, as a whole, just suck.

That is until Kathleen Sacco did the most amazing thing that completely restored my faith in humankind.

I snatched this picture of her from her Facebook page.

So what did she do, you ask?

Let me start from the beginning....

A few months ago I finally got off of my rump and sent in a bunch of pictures of my work to Art Doll Quarterly to be considered for publication. Much to my delight, they contacted me and said they were interested in publishing one of my dolls. YAY!! So exciting.

I was told that I needed to send in the inspiration behind the doll, a brief instruction on how it was created and the dolls dimensions. I also needed to either send in the doll itself or email in high resolution photos of the doll. Sounds great, right?

The problem was that I had already sold the doll they wanted to publish back in November of 2010 to Kathleen. I did have some 300 dpi images of the doll but not in the 8x10" sizes they wanted. I also had no idea what the dimensions were as I had sold the doll on eBay and the listing was no longer accessible for me to pull from. Sigh....

So, I took a risk and emailed Kathleen through eBay and told her about being contacted by ADQ and asked if she could please send me that dimensions of the doll so I could send them in. I was not expecting the response I received and am still shocked and amazed by it. Kathleen's response was:

"Hello, Moriah. I just knew your precious 'Lil Birdee was destined for stardom! Congratulations! I've just measured him and his dimensions are as follows:

Height 9.5" Bird only 8.0"
Width 5.0" Bird only 2.5"
Depth 3.0" Bird only 3.0" (total & bird are same 3.0" depth)
Bird belly circumference is 8".

I am very excited for you & Lil Birdee. .Please let me know if you would like me to send him back to you for further photographing or if you need to submit him to ADQ. It would be my honor to do either. Kate Sacco "

HOLY COW!!!

I almost didn't take her up on her offer because I thought it would be in bad taste but all I kept thinking was, "What if they don't accept my photos because they're not 8X10?" Then I thought I'd accept her offer to send the doll to me and I would just take more photos and send the doll right back to her but again, I was worried about not taking photos they'd want to use. So, after arguing with myself for a bit, I finally wrote her back and accepted her offer to send the doll to me so that I could send him in to ADQ to be photographed by their photographer. I explained that it could be months before they returned the doll to me but that I promised to mail him straight back to her the moment ADQ sent him back to me and how I couldn't believe she was willing to do this for me and how incredibly thankful I was and that I'd be sending her a thank you package when I sent back the doll.

Again, another email that just floored me:

Dear Mariah,
It would be unthinkable not to send him back to you. He is your creation and I am greatful to have been his caretaker for this past year. No gift is necessary. It really is my pleasure and honor. I fell in love with him the moment I saw him. He made my heart smile. I am thrilled that the readers of ADQ will have the same opportunity to love him as well. He is special and so are you and your talents. You can email me at (REMOVED FOR HER PRIVACY) or phone me at (ALSO REMOVED FOR HER PRIVACY) if you'd like. I am located in (REMOVED FOR PRIVACY). I am so excited for you!!! Kate :)

She was absolutely true to her word. The doll arrived here today. It was such an awesome moment to see him again. Kathleen has taken such great care of him. He looks just like he did the day I mailed him to her.

Thank you AGAIN, Kate! Your generosity has not gone unnoticed and I'm willing to scream your good deed from the rooftops! I asked Kate if she had a blog or website she'd like me to give a shout out about but she doesn't have either. So, I did put a link to her Facebook page under her picture and it would really make me happy if you could stop by and leave her a little message telling her what an awesome person she is. She deserves it.

I have tagged the doll with my information and packed him up to take his next trip tomorrow to sunny California. Have fun at ADQ, little doll, make momma proud! :)

Seriously, pop over to Kate's page and show her some love. I'd really appreciate it!

Hugs,

Moriah

I Have, By Far, The BEST CUSTOMERS EVER!

2012-01-06T22:37:00.003-05:00

Since the day I started listing pendants in my Blu Mudd Store, I have received the most awesome feedback from friends and supporters. Everyone has been so supportive and genuinely excited for me. It really touched my heart and continues to do so to this day.

It's hard sometimes though to figure out if friends and long time supporters are being completely honest about what they think about the things you make or if they're just being the wonderful, kind and caring people that they truly are.

However, when a buyer provides feedback, I pretty much take that as gospel, ya know? They've plopped down their hard earned cash so I'm pretty sure if they hated it, they'd be the first to tell me. Thankfully, not a single customer has given me any negative feedback and I'm striving to keep it that way.

When you read the feedback I received from these AWESOME FOLKS, you'll have no choice but to agree that they are indeed the BEST CUSTOMERS EVER!

What people are saying about Blu Mudd:

"I just wanted to let you know that my wifes Birthday was this weekend. She absolutely LOVES her pendants. The best gift I have given her in a while. We went out to dinner on Saturday night and she was complimented on the one she wore a few times. Blu Mudd is on the tip of a few peoples tongue now. Thanks again."

"I got my pendant today. Thank you! Its beautiful!"

"Moriah, I got the pendant today. I am completely bowled over by how beautiful it is. The picture did not do it justice at all. I hope that you will be doing more of these vintage style pendants for people like me and I absolutely can't wait to see the other two I bought."

"Lovely ornament, lovely seller; personalized transaction, excellent communication. My sister loved it!"

"Moriah is wonderful to work with. Pendants are well made and very pretty. Prompt delivery. Thank you!"

"One of my favorites of the bunch I ordered. Photo doesnt do it justice. I will definetly be buying more of these! Very quick shipping!"

"I love Moriahs work, I will be a returning customer!"

"Wow Moriah's work is amazing! Her products are packaged up so nicely to. A great presentation and fabulous jewelry accessories. I will be a returning customer!"

"BluMudd was fabulous to work with on my custom request, and responded quickly. My order came beautifully packaged, and shipped fast. beautiful items<3 thanks !!!"

"Beautiful! Fast shipping, excellent communication, and packaged very nicely, thank you!!!"

"Gorgeous! Thank you so much!"

"Just as beautiful as the picture! Nice work."

"These are all beautiful!"

"Cool pendant! Excellent workmanship and nice weight. Can't beat the price for hand-made OOAK. Arrived super-fast, packed securely, and wrapped gift-ready. Seller is friendly and communicative. Very happy with my purchase!"

"Wonderful seller to do business with! The pendant is exactly as expected and the transaction was quick and smooth! Thanks so much!"

"Thank you so much Moriah. I am so pleased with all my purchases. Your work is fabulous right down to the packaging. I purchased all of these for Christmas gifts. I think the receivers will be so pleased :)"

"Gorgeous depth and color! Wonderful :)"

"Wonderful quality handmade art! I am am thrilled :)"

"Love the pendant! Received it in a timely manner and it was packed well, so no damage. Will definitely buy from this seller again."

"Highly recommend this lady. She goes above and beyond to make sure you are satisified. Beautiful pendant and fast shipping. Thanks so much!"

See? I told you! LOVE LOVE LOVE them all!

Moriah

The Tree Of Life

2012-01-03T01:02:00.001-05:00

Click the picture and check out all of these beautiful items with a Tree of Life Theme!

Yummy New Designs! Picture Heavy Post...

2012-01-02T23:01:00.001-05:00

This last kiln load turned out some pretty cool pendants, if I do say so myself. I'm loving the trees (one already sold ~ THANK YOU!), the sun, the ones with words, the shells, okay, so I think I love them all. I added all of them over in my Etsy Store too. Remember the post where I showed you all of the things I collected at the beach to use to make pendants? Well.... do you recognize any of them here?

Prepare for LOTS of pictures!........

SOLD! Thank you!

Cats Are Aliens

2012-01-02T03:58:00.000-05:00

We have four cats. The reason that we have four cats is that we DO NOT want five. :)

When my husband and I married, he already had two cats (the white ones) and then I added on Jinxie and Sophie thereafter.

Swish, the star of the video below, is the oldest (9 years old) and is deaf. By accident, we discovered that he has a fetish. My sister-in-law had brought over a small bag of tennis balls for me to experiment with (crafting) awhile back and one had rolled out onto the floor of my studio. Swish immediately ran over to the ball and began playing with it and licking it to death. We cracked up.

So anyway, yesterday, we were all doing our various chores, trying to clean up all of the mess from New Year's Eve, when we found a stray tennis ball under the couch. I grabbed my camera and we showed Swish the ball....... Proof that cats truly are aliens from another planet. Enjoy!

(Here's the link for those of you that cannot see the embedded view in your readers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCqQTmMvaKw )

Inspiration is All Around You

2011-12-27T13:27:00.001-05:00

It has been unseasonably warm (hotter than you know what) here in Florida. I spent the week of Christmas in front of a fan in humid 84 degree weather. The weatherman stated it was the warmest Christmas in Tampa Bay.... ever. EVER. I believe it. It made it absolutely impossible for me to get into the Christmas Spirit. Of course the head cold I got 2 days before Christmas didn't help much either. Christmas came and went. I slept most of the day. I was up long enough to see the kids open their gifts while we Skyped with my mom in Ohio. My husband's sister came over for a bit too. By the time she arrived, I was lying on the couch with tissues shoved up my nostrils. :) Once she left for work I left for the bedroom and didn't come out much thereafter. The medicine I was taking for the head cold just knocked me out.

Anyway...

What has been nice about the warmer than usual weather is that I took a little trip to the beach with my daughters and my husband in search of inspiration for some pendants. We all formed a line and walked the beach looking for things that would be awesome molded or that had a nice texture. Honeymoon Island is perfect for this and it's pretty easy on the eyes too. :)

We gathered up a small bag full of things and headed back home for some lunch.

Today, I pulled out the stuff we had gathered and made molds of some it. Here are the items, the molds I made from them and the raw clay pendants:

This one was a really big shell that had pretty deep grooves. It looks pretty boring at the moment but I'm hoping the grooves will really pool some glaze in them and make a nice effect.

Another shell but this one had some spikey dots along the grooves.

I really liked the swirl design of this piece of a shell. The mold worked beautifully.

Barnacles anyone? These were on a huge clam shell. One of the barnacles popped off when I pulled the molding material off. Oops.

This mold was taken from the same clam shell as the barnacles. I think it might look pretty interesting when glazed.

A little sea shell.

We found half of a sea urchin and I loved the spiny texture.

Last, but not least, is this rock that has tons of craters inside. I didn't mold this piece. I just smooshed the clay right onto it. The pendant reminds me of the moon.

I'm hoping to get these bisque fired tomorrow and glazed by the end of the week. Stay tuned....

XXOO

Moriah

Sea Turtles Owls and Faerie Doors, huh?

