Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you’ll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.
This weeks winner is Melissa Meman. Congratulations!
This weeks winner is Melissa Meman. Congratulations!
You have won a Birdhouse Pendant from the studio of Jennifer Heynen.
Send Jennifer an e-mail with your address and she will get it right out to you.
This week we visit the studio of Tari Sasser at Creative Impressions In Clay
Love to Travel? Tis the season. I was asked to design a collection of 4 buttons for a client. The theme is Travel for this line of clothing. I love that I get to come up with my own designs. The only design specified was the Route 66 button. Brainstorming is the fun part. What do you associate with travel? Of course those ideas need to translate into a 1″ to 1.25″ format. Minute detail usually doesn’t work.
Thinking I had been so original with the license plate idea, I did a web search…of course this existed already and you could buy LUV 2 TRVL as a door mat for your RV. Oh well, I liked it anyway.
Sending mail or postcards is also associated with travel. Being an internet junkie, I did a web search for stamps. Traveling in a car is how my family goes on vacation, this stamp killed 2 birds with one stone, a car on a stamp. Besides, I thought it was a cool graphic.
You have to put your clothes in something, so of course we needed a suitcase. The old type with travel stickers on them worked out great. Putting details on the tiny stickers did not, so we opted for blocks of color.
This is the group I managed to get glazed and shipped. Not quite half of the order. I managed to not do so well with my deadline. I used to live and die by deadlines in the corporate world! But something happened on the way to the forum…I messed up when I poured the mold. Yes, I still use plaster, my mistake. If you pour plaster too wet over dry clay prototypes, let’s just say it’s bad. The shoulda, coulda, woulda’s were abundant after this! I managed to clean up and salvage 3 of the design molds. Fixing molds isn’t really that much fun and time consuming to boot. I had to carve another license prototype. It turned out better than the first one, so BONUS on that one.
I have 60 more buttons to finish glazing, fire and overnight by Monday. Guess what I’m doing this weekend? This is reeking havoc on my back, elbows and hands. Sitting for hours with my elbows bent holding and painting little pieces of clay is painful. I’m tense because of missing a deadline and knowing I have to have these finished. A personal masseuse would be nice right about now. Calgon take me away or is it Robert Mondavi take me away. Someone, anyone…relaxing in Michigan by a lake for a week will have to do in 8 days. But who’s counting.
My question this week is:
What is the worst mistake you have made on a project?
This type of question is always fun because we have all made mistakes when we are working. Working on a deadline makes it even worse.
Leave a comment and you could “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” with one of my Route 66 buttons. How cool would that be on your travel tote?!
Alice
June 5, 2010 at 1:35 pmOh my gosh those travel bead are just the sweetest! I can't even begin to imagine the tedious work that is put into making these little buttons! I think you will need a vacation after all this!
Travel, now that's right up my alley. Growing up we didn't have much money, but dad saved all year for a family vacation. We couldn't wait for him to get home from work on Friday night. To prepare, mom and us kids packed (only two outfits each–we would wash them in the Motel sink), made a batch of cookies, and filled the water bag that hooked to the car's front grill as cars then tended to overheat often (or at least ours did).
I thought everyone took a family vacation but found out differently when I married a man with 7 other siblings. Needless to say they didn't take vacations. But I stuck to my guns, and now we travel every year. It's in our blood now.
As for my biggest mistake in making jewelry, several of my first pieces broke, and I found that I was not using a strong enough jump ring to connect to the clasp. I was embarassed that the first pieces I sold broke, but the customers were very understanding.
Congratulations on getting such a wonderful commission project!
Marie Cramp
June 5, 2010 at 1:50 pmI think I would add it as a clasp on a bracelet!! You should make these as charms too!! I would buy some for sure!!
My biggest mistake I think has to be one of my favorite bracelets!! I turned out great but I used oval links in it horizontally and, well, let's just say that those three hours of adding chain to hopefully keep the links from turning, were a HUGE waste of time! They still turn and because there are so many links of chain, it is super hard to turn back around!!
Jeannie
June 5, 2010 at 1:53 pmLOVE all the new buttons. They make me giggle.
So worst mistake….I have a list.
Probably not letting things dry completely before the next step. I usually end up having to start all over from the top. GRRRRR
Sabine
June 5, 2010 at 2:15 pmOne of the worst mistakes I have made in a beading project is when I was working on my submission for "Use the Muse". I was stringing all my components and trimmed the wrong wire after crimping the crimp bead! The really bad thing is that I did it TWICE! I was at the deadline and almost ran out of wire.
