Mhoti Studio

Last month I was lucky enough to be selected to receive a hand made RUNE as part of the Art Elements Monthly Challenge.  Niky Sayers is the talented artist who made this array of Viking Runes in copper clay. The Rune I received is titled SOWELU, meaning Wholeness, Life Force, or The Sun's Energy. This is the Rune Niky sent to me. It didn't have any holes in it, as she left it up to me if and where I wanted to put any holes. Based on it's size -5/8 inch x 3/4 inch (14 x 21 mm)- I decided to use it in a bracelet. I decided on 4 holes for best visual and physical balance. I wanted to create something in keeping with it's rustic nature as well as it's symbolic ties to the past and to nature. I also wanted to incorporate stones that would symbolize The Sun. In my stash I have an assortment of yellow semi-precious gemstones. I chose to use Citrine, and some very rough stones that I think were once labelled Herkimer diamonds (they had previously lost their tag.) T...

What do YOU think of when you see/hear the word beetle? Do you think eyeeuuuwwwww, "nasty bug" or "stinky bug" or (God forbid )" a cockroach"? Or do you think of "The Mummy" series of movies where the beetles are swarming all over the bad guys.  yuck! Now what comes to mind when you see/hear the word "Scarab" ? All things Egyptian?, King Tut?, Nefertiti? Amun -the sun god? Golden icons? Royalty, mystery, other-worldly? Talismans? Well friends that's what I prefer to think about when I contemplate the difference  between beetles and scarabs. As Shakespeare said -"whats in a name ?" A lot , apparently. Enter the scene - one beautiful , raku colour, glazed ceramic Scarab bead, created by the very talented Sue Kennedy of SueBeads . I was fortunate enough to be gifted with one of these lovelies as part of the monthly challenge with the proviso that I make piece of jewellery and blog about it. **WARNING** th...

well today is THE day. It's reveal time for the 2017 bead peeps swap n hop event.  Organized by our hostess Linda Anderson of Cherry on Top Design Co.   http://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com  its a fun way to meet new beady peeps and to challenge ourselves by relying on someone else's bead picks for us.  This is the first time I have participated in this swap .  *warning Long read ahead * just scroll through the pix if you don't want to read it all. My partner is a polymer clay artist, Nicole Rennell from Massachusetts, USA. She sent me an amazing example of her latest works -Faux Labradorite, plus an assortment of beady goodies to accent and enhance my design.  just check them out.  Hand made Faux Labradorite with faux pewter frame look at the size of it. I have large hands btw. It's a FOCAL piece for sure. Look at the detail of the faux pewter frame. Isn't it gorgeous? and all these other yummy bead...

I'm taking part in BEAD PEEPS 3rd Annual HOP N SWAP hosted by Linda Anderson.  This is the first time for me to do this event.  As part of the requirements we have been asked to tell a little bit about ourselves, what we do as jewellery artists, our style, our likes and dislikes, our preferred materials to use and what we don't like to use at all.  I am sort of retired, (as in not working but not old enough to officially retire.) I have been making jewellery for at least 10 years. I work primarily with semi precious gemstones, glass beads, copper, silver plate or silver-filled wire, leather, chain, linen, silk and other fibres.  I don't do bead embroidery but I do use seed beads as spacers or for filling up stringing wire to make it pretty.  I also work with metal clays, in past using a friends kiln I made pendants in copper clay,  bronze clay and steel clay.  Now I limit myself to silver clay as that can be torch fired. The past two ye...

Yesterday I spent the day at a workshop hosted by a fellow artist and friend, Wendy Southin of Dragonfly Dreamers  studio.  We were playing with Gelli Plates and making mono-print artwork.We began by creating standard mono-prints on various paper types.  After a lunch break we got down and dirty with making layers on our base prints. I came away with an incredible assortment of art prints that I can add to in future, (they don't LOOK FINISHED yet). But I did get three that I am very pleased to say are done, that is I don't think they need anything else other than to be framed or mounted. I don't have titles for these. They haven't divulged what they want to be called yet. The first one is a yellow-toned study with touches of dark green and metallic copper.  I decided to be a bit brave and work in black white and grey, an odd choice I'm sure the others thought when I started. In the end we were all impressed with how they tur...

New year, same old intentions.To update my blog more often. Will I be consistent? who knows. but I will try. For now, here is a photo from one of the shows I did last year. not only jewellery but paper crafts as well.  and a close up of some of the items I sold , the four necklaces on the left hand side are all sold and gone on to new homes. Only one of the bracelets below them is left in stock. the two necklaces on the right are going to be taken apart and remade . they seem a bit bland to me and haven't sold, so it's time to tweak them a bit and see what happens.