2011-12-13T21:12:00.002-05:00

I've just listed these in my Etsy Shop along with a bunch of ornaments. More later!

Shaking Off the Bah Hummbugs

2011-12-08T17:50:00.000-05:00

Every year I get a little less jolly and a bit more bah hummbug this time of year. I think it's a combination of things that are causing it. The warmer weather here in Florida makes it seem impossible that it's Christmas time. My husband being less than enthused every holiday. The very few things Christmas themed to do here this time of year. It all adds up to me thinking, "Why bother?" Then I look at my kids. Especially the youngest one (age 9), and then I think, "Oh yeah, because they are excited about it."

I used to love Christmas! Everything about it. Going to see all of the window displays, the train displays, the light displays. Everything always seemed so magical in December. So, instead of becoming more and more Grinch like, I've decided to take back my holidays! :)

I'm just going to have to figure out how I can make it feel more like Christmas around here, without moving to a state with cold and snow that I absolutely loathe.

So, I finally dragged out our crappy little Christmas tree and the kids had fun putting the ornaments on. Then I decided to make some ornaments for the upcoming show this weekend too. So, I turned on the holiday channel on Pandora and made these ornaments while I sang along to my favorite holiday songs.

I know, I know.....

Making some ornaments and dragging out a tree isn't exactly a great effort but I'm working on it. Next year I've decided to have a real tree for the first time in 18 years. I'm going to make next Christmas a Christmas to remember for a long time. Dang it! This year, I'll do what I can on such short notice. :)

No really, after I do the show this weekend I'll be focusing on Christmas. The getting of gifts, wrapping, planning dinner, etc.

Maybe if all of you share what you do for Christmas it will inspire me to get my rear in gear. Just leave a comment telling me what you HAVE TO HAVE when planning Christmas. There may be a little somethin' somethin' in it for you too... hint hint. More on that later.

In the meantime, wish me luck at the show and I'll be back Monday with info from the show and the somethin' somethin'. ;)

XXOO
Moriah

Bodies Suck

2011-12-01T17:12:00.001-05:00

I'm not feeling too great today. Yesterday was worse though. I'm having some digestion issues and am really not happy about the whole thing. Apparently my body has decided that it does not like red meat, regardless of what my nose and taste buds think. Sigh....

I did manage to drag my whiny butt outside for a few minutes to take pictures of some pendants I'll be adding to my etsy shop over the next few minutes though. I thought I'd share them with you before I head on into the kitchen to warm up some soup. It's a bit chilly here today (for Florida), which is not helping my whining. :)

I hope everyone is staying warm and gearing up for the holidays. I'm dragging my feet big time. I haven't even put our tree up yet. Tsk Tsk. I need to shake off the bah humbug and get a little golly red elf going soon. Christmas will be here before I know it! My youngest daughter is already in the mood. Look at this sweet little gifty that I spied on the end table today....

What a sweet pea!

Okay, better get that soup. My nose is frozen.

XXOO
Moriah

Amber Waves of Gorgeousness

2011-12-01T13:59:00.000-05:00

Click on the picture to see the treasury up close and personal. :) I'm in love with this color combo at the moment.

Broke Out My SEXY Slippers

2011-11-28T15:02:00.001-05:00

It's getting pretty chilly here today. (Northerners, don't groan at me) We started off near 80 and at 2:46pm we've dropped down to 64. The temps are supposed to get colder yet. It's dark and gray out there and it's raining too.

I'm actually thrilled about the whole thing. It's been in the 80s for weeks and humid. Anyway, I broke out the sweatshirt and my SEXY boot slippers that I bought at Ikea this weekend.

They are down filled and very comfortable and warm. Not very sexy though.... lol

Since it's so gloomy around here today I figured I might as well get started on some new items for the Blu Mudd line today. I've already sketched out my ideas and have a pretty good idea what designs I want to do.

Now I have to make a slump mold, which is where this little bowl is going to come in handy...

I also have a stamp or two that I want to carve. We've gotten a lot of requests for sea turtles lately so....

sea turtles it is!

In the meantime, I put 4 custom pieces in the test kiln to fire. They should be ready to ship out tomorrow, provided all goes well with this glaze firing. You just never know what's going to happen in there.

As far as the show we did this weekend, it was a colossal waste of our time. We did manage to make our entry fee back and a little profit too but no where near enough to make it worth it. A friend of mine suggested more than once that I do a Buckler's Show so I told my husband and he was on the phone trying to get a spot at the show they were hosting this weekend. We got in but man do we wish we hadn't of. It was a really small show and we had to drive 40 minutes to get there each day so the cost for the gas in my van was a little high. Once you took out expenses and such, I could have made more money sitting at home listing junk on eBay. It was disappointing and we will not be doing any of the Buckler shows in the future. Live and learn. It's all part of the learning curve, I'm afraid. Hopefully the show in New Port Richey will be a better experience.

Okay, so I'm off of this computer and heading on over to my work table. Don't forget, everything in my Blu Mudd Etsy Shop is 20% off today for Cyber Monday. Just enter CYBER20 at checkout to receive your discount. Have a great week everyone!

XXOO
Moriah

Discount?? Did someone say Discount??

2011-11-27T17:14:00.001-05:00

YOU BET!

It's time for Blu Mudd's Cyber Monday Sale. Purchase any items in our Blu Mudd Etsy Store on Monday, November 28th and receive 20% off! Just enter the coupon code CYBER20 when checking out.

I hope everyone had a great holiday (US peeps) and that you didn't stuff yourselves too much on turkey and all of the fixings.

XXOO
Moriah

Front Page! Yeah baby!

2011-11-26T20:29:00.000-05:00

We had a very long day at the craft show today but man was I happy to get home and see that I had several Etsy sales and that one of my pendants had made the front page of Etsy today!! Woot woot! Pardon me while I dance around and act a fool. :) That was awesome. I only wish I had been here to see it myself. Here's the treasury:

I'll talk about the show more tomorrow or Monday as it's a two day show and not over yet. :) Stay tuned!

XXOO
Moriah

WOYWW #129

2011-11-23T13:51:00.002-05:00

Hello! I signed up to participate each week in WOYWW. Every Wednesday I'll give you a little peek into my studio to see what's going on around here. If you'd like to participate too you can click on the badge over there on the right side bar to find out all about it.

So, what's on my worktable this Wednesday? Stamp carving mess, that's what! I have been commissioned to create 2 custom pendants for a lady in Ohio. She's giving them as gifts for Christmas. I drew out the design (mirrored image) on a cheapo pink eraser and then carved it using a stamp carving tool and some wood carving tools.

It came out right on the first try. I love it when that happens!

Now I'm off to clean up some bone dry pendants waiting for me in the food dehydrator. For those who celebrate, have a HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

I thought I'd share pics of the rest of my studio real quick before I run...

XXOO
Moriah

Ceramic Bracelets Are Sturdier Than You'd Think

2011-11-23T00:26:00.001-05:00

I have been wanting to make a ceramic bracelet for myself for a few months now but never got around to it..... until the other day that is.

I made about 12 or so of them as a test run, remember this photo?

When they were dry I cleaned up the edges and went about glazing and firing them. When I took them out of the kiln I was pretty pleased with how they turned out and quickly started putting the one I made for myself together to wear.

My husband came into the studio and sat down for a chat. I showed him the bracelets and he said, "Won't they break easy? Like if you hit them on a desk or table or something?" I didn't have an answer and then panicked thinking Oh My Gosh, what if they break??

So, I decided I'd be the guinea pig and test mine out before making the others available for sale. After 3 days of wearing it at all times (except in the shower), I am happy to report that not only has it not broken but it hasn't even chipped. No scratch, no crack, no nothing. Whoo hoo!

For the trial I did everything I would normally do. I cleaned the house, I cooked. I worked in the studio. Etc, etc. So, I'm really confident that they'll hold up really well and will be releasing them to my Etsy store next week. I'm not saying they won't break, say if you drop it on a tile or concrete floor or if you do a face plant and use your arm to save your face or something. BUT, normal day-to-day activities shouldn't break it. I have banged it a few times on my desk and it's still in one piece. Anyway, I'm thrilled to have my new bracelet and am working on my link making skills before I release finished ones. It's almost there.... just have to tighten up these wraps.

Colors Make Me Happy

2011-11-17T17:38:00.002-05:00

Here is a sampling of some of the newer pendants that I didn't get to share before the show. I'm really liking how all of these turned out. The hearts really make me happy. By the way, the hearts are Blu Mudd Exclusives! That's right! Designed by little ol' me. :)

Okay, so here goes the pendant parade....

I absolutely love these hearts!!!!

This one is a Blu Mudd Exclusive too! I love, love, love it!

I love how the turquoise peeks through the blue on this one. Gorgeous!

I just love the colors of all of these pendants. Funny how something so little can make you so happy! All of these pendants will be added to the Blu Mudd Etsy Shop later tonight.

I have taken a bit of a break from making pendants but I started a little somethin' somethin' new last night. I wanted to make a bracelet for myself and decided to make a few different ones so I could add them to the shop too. See the high tech equipment involved????

I have more to share but I'm going to close this post here since it's so picture heavy already. More later!

XXOO
Moriah

Our First Art and Craft Show

2011-11-13T18:45:00.000-05:00

Hellllllllllo everyone!

I am extremely sleep deprived and exhausted but I'm going to attempt to create a logical post in spite of it. :)

We attended our very first art and craft show today. I was so wired yesterday trying to get a million last minute things done and trying to make sure that I didn't forget anything that I didn't get to bed until 12:30pm and couldn't fall asleep until sometime around 3am. I hate that. Then I was back up again just 2 hours later to shower and hit the road for our 6am set up time. 0_0.

We got there and set up. We fumbled with the tent for a few minutes but then remembered how it went up. The set up was pretty painless and took us about 2 hours because we had to add eye hooks to the top of the displays and make last minute adjustments.

The show started at 9am and within 15 minutes of the show open, we had our first sale... WHOO HOO!!

We got a lot of awesome feedback about the pendants, some even going on and on about them which just made my heart sing! All of our customers were awesome & I enjoyed talking to everyone too.