Ann
http://www.mycriticaleye.com
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 5, 2010 at 2:58 pmAlice, thank you for the wonderful comments! I have to say I have done the same with jump rings. My mistake was making my own. The wire was too soft.
Live and learn!
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 5, 2010 at 3:10 pmHi Marie! Any button can be a charm or pendant, I just fire loops into the clay. Clasp would be good too!
Too many times I also have added unnecessary hours to projects with no turning back. I feel your pain on that one.
Thanks for stopping by!
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 5, 2010 at 3:13 pmI dream of Jeannie…OK, I had to do that.
The drying curse, I have that one too! Maybe it's patience, don't have much of that.
Thanks for stopping by an giggling with me!
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 5, 2010 at 3:15 pmHi Sabine!
I laughed at doing it twice. Of course I have done that also but may have gone as far as three times.
Sleep usually helps and calming down after I did it wrong the first time.
Thanks for visiting!
EmandaJ
June 5, 2010 at 3:26 pmI LOVE the buttons and ILUV2TRVL too. I have lots of mistakes in my jewelry making, but I'll tell you about a travel mistake (I was working on my MA thesis and was on a research trip for it). I went to photograph a particular carved archway at Westminster Abbey for part of my thesis. I got home and was deep into the writing process when I realized I photographed the WRONG archway. No way to recover from that one. I learned to "let it go" — still a hard lesson sometimes.
Emanda
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 5, 2010 at 3:30 pmThanks Emanda! Oh, wow…not sure I would recover from that one. Letting go just isn't easy.
Glad you are still standing! Thanks for stopping by!
Judy
June 5, 2010 at 4:16 pmHi Tara, those are the cutest buttons ever! I just went to Czech Republic and I found old US license plates in the antique stores. Who would have thunk! I love your creations!Judy
Copper Diem
June 5, 2010 at 4:23 pmBiggest mistake – picking up a multistrand necklace to size it and dropping one end of the 5 strands. Still finding beads from that mess
Christine
June 5, 2010 at 4:50 pmI LOVE those travel buttons! SO unique!
My worst mistake? Well, I'm a lampworker, and my worst mistake was getting so intent on the bead I was making that I set a hot glass rod down on my workbench, and, not paying attention because I was concentrating so hard, picked it back up a few seconds later from the HOT end. Ouch.
Diana P.
June 5, 2010 at 5:00 pmLove the buttons! I would have to say the time I was going to set an orthoceras fossil into a bezel and I dropped the fossil. It broke in half and even though I glued it back together with epoxy I could still see the break line. I never finished that pendant.
Erin
June 5, 2010 at 6:01 pmtoo cute route 66!
My worst mistake was trying to make my crimps more secure by smashing them with pliers after I used the crimping pliers to crimp them. Little did I know this would actually make the crimps much LESS secure. Grrr.
Erin
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 5, 2010 at 6:35 pmHi Judy! Thank you so much for the comments. Who would have thunk US license plates in Europe.
Thanks for stopping by!
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 5, 2010 at 6:38 pmCopper Diem, I did the deep inhale cover the mouth, ohhhhh, when I read that. I have done it with one but never with 5! I can imagine how far they traveled when they fell.
Thanks for visiting!
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 5, 2010 at 6:40 pmThank you Christine! A big OUCH! I have done that when I was copper enameling. You are concentrating and always touching things as you work. Nasty burns.
Thanks for taking time to visit on a Saturday!
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 5, 2010 at 6:41 pmHi Diana! I did that with an ametrine when I was trying to make a bezel. An unfinished project for me too. Even when you glue them, whether anyone can see it, you can.
Thanks for stopping by!
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 5, 2010 at 6:44 pmHi Erin! Crimps can be tricky. There is that learning curve. I don't use them that often but the couple of times I did, I ended up cutting them off.
Have a great day!
Lucid Moon Studio
June 5, 2010 at 7:01 pmYour buttons are SO cute! I agree they would be cute as charms too. My worst mistake was probably when I had spent hours designing a necklace with ceramic leaf charms hanging around it, and I held it up to show my husband and accidentally dropped it on the tile floor. Unfortunately the main leaf pendant broke 🙁 Lesson learned – always make sure you're standing on carpet 🙂
Lisa
Gaea
June 5, 2010 at 8:36 pmThese are fantastic! LOVE THEM!
