Monday, 26 May 2014

Bad days, Good days and holidays

In April, I had a bit of a "funny turn" in work, which made me feel unwell for quite a few days. I'm still under investigation, but when it happened, it led to a couple of really stressful and unsure weeks for me. So I decided one Wednesday, to visit the guys at The Bead Shop Liverpool and do a class. As I'm working full time, and have rather busy weekday evenings, I simply give Vicky at the shop a ring to see if there's space, and I will then just turn up!

So that's what I did, not caring what I would do, and if I've done it before, but wanting some lovely beady time.

Olygalala (sorry for the spelling) bracelet. I tried desperately to steer clear of the colours I usually gravitate to (blues and greens) and went for a lovely red and white.

Here's the result

pretty isn't it? The first time my naturally tight tension has worked in my favour! I had a few issues with thread snapping (crystal + tight tension + friction = snapped thread) but eventually, I got there.
Here's a tip for this kind of bracelet: don't wear it every spare minute you get, or regularly with sleeves. If you do, it might end up like this...

In a sandwich bag, given to me when I visited my cousin the week before last. It snapped very discretely, very quietly on the train, and began raining little red seed beads on my Metro newspaper. A sad moment.


But that didn't matter, I was going up to The Lake District with my cousin Emma (from emazbeadz.blogspot.com) for a few days, and then I was joining her at her jewellery making class at the end of the week, doing silversmithing.

The Lake District is a wonderful place for inspiration, whether it is in the crafty sense, or literary sense (I also write poetry and short stories). There are loads of small independent craft and designer-maker shops, galleries and stalls in Windermere, Grasmere and Ambleside alone!

As I said, I learned some silversmithing techniques from Deliah at The Jewellery Maker, Lancaster.
I was lucky, as normally I would need to learn the basics before doing the stone setting. This includes soldering, shaping and firing. The nearest I've ever been to these, is sawing and soldering copper pipe for my dad a few years back.

Well, with help and support from my fellow learners, and the wonderful tutelage of  Deliah. I completed a beautiful pendant!












 I've got the bug now, but with silversmithing courses in Liverpool too rare and prohibitively priced for me, more Lancaster trips for me, me thinks!

It's been quite a while

I have no explanation or excuse (well not good ones anyway) for why I've been away for so long. I do, however, have pictures about what I've been doing in the meantime!

Well, firstly, I've turned my "lounge" into a more crafty place....






Pretty good eh?
I live with my parents still, and have my own "lounge" area, which I decided to turn into a place where I could create, store and keep my makes.
I'm naturally not a very organised person, and need something where I can put my hand immediately on what I want and know where exactly it is.
My seed bead stash is in the blue boxes, which were found in a skip!! Seriously folks, found in a skip, given a good wash and new lease of life.








Secondly, I've been getting ready to put some creations on Etsy, by getting my Dad, an amateur photographer to take the pictures. He's a natural talent of the whole "use what you have in the house to create what you need" and DIY-ness in general. This is what I found the other week when he had been photographing....


A bench clamp, an old mop pole...


with a camera mount

and easel - sorry, I cant seem to get it the right way up!

 All put together so pictures like this


can be taken without any camera wobble, and with a basic DSLR lens!

So yes, this means I am now on Etsy! Find me on http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BubblyDuckBeads