There was a DJ right behind us playing Christmas music that we would chat a bit with here and there. He and his wife were really cool people and they must have felt the same about us because he frequently went over the speakers telling everyone to visit our tent and his wife also purchased a pendant from us. As a thank you for all of the free publicity he gave us, we gave him a free pendant with an upgraded suede necklace. It was the least we could do for such an awesome guy. :)

How I managed to look alive today I'll never know. Right now it's very hard to focus and my body is begging me to go to sleep. I'm trying to push through until at least 9pm before going to sleep though so I'm not up again at 3 am. I saw this picture that my husband took of me and my youngest daughter and I said, "WHOA! That doesn't even look like me!" I can really see how haggard I really was/am. I wonder if our customers thought I was a zombie... lol

We did pretty well today and I'm now over the nervousness about doing shows. I also made note of things I want to do differently next time (like get more than 2 hours of sleep). Now that this show is over and I have enough pendants to keep on stock, I can focus a bit on creating some gifts for Christmas for family members that I have floating around in my head and I want to make a lot more sculpted pendants too. BUT FIRST, I'm taking a day or so off and doing nothing but kicking my feet up and taking a breather. I think I've earned it after making and packaging 1300 pendants! :)

Okay, I'm getting delirious, better get off of here and slip into something more comfortable (sweats and a t-shirt - sexy huh?).

Goodnight peeps!

Feeling the Pressure

2011-11-07T23:38:00.001-05:00

My studio looks like a bomb went off in here.

We're 6 days away from the show and I still have a lot going on to get ready still. I'm getting really nervous about the whole thing but I'm not going to beat myself up about anything too much.

I'm still glazing pendants...

I'm still trying to fill all of the displays...

There are glazes and underglazes EVERYWHERE!

Pendants still waiting to be bisque fired...

There are earring sets waiting for packaging, Suede necklaces waiting to be packaged, unread mail, books and misc stuff all over my computer desk...

It's a bit of controlled chaos, really.

I do have faith that I will have enough product for the show and that everything will run smoothly. I just keep plugging away at it, every day and when Sunday gets here, whatever I have done will be enough.

That doesn't mean that I'm not feeling pressured or that I'm not nervous, because I certainly am. But, just like with everything else in my life, I just believe it will all be okay. :)

I did take some time to go to the book store with my teenage son the other day. He was so sweet. He said, "Mom, when we're done we're getting some Starbucks, my treat." Love that kid! So I ordered a Pumpkin Spice Latte and enjoyed every single sip of it. Yummmm! While he was buying the book he needed for his Language Arts class, I was looking through jewelry books. I wanted to find a book that would teach me how to do all of the closures and links because I have a ton of wire and want to play with making bracelets and such with ceramic beads and charms that I make myself. I was just about to give up when I came across this book, " Easy & Elegant Beaded Copper Jewelry; How to create beautiful fashion accessories from a few basic steps" by Lora S. Irish. It's packed with tons of different closures and links and how to make them. SOLD! I brought it home and have been flipping through it here and there when I take a break from show preparation. I can't wait to play around with some designs but that will have to wait until after the show.

Then, as if I don't have enough on my plate already, my son brings home a kitten today! We already have four cats and DO NOT want/need another one. He said it came running up to him at the neighborhood park when he was walking home from school today. I explained that there was no way we were keeping it and I took the kitten and my son and drove back over by the park. I sent Jesse door to door to see if we could find the owner. No one claimed the kitten. :( So, I have put a found ad on Craig's List and will be keeping my eye open for lost signs to go up. I really hope we find his owner but I'm only going to give it a week. Come next Monday, if no owner has been found, I will put him up for adoption. He's so cute and so friendly that I'm sure he'll get snatched up quick. Poor little guy. In the meantime, he'll be calling our lanai home. We're keeping him separated from our cats in case he's sick or has fleas and also so he doesn't mate with our only intact female. 0_0.

He is cute though, huh?

Anyway, that's the madness going on around here at the moment. The next time I post will be after the show this weekend. I'll be sure to take pics and tell you all about it.

Have a great week everyone!

~Moriah

What Will You Choose?

2011-11-03T04:01:00.000-04:00

Oh Yeah! I Love It When An Idea Works!

2011-10-28T01:39:00.000-04:00

I spent a good chunk of the day yesterday glazing tons of pendant and earring sets, hoping they'd work out the way I wanted.

I took them out of the kiln tonight and only had about 5 sets that didn't turn out well (bubbles in the glaze) but the rest all came out great!

I only had enough jump rings to make 5 pairs of earrings up so I guess I'll have to take a trip over to Joann's tomorrow and pick up some more. In the meantime, I worked on how I was going to get them in my packaging and came up with this:

I think I'm going to bring the earrings down just a bit farther on the card but other than that I'm pretty happy with it.

I also made some more pendants without earrings to go with them and some earrings without pendants to go with them. I don't know when I'll get around to listing a few in my Etsy Store but I should get to it before Sunday for sure. Most of these will be going into the selection for taking to the art and craft show Nov 13th but I do have a few picked out just for Etsy so stay tuned for those.

I guess I'll just string up these pendants since I have to wait until tomorrow to finish the earrings. Good Night Peeps!

~Moriah

Have You Seen The Price of Furniture Lately?

2011-10-27T23:53:00.000-04:00

Kiln furniture that is. Good grief that stuff is expensive!

When making pots, all you really need are a few kiln posts and shelves. When making pendants that are glazed on both sides, that method is completely useless.

In the very beginning I was looking a bead trees like these:

These would have worked but they are pretty pricey. Like $35 per set of 2 trees pricey! Are you kidding me?
I refused to pay $300 for bead trees so I started looking for an alternative. I came across photos on Flickr of people using the smaller kiln posts and just stacking them and I thought, "Brilliant!"....

But it wasn't really as brilliant as I thought because it was difficult to stack some of them where the pendant wouldn't touch the little kiln posts. I guess this method works well with beads but not so much for my pendants. I was losing it trying to figure out how to use the space in my kiln the most effectively. Grrrr...

So, rather than spend a fortune on kiln furniture, I decided to make my own. I made 6 to start with which fills half of my medium kiln.

They are stacked when in use. Three on the bottom, then filled with pendants and then 3 more stacked on top going the opposite direction. AWESOME!

So, tonight I made 6 more so that I can fill the whole kiln with pendants each time I fire. Don't you just love it when things come together? I sure do! Oh and cost? $15.00 for the 6 I've made so far. Not too shabby, eh?

Now it's time to unload the kiln and see how the pendant and earring sets turned out.....

Coming Full Circle

2011-10-26T02:52:00.001-04:00

WARNING: VERY WORDY POST AHEAD

I've been asked a few times recently why I'm making ceramic jewelry "all of a sudden" and if I'm going to still make art dolls. Here's the story behind the ceramic jewelry.....

I have been "crafty" for as long as I can remember. When I was little a perfect Saturday afternoon was having an appliance box I could cut windows and doors in and color flowers and bushes on the outside of to make a pretty snazzy play house. I loved to color and filled many coloring books and went through reams and reams of paper. Art class was my favorite class all through school and I also liked heading over to my grandmother's house to help her during the holiday season with all of the Bazaar crafts she made to sell.

When I was a teen I took art every year and filled notebook after notebook with poetry and journal writings. It seems that I was always doing something creative.

I had my first child at 20 and was in a very difficult and dysfunctional marriage for 8 years which didn't allow for much creative time. I was focused on survival and through the years I added two more children to the mix and well, let's just say I was way too stressed and way too busy trying to keep a roof over our heads and food in our mouths to worry about "crafts". I did sneak in a tiny cross-stitch here and there though. :)

Once I finally broke away from my ex-husband and started getting my happy back again, I looked into making things again. I started making tea lights out of baby food jars and faux stained glass paints. Then I played with making ornaments and painting things. Just here and there, on my off days, when time allowed.

In December of 2003 I met and started dating a man who had a love for ceramics and making pottery on the wheel. I had played with clay in school but never had the chance to fire anything or learn to use the pottery wheel so I was pretty excited to learn about ceramics and even more excited to be dating someone who was creative.

I had went back to school to earn my Associates Degree in Paralegal Studies and needed to take an elective so I chose to take ceramics, specifically, hand building. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! Every Saturday I would wake up excited and ran out the door to go to my 5 hour long ceramics class. I looked forward to those 5 hours each week. I learned pinch pots, coil pots and slab work. I was in heaven. Just the way the clay felt in my hands made me happy. Later, my boyfriend and I went in on a kiln and a pottery wheel together and he taught me how to use the wheel. I truly felt as though I had found my calling.

We never did get the wiring done to be able to use the kiln so I had quite a few pieces of pottery sitting around that needed to be fired but no finished pieces. Time went on, we grew apart and eventually broke up. He bought me out of my share of the kiln and wheel and I packed up and moved to Florida.

It was after marrying my current husband that my passion for creating really came alive.
In 2006 I discovered polymer clay and started making snowflake ornaments with faces from craft molds. I thought they were pretty cool at the time but looking at them now I just laugh.

I played with these for a few months and then saw the awesome dolls of Jodi and Richard Creager and thought, wow! I want to make that! So I sat down with my husband and we both tried our hand at sculpting just a head. I so wish I would have taken pictures of what the result was because they were AWFUL!!! I mean like so completely awful! Somewhere between an ape and an alien is the best way I can describe it. I was so discouraged and decided there was no way I was ever going to be able to sculpt dolls. My husband pushed me to keep at it and one day I sat down and forced myself to keep working at one little face until I got it right. After two separate 4 hour sessions, I finally had a face that looked human and I was so happy and hooked.

I finished that "doll" (more a sculpture than a doll) and I still have it today. It's really really bad, but it's the first one I made that looked human and it has a special place in my heart.

Don't you just love how his "clothes" are plastered to his body? Oh, and that's SOLID polymer clay. I didn't know about armatures back then.. lol. And the gloss. GLOSS! What was I thinking?

From there I went on to make another sculpture, a wizard. this one was also made as solid polymer clay... lol I just laugh and shake my head.

I was pretty proud of him at the time. I added texture to his clothing and worked really hard on those fingers and my family was impressed. :) God love them.

From there I read like a mad woman and learned about armatures and doll versus sculpture and I was trucking right along making gypsies and elves and then I saw a Haunted Dollhouse online and I was completely derailed.

I was so fascinated at the detail in such small stuff and how cool this haunted house was and how real it looked in the pictures and I had to try to make some myself. I started with a witch's cabinet and before you knew it I was making miniatures about 10 hours a day and couldn't get enough of it.

I made lots of witch cabinets, pushing myself with each one to make it better and better.

Then I started making Gypsy tables and pushed myself to make those better and better

and then I made a gypsy seller's wagon that I so wish I hadn't sold.

My all time favorite creation that I am totally kicking myself for selling was the Fairy Magic Store that I made in 1/2 scale. I spent weeks working on that piece and could cry now when I think about it being in someone else's home. Boo Hoo! I am happy to say that the person who bought it on eBay loved it every bit as much as I did so that made it a little easier.

