Rebellion!

One of the problems with only blogging once a week, is that so much happens within a single week! This week has seen a wonderful mixture of Etsy treasuries, blog awards, publications and the odd bit of beading when I get chance. So this week, I have made a decision to be a bit of a rebel. I have been very fortunate in that I have received three blog awards this week but I have decided to buck the trend and NOT pass them on - gasp! There are a few reasons for this, firstly, I notice that some of these awards are doing the rounds within a relatively small group of acquaintances and they keep ricocheting from blog to blog. Secondly, it would take me a fair amount of time and space to add 15 links to other blogs here (especially if I wanted to spread them outside the beady circle) and thirdly, as much as I love finding that I have received an award, it is quite difficult selecting who to pass it on to without offending anyone and making anyone feel left out. So I am not going to be passing any of these awards on this time, but rather would urge you to follow the links on my side-bar to discover many talented people.

To be fair to the people that kindly passed the awards on to me though, here are the links to their blogs; I received the Arte y Pico award from two talented friends, Susan of Clinkscales Arts and Emma of Glitter Glow Beading who are both fellow Etsy BeadWeavers team members. I also received the Sweet Home Blogger Award from the lovely Lesley of Coburg Crafts. A big thank you to all three of them and I hope you follow the links to see their wonderful work for yourself.

 

My work was featured in a couple of Etsy treasuries during the last week and I managed to snag and create one myself too. I decided to try and show just how truly cosmopolitan the Etsy BeadWeavers team is and featured work from America to Australia and just about everywhere in-between in my World Wide Weavers treasury.  I was also very flattered that the Etsy BeadWeavers team ran a little feature on me this week in the team blog in their Meet the Members slot and also included a link to the interview I did in March of this year on the jewelry guide section of Zoya Gutina's website.

Finally for this week, I noticed that Beadwork magazine has updated it's website with the contents of the August/September issue. I have two projects in this issue, my Olive Earrings and also my Periwinkle Choker - this was originally named Precious Petals and I have included a picture of the gunmetal colourway below.

Beady Butterflies!

It's blog time again and unfortunately I haven't really got anything new to show you. I've been busy working on orders for my poppy cufflinks and poppy pins and also working on some interesting projects that I can't really share with you at the moment - but all in good time! I spent a very fitful night last night, half awake and half asleep with lots of weird and wonderful dreams but also with lots of new beady ideas flitting into my mind. Anyway, the result this morning, rather than being tired, is that I feel filled with enthusiasm and can't wait to get cracking with some of these ideas - trouble is, I might need to give up sleep permanently to be able to fit them all in!

One of the 'under wraps' projects I mentioned above needed me to take a photo of one of the butterflies I used to make. So as I feel a blog isn't a blog without some pretty pictures and I have nothing new to show you, I thought I would dig some of them out. I started out by using a mixture of cross-stitch cottons, silks and a few beads and stitching them onto plastic canvas before carefully cutting them out. Gradually as I got more and more addicted to beads, I made them using all beads and both Mum and I have a collection of them 'flying' on various walls in our houses. In my lounge, I have a beautiful hand embroidered wall hanging from Nepal that depicts the Tree of Life, it has a selection of my beaded butterflies and moths 'flying' around it - I find the whole scene very magical and soothing. I know these butterflies are quite different from my work today, but I still love them and it would be great to hear what you think!

Dragonfly Dreams

I'm still busy making a variety of small flowers for earrings rather than concentrating on any large projects at the moment. Life seems to be quite hectic just lately, and so these little projects are still satisfyingly beady but quick enough to fit in around other commitments. I have been branching out with my colour schemes a little too - I'm still using a limited range of colours in each piece (well it just wouldn't be me otherwise would it!) but the colours I have been putting together are a little bit more experimental. I have just finished a pair of earrings I made for myself, I don't often wear my own jewellery despite my friends nagging me to do so, and the inspiration for the colours in these is a pretty top I have - it's a busy mix of teal, turquoise, coral, bright red and yellow green and I absolutely love it.

