I Love George
Who could help but be inspired and uplifted by a glorious blue Texas sky and George Strait singing ‘Here she comes, a walking, talking True Love…” Add in a perfect temperature of 74 degrees, in February no less, and driving with the windows down and the radio up.
Loud.
Yes, sometimes I think I’m still a teenager.
My sincere apologies to all of you getting our La Nina rainfall in the form of snow by the pound. I will stop gloating now but it was a freakin’ awesome day!!!
Starry Night
This Asian style bowl is my all-time favorite! There’s just something about it’s chunky rounded shape with the torn rolled edges that appeals to me over any perfect and symmetrical bowl. But the gorgeous deep midnight blue glaze with flecks of gold on the inside is what stops me in my tracks every time.
The outside features a mutli-layered texture and my signature matte black glaze, hand burnished with a metallic patina in shades of gold, silver, copper and even a smidgen of red.
The center of the bowl is holds an iridescent “puddle” of dichroic cobalt, turquoise and pink glass fused to the ceramic surface.
Blue Lagoon
This bowl was one of the first in my Organic series that had more primitive look and styled pieces. It’s a thick and chunky shallow curved rectangular piece with sea green inner glaze and my signature matte black glaze, burnished with metallic patina in shades of gold, silver and copper. The center of the bowl features cobalt blue stained glass fused to the ceramic surface.
Cobalt and Sea Glass
This necklace features a cobalt blue dichroic glass cross on an iridescent dichroic background. It’s strung on a dainty silver plate chain , beaded and accented with sodalite beads and chunky cobalt sea glass.
Tidal Pool
I hand built this wonderful bowl in a slightly asymmetrical square shape, with a rolled rim, round pedestal foot and multiple layers of rich texture.
It features an inner glaze in a gorgeous sea green color with deep cobalt and iridescent turquoise fused dichroic glass accent in the center. The outside is finished in a matte dark steel glaze and hand burnished in shades of gold, silver, copper patina and a tiny smidgen of red.
Relax, my functional pieces are made to be both admired and used. I do recommend hand washing after using, rather than using commercial soaps in the dishwasher that will dull the shine on the dichroic glass surface.
The Wedding Cross
I was inspired recently while at the reception for two close friends who renewed their marriage vows to celebrate their 25th anniversary. Since that’s (unfortunately) a pretty rare achievement these days, I wanted this design to be really special!
I decided to use the symbolism of the entwined wedding rings as the primary focus of each cross. The crosses themselves are glazed a matte steel black color and gilded with my signature mixed metallic finish after the final firing. The rings are glass fused with multi colored art and dichroic glass and can even be customized. Nifty!
Christie Cone Ceramics
If you are looking for hand made, original ceramics for your home with perfect form, vibrant colors and fabulous whimsical designs…stop looking.
You are there!
My friend Christie has an absolutely magical touch with clay, together with a wonderful style that brings wit and whimsy to even the most mundane, every day household objects.
Enjoy this short interview, get to know Christie a little bit, then I invite you to explore all of the wonderful goodies in the whimsical world of Christie Cone Ceramics.
PS- Christie is adding Wise Men to her Nativities this year. Wait til you SEE them, they are so cute! Oops.. can Wise Men be cute?…
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Honestly I discovered ceramics by accident. I was a full-time high school art teacher and was given the opportunity to head up the ceramics program at one school. Up until then I had only worked in clay two times before- once in high school art class and once in a college intro to ceramics class. It was a challenge to stay ahead of the students (who had already taken a year of ceramics) but after that experience I decided to open my own ceramic business. I had totally fallen in love with clay!
2.What is your favorite thing to do in your chosen art?
I begin almost every piece I make with a slab of clay. I really enjoy all the variables this starting point allows me in creating a three dimensional form.
3. What’s something new going on in your studio that you’re really excited about?
My new wall pieces! I am working on some tiles of clay that are “sewn” together post firing resembling a quilt! I haven’t posted any photos of them yet but will very soon on my facebook page.
Find Your Happy
What’s up with this ‘Finding Your Happy’ stuff?
Once I decided to enter the Great Unknown World Of Starting A Business, I ran around in circles for a while, trying to figure out the most important part of the process: Defining Your Business Vision.
I really had some trouble with this concept. Trying to distill why I do what I do down to a few precise words doesn’t go so well for me, mostly because I’m a wordy kinda girl. I don’t do precise very well.
Anyway, it was a customer who eventually saved me. She took the time to send an email with a line that just leaped off the screen at me: ” I don’t know what it is about your wall crosses, but I find that just looking at mine makes me happy.” … DING DING DING!
Finally I had the right words: My vision is to create beautiful, tangible reminders of God’s great love to lift you up, bring you a renewed sense of peace and help you focus on the positives and encourage you to count your blessings.
Or the short version: My Christian art helps you remember that God is in charge, so it makes it easy for you to find at least one thing that made you happy today, no matter how poopy the day has been.
That’s the story! Now don’t just sit there, go out there and Find Your Happy!
Spring Arts Goggle
I just can’t decide if I love the Spring or the Fall Arts Goggle more.. The Arts Goggle is a celebration of art in all it’s wonderful forms, made possible by the Fort Worth Near Southside Development Corporation. You can read more about it here.
These pictures are from the Spring 2011 Goggle with a bunch of my Etsy Fort Worth cohorts and had so much fun that you’ll find me sitting under my little tent again (with all my goodies) at the next one, October 8. Come by and see me!
Oh, what’s my favorite part of Goggle night?… The kids and the dogs of course!!
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Carnelian ‘Broken’ Cross
I call this design my ‘Broken Cross’ pendant. They symbolize how God can take even the most broken pieces of your life and make you whole again. Some are multicolored, festive and bright color explosions and others are single color segmented crosses.
This pendant features tiny muti-colored squares of dichroic glass on a red swirled dichroic background. It’s beaded with carnelian and gold rounds and hangs on a fine gold plate chain.