At some point in 2008 I was really missing playing with clay. I was doing really really well with selling the miniatures and had even built up a pretty nice group of repeat buyers but I wasn't inspired anymore and I really wanted to get my hands in clay again. (I sometimes question that decision from time to time but I think I needed to do that)

So, I decided to make a few miniature dolls in a Halloween theme and that was all it took. I enjoyed working with paperclay so much that I ran with it.

As most of you all know I started making a lot of art dolls and had some success selling them but not the same kind of success that I had selling miniatures. I didn't really care because I was happier working with the paperclay. Something about that feeling of clay drying on my fingers is so pleasing to me. I made many dolls and participated in many doll swaps and I was really happy making them.... until.....

My husband bought me a kiln. We wasted no time deciding on a product and gathering the needed supplies and I was in my glory! After 8 years I was finally able to work with ceramics again and I was/am loving it. There's something so exciting about it for me. Learning how this glaze reacts with this glaze and how it then reacts with that clay and at that temperature and and and and. lol Pendants are satisfying because I can make a lot of them and when I'm testing techniques and glazing I'm not as invested in time and money with big pots so I don't feel bad when something doesn't turn out great, or as I had expected. Opening the kiln and seeing rows of pendants makes me happy and sure, I want to make bigger pieces too but for right now I'm thrilled making jewelry pieces.

So there you have it. I didn't start making ceramics "all of a sudden", I've simply been given the ability to do what I loved again. As far as dolls go, and miniatures for that matter, I plan to make more, just not as many as I used to. I have a gypsy table in mind that I want to make and I have 3 doll heads staring at me every day that are begging to be finished but they simply have to wait their turn as I work like a mad woman to make enough pendants to have in my very first art show in a few weeks.

I hope all of you will stick with my little blog here even though I change what I do a lot. I hope I inspire you in some small way or offer you something valuable here from time to time. Most of all, I hope you stick around because I've really enjoyed getting to know you all through your comments here. You guys rock!

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give you all a little peek into how my crazy mind works and why I seem to jump around from one medium to another. There is a method to the madness, I swear.... lol.

~Moriah

Miles and Miles

2011-10-26T00:27:00.000-04:00

of pendants. Okay, so maybe not miles, more like feet but still. :) I created some pendant and earring sets and pulled them from their bisque firing today. I know it's kind of hard to see their detail since they're all white at the moment but you can get an idea anyway. I initially thought these would make great gifts for my female family members until I realized that not many of them have pierced ears. Hmmmmm.... so, I guess I'll have to come up with something else. :) Dang it.

So, tonight I have been watching a workshop on Social Marketing and it has really been an eye opener. I have been doing things ALL WRONG! There are apparently two parts to this workshop, I'm still on part one but it's been really helpful and I will be changing how I market from now on. (Here's part two in case you're interested.)

I'm also taking the time to finally go through the Seller Handbook on Etsy. I've been putting all of this stuff off because let's face it, creating is a whole lot more fun than researching and learning about marketing. Y-A-W-N! I'm so right brained it isn't even funny. BUT, I'm forcing myself to exercise that left side too, just a little, every night. So, instead of watching my favorite programs on hulu.com, I spend my evenings learning how to be a better business person. It pains me, but it's important.

Do any of you struggle with this? How do you juggle it all?

~Moriah

Remember Those Giant Erasers I was Carving?

2011-10-23T19:12:00.000-04:00

I used some of them to make these pendants.... I really like the textures.

I also made some cat pendants. :)

~Moriah

Ceramic Pendants

2011-10-20T13:24:00.000-04:00

I added another handful of pendants to the etsy shop! I'm working hard to get ready for art and craft shows but to keep my etsy shop updated, I take a handful from each kiln load and add them to my shop. Here's a little taste of what was added yesterday:

Fall has finally arrived in Florida! I didn't think it was ever going to get here. We opened all of the doors and windows and I am loving the nice breeze coming in and all of the smells of Florida Fall. I'm really going to love those low electric bills! Running the a/c in Florida is expensive! Like $500/mo expensive! It will be nice to have a break from that for the next 7 months.

Now I'm off to load the kiln. Have a great day everyone!

~Moriah

Olive and Purple and Aqua... OH MY!

2011-10-16T15:48:00.000-04:00

I just added a bunch of pendants to the BLU MUDD ETSY SHOP... here's a little taste:

Stamp Carving

2011-10-16T00:57:00.001-04:00

I have a lot of stamps. The problem is, they're commercial stamps. I want some stamps that are my own designs but they have to have deeper grooves than commercial stamps do. So, I decided I'd do two different kinds for now. I started on the first type tonight.

I went to our local Dollar Tree store to buy some erasers. Much to my delight, I spotted these huge erasers...

They were angled to a point on the ends but I used a razor blade and cut them off. Then I cut them into three pieces. I bought ten of these erasers so I'll actually end up with 60 stamps because they're thick enough that I can carve both sides! I may even carve some of them on the edges too. So I think $10 for 60+ stamps is a great deal!

I used to have a tool by Speedball for carving stamps but I couldn't find it anywhere and was quite annoyed that here I was, all ready to start this project and was missing the key component! Grrrrrrr. I started looking around my studio for something else I could use and saw my wood carving tools. Perfect! I grabbed 4 of them and sat down to carve. I wanted to make a bunch of abstract kind of patterns and wanted them cut sort of deep because I plan to use these with clay.

I had to keep in mind what would be raised and what would be concave. I also realize that all of the tool marks are going to show in the clay and I'm actually really liking that idea. If I were just using these for ink, that wouldn't be a consideration. I think it will actually add to the design.

Anyway, I'm heading to the garage to bisque fire another load of pendants but I wanted to share what I was up to today. I've carved 14 two-sided stamps so far. I can't wait to try them in the clay tomorrow!

Have a great week everyone!

Paperclay Folk Art Doll Workshop Tutorial Now Available to All

2011-10-05T14:27:00.002-04:00

It's been 18 months since I released my Folk Art Doll Workshop. I had a lot of fun working with people, especially those who were new to paperclay. Now I feel it's time to share it with the world. I won't be doing this with every workshop I create but since this was my first one and I had so much fun with it, I think I want to share it. So, here you go, my gift to you, I hope you enjoy it.

Part 1 Link: http://youtu.be/HAQys7HMZT8

Part 2 Link: http://youtu.be/zHLNNoH_vqM

Part 3 Link: http://youtu.be/e9ADIs7Yv3U

Part 4 Link: http://youtu.be/zzP4YJV_Els

Part 5 Link: http://youtu.be/ch3RDpPlcKM

Part 6 Link: http://youtu.be/qL66d-sYKHE

Part 7 Link: http://youtu.be/jd-7SBTkQH4

Part 8 Link: http://youtu.be/kcsCH4QP89k

Part 9 Link: http://youtu.be/K1ptMr_VJms

On My Worktable Today...

2011-09-29T16:41:00.000-04:00

.....Pendant Racks.

I want to be able to get the most out of the space inside my kiln without blocking air flow so I came up with a few ideas and settled on this one. I took the concept of the Bead Tree (as seen below)

And changed it to meet my needs with pendants. So, I made them so they laid on their sides and designed it so that I will use three per row, making 2 rows of pendants per level.

Then I'll stack three more on top going the other direction and the three more, etc until I have filled the kiln. I made sure to make the notches deep enough so that the next stack wouldn't touch the top of the pendants. I'm pretty happy with the design so far. These are still drying. I have to fire them before I can test them but I'm pretty confident they'll work as I planned. Using this design in my Medium kiln, I should be able to get 7 pendants on each row and have 14 rows per level. This will allow me to do 98 pendants per level.

I don't know how many levels I'll have yet, haven't figured that part out yet. However, I'm thinking I should be able to do between 500 and 700 pendants per load this way. That will be a huge help getting ready for all of these shows coming up! I ran out of the clay body I was using to make these. I need to run to St. Petersburg to get some more soon. I like using this one because it has a ton of chunky grog in it which will make them really strong and stable. I can't use the clay I use for pendants because that clay is super smooth and fine. Thank goodness we have a great ceramic supply store in the area. I;d hate to have to pay shipping on 25lbs of clay!

ANYWAY..... that's what I'm up to today, what are you doing?

~Moriah

Lots of Art and Doll Supplies Listed

2011-09-28T22:15:00.001-04:00

I spent HOURS today listing more supplies on eBay. Lots of doll eyes and watercolor pencils and watercolor paints and miniatures and and and.... LOTS of stuff. I'm going to take a break from listing tomorrow I think. I need it. More will come soon. Please take a moment to check out my listings to see if there's anything you just can't live without. Thanks so much for helping me regain my sanity in the studio!

http://www.ebay.com/sch/piperblus/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_from&_ipg&_trksid=p3686

Always A Surprise

2011-09-26T13:20:00.000-04:00

When you work with glazes, you don't really have any control over the outcome. That's something that's hard for me to explain to people who don't have any experience with ceramics. I had a lady ask me to make a pendant like another I had made and I explained that I couldn't guarantee that it would turn out the same. She didn't understand. I explained that even when I do things the exact same way and fire them the exact same way, sometimes they come out differently. So I showed her these:

This first one was done in a white stoneware clay. I put burgundy underglaze in the recesses of the stamped design and then added 2 coats of the olive glaze over top. I then fired it to cone 5.

I used the same exact clay for this pendant. I added the burgundy underglaze the same way and added 2 coats of the olive glaze just as I did on the other. I fired it to cone 5 and LOOK! See all of that blue in there? See the ghost like mist around the stamped image? None of that is present in the first one.

The only time I can say I will get the exact same result is when I use underglazes under clear glaze. That has always been reliable and boring... lol I quite like the mystery of opening the kiln lid when I use colored glazes instead. However, when someone wants a commissioned pendant to be exactly like another, that can be both frustrating and impossible.

The second pendant is available in my Etsy Shop along with two others like it.

Let The Listing Begin!

2011-09-25T13:45:00.002-04:00

Okay everyone, I have taken pictures of the first 40 something items and am now starting to list them on ebay. I will be listing a little here and there all week so check back often. The first round has a lot of buttons, beads, vintage laces and trims, molds, thread, teddy bear eyes and noses, Dotee Doll Blanks, etc etc. Here's the link to my ebay ID: http://www.ebay.com/sch/piperblus/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Happy shopping!

Playing With Glazes is FUNNN

2011-09-17T00:47:00.001-04:00

I experimented with different colors of underglaze under the olive glaze I'm so in love with at the moment and got some really great results. I also made a few more of the bright colored pendants on white. I just added all of these to my ETSY SHOP.

My Studio Has Changed A Lot!