We are going to a live music concert tomorrow night at the Lowdham book festival to see Show of Hands and so I thought I would wear my favourite top and make myself some coral and teal earrings to go with it. The only beads I had that were a good match to the top were some tiny size 15 seed beads that I once ordered by mistake (I normally work with the slightly larger size 11 seed beads) and so I have been experimenting with petal shapes using the smaller size - a success I think, but my eyes definitely need a break now and my purse is quivering at the thought of me possibly wanting to build up a collection of size 15's! The photo above shows the raw materials and the photo below is of the finished pair of earrings.

It's been a busy week on Etsy this past week too. I was thrilled to find my work in five beautiful treasuries and I created my first treasury too - Dragonfly Dreams. As I understand it, you are not supposed to feature your own work in a treasury that you curate, it is more to acknowledge and promote other Etsy members, so I created my treasury around a dragonfly theme with a mixture of beadwoven pieces from the Etsy Beadweavers team (of which I am a member) and other delightful handmade items I found - a couple of which also use my new favourite coral and teal colour combination! I enjoyed searching through Etsy to find items to fit my theme and discovered lots of wonderful talent in the process and I'm looking forward to 'snagging' a spot for my next treasury which also has a fun theme!

Lucky me!

Well I have been very lucky this past week; firstly I discovered that Helen of the beautiful blog MilesToSew has kindly passed on an award to me - this is my first blog award and I am both flattered and excited by that ... thank you Helen!

It is the Sweet home blogger Award for sharing beauty, love and joy - how nice, couldn't we all do with more of those things in our everyday lives? So, in keeping with tradition, I am passing this award on to five other 'bloggers' - believe me this was a tough choice as there are so many beautiful blogs I have come across and I am sure, many I haven't yet discovered.

So, in no particular order, the five blogs I have chosen are;

• Alison of BeaDangles Jewellery a good friend and an infrequent blogger - but when she does, it's worth waiting for, jewellery, photography and yummy recipes!
• Michele of Hedgelands Glass another beautiful blog full of interesting and varied crafty skills - follow the link to Michele's website and take a look at her stained glass!
• Chris of Kiamyka Gemstone Creations another multi-talented woman who also has a great way with words - her blog posts nearly always bring a tear to my eye!
• Valerie of Luz Bijoux who creates the most beautiful beadwork and has a real eye for colour - I also absolutely love the fact that she calls me 'a fairy beader'.
• Zoya of Gem and Beaded Jewelery a relatively new blogger, but a well known and talented artist who I am proud to call a friend.

I am sorry if I missed you out, as I say it was a difficult choice. These things can feel a bit like being the last to be picked for a school sports team (and I know all about that) but hopefully the above selection will provide my readers with some interesting links and will spread the word, the beauty, love and joy!

My next stroke of luck this week was split second timing when I was taking a photo of a foxglove in my garden. Well to be honest, I regard even having the foxglove as lucky, I didn't plant it, it just appeared in a prime space in the garden and has NINE very tall flower spikes on it. It's a real beauty and I count it as a gift from nature in return for creating my foxglove trio necklace. So, I thought I would take a picture of it in all its glory, spotted a bee hovering around one of the flowers and wondered if I could get it in the shot - as it turns out, I caught two (see bottom right of the photo) I'm sure I couldn't do that again if I tried!

My third piece of luck this week? My Poppy Cufflinks are currently appearing in another treasury - this time a wonderfully rich Treasury West entitled Le Rouge et le Noir created by Ileana of Enchanted Beads. Thank you Ileana!

From hot to icy and back to warm!

It looks like it's 'blog day' again today - the sun is shining, the garden is full of flowers and I have some more flowery pictures to show you ... some natural and some beaded!

First of all; we went to Lea Gardens in Derbyshire at the weekend which is renowned for it's rhododendrons and azaleas. Some of them were past their best and others had been damaged by all the rain we've had recently, but there were still lots of bright and brilliant blooms everywhere and the woodland walk area was filled with the scent of the lily of the valley. It was a lovely day out, the weather was perfect and we spent quite some time sat in the sun at the seating area at the tea rooms which overlooks the whole valley, drinking coffee and eating yummy chocolate cake too. If you look closely at their website you may spot a picture of me at the tea rooms taken some years ago!

