Creative Impressions In Clay :: ClayButtons.com Blog

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

This is a new button that will soon be added to the Celtic Collection, one of my most popular collection of buttons. This button was glazed in the same colors as the toggle buttons below. 1 3/8 inches in diameter, it is the largest button in this collection. It will be available in different colors, that I will be testing soon.
As always you can have buttons glazed in the color of your choice…Special orders don’t upset us.
This button will look great as a pendant. I will have them at the Bead&Button Show in June.

Toggle Button Collection
I have been wanting to create a toggle collection for while. They are very textural, which I like a lot. I recently had a request from someone for toggle buttons in turquoise w/2 holes, no shank. These are the samples I glazed for her. I am going to experiment with different color combinations. I put on Walnut Brown in the recesses (which looked good by itself), Teal Blue in some areas and overglazed with Duncan’s Envision Glaze, Caribbean Blue. It was interesting to see how the brown turned out, almost a Teal itself.
There is another design but I couldn’t get the mold to turn out correct. Hopefully I can remake the mold this weekend with my new molding compounds that came this week.
What do you think? Are they Toggley enough? I’m sure that’s a word.

I mentioned my granddaughter in a previous post. This is Anastasia with the family dog, Valentine, a white boxer. She is 9 months old and almost crawling. Annie looks like her mother when she was a baby.

These are pictures of my studio, where I spend most of my waking hours. Unless of course I’m shuttling kids somewhere.
This is where I work most of the day. at the counter making and glazing buttons. I made the stained glass piece in the window.


Some glazes and my fax machine that decided to die last week.

My computer area to blog and create ads and such. I need a new computer!!!
Last month the studio was cleaned up, nice and neat but I start working and don’t take the time to put things away.


This one is amazing, I actually organized and marked each glaze bottle and jar! Ignore the bucket on the top shelf for the leaking roof.

My office and shipping supplies. Porta crib for my grandaughter.

Table that has buttons set up to photograph. It’s messy but the home of Creative Impressions In Clay!!

I love these shoes! These were a Christmas present from my husband (after sending him many links to online stores!). They are a limited edition clog from Dansko. Dansko shoes are the only shoes I can stand in all day. I have tried other shoes but these are the best. These are felted and appropriately named Confetti. Good job on the name Dansko!
I had to share these. I get so many comments when I wear them out of the house. My kids and husband are used to it and nothing phases them. Sorta like when my husband came home from school the other day, I said “I know I look like a dork.” Of course his response was “how is this different than any other day?” I was wearing my normal Fred Babb t-shirt, with capri jeans, black Dansko clogs and purple tie dye socks. Yeah, that’s a visual! My feet had got cold while I was working so I put on my fave socks! Immediately took me to dorkdom. My daughter stopped by with the baby and I told her I know I looked like a dork. She told me it was OK. The baby was mismatched too!
But then she and I were going to college together and were in the same art classes. She had seen worse! But then so have I! Have a fantastic non-dork day!

I’ve been working on new items for upcoming shows. This is an Amulet Bag. I used cashmere for the bag and some wonderful fiber I bought at the Bead and Button show last year. I used the Small Hand Button from the Graphics Collection to adorn the front. Of course silk ribbon too.

Definiton:: “An amulet (from Latin amuletum; earliest extant use in Natural History [Pliny], meaning “an object that protects a person from trouble”) or a talisman (from Arabic tilasm, ultimately from Greek telesma or from the Greek word “talein” which means “to initiate into the mysteries.”) consists of any object intended to bring good luck and/or protection to its owner. Potential amulets include: gems or simple stones, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants, animals, etc.; even words said in certain occasions – for example: vade retro satana – (Latin, “go back, Satan”), to repel evil or bad luck.”

I bought 6 different colors of cashmere. I was going to make different colored necklaces with ribbons, beads and buttons. And possibly put a message stone in each (that wouldn’t really be a stone, it would be made out of clay). I hope to have large variety.
What do you think? A go or no go?

Where do you store all of your buttons? In Button Boxes, of course! These lovely 9 drawer boxes are where all the styles of buttons are stored after they are made. They are also my display for doing shows. The boxes stack very nicely and make an attractice display but are heavy to carry around. I was considering changing to a wire display and all the buttons would be put into trays.
Should I keep the boxes as display or switch to grid panels?
The issue with the boxes is that people would not open to drawers to look inside. They were too polite. We had to display signs saying “Open the Drawers.”
What’s an artist to do?!

Ellen of EarthFaire.com made these beautiful bracelets from the Goddess Collection.
Earth Faire is a unique website incorporates yarn, beads, knitting and patterns for knitting.
I put a loop on each side of the button so she was able to use the button as a jewelry component. They both look mahhhhh-velous!

The Beads of the Clay Group is a wonderful community I am proud to say I belong to. I was invited to join a while back by Melanie of Earthenwood Studio. Melanie and Andi of Mystic Spiral started this group several years ago. It has grown well past their expectations.
The mission of BOC is to Promote Ceramic Beads As An Art Form. Members help each other with questions about clay, glazes, kilns, firing issues and others issue dealing with earth clay.
If you have a moment, please stop by! It is a wonderful group of people!