2011-09-15T02:53:00.000-04:00

This studio has changed and been rearranged and furniture swapped out for different furniture so many times that my head is spinning just thinking about it. This is what it looked like shortly after moving into this house in 2008:

The little notations were what I wanted to do with it then.

Then in 2009 I got some new to me furniture and swapped the older for the newer and the studio looked like this:

It stayed pretty much like this for awhile. I moved stuff around a bit here and there but for the most part it kinds stayed this way. Then this winter I acquired new desks and added shelving to the wall and more furniture and more stuff and more supplies and more, more, more until I felt like the walls were closing in on me and I couldn't stand it anymore.

I was no longer happy being in this room. I was overwhelmed. I couldn't have used all of the supplies I had acquired in 3 lifetimes and the guilt of having it all, spending money on it and not using it was driving me insane. So, I decided it had to stop. Something had to give. So started going through EVERY SINGLE THING I had in this room and decided if I really needed it or not and how likely it was that I would actually use it anytime soon. Then I started bagging up everything to sell on ebay and my studio looked like a tornado had blasted right through it!

I swear... I didn't think it would take as long as it did to go through everything and take out the unwanted furniture. I really believed I could knock it out in a weekend. Boy was I wrong! Four days later.... I finally finished. Well, as much as I can finish until I get everything sold and shipped out on ebay. But, it's so much better in here! I'm happy to be in here again and my creative flow is at raging river status! Can you believe that disaster above now looks like this?????::

The shelves under the breakfast bar are holding ebay stuff at the moment and so is the cabinet with 2 doors. Once I get everything shipped out, the cabinet will go to the garage and the shelves will house some of the stuff you see sitting on the floor by the glass doors and stuff on the file cabinet. BUT, It won't be too much longer until it's all out of here so I can deal for a little while.

Thank goodness that mess is over! Now it's time to kick back and enjoy the space. :) Oh, wait, that's right.... no time to rest. I have to start taking a million photos and writing a million descriptions for ebay. Sigh..... a woman's work is never done. :)

Moriah

Huge Studio Purge!!!!

2011-09-14T02:38:00.001-04:00

I have decided to purge the truck load of stuff that I keep holding onto for no good reason and lighten my load. It's been a 4 day process so far and I'm still not done but I thought I'd do a little video and show you what's going on here and give you a sneak peek of all of the awesome art and doll supplies that I'll be listing on ebay over the next week or so. I forgot to mention doll eyes in the video and I'm sure I forgot several other things but trust me, it's a ton of stuff!

I can't tell you how much better I feel in this space already! It's so freeing to rid yourself of stuff. I spent 4 years collecting as many supplies as I could get my hands on. Why? I have no clue. Everything I bought was at rock bottom prices and I think I loved the thrill of it. There was no way I could ever use up all of the stuff I had in here. Even if I created dolls, miniatures, paintings and ceramics every day, 18 hours a day, I wouldn't even put a dent in it. So, enough is enough! I have kept what I believe I will actually use and only the things I absolutely love working with. So much more manageable!

Anyway... enough of my rambling... check out the video! If the video below doesn't show up on your end, here's the link: http://youtu.be/_nvOh64cAk4

Moriah

Ghost Pendants and more...

2011-09-12T00:14:00.000-04:00

Available in the BLUMUDD ETSY SHOP!

Commissions and Ghosts

2011-09-08T13:29:00.000-04:00

Today I'm sculpting some commissioned pendants and some more ghost pendants. I'm also glazing another batch from the other day. Busy, busy! Just the way I like it!

I'm also finding it hard to type this because I'm sitting on just the edge of my chair because SOMEONE refuses to move!

What are you up to today???

Are You Sick To Death Yet?

2011-09-08T01:01:00.001-04:00

Yeppers! I went and changed the blog again! I was trying to keep the ceramic stuff somewhat seperate from here by starting a new blog for just Blu Mudd stuff. I have to say, it's been a major time sucker for me to try to work, keep up with updating Facebook, 2 blogs and 2 etsy stores. I can't take it anymore.

So, I have changed the name of this blog and changed the banner to reflect ALL of my creative endeavors. I hope I'm not making all of you crazy. It will be so much easier for me to just have the one blog.

I'm working on going through every single post on my blog and making sure they're labeled well. I'm only at 2009! BUT, the idea is, after I'm done, doll people will be able to find all of the doll posts, ceramic people all of the ceramics and miniatures people all of the miniatures, etc etc etc. Sound good?

I'm kinda diggin' the new banner myself, what do you think?

Back to work! ~Moriah

Steampunk Anyone?

2011-09-06T21:49:00.000-04:00

Some new pendants released today by Blu Mudd! Love them! Each one was created using a stamp by Tim Hotlz.

Labor Day Weekend Sale!

2011-09-03T15:44:00.000-04:00

Our sister store, Blu Mudd, is having a sale for the Labor Day Weekend! 10% off of your entire purchase September 3rd through September 5th only. Just enter this code: LABORDAYBLU11 during check out in the Etsy Store.

Part Doll, Part Pendant

2011-08-31T01:22:00.001-04:00

Eerie, ghost-like, doll face pendant. The way the glaze broke across the face made it look so eerie and creepy cool! I think I'm in love with this one. :) I made the pendant using a mold I made from a doll face I had originally sculpted in paperclay. It worked beautifully. Love, love, love! It's available in the Blu Mudd Etsy Shop.

Blu Mudd Customized Pendants!

2011-08-30T17:01:00.000-04:00

Go to http://www.etsy.com/shop/blumudd to purchase or you can email direct to blumudd.com@gmail.com

Aug 30th Blu Mudd Part 3

2011-08-30T13:47:00.000-04:00

Available in the Blu Mudd Etsy Shop!

Aug 30th Blu Mudd Part 2

2011-08-30T13:28:00.000-04:00

Available in the Blu Mudd Etsy Store!

August 30th Blu Mudd

2011-08-30T10:10:00.000-04:00

Available in the Blu Mudd Etsy Store

Today's Pendants Blu Mudd

2011-08-29T23:39:00.001-04:00

They're available in THE SHOP (Update: The owl has sold while typing this post! Wow!)

Mad Cow

2011-08-25T21:13:00.001-04:00

Oh my gosh! What a week! It seems like I haven't sat still since Sunday. The kids went back to school this past Monday and I am determined to get my schedule on track so I can take full advantage of my kid free hours during the week. So, I have been getting up a lot earlier than I used to and have been getting up a little earlier each day. Today I was up at 7:45am and I'm certainly feeling it right now (9pm). I have gotten A LOT done too though. It's amazing what one can accomplish when there's no distractions and no one needing attention.

I got a few pendant orders in the last two days, some requiring custom pieces made. So, I've been working on those and making some pendants for upcoming craft shows this fall as well. I really need to pick up the pace if I'm going to get everything done on time. I also made a few ceramic magnets for the frig (or wherever) that I thought turned out to be really beautiful! If you want to take a look, I posted about them over at the Blu Mudd Blog.

I'm still waiting for the last Traveling Doll to arrive. She's 6 weeks late! I'll be glad when this is over to tell you the truth. It has been such a hard time just trying to get the next doll! I don't think I'll be participating again in the future. Although, I am toying around with the idea of organizing a little doll round robin of my own here on my blog this fall/winter. I think I'll make groups of 4 (instead of 6) and have each person keep the doll only 3 weeks (instead of 6) each round. I'll also be throwing out the whole sending a journal along thing as I truly hated that process! Anyway, if you're interested in playing along, keep your eyes peeled for that post.

Now I'm off to glaze some more pendants before I pass out from sitting still too long. :) I'm either really exhausted or am developing Mad Cow Disease. LOL

Moriah

Blu Mudd Giveaway Results

2011-08-22T21:41:00.001-04:00

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't just a tad bit disappointed that more people didn't want to help me spread the word about Blu Mudd but such is life. For those of you who did take the time out of your busy schedules to help me out, YOU ROCK! Thank you so very much for reading my blog, leaving encouraging comments and being my friends. It touched me that you were willing to run out there and yell from the rooftops about my ceramic venture. Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

So, enough stalling already, right? Okay, okay, okay. Here we go.....

I made a little sheet of all of the entrants and how many entries they earned first.

Then I ran over to www.random.org to use their random number generator to pick the winners.

Okay, so now let's see who won Prize number One!

Whoo hoo! The winner of Prize number one is Grandma! Yay! Congratulations! Since you have 6 entries you will get your pick of SIX PENDANTS from my Etsy store OR custom name or initial pendants. I'll be in touch to get your choices and mailing info.

Okay, okay, now let's see who wins prize number TWO!

Whoo Hoo! Second prize goes to my dear friend and faithful blog follower, Jennifer Tobicoe! She wins TWO pendants of her choice from my Etsy Store or she can choose to have a custom name and/or initial pendant made for her. Way to go Jen! I'll be in touch to get your choices and mailing info. Congratulations!

Almost there! Now on to prize number THREE! Are you ready??!! okay, here we go....

Prize number three goes to....

Whoo hoo! Prize number three goes to Dena Wilton! Congratulations, Dena! You get your choice of one pendant from my Etsy Store or you can choose to have a custom name or initial pendant made for you instead. I'll be in touch to get your choice and mailing info.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in my little giveaway! Until next time....

GO FORTH AND CREATE SOMETHING WONDERFUL! That's an order. :)

Moriah

Art Dolls Only Ezine is Almost Here!

2011-08-22T16:03:00.000-04:00

Wanna see a sneak peak of Art Doll Only's Ezine? I thought so! Click the picture below to take a peek!

It's GIVEAWAY Time!!!!

2011-08-12T05:29:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! I think it's high time to host a giveaway, don't you? YAY!!!

So, here's the deal....

If you've been following this blog, you know that I recently started making ceramic pendants and beads. I am selling these works under the name Blu Mudd and I need your help getting the word out that Blu Mudd exists. In return, I'm having a giveaway! Who doesn't like free stuff??

There are several ways to win so here we go....

1. YOU MUST COMMENT ON THIS POST to receive one entry but you can earn more entries below. Make sure you leave me links to what you've done in your comment here so I can verify what you've done to help spread the word.

2. If you become a follower over at the Blu Mudd Blog, you will receive one entry.
3. If you post this badge on your blog's sidebar with a link back to blumudd.blogspot.com, you will receive one entry.

4. If you post about my giveaway on your blog, and use the picture below in your post and link to blumudd.blogspot.com, you will receive one entry.