On the beading front, I have finished the blue flowers that were shown as a 'work in progress' on my last blog post and created my Frosted Flower Fall necklace. In contrast to the hot summery picture above, this is a winter themed necklace with three icy blue flowers worked in various sizes. They each have a frosted sterling silver bead centre and I have just hung them simply from a sterling chain and clasp. It is hanging from a bust beside me as I type and I must admit I am pleased with it - very simple but also quite elegant I think ... I'd love to know what you think, so please feel free to leave a comment!

Finally for today, I have discovered that my Copper Hibiscus lariat is in an Etsy treasury with the fun title of - Cockney Grasshopper - can you guess???? It's COPPER! It's a beautiful warm collection of wonderful coppery tones and blacks and mine is the only beadwoven piece ... and (oh dear) the most expensive!

Sun, sea and .... flowers!

Well I had another lovely Bank Holiday weekend and this time I spent it down on Romney Marsh which is where I grew up and where my parents still live. The weather was perfect and as you can see from the photo below, the sea was a gorgeous turquoise colour instead of the usual shade of murky brown! We had a lovely walk along the coast and spend most of the weekend outdoors, just as well we made the most of it as it's hardly stopped raining since we got home!

For the last couple of days I have been experimenting with beading lots of tiny flowers - most of them are less than 2cm(3/4 of an inch) across and are quite fiddly to make. I've used seed beads for some, cylinder beads for others and varied the shapes, sizes and colours. A few have crystal middles, some have silver bead middles, others have tiny rice pearl centres and some are still a 'work in progress' as you can see from the photo. They are very simple flowers but I have several projects in mind for these so I am spending time on them now to get the 'look' right for what I have planned.

I've also turned two silver flowers into a pair of earrings today for a birthday present. These are made with silver-lined Delicas and have a sterling silver frosted bead centre which I have had for ages and have only just got round to using. I've made the earwires too, although I'm not great at wirework (more practice needed I think!) I think the simplicity of these long sterling wires adds to the whole overall effect of 'purity' that I was trying to achieve - I like them ... I think I might even make a pair for myself!

A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go!

Yes the latest issue of the UK magazine Bead is out and the second of my series of pendants, Frog Pendant, is one of the projects in there. This one is worked in Peyote stitch using a beautiful shade of green cylinder beads with an AB (Aurora Borealis) finish which gives them that 'glittering lake' look - well to me anyway! This little pendant, complete with pink lily and golden frog is actually part of a set I made called 'Lilies on the lake' - some magical moments spent in King Gardens in Phuket (during what I can only now describe as 'a former life') inspired me to create this.

Don't forget everyone - if you follow this pattern you are welcome to send me a picture of your work and I will gladly add it to my 'Readers gallery of work' The final pendant in the series, Dragonfly Pendant will be in Bead issue 11.

What else has happened during this past week? Oh yes, I received my lovely new SRAJD logo (Self-Representing Artist Jewelery Designer) which I am proudly displaying here on my blog and also on my website. See here for an explanation of the scheme.

I have also become a member of the Etsy Beadweavers Team recently and I am very pleased to be a part of this team as it is proving to be a fantastically talented and supportive group of people. I was fortunate to have my Foxglove Trio necklace included in another Etsy treasury a few days ago, which solely featured some of the members work. Although it has expired now, I have included a picture below as I think it is one of the prettiest treasuries I have seen so far - although obviously I am slightly biased ;-)

Readers gallery of work.

Ever since January of this year, when my first design was published in Bead magazine, I have been receiving e-mails from readers regarding my designs. Some people have even kindly sent me pictures of their completed work using my patterns. I really love to receive comments and feedback and I especially enjoy seeing other peoples versions of my designs. So I thought rather than leave these wonderful pictures hidden amongst my computer files, it might be nice to create a gallery of readers work - and that is exactly what I have done!

I have created a sub-page on my website that is annexed to my 'Published work' page and is called 'Readers gallery of work' - there is also a link to it on my blog at the top of the side bar.

