a little Grey Bird flies from the Isle of Skye

    A much anticipated package arrived today, having flown all the way across the ocean from the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
    An amazing artist I recently discovered. Rey of Grey Bird Studio, lives on the beautiful Isle of Skye in the Hebrides of Scotland.
    When I first set eyes on her work.........      Oh!      
                                                            Be still,                                                           my Heart!                 I think it was love at first sight.
    What I love about her ceramics, is that her shapes are raw and chunky, with great textures, but they are each hand painted, with  layers of color, in such a way that inanimate objects are brought to life. My adoration of her work and appreciation of her attention to details has just grown more and more each day.

     Even her packaging is magical. Besides the group of handmade ceramic buttons and beads I ordered, she also threw in all sorts of little bits and pieces to go with it. A collection of little beads and stones and  sea shells, all drilled and ready to use in my creations. All this cocooned in a nest of her spinning fiber. She even threw in some of the little organic bits that she speaks of using for inspiration. What a marvelous potpourri! I just had to take pictures before I touched anything.
    Rey has a fine arts background, but has turned to fiber and clay as her mediums of choice these days with fabulous results. Just look at this gorgeous yarn.

She can paint a landscape in fiber as well as any VanGogh ever could on canvas.

    The more I see of her glorious landscape......

    and her harmonic interpretation of it..........

  

    I love reading all the beautiful stories she writes in her listings with little tidbits about her magical life along the Scottish shores.
    I even came across  "The Fairies of Skye"  while looking for pictures of this place. How much more magical could it possibly get......



    Well, Rey definitely packed up some of that magic in this little box, cause it spilled out all over my studio and influenced my work.
    The piece I was working on near by, suddenly called out for some crochet work.

"Wings of the Sea and the Skye"

      I use a lot of fiber in my work , but I've never done anything quite like this before.
     The bracelet bar turned necklace bail is adorned with a sea urchin, a wire wrapped wing shaped sea shell, an awesome scroll-work ceramic bead with an hombre glaze by Natalie Pappas of  NKP designs, and one of my cultured sea glass mini conch seashells from Znets Show (more on those coming - challenge reveal soon).
    The bracelet bar was bought as a plain bisque piece and has been gussied up with Rub-n-Buff and Gilder's Paste. The sea shell and urchin got their share of gilding as well.
    Gilder's paste is another thing I have to thank Grey Bird for turning me on to. I started with 2 colors; Pinotage- a rich wine red, and African bronze- a green gold. Pretty much covers my favorite colors. I've been having a blast trying to "gild" everything in sight.

    I had the focal done and was working on stringing it on my usual sari silk. It wasn't quite working out right. That's when I took a break to open my package. Grey Bird inspired me to try something new.
    I do some crochet, but I've used very little of it in my jewelry. My initial attempt left me with a very fine cording. I wanted something a little bit bulkier, so I tried doing a series of knots in a braiding fashion.
    In hindsight I think it was some sort of Macrame I did. It came out in sort of a twirling pattern. I wove in 2 of Grey Bird's handmade ceramic buttons and finished off with a vintage shell button and loop toggle.
    I just finished it and was anxious to photograph it and share. Now I'm thinking It might looking better with the copper patina-ed to blend a little better. I may spritz a little salt water on it to do that. The verdigris wouldn't hurt either.

    Another nearby grouping of beads (not quite cohesive enough to be considered a project yet; not really sure where it's going, but they look good together) also benefited from Grey Bird's magic.

"Mist on the Moor"

The pendant was a bonus gift with an order from Moriah Betterly of Blu Mudd. All the other beads were unfinished clay beads that I spiffied up with Rub-n-Buff and Guilder's Paste.
    Boy, am I having fun with this stuff. I do a lot of upcycling, so anything that helps turn trash into treasure............WOOHOO!!!


               

 Thank you Auntie Rey, for sharing your beautiful beach.............. I so want to adopt her. I think I'm a little envious of her real life niece Ragged Robin, who is yet another amazing ceramic artist by her own rights. Robin even has a degree in ceramics.You can read more about that on her new blog. 

Lot's of great artists to check out. Have fun exploring. 

Here's a little themed music for your journey.