New Chocolate Clay Beads!

Last week I needed to find some Zen…

You know - the kind where you just sit and play with clay to see what comes out.

For me, it was these beads...

Then of course, I wanted to get them fired fast so I could get them glazed…

Into the dehydrator to make sure they were dry.

Then a tumble loaded bisque firing - 24 hours later, ready for glazing...

I always find that even if I start with just a couple of glazes,

or a couple of pieces, I always glaze more...

Here are most of the pieces getting ready to be loaded into the kiln.

The beads were loaded onto these small wires in preparation for the kiln.

Kiln furniture laying sideways, stacked to hold the wire up while firing.

Here is the load after the Cone 5/6 glaze firing.

See how dark the chocolate clay got?

And the wires did sag a bit under the weight of the clay and the high temperatures.

I'm pretty satisfied with the results...

And now to put them into little bead sets…

Time for me to do a little research online.

Any suggestions, input?

I always like to hear what you all think - Thanks!

PS - if the sun decides to shine - even for a bit tomorrow, I can get some pics and a few listed up on Etsy. I'll post on my Marsha Neal Studio FaceBook page tomorrow (after lunchtime).