The beautiful set pictured above was beaded by June Josten who cleverly adapted the Floral Fantasy pattern in Bead & Button and created a matching bracelet and earrings!

So, I would like to invite anyone who has created a piece of beadwork based on one of my published patterns to submit a picture of it (together with your name and blog/website address if applicable) and I will gladly include it in my new gallery. It doesn't matter if your version follows the pattern exactly or if you have adapted the pattern or the colour, whether you are an experienced beader or a beginner. There is no contest here, I just thought it might be a fun thing to do and also a way to get your work seen if you do not already have a website or blog.

The designs that have been published so far are Cufflinks - Floral Fantasy - Supernova Choker and Butterfly Pendant with lots more to come!

Cufflinks by Alison Inglis of BeaDangles Jewellery.

This might be a good place to add a note on copyright too! These patterns have been published in magazines, so obviously I am happy to share my knowledge and designs with you - but please note that these designs are for your personal use only and should not be sold or taught without my prior permission ... thank you for your understanding.

A colourful weekend.

Typically, it's a gloriously sunny day here today - because of course YESTERDAY was Bank Holiday Monday! To be honest, it wasn't really that bad, it rained in the morning but the sun did come out in the afternoon - but in true British spirit we made the most of the three day weekend and got out and about even in the rain. I'm so glad we did too, because everywhere is looking beautiful at the moment - everyone's gardens are brimming over with blossom, the fields are a patchwork of green and acid yellow from the oil seed rape and the woods are filled with bluebells, anemone and celandine and yes - I want to bead them all!

I took a few pictures to show you, although they are not as bright as they could be because of the weather - this first one for example was taken in the rain - but just look how bright the yellow of the rape is against the oak tree in the middle and the dull sky!

This field was on one side of the lane and the woodland with a carpet of bluebells was on the other side. The air was filled with the beautiful scent of the bluebells and the peppery smell of the rape flower. Again, the picture is not as bright as it could be as it was raining when I took this - it doesn't do the bluebells justice but you can see what a gorgeous bright green the young leaves on the trees are.

Also our ornamental cherry tree 'Kanzan' is in full bloom at the bottom of our garden and I'm so pleased that the rain hasn't been too heavy so the blossom is still looking beautiful - it's an absolute delight for just 1 week out of 52 and it's so sad when it doesn't have the chance to shine!

So now it's back to work and I'm off out into the garden to find a shady spot to finish my dragon ready to send off to Bead & Button for their October issue - hardly seems like work does it!

Studio 61

Last Thursday I went to a preview evening at Studio 61 - a gallery in the picturesque Peak District of Derbyshire, run by talented artist Karina Goodman. I have some of my work for sale in the craft shop and gallery and it has recently undergone a major refurbishment following a flood, so it was very interesting to see the new layout and meet some of the other artists who have their work displayed there. I went with my good friend Alison of BeaDangles Jewellery, who also has her work for sale there. Karina was keen to see a copy of the April issue of Bead & Button with my Foxglove Trio on the cover and I left a copy with her - I think she is going to display it alongside the Foxglove necklace she has in one of her display cabinets as people have apparently been asking if it is by me!

The new gallery/craft shop is connected to the Art Cafe, which is a wonderful spacious area of low leather chairs and tables. It has a very warm and relaxed feel, a great menu and a further display of art and crafts on the walls and in glass cabinets around the room - all laid out with wine and 'nibbles' for the preview evening!

Karina, Alison and I also discussed plans for a Jewellery Festival later in the year. This should be a fantastic two day event, when myself, Alison and others will give demonstrations of our work. Visitors will be able to browse around the gallery and craft shop, watch demonstrations, chat to the various artists and enjoy the Art Cafe, restaurant or ice cream parlour - and all in a beautiful rural setting ... sounds like a perfect day out!

Experimenting with photos!

So, I've had my Etsy shop for just over a week now and I can hardly leave it alone! I started out with all white backgrounds on my photos - there's a school of thought that says this is the 'best' way to do it as it lets the product stand out and also apparently you have more chance of being picked for a 'treasury' (a kind of showcase) if you have white background photos. But, as my shop started to fill up, I began to think it was looking a bit stark and sterile and so I've retaken some shots with coloured backgrounds and props.