5. If you "friend" me on Facebook, you will receive one entry.
6. If you post about this giveaway on Facebook, you will receive one entry.
7. If you tweet about my giveaway on Twitter, you will receive one entry.
8. If you follow THIS blog, you will receive one entry.
9. If you favorite the Blu Mudd Etsy Store, you will receive one entry.

I will draw three winners on August 22nd.

NOW HERE'S THE MOST AWESOME PART:

The First Prize Winner will win one pendant FOR EACH THING THEY DID TO SPREAD THE WORD! That's right! If the winner did all 9 things, they will have their pick of NINE pendants from the Blu Mudd Etsy Store! If they did 6 things, they'll have their pick of six pendants and so on. Rock on!

The Second Prize Winner will win two pendants available in the Blu Mudd Etsy Store.

The Third Prize Winner will win one pendant available in the Blu Mudd Etsy Store.

The winners can also choose to have a custom pendant made for them of their initial or first name as one of their prizes.

Don't forget to leave me links in your comment here so I can verify everything and make sure you're credited the right number of entries.

Thanks so much for all of your help getting the word out about Blu Mudd and Good Luck!

OH LA LA! Loving these..

2011-08-10T16:17:00.000-04:00

Tried out a new glazing technique (underglaze under a colored glaze) LOVE LOVE LOVE how they turned out!

These pendants are stoneware, fired to cone 6. They'll be in the Blu Mudd Etsy shop later this week.

Art Dolls Only Traveling Doll Project Round 4

2011-07-24T23:30:00.000-04:00

Round four of the Art Dolls Only Traveling Doll Project arrived at my door. I opened up the box and there was Nicole Johnson's doll staring back at me. I LOVED THIS DOLL! It was so hard for me not to hold her hostage... hee hee hee.

This is how Nicole's doll looked when she arrived:

I loved her just as she was but, I had to add something to her so I let her sit for a bit so that I could look at her and decide what she needed. I noticed that everytime I looked at her all I could think of was an old English maid so that's what I decided to do with her.

I added an apron, a feather duster and a pair of earrings. Here's what she looked like before I sent her of to Shauna:

One more round of working on dolls before we receive our dolls back! Stay tuned.

Squishy Love

2011-07-21T15:07:00.000-04:00

Mr. Swish (aka Squishy) LOVES my daughter's new bean bag chair! I think he thinks we bought it JUST for him... LOL

New Pendants Fresh From The Kiln Today

2011-07-19T00:58:00.001-04:00

I have been playing with different glazing techniques again. Here's what the first batch turned out like:

(YOU CAN CLICK THE IMAGE TO MAKE IT BIGGER)

To see close up pictures, please drop by the BLU MUDD Blog. It's all new and shiny. :) If you would like to keep up with my ceramic work, I hope you'll consider following Blu Mudd as well.

Tomorrow the family and I are heading out early for a much needed day of relaxing. We have a two hour drive first but after that we'll be spending the day letting all of our stress go while we float down river on a tube, enjoying the beauty and peace that nature provides. I for one am sooooo ready for that!

I've just whipped up a batch of Crock-Pot Cinna-Apples 'n Oats and put it in the crock pot so it'll be ready when we wake up in the morning.

From the Hungry Girl Books:

PER SERVING (1 heaping cup): 249 calories, 4.5g fat, 320mg sodium, 52g carbs, 7.5g fiber, 26g sugars, 4.5g protein -- POINTS® value 5*

This sweet 'n satisfying dish is like the love child of gooey cinnamon apples and brown sugar oatmeal. It's perfect for breakfast, dessert, or snack time. Yay!!!

Ingredients:
8 cups chopped Fuji apples (about 6 apples)
2 tbsp. brown sugar (not packed), divided
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, divided
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup light vanilla soymilk
1/3 cup sugar-free pancake syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread (like Brummel & Brown)

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix apples with 1 tbsp. brown sugar and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Stir to coat apples well. Transfer to the crock pot.

In the empty bowl, combine oats, soymilk, 1 tbsp. brown sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, syrup, and salt. (All remaining ingredients except butter.) Add 1 cup water and mix well.

Add oat mixture to the crock pot, and gently stir. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 7 hours.

Add butter and mix well. (Do NOT forget this step. Stick a Post-it to your timer if you have to!) Serve and enjoy!

MAKES 5 SERVINGS

So, off I go to try to grab some sleep. I'm not an early riser but I will be tomorrow! Have a fabulous day everyone!

Moriah

Ch-Ch-Changes.... AGAIN

2011-07-16T20:56:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! Man it's been forever since I've posted any new work! Unfortunately I'm not posting anything new today either. I know... Boo...Hiss. Sorry. I've been busy working on pendants but haven't glaze fired any yet and I have to finish up Nicole's doll for the ADO TDP and my daughter had a bday and and and... lol, you know how it goes.

So why am I bugging you then, you ask?

I wanted to let all of you know that MLB Studios has changed to MLBetterly Art Dolls. Nothing will be affected here but you may notice the new blog banner and new website logo. You may also notice that when you type in the old web address that you are now redirected to mlbetterly.com. So, please make a note of it. :) Now I'm off to finish up Nicole's doll and tomorrow I start listing more stash on eBay again. I hope all of you are enjoying your summer!

Newest Inlaid Pendant Designs

2011-07-01T21:16:00.000-04:00

These will be added to the BLU MUDD ETSY STORE later this evening...

On My Worktable Today

2011-06-30T18:34:00.000-04:00

A very successful experiment! I'm really happy with the results and can't wait to play with this technique some more!

Art Dolls Only Traveling Doll Project Round 4

2011-06-29T16:41:00.001-04:00

Emily's doll (Madga) arrived in Florida wearing nothing but her birthday suit and a headband! EEKS!
She had been painted in a flesh color already so I gave her some eyes, make-up, hair and a "do". I wish I could have done more but I only had two weeks to work on her. :( Hopefully Shauna and Nicole can give her limbs and clothes.

The Make-up:

Adding the hair:

And finally, her new do....

Bye Madga! Have fun in OK with Shauna!

moriah

Packing up, Sorting and Purging

2011-06-25T23:47:00.000-04:00

Some of you may already know that I am planning to move my studio into another room and the garage soon. To do that, I have to move a ton of stuff. I kept looking around at all of the stuff and got overwhelmed. So, I have decided to purge AGAIN. I'm going through EVERYTHING in here and deciding what I really need and what I'm just holding onto for the sake of holding onto it. The stuff I don't really need is going to go into my online garage sale very soon.

I will post a few days before it happens but keep your eyes peeled for that. You guys will get a first shot at everything. Whatever doesn't sell in my online garage sale will be listed on ebay. So, if you're in the market for paints, inks, ink pads, beads, watch parts, charms and various jewelry items, wood pieces, books, magazines, scrapbooking stuff, fur, well you get the drift.. LOTS OF STUFF, then keep your eyes open for the online garage sale post coming soon.

<3 Moriah

Gearing Up For Fall Shows

2011-06-17T14:55:00.001-04:00

Most of you know that I have been working like a mad woman to get ready for doing art and craft shows this fall. I'm still searching for that magic formula for the initial pendants but I'm really liking the brown and turquoise glaze on design pendants. I finally got a bunch packaged up and listed in my

BLU MUDD ETSY SHOP

and then I thought I'd pull out the displays that Marina gave me to see how they will look with pendants on them and it looks like they are going to work great! Thanks so much, Marina! These are going to be a huge help.

So, we'll have these displays full of the design pendants running along the back edge of our tables and then in front of these we'll have pans full of initial pendants, sorted by letter.

It's so nice to finally see some finished products and start to see what the display will look like. It's getting closer and closer.

I promise I'll have some more doll related stuff to share soon. I'm working hard to get the next Art Dolls Only Traveling Doll Project doll finished and in the mail so I'll have some photos of that to share soon. Once I finally decide what we're doing for the initial pendants, I'll have more time to work on dolls and will devote one or two days to doll making instead of ceramics. Promise. :) I'll also be making quite a few new workshops this winter so stay tuned for that!

Oh, I almost forgot! Keep checking back for a giveaway I have planned very soon. :)

Hugs,
Moriah

Two Part Mold Trial Continues..

2011-06-08T12:43:00.000-04:00

Okay! So I made the second part of the mold and I have to say, it's looking pretty good. Whoo hoo! I cleaned up both pieces and set them to dry completely. Once they're completely dry I'll pour some porcelain slip into it and see if it truly is as good as it looks. Stay tuned....

Two Part Plaster Mold Trial

2011-06-08T02:43:00.000-04:00

I've decided to attempt molding. The goal is to eventually make molds of my sculpts but for now, I'm just practicing with what I have around. So, for my first mold making attempt I chose to use the mannequin body that I cast and fired not too long ago. So far so good! I have only made the first side of the mold so far but I'm really pleased with how it came out. It needs to be cleaned but I will do that after I have poured both pieces of the mold. The real test will be to see if I get a clean cast from the mold. Stay tuned...

Almost There...Pendants, clay and doll parts

2011-06-01T18:17:00.001-04:00

I think I am finally getting to point where I know what I want with these pendants and what works and what doesn't. I have two more "styles" of glazing I want to try before I decide but I'm pretty sure I know where I'm going to go with this now. It's been a LONG... frustrating and fun at times process but it was all necessary to figure out what I wanted to do.

Here I'm underglazing some more pendants in a different manner to see what they'll look like..

Here's a bunch of different styles ready for photo shoots...

I really like the purple swirls one and the aqua one as well..

Better pic of the purple swirls one..

I'm really loving the Blue Denim glaze for patterned pendants! I don't care much for it when used on the initial pendants or the custom names pendants but any design with a lot of texture looks great with this glaze so I will definitely be making more pendants with it soon.

I also quite like this shade of green in these swirly designs with the white background.

These initial pendants came out great. I'm thinking this style may lean more towards the kids and teens though with these bright candy colors.

So anyway... I'm getting there slowly but surely. :)

On the doll front, nothing much has been happening lately. I've been to focused on figuring out kilns, glazes and clay bodies instead. I did however fire some more doll pieces after a recent trip to Marina's house where we cast some more. I am happy to report that I DID NOT blister these. :)

One problem I did have is that I forgot to make the arm holes for the ball jointed doll body before I fired it! DOH! I'm going to try to make the holes with my dremel... we'll see what happens...

I finally got the molds I ordered on ebay. They make 3 different dolls that are 3 inches tall when put together. I took them to Marina's with me and we both cast from them. I'm not sure I like the way the molds are made but they are great for me to learn to cast and play around. The goal, of course, is to make molds of my own sculpts to cast in the future. One thing at a time though.. Oh, and Marina gave me a bunch of stamps to play in the clay with. They are all from her line of stamps at Cherry Pie Art Stamps. The wire you see in the picture is for firing my pendants in the kiln. The 15 gauge stuff just wasn't cutting it because there was too much sag so I bumped up to 9 gauge. We'll see how that works instead.