Gail W
June 5, 2010 at 8:59 pmMy first big mistake was thinking I had enough brains to figure beads out.So,I bought some faifly expensive beads at Micheals,went home and strung a beautiful design on dental floss!Of course,it came apart and beads went flying just as I walked into the door of the party.
Mary Newton Designs
June 6, 2010 at 1:49 amLaid something on top of resin before it was dry. Probably not the worst but definitely the latest!
Melissa J. Lee
June 6, 2010 at 1:32 pmTari, this set is SO CUTE! Sorry to hear about the mold issues, though. My worst mistake (it's hard to pick – there have been so many) was forgetting to take into account the size of my kiln chamber before putting together a big piece – it was too long for the kiln! I managed to salvage it, but I certainly learned my lesson there.
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 6, 2010 at 2:42 pmThanks Lucid Moon! Yeah, coming from a ceramics person, tile or cement the clay is toast. My studio floor is cement. Many pieces have bit the dust. Only recently have I put down my floor I use for shows of foam tiles.
Thanks for stopping by!
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 6, 2010 at 2:42 pmThank you Gaea! Thanks for commenting!
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 6, 2010 at 2:44 pmGail, that is awful to have your creation break like that. Glad you have it all worked out now!
Thanks for visiting!
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 6, 2010 at 2:46 pmHi Mary! I have only used resin a couple of times so I understand. My mistake was leaving the door open…clay dust blown into resin. Yeah, I meant to do that!
Thanks for taking time to leave a comment!
Tari of ClayButtons.com
June 6, 2010 at 2:50 pmThanks Melissa!
Done that one too. You don't really forget after you've done it once. Also the dreaded, I only have 2 more buttons for the firing and you've already packed the kiln so tight you can't squeeze a fart in it. OK, not really that tight cause you have to have air and heat circulating. It's a spacial issue.
So glad you stopped by! Give SO a squeeze for me.
Carol
June 6, 2010 at 3:08 pmThe Route 66 are to DIE FOR!!
My worst mistake, how can I choose ~lol~ I'll pick trying to do a spiral necklace in the car while traveling to Ohio. I think I just need more room to spread out and the tangles in the thread were not worth drying to be productive during a 2 hour drive!
Elaine
June 6, 2010 at 3:56 pmThe little route 66 buttons and valise buttons are so sweet!
My worst jewelry crafting mistake (apart from jump ring errors, I believe I've done those!) was selling my first polymer clay jewelry pieces the first year I made them. I hadn't learned all the nuances of clay and figured they were cute enough.
I used hot glue to mount the pieces to brooch pins. They all fell off. I learned that you have to use a much stronger jewelry glue for clay but many of those first pieces sold before the remains broke at home. How embarrassing!
lyn szabo
June 6, 2010 at 4:04 pmMy biggest mistake is worrying if a client will like it or not. Usually I work by finding what it is about, ruminating on it and then inspiration strikes. This time I tried three different things to please her and not a one was fantastic. I diluted my vision to try and make it to her taste. Now I create what I see. If I do, I have remained true to myself and have no regrets.
Jean
June 6, 2010 at 4:04 pmthese are fantastic! I love them! I am sorry they gave you, and are giving you some problems–however knowing how beautiful they are must help!
The worst mistake I ever made was when I was learning to make Europpean 4 in 1 chain maille. Some patterns, even supposedly ones which were more complex, were easy, but this one really got me. I spent a solid day and half trying to make and remake the first four rows and messing up everytime on row four. I literally had to undo the whole thing over and over and over and over. I slept one night with the thing swimming around in my brain.
FINALLY I figured it out. That bracelet took me DAYS to make. ACK!!! 🙂
Hang in there!
jean xox
Nicki
June 7, 2010 at 9:31 pmMy biggest mistake was one of my first necklaces that I made for Christmas-eve – to wear something classy – where I picked white pearls combined with red wax beads. When I wore it, I looked like I was the Christmas tree myself.
Anonymous
June 7, 2010 at 10:48 pmi love your new route 66 bead/buttons. in fact, i like them all.i think i would put it on my remembrance charm bracelet. i made this bracelet to help deal with the loss of my dad,then my mom,but also because i became disabled due to a rare disease that most people either have bever heard of or have heard of it,but think you just sleep. i grew up by route 66,here in MO. in fact, to this day i take my kids to the route 66 drive in during the summer. thanks for giving all of us a chance to win one.
my worst mistake,would have to be my first necklace,i didn't let it dry long enough,so when i went to place it on my other table,i ruined it,and had to start from scratch.
thanks barbara hopkins at
[email protected]