I've spent hours this week experimenting with photos and I've even crammed some of Simon's trousers, shirts and ties into my little light-tent in an effort to create a more masculine theme for some of the gents cufflinks. I've also gone back to some of my favourite backgrounds of hand-made paper and a fresh lily flower for some of the more feminine pieces. The shop currently has a mix of some white and some coloured backgrounds - personally I am happy with it and I think it gives the shop a bit more 'character' - what do you think ... coloured or plain?

An Etsy shop and a new look blog.

I keep hearing mixed reports about Etsy. Some people seem to find it a good showcase for their work and others feel as though it's easy to just get lost in there. It certainly is a massive 'place' - within minutes of me listing an item, I noticed that another 100 items had been listed for sale, so I think it will take lots of hard work to keep afloat. On the other hand, it's a brilliant opportunity which already has a huge following so it has to be worth a try.

If there is anyone out there who isn't familiar with Etsy (Is that possible? Even Mum is asking "How many items have you got listed on Etsy rhymes with Betsy now?") it is billed as "an online marketplace for buying and selling all things handmade" - that means I qualify right?

So, I've opened an Etsy shop (see link in the side bar!) and the first thing I wanted to do was get 'the look' right, which meant a new banner. I loved my old black and red banner, but it just wasn't working with Etsy's orange heading so I had to come up with something new and I wanted it to incorporate a piece of my work. After several hours of experimenting, taking pictures, cutting, pasting, layering, rejigging and general faffing I have come up with something I am happy with for the time being. Up until 3 months ago, I had never done anything like this, so I am pretty pleased with the result, but this leads on from my last post - another example of a time consuming activity that is not beading but is necessary for the success of the beadwork business ... well in my opinion anyway, or is it just that I kind of like playing on the pc?

Anyway, as I ended up with 3 different banners, one for my website, one for my blog and one for my Etsy shop, I thought I should simplify things a little and have therefore changed the look of the blog to reflect the Etsy shop - see;- new banner and orange text! What do you think?

For now, I think it will just be a mixture of smaller pieces such as Ladies and Gents cufflinks for sale in the shop, together with the odd 'bigger' piece such as the original Supernova Choker and Foxglove Trio. I'll see how it goes before I make any other decisions.

The only trouble now is, every time I post a picture either on here or Etsy, I feel unsettled if it doesn't match my new orange and grey theme - could I be taking things a little too seriously lol? I don't think it really warrants me only using orange and grey beads in future though - that may be a step too far!

Supernova Choker!

Hmmmm - another week gone by and still no new work to show you! I was warned that once you take beading from hobby level to a business level, you get hardly any time for actual beading. When you hear this you tend to think "Yeah, yeah - it won't be that way for me!" .... but it's so true! I used to spend hours and hours just idly beading, dreaming up new designs and contently experimenting - bliss. Nowadays it's more like 30% beading and the rest of my time is spent writing up and testing projects, drawing diagrams, doing paperwork (like the dreaded tax return that popped through my letterbox this morning!) networking, website maintenance, blogging, photography etc. etc. - although I'm sure I could be a little bit more efficient with my time if I really tried ;-)

So, seeing as we really need a picture on today's post to brighten things up a bit, here's a picture of my Supernova Choker. It's in April's issue of Beadwork magazine, which has been out in America for just over a week I think, and is due in the UK shops any day now. It's a netted band with an off-centre circular brick stitch 'starburst', which the editor describes as "Out of this world". I've made several of these in various colour combinations and I find them surprisingly comfortable to wear and they certainly seem to get noticed!

Something old - something new.

What have I got to show you today? Well I haven’t had chance to come up with any new designs just lately, as I’ve got lots of testing and writing up to do for projects that have already been accepted for magazines. I’m ploughing through them though, and hopefully I’ll have everything finished in a couple of weeks so that I can then move on to trying out some new ideas I have jotted down in my various notebooks!