In the last few days I made test tiles of the three clay bodies I'm using at the moment and every single underglaze and glaze I have so I can just refer to the tiles when I want to know how something will look before I do it. I then made little wood strips to hold them and will be hanging those on the wall soon.

The porcelain slip I ordered came today, along with a book about kilns and glazing that I bought on ebay. No more having to use Marina's slip now that I have my own. :)

So...... that's what I've been up to... what's new with you?

Moriah

Student Photos

2011-05-23T13:22:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd share some of the fabulous creations coming from the Folk Art Doll Workshop. Aren't they fabulous???

The Folk Art Doll Workshop is ongoing so if you'd like to make your very own Folk Art Doll, come on over! The workshop is also available on DVD (US and Canada residents only) if that works better for you.

Today's Kiln Firing was Both a Success and a Failure...

2011-05-15T23:00:00.000-04:00

The failures:

Most of the procelain doll pieces blistered. My kiln was too hot. So, I have to get some witness cones and not rely on the pyrometer in the future.

This piece was/is for a mannequin. It blistered too but I rather like the effect on this piece so I plan to use it anyway. I guess this one is a fail because it blistered but a success as well because I like it. :)

I forgot to take a picture of the 3 pendants that fused together before I threw them away. They had slid into one another and fused. The color was perfect but all 3 pendants that I glazed that color fused together. Doh! So, I'll fix that glitch in the process next time.

The successes:

This is the only complete doll I got out of the 4 dolls I fired. It was in the very center of the kiln (furthest from the heating elements) so I guess I shut off the kiln before the blistering occured on this one. There are a few blisters on the torso but I think it will still be perfectly usable.

This is a sampling of 3 of the 5 pendants that made it. The blue glaze is a bit darker than I'd like so next time I will only do 2 coats instead of three and the tan one came out perfect. None of the pendants blistered.

So, tomorrow I will bisque fire some more pendants and try again. Once I get the temps straightened out and the number of coats for the glazes, I'll start firing in the bigger kilns with much bigger loads.

I have to admit, even though this process has been frustrating, it's also been kind of fun. I'm in no way discouraged and I will keep banging away at this until I get it just right. I hope I don't bore the crap out of you in the process. :/

Hugs,
Moriah

Test Kiln Bisque Fire is a Success!

2011-05-15T01:06:00.000-04:00

YAY! You don't know how nervous I've been all day that this stuff would explode, crack, whatever. I am so happy to announce that the test load bisque fired perfectly. Tomorrow I will glaze the pendants and fire everything to cone 6. This is also when I will go back to pacing the floor, lol.

Stay Tuned!

Here's the pieces after bisque fire:

All of the pendants in the above picture do have designs or initials on them. They just aren't showing up with my flash. Here's a pic of two of the initial pendants close up:

FINALLY! Kilns are Smokin' Hot!

2011-05-14T18:50:00.000-04:00

We FINALLY fired up two of our kilns today! Whoo hoo. In the medium sized kiln I'm firing the kiln posts that I made myself. These are meant to lie flat as they are going to be part of the stand system I came up with to fire my pendants.

In the small kiln I'm bisque firing some porcelain doll parts and a few test pendants...

Fingers crossed it all goes well. I took ceramics in college but they always fired our pieces for us and they never taught us to fire ourselves. So, while I'm not a novice where ceramic art is concerned, I am a novice where firing kilns is concerned. EEK! I'm a nervous wreck! Tomorrow I'll post again letting you know if it was a success or a complete disaster. Ha ha ha

If any of my fabulous readers have kiln firing experience and would be ever so kind as to pass on some knowledge to me, I would be oh so greatful. :) <3

Okay, I'm off to pace the floors into the night.

The Traveling Doll Project Continues...

2011-05-13T13:11:00.000-04:00

For more information about the Art Dolls Only Traveling Doll Project, please visit their blog.

To see the posts about Zeb and Calee's journey, please click on the links below:

Round One

Round Two

Zeb and Calee arrived on my doorstep and when I opened the box I was smitten. Martha and Lezlei had done a fabulous job on these little cuties and I was dying to work on them. However, they arrived when I had out of town family staying with me so I couldn't do anything with them right away. Once I was able to work on them I decided to focus on Calee since Lezlei had done such a fabulous job with Zed. Calee was looking a little bare so I stitched up a green tutu to match her fabulous green boa.

Then I decided she just had to have black and white striped leggings (because I love them so much myself) so I painted those on with acrylics.

Then I decided she needed some eyelashes and make-up. Afterall, what circus performer doesn't have make-up? I so wanted to keep adding stuff to her but I had to force myself to stop so the three people after me could work on her too. :(

The last thing I added as some nail polish on her fingers.

I was SOOOOOO tempted to keep these little cuties here with me but alas, I could not. So, they have now left Dunedin, FL and ar headed to OK where they will meet up with Shauna. I will miss them! Sniff sniff.

Chit Chat In The Studio

2011-05-08T03:28:00.000-04:00

Hello my awesome blog readers! I was too lazy to do a written blog post so I did a video instead. I had to chop it into two parts because it was too long as one. For my Hive followers, here are the links to the videos since the videos don't show on the Hive site... for the rest of you, the videos are embedded below.

Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PfVfhAFeFA

Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L0rZ-F2cmM

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Doll Heads...

2011-04-28T01:30:00.000-04:00

Painted and crackle medium applied...... stay tuned.

So much going on, here's some of it...

2011-04-24T19:27:00.003-04:00

Hey there fabulous people! Good grief it seems like forever since my last blog post. I kept meaning to do a post but then I'd get busy doing something else and forget. Anyway, I'm here now, forcing myself to sit down and focus to make this blog post happen. It's going to be all over the place so hang in there with me.

So..... as many of you know, my mother came to stay with us for 10 days just recently. It had been almost a year since we had seen her last and I was so glad that she was coming for a visit. The best part was that she was coming when there wasn't a holiday and when the kids were in school during the day. Usually when she comes its during Christmas and I'm so stressed trying to get everything done that I can't really relax enough to spend time with her. Also, when the kids are around you can't get a word in edgewise because they're all about "Grandma!!!!" and vice versa.

This time, she came and we were able to just relax and spend some time together without the distraction of the children. I took her to the artsy shops in Dunedin, the marina, the antique shops in Tarpon Springs, the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks and the whole family spent a day at Fort De Soto Beach. While she was here I worked on her dolls and made the clothing that she requested. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed our visit together.

Fort De Soto

Fort De Soto

As you can imagine, for those 10 days no work got done and no creative stuff got done either outside of the making of her dolls. So, even though I was VERY sad to see her return home, I was happy to get my hands dirty again.

I haven't formally announced this yet but we (my family) have started a new business! Whoo hoo! Don't you worry, MLB Studios isn't going anywhere. The new business is called Blu Mudd and is the very beginning stages of production. We will be making wearble ceramic art and we are working hard to build inventory at the moment. Here's a photo of 1,400+ of the first round of pendants in their rough form. These still need to be sanded, glazed and fired.

Our dining room is moonlighting as a pottery studio at the moment since it's now WAY too hot to work in the garage. It's a pain in the butt cleaning off the table and then setting it back up again for meals but what are you gonna do? :)

So, my days now are filled with pendants and my nights and weekends are devoted to dollmaking.

Here's three new dolls in the making, well they're heads anyway.

I love sculpting in front of my computer while I watch shows on Hulu. I haven't been watching much lately and my que has piled up! There's like 30+ shows in there that I haven't watched. EEPS!

Okay, what else? I know there's a bunch more but my head is as scatterbrained as this post is at the moment. Um..... hmmmm... OH YEAH! I also revamped my daughters' room! Finally! Remember all of the whining and griping I did about having to paint walls and how I hate it and how I put it off over and over again?? Well, I got my act together and got it done before my mom got here for her visit. I wasn't thinking when I started and didn't take before pictures but I'll dig through some old photos and see if I can find any from when we moved in... just a sec...

Hmmm... I only have this one was is from 3 years ago but I guess it'll do..

So this is before, kind of...

And these are after:

We have installed a full length mirror between their closet doors since these photos and I'm still working on their curtains.

In other news... I was recently notified by Jess of Little Dirt Lane that I had won a doll in her giveaway! Yay me! I'm so excited. I haven't received her yet but she should be arriving any day. Since I don't have her to take a picture of my own, I borrowed Jess' picture and hope she doesn't mind.

Isn't she adorable????

Also, I was contacted by Rhonda of Raggedy Rhonda's about doing a swap. My Folk Art Doll Workshop in exchange for a handmade doll. I of course agreed and can't wait to see what Rhonda comes up with for me. I'll post pictures as soon as I receive the doll.

I've been spending a lot of time with my dear friend Marina lately too. It's so nice having friends that I have so much in common with. I am so thankful that she lives close enough that we can get together often. We are headed to her house again tomorrow for a day by the pool and of course some doll play. The kids are very excited. They think Marina is awesome (and so do I).

I have some ADO Traveling Doll Project wip news as well but I haven't taken any photos yet so that will have to wait until next time. We have a storm rolling in here at the moment so I think I'll wrap this up now and enjoy the sound of the thunder.

More later! What have you been up to lately? I miss everyone.

Moriah

Mary Elizabeth and Annabelle New Works.

2011-04-16T14:52:00.000-04:00

Do you remember this face?

After putting the crackle tutorial on my blog I received an email from my mother asking what I was planning to do with this head. Translated= "Moriah, I want this doll!" :)

So, I agreed to make this head into a doll for her as she was coming to visit us here in Florida soon.
So, I got busy working on it, a little here and a little there. Then I decided to make a second doll for her as well so I sculpted up another smaller head and gave it a body.

When my mom arrived in Florida, neither doll was finished. Sigh... But I promised her that they would be done before she left. She gave me input about what kind of dresses she wanted and which fabrics she wanted. She also chose their hair color and styles.

I had so much fun working on these dolls! They're bigger than I usually make and a totally different style than I usually work in but I LOVE how they turned out and you will definately be seeing more of this style of doll from me in the future.

Without further ado, I present Mary Elizabeth and Annabelle!

Mary Elizabeth is a cloth doll with a paperclay head and stands 18 inches tall.
Annabelle is a cloth doll with a paperclay head and stands 13 inches tall.

hugs,
Moriah

2011 ADO Traveling Doll Project Update

2011-04-03T17:45:00.000-04:00

Lezlie's "Big Maggie" arrived at MLB Studios the first week of March. It took awhile before I had the free time to work on her but I finally got busy and worked on her. I'm still working on her journal page but it will be finished and Big Maggie will be on her way to her next stop with Shauna.

