They have scampered out of the kiln, stacked themselves neatly and are awaiting to be glazed. You lovely cat people out there, the finished ceramic cat buttons are coming in a couple of days, waiting to be used in all of your creative endeavors. Thank you for your patience. michele
When there is great texture on these buttons, it means there are deep cuts into the top of the clay. It looks pretty, but if the button’s depth is too shallow, it means there are stress points that can snap it in half. I’m a wee bit clumsy; I break things.
Bubba wasn’t kidding: I tried to break myself in half. Maybe I have the luck God gave babies and drunks: I’m still whole, and still have to drive to California. I can bump into a soft plastic clothes hamper and show bruises in minutes. I threw my entire weight into a death drop, caught only by 2 x 4 posts on two of the fragilest points of my body, and nary a bruise - 12 hours later. Still driving to California…
There will be great shopping on the way. Vegas has great rubber stamp stores, ceramic supplies, gelato, and my favorite art gallery at the Bellagio. Fabulous destinations await your perusal at MAPMUSE. It is very cool and user friendly; I’ve even found all the gourmet cupcake shops along the route.
I will learn to be afraid of heights someday, thank you for being concerned in mean time. A sore, but grateful, michele
Playing around with a new post gallery feature and used some new sets posted this week in our online store. Visit the store to see these and more ceramic buttons and embellishment cards.
Newly made puppy buttons, getting their first firing at about 1987 degrees Fahrenheit. They will take 8.5 hours to fire, and one full day after that to cool down. Then they will be glazed in white and black glazes, and be shiny and beautiful, awaiting exciting applications on joyful creations. 
In the same kiln load are red clay buttons. Textured hearts and apples shown on the right. Red clay is rare for me;it is gorgeous but brittle and delicate, dries so quickly it warps easily. But they are so pretty.
The plan is to get them glazed in time to get some sets in the on-line store, and to take many with us to Long Beach IQ
F.
Click on images to see a larger photo. They will look much different when they have been glazed and fired again. I’ll attempt to do side by side comparisons to post in a couple days.
Single ceramic buttons being temporarily and cutely attached to cards getting ready for the International Quilt Festival, Long Beach. We will be at booth #1656. If you stop by, mention this post and receive a free button.