In the meantime, I thought I’d show you my Butterfly Pendant which is in the latest issue of Bead and maybe some of my international readers won’t have seen it. It’s a Herringbone stitch pendant, with a tiny Brick stitch flower and a butterfly charm, hung from Memory Wire and decorated with garnet Swarovski crystals. There are two more projects coming up in the next two issues of Bead – Frog Pendant and Dragonfly Pendant.

I also thought I’d show you a pair of earrings I’ve just made for myself. As you can probably see, I am mainly a bead weaver, but I recently treated myself to a gorgeous necklace from my friend Julie of Lush Lampwork made especially in colours to match a top I have. Julie also made me some matching smaller beads so that I could make myself some earrings. They are nothing fancy, I wanted the beautiful beads to speak for themselves, so I have just added some light sapphire Swarovski crystals, formed a couple of wrapped loops and hung them from some sterling silver earwires that I made by wrapping some wire around a pencil! I love them and am virtually living in them!

Easter Inspiration!

Well, I spent the Easter holiday period at my parents house and whilst the weather wasn't fantastic, a mixture of sunshine, snow, rain and lots of wind, we managed to get out and about and nearly walked the poor dog off her feet! I remembered to take my camera with me this time, and thought I'd attempt a few inspirational 'arty' shots. Now that I'm uploading/downloading (whichever way it is!) them, I see that most of them are out of focus - especially the one's where I was trying to be a bit clever and position my camera in amongst some gorgeous velvety moss at eye level - more practice needed I think! Still, I think the pictures below capture some of the glorious natural inspiration that surrounds us, such intense blues and greens at this time of year and the hedges were covered in the beautiful Blackthorn flowers with their delicate fluffy middles - can't wait to get beading!

A birthday present.

It was my bead-buddy Claire's 40th (shhhhhh!) birthday on Sunday. I was hoping to meet up with her at the Harrogate beadwork fair, but unfortunately I couldn't make it so I had to post her present to her. She's received it and now I know she likes it, I thought I'd post a picture of it here. Claire is cat mad, so I made her this quirky little 'Cat in front of the fire' tag. It's a bit different to my usual 'floral creations' I know, but it's a bit of fun and in fact my latest project in Bead magazine is along similar lines! See Claire's beautiful work on her website Clasicat Designs

Whew! Where did that week go?

Well it's been over a week since my last post and it's all been a bit of a whirl! Mum didn't make it to the biopsy appointment last Monday, due to the severe storms that were battering the South Coast last week - but she has another appointment on April 1st. Thank you to everyone that has sent their good wishes and support, it means so much to both of us.

So what's happened in my beady world since last week? Well some good news regarding the Pink Ribbon Pin - it's going to be a project on Beading Daily sometime soon, so anyone that wants to can make their own special pin. Of course, these ribbons have become a popular emblem for various causes, and so I have also made Teal Ribbon Pin (representing ovarian cancer) to show how different they can look in different colourways.

I've also made a new Pink Ribbon Pin, with a 9ct gold stick pin, which is going to be auctioned by Beading Daily, with all the proceeds going to a breast cancer charity. I will post details of the auction here as soon as I know them!

What else? Well most of the week was taken up with either beading the pins, sourcing the materials (thanks go to my friend George of by george for helping me find the gold and silver stick pins!) or preparing the instructions and diagrams. Bead & Button is finally available in UK shops (with my Foxglove Trio on the cover) and I must admit, it was a great feeling to be able to walk into WHSmith on Saturday and see my design on the shelves! Beadwork is also due out sometime soon, with my Supernova Choker project in there and I believe the latest issue of Bead is also due out and I have another project in there - Butterfly Pendant ... sorry Julie ;-)

So all in all, a pretty busy but exciting time - now if only we could just get Mum well!

Pink Ribbon Pin!

As some of you know, my lovely Mum has been battling breast cancer for a couple of years now. It seems to be the one persistent black cloud in our otherwise bright sky. Tomorrow she has to have another biopsy to see if the cancer is back or if it's just scar tissue from the two previous lumpectomies. I made the Pink Ribbon Pin today in honour of Mum and to acknowledge her bravery in the fight against this dreadful disease. My heart goes out to everyone in a similar situation.