This is how Big Maggie looked when she arrived... Didn't Lezlei do a fabulous job on Maggie's journal?? I just love it!

Maggie wandered around my studio for awhile, talking to other dollies that were unfinished like she is and looking at my supplies wondering what I would be using on her.

Finally I got some free time and got busy giving Big Maggie some hair and make-up!

I had so much fun working on this doll and wanted to keep going and give her legs and clothes too but that wouldn't be fair to the 4 other doll artists waiting to get their hands on Big Maggie. Pout. So, I had to force myself to stop and wrap her up so she could continue on her journey. I'm still working on my page in her journal but she'll be ready to head to Shauna by the April 5th mail date.

Goodbye, Maggie.... I'll miss you!

Don't Ya Just Love Spring?

2011-03-18T02:23:00.001-04:00

Every Spring the trees behind my house fill with pretty pink flowers and then they drop into the pond. I just love looking out my back door and seeing all of these flower petals floating on the surface.

Sophie couldn't care less about the lake but she sure loves the sunshine!

A Gift From A Friend

2011-03-17T00:01:00.000-04:00

Fellow doll artist and dear friend, Marina Lenzino, made this awesome doll for me for my birthday! She even painted a little portrait of the doll and attached it to the front of a handmade card for me. I absolutely adore this doll! Marina definitely has a grasp on the type of doll I like because she couldn't go wrong with black and white stripes with a goth feel! I absolutely love this doll!

Below are Marina's photos because I simply haven't had a minute to photograph the doll myself.

Introducing Blodwen by Marina Lenzino of Marina's Dolls:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! :)

Go check out Marina's blog and her Etsy Store and I'll see you next time!

Moriah

Birthday and Projects

2011-03-16T12:58:00.003-04:00

Hello peeps! It seems like forever since I did a blog post. I've been so occupied with other things that I just haven't gotten over here to say hello. What have I been occupied with? LOTS!

We just celebrated my birthday on March 7th and I had a fabulous day! I did some primping of course. Nails, hair, shopping, etc. I spent the whole day with my favorite people and fell into bed that night. :)

A few weeks before my birthday my husband and I were at Wal-Mart looking for a gift for my youngest daughter because she made the Honor Roll. Yay Jada! While we were looking around we saw that they had Monster High Dolls back in stock so we got the Draculaura one for Jada and I couldn't help but get the Frankie Stein one for myself.. lol. Well, after coming back home and looking at mine and Jada's I announced to my husband that I had to have them all! I guess he listened because for my birthday he gave me all the ones I had decided I wanted! By George he does listen when I speak!! lol

So, now I have a whole row of Monster High Dolls lined up on the top of my computer desk and I have to admit, they make me happy!

I don't usually like "toy" or mass produced dolls but I love these!

Speaking of mass produced dolls, while I was out with my daughters one day I saw some tiny dolls called lala loopsies and I thought they were so cute! The girls talked me into buying them each two and I of course had to get some too! Grief! However, when I got home, I got out the paints and repainted mine to look a little more goth instead. lala loopsies are cute but they're kind of "bubblegum" so I had to change that!

Okay, so you remember the post I did where I shared with you a link to Terri's Blog and her fabulous Fearie School Tutorial, right? Well, I was so inspired by her videos that I just had to make one for myself! It's nearly finished now, I have just a few more things to add to the inside and then I have to make the faeries. I was going to wait until it was finished to share but I figured what the heck, so here's where I'm at with it so far...

I made the furniture from wood pieces I had around the studio and gathered up a bunch of miniature items I had laying around and added those too. The faeries I'm making for my school are going to be in clay instead of digital images. I want to add a little set of shelves on the left hand side to hold some scrolls and then I'm going to add coat hooks on the right and put jackets and backpacks hanging there. I've had to put this on hold for a bit while I work on some things that I'm making for my mom when she comes to visit in April so I don't know when it will be finished but I'll post the finished photo when it is. Have you started working on your Faerie Schools? Better get busy! My daughters have started making theirs!

I also started gluing together the tiny dollhouse I bought and assembled from Michael's months and months ago. I glued all of the pieces together and started painting it. The outside is painted but not the inside yet. Why oh why didn't I paint first and then glue??? ARGHHH! Oh well. Anyway, here's where the dollhouse is at the moment...

I'm going to crackle all of the cream colored areas. I think it's so stinking cute! It's about 1:24 scale or 1/4" scale but I don't think it's exact. I have another one too, it's a goth kind of mansion looking one but I haven't even opened the package on that one yet.

Moving on......

Another project I'm working on is for the Art Dolls Only Traveling Doll Project. I will be working on 5 different dolls during the next 6 months and I'm having a blast with this! I received Lezlei's Doll recently and she is the first doll that I'll work on. Her name is Big Maggie and I'm in the process of adding a little somethin' somethin' to her now but I don't have pics to share just yet. I can however, show you a pic of her arrival here at MLB Studios...

I'll do up a separate post to show you what I've done to add to Maggie later.

Another thing I have been working on is putting up shelves in my studio for my fabric. I used to keep the fabric in a 2 door closet but I really wanted it above my sewing station and where I could really see what I have so I can find things easier. So, I went to Lowe's and bought some cheap pine planks and had them cut to the size I needed. I put them on the wall with the standard shelving assembly. It's really raw and I may paint them later but for now they're serving me well!

Now all of my fabric, lace and trims are right there above my sewing station. Love it!

Lastly.... I am happy to announce that my fabulous husband picked up a BRAND NEW Paragon Set N Fire 24" kiln from a local auction house for me! Whoo hoo! I LOVE ceramics and haven't been able to do it for years and years because I haven't had a kiln. Joel was able to almost steal this kiln. We looked online to see what they sell for and found prices ranging from $2,000 down to $1,200. Joel won this kiln for $310! AWESOME!!!! I do so love the auction.

It's a high fire kiln (to cone 8) and has never been fired. I think I'm in love. :)
Joel and I went in search of a ceramics supplier in the area and after going to two laughable "suppliers", we ended up in St. Petersburg, FL at Highwater Clays. Awesome place!!! They have everything we could possibly want or need and were extremely friendly and helpful. Their prices are fabulous too! I'm not a fan of driving all the way to St. Pete but I'm more than willing to make the trip to go to this place. If you're in the Tampa Bay area and need ceramic supplies, you should definitely check them out.

We picked up the kiln shelves that we need, some kiln wash and two different types of clay while we were there yesterday. We'll be heading back again this weekend to pick up kiln posts, cones, and a few glazes. So... don't be surprised if you start seeing some ceramic items coming from the studio in the next few months.

For now I am focusing on finishing the redo of my daughters' room and painting the guest bath before my mother arrives for her visit in April. I also have to finish a doll for her and a secret gift as well. So, I better get busy! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Moriah

Inspiration and Mail Goodness

2011-02-27T21:02:00.000-05:00

Last night I was clicking through the links on Cindy's Blog and came across Terri's Blog. I'm not much into shabby chic or dainty kind of things so I ALMOST clicked off of her blog at first glance but then I saw she had some free tutorials so I decided to stay a bit and see what she had put together. The first set of videos I watched were her Fairy School Videos and man oh man.... I can't wait to make one myself now! Hers is just so stinking cute and I can't stop thinking about how I could make my own.

The second video I watched was her Elegant Shoe Tutorial. So many ideas started to swim in my head! I have a few people in mind for these little pretties so they're on my to-do list now as well.

If you have a minute, stop by Terri's Blog and check out her tutorials. You won't be sorry!

I have been dying to share some things with you but have been so busy with work and life that I haven't had the chance to take some pictures. So, I decided I'll share anyway and just use the pictures that Pattee and Michele took instead. I hope they don't mind.

First up is Pattee's little dolls that arrived here the other day.

Apple and Dalila were the door prize that Pattee offered up in the OWOH blog event this year and I was lucky enough to win them (you regular readers knew this already). I thought the picture of them was so stinking cute and well, the whole black and white striped leggings thing stole my heart as many of you well know. When I opened the package, they were even cuter than in their picture! I absolutely adore them both and am so happy to have them come live in my studio! You should definitely get on over to Pattee's Blog if you haven't visited her before. She's a great doll artist and an all around really nice person. You can find her at her BLOG, her ETSY STORE and her NING Site. Thank you SOOOOO much Pattee!

The next thing I have to share with you is the doll I recently bought from Michele Lynch of Michele Lynch Art. When I first saw this doll I knew I had to have her! I was cruising my blog reader and saw Michele's post on her BLOG about this doll and didn't even finish reading the post before I clicked on her link for her Etsy Store and snatched her up!

I love everything about her! She's about 12 inches tall and can hang on the wall which is exactly what I did with her after studying every square inch of her for about an hour... lol. I don't know if it's that she resembles Wednesday Addams or that she's black and white with stripes or what it is but I absolutely love her and had to have her. I also want to mention that Michele has awesome customer service skills too! She wrapped up the doll very carefully and even used coordinating paper and ribbons. She was all over the communication and she shipped out lightening fast!

I think it's important that dollmakers and artists in general support one another. This world is plenty big enough for all of us and if we'd stop looking at everyone as competition and start looking at them fellow creative beings, this art world would be a much friendlier place. So, to practice what I preach so to speak, I thought it was important to say a little something something about two fellow creative beings that have made my day a little brighter. Thank you ladies!

Now, I'm off to get my hands dirty in some clay! Take care of yourself and those around you.... OUT!

Moriah

On My Worktable This Evening...

2011-02-27T18:58:00.001-05:00

A 1:12 scale Doll's doll trunk

With working drawer

The doll was not made by me, she's an Ethel Hicks cutie that I got at the miniature show this past year. I haven't made the doll for the trunk yet so I used this one for the WIP pic. This little trunk is 2 inches tall by just a little over an inch wide.

I figured out all of the measurements for the wood parts and got all of them glued together. Now I have to decide how I want to decorate it, inside and out. Colors, papers, stain or paint, handles, closures, hinges, etc etc...

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous so it's hard to make myself sit down and work but I have recent;y been inspired to make a little somethin' somethin' for myself so I'll be working on that soon as well as finishing up 2 dolls and this little trunk. So, stay tuned... hopefully I can get it all done.

Oh, and I also want to talk about a doll I recently bought and give the dollmaker a little shout out here but I think I'll do up a seperate post for that, probably tomorrow.

So what have you been inspried to create lately?

Moriah