yesterday we made things

my own starter kit. I love containers of things just for me. even though I got to keep none of it, the contents were mine for four whole hours

silver and copper sample pieces

trying this really cool ring on. please ignore my witch hands and dastardly nail polish

i had a clear idea of what i wanted to do so i started with this herringbone design to imprint onto my clay

voila! the first piece done, dehydrated, and sanded

and piece number two. i purposely wanted two different shapes and sizes and was lucky they turned out the way i wanted them to. it’s hard to gauge how much clay you need per piece

next it was three minutes of intense heat. here the lights were off while hawra demonstrated how to properly torch a piece of clay. this part sort of freaked me out. but the aroma was gorgeous

manal and i are really concentrating while hawra teaches us how to use the torch. photo by lina mahusain

david and ream are concentrating too. i think. photo by lina mahusain

my turn. yikes. photo by lubna saif abbas

i love the burning marks left on the slab after each heating process. here, lina’s pomegranate piece has left behind a yin and yang

my two piece are done. i didn’t like the finishing so i decided to oxidize them

here hawra oxidizes my pieces in diluted liver of sulfur which is extremely smelly. think egg yolks left out in the sun for a day. in kuwait. in july

and done

now to add the eves

i created the components but lubna generously assembled the earrings. because i made the holes in my pieces so tiny, it was a challenge finding a wire thin enough for the jump rings, so here lubna is creating custom ones for me. this is what i call love and passion for one’s vocation

i attempted sneaking in a try on the other earring but somewhat failed. photo by lina mahusain

so lubna and her beautifully-ringed hands comes to the rescue. photo by lina mahusain

what a pro

and one final squeeze

hooray, lubna, hooray! i love it

one for the left or right ear

and one for the right or left ear

one for my ear. thanks, lubna, for chopping my nose off

and one for lubna’s ear

lina works on her pomegranate pendants

she’s already wearing the heart rings she made

look how lovely

two lovehearts kiss

meanwhile manal and hawra discuss design

manal’s elegant pieces

lubna demonstrating a coloring technique

and lastly but not leastly, david finishes his men-dant (that’s a men’s pendant, i just made it up): partial compass on one side and this script on the other