Alaska Handmade Jewelry will hold a 20% off sale on January 1st. On New Year's day help celebrate the beginning of the year with new jewelry.

The sale will be on for this day ONLY. A twenty-four hour period starting at midnight and ending at midnight Alaskan time. All Jewelry is discounted 20% when the coupon code is entered when checking out.

Enjoy the start of this New Year with a sale on us!

Happy New Year to all......

Alaska Handmade Jewelry has added a special and new Christmas jewelry category for the 2008 holiday season. There are a number of new and interesting designs made for this time of year.

Here in Alaska, winter is in its full glory. Days are 5 hours long with 19 hour nights. Temps are now at -15 C with the normal daytime high temperature in the -4 C range. Santa will have no issues with not enough snow or cold weather for his airborne launch on December 24th!

Take a look at our new products. If you see something that you would like modified to better fit your needs, please let us know. Custom designs are welcomed.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

Earlier this week the weather forecasters let us know that snow was in the forecast. Well, they were correct. At our location in Anchorage, the total was 8 inches of nice light snow. Other parts of town, received up to a foot.

The best part is that our snow comes straight down and makes for some wonderful looking trees. Branches covered with inches and inches of light fluff snow. In other part of the county, it just blows in from 'Kansas' horizontal to the ground. Lots of drifting and blocked roads in those parts.

Snow in Anchorage is a good time to make jewelry. To come up with creative designs. It is also nice to think about the warmer parts of the lower 48. But here is where Santa starts that long trip. In the cold and the snow!

Looks like by the end of the week, some additional items will be posted. Take a look and let us know your interest.

This morning we were surprised by two very Alaskan celebrities. Our very capable IT department quickly grabbed a camera and snapped pictures of them as they approached the back door. We remained very quiet knowing how they shun the spotlight.

Time to reveal the names of the Alaskan celebrities. Momma Moose and Baby moose (aka Moose cow and her calf). Moose are celebrities here. People visit and want to see Moose. When you look for them, typically, you don't find them. And their antics are always surprising.

By the way, right now they are very happy if anyone has left out a Halloween pumpkin. Pumpkins are like candy to them. To bad that in Spring, tulips are the same.

Thanks for sharing the fun of Alaska.
Sally

Another nice find on Craig's List. Located a heavy cardboard box of over 200 Ceramcoat Artist's Acrylic paint. These will be used for painting bisque in place of glazing.

There are many colors to choose from. Some of the 60 ml containers have never been opened. Others partially used, but still in good shape.

Also found one hundred plus brushes for glazing and painting at a cost of less than fifty cents each. They range in size from 18/0 to 1/8. These are made in a variety of places including Japan and Germany. No doubt some will become favorites. And with Craig's List, the price was just right!

The Fuji PXR-3 temperature has a feature that automatically sets the temperature control parameters. An individual could do this manually but would require substantial knowledge about the inner workings of digital temperature control.

To use, the kiln is turned on high with a setpoint of say 500 degrees F. In my case, the kiln was kept at 500 F for 30 plus minutes to stabilize the temperature. (note: it may be better to use a higher setpoint for ceramics - perhaps 1500 F).

AT (auto tune) is selected on the controller menu. Of course, AT when displayed on a seven segment display looks like Ar. A little confusing, but with the manual handy it is an easy transition.

When AT is selected, a choice is provided to enter a 0, 1 or 2 for a function selection. Zero is off with one for auto tune start. Start AT and a right most decimal point will blink. This indicates the kiln is being setup for its proper control parameters.

The Fuji controller will turn the kiln on and off to determine temperature rise, fall, etc. All of this information is stored in the unit. As an example, the values for proportional band, integral time, derivative action time are automatically set. These values can be overridden with other values, if desired.

It is easy to setup the Fuji. And for sixty-four dollars it is a wise first investment in a simple but effective kiln temperature controller.

The Skutt 609 kiln came with a manually operated kiln setter. This takes a special small cone for activation.

The modification is to remove the manual system and replace it with an electronic system. This mods are based on a Fuji PXR-3 controller that can be found on the internet in the sixty-dollar range. Skutt does sell a very nice controller unit, but $800 is just a bit too much for my liking.

The first try was using a small thermocouple supplied by Brinker Controls. This did work, but after the first firing, to cone 04, the thermocouple showed signs of abuse. A model 1515 Skutt replacement unit made of 8 gauge wire is now in place. It will deteriorate over time, but not as fast as the first thermocouple.

Clay Art Center in Tacoma, Washington stocks the thermocouple socket, insulators and thermocouple wire. They ship using USPS which is so much less costly than either UPS or FedEx to Alaska. With the parts from Clay Art, the modification from a manual to an electronic kiln setter is now complete.

This is an intriguing variation of the Classic Black and White necklace. The focal beads are Carnelian and the Cultured Pearls are a variegated color.

If you look at the older blog entry that is titled Peridot Necklace at http://www.alaskahandmadejewelry.com/node/159 you will notice a different style of bead cap. I found that these bead caps were very different from the typical bead cap. And these caps seem to hint at wire sculpture.

Upon completing the Carnelian creation, I achieved the mood and look I was aiming for. This necklace was intended to be posted on Alaska Handmade Jewelry website. Well, I showed it to one person and now it will not make it to the site but into their collection.

So, I wanted to share a picture of the necklace so you can see what it looked like. Hope you enjoy the picture.

Today was a nice and sunny so it was a good excuse to make up our first batch of ceramic casting slip for pouring. It takes a 50 pound sack of powered white clay, a few chemicals and three gallons of water. The brand in use is Xtra White Casting Slip. The suggested cone firing temperature is 04 to 06.

Mixing was easy using a five gallon bucket from Home Depot. However, it would have been better to use a larger container. The mixed contents came almost to the top. Perhaps a nice plastic 10 gallon container will be on my list. And having one person mix while the other adds the powered clay is a good plan.

Home Depot had the perfect stirring device. It fits on a 1/2 inch electric drill and is used for mixing heavy liquids. The all steel Husky spiral mixer runs six dollars even here in Alaska. It can be found in their paint department. However, other types are also used for mixing wallboard mud.

The casting slip is available locally at Sheila's Ceramics. Considering the weight, it would be costly to ship one sack from Seattle. Sheila buys the material by the ton which is shipped up by barge in pallet load lots.

Keep in mind that the weight of the completed slip will be in the 75 pound range. So plan ahead, as moving a full container requires some effort.

Suggestions are to not use the slip for one week. The idea is to have the material "ripen" prior to use. In our case, it is setting by the door. Close for use and out of the cold weather. Later next week some molds will be poured to test the newly made slip.

Then there will be a new batch of greenware to fire to cone 04. It then will be called bisque, glazed and fired once again but this time to cone 06 for a finished product.

This is a variation of the Classic Black and White Necklace that makes for an interesting color change. This color scheme is based on olive green. The green Peridot is a great accent when combined with creme Cultured Pearls.

This style in black and white has been requested in different colors for specialized gifts this season. It seems to be the leading look for this fall and winter. And we do welcome custom requests. Feel free to email us at: jewelry@alaskahandmadejewelry.com

The other variations of this necklace are accented with other gemstones. Alaska Handmade Jewelry plans to have these items posted on site soon.

There is another variation that is designed as a single strand. And it has a different look and feel than the double strand.

I am thinking of doing a very light blue variation of the same classic design.

Hope you enjoy the different looks.