Ice Burst Pendant

What a lovely surprise, I got a message from Jess to say that she has featured my Ice Burst Pendant in her weekly wow spot on her blog Handmade by Jess.

Im in great company with a pair of Lynn Davy's gorgeous sparkly earrings !!

The finished beads

This is what the two sets of beads look like once they have had their masking removed and been cleaned up.

Ice Stars -

Frosty Daisies - 

The beads have a core of one colour and a thick coat of enamel, they have been masked off with a resist and then sandblasted to give this finish. I let the sandblast eat quite deep as I like that effect, but tried to keep smattering of enamel to keep that frosted feel.

Its a dirty job..

I thought it might interest you to see some pictures of what I have been working on whilst I have been very quiet this week. So I thought that I would share some work in progress pictures..

Can you guess what I have been doing ??

How about if I give you a bit more of a clue, one step further along the process -

Any guesses ? Answers on a postcard please,.. well ok then in the comments !! I'll share the pictures of the finished pieces soon.

Handmade Christmas - Tree Decorations

I love decorating my Christmas tree, its something I look forward to every Christmas and I love collecting new decorations. All the garden centres locally seem to have put their stocks of Christmas decorations out now to tempt me so I have been investigating the handmade alternatives.

This beautiful blown glass ornament is by Cane River Glass on Etsy, I love the colours in this, it would look so fab on my tree...

Lace Snowflake ornament by Embroidery Impressions on Etsy. So delicate and so pretty !! 

Delightful turned wood ornament by Holz fur Haus on Etsy, isnt this gorgeous ??  The contrasting colours of the wood work so nicely and the shape is lovely.

Porcelain Snowflake ornament by D Hergt Designs on Etsy. I think it is the delicate use of colour in this that draws me to it, a lot of the other ones I saw had the texture or a colour but I love the way this has both working together.

I found it quite interesting that as I was looking around online for handmade decorations, I was struggling to find them with the search words I expected. As you can see Etsy did eventually come up with some delights but I was surprised at how little I could find in general. What words would you choose if you were looking for tree decorations ?? And please, if you have any you have found that you love do share a link.

Craft Fair

I have spent a lovely day today doing a craft fair and sharing a table with my friend Sarah of Flame Force Five. It was great to meet people, renew old friendships and make new ones. I know I have been a little quiet recently so I though I would share some of the new pieces I took with me.

I was really pleased with this necklace, it is quite delicate looking but has a really nice weight to it and a subtle sparkle.

This one I originally made for me (now there is a surprise seeing how much grey it is...) It's of a moody, dark and gothic feel with the lavender and grey and I call it my twighlight necklace as it makes me think of the vampire books !! 

And this one is the opposite, I didnt originally make it for me but have had the beads for a while faffing them into different arrangements and I have totally fallen in love with them, so this one went to be sold but came home with me ! 

The beads are made with Bullseye glass (unusually for me) which does have the most amazing Dichro, much more sparkly than the standard Effetre stuff, and I cased it with Bullseye's colour shifting Rhubarb glass which goes from a deep pink to a gorgeous green !! The doodles are silver paint I drew onto the beads and fired on. 

Now, I think its time to put my feet up with a nice cup of tea (and fondle my new necklace....).

Some days, you need a bit more..

And its even better when you make it in your favorite glass espresso cup. 

Normal service will be resumed shortly ! 

Handmade Christmas - Cards

For the run upto Christmas I thought I would do a weekly post on handmade Christmas things. Im hoping to buy handmade (or swap, trade or make my own) as much as possible this year and thought it wold be fun to share what Im looking at and maybe inspire you with some ideas too (and do feel free to share links to things you like too !)

As Im trying to be more organised this year (aka, not do everything on the 24th December), I have started looking at cards and these are some of my favorites. Im feeling all excited by typography at the moment and these cards are hitting that spot.

From The Green Gables these cute all colourful cards.

From Storeyshop on Folksy,  handcut and personalised cards.

From Typoretum, bright and cheerful this one is antique wooden type printed.

From RockPaperInk on Etsy, lovely Letterpress design.

If you are feeling all inspired but like to design your own you can always upload your own desing and get them printed with MOO. Hmmm.. now how much time was there before Christmas ..

Blog Tidy

I know it isnt spring but (unless you read through a RSS reader or similar) you have probably noticed I have made a few changes to the blog and had a bit of a tidy. I have been thinking quite a lot recently about what it is I like about my favorite blogs, why is it when I see there is a new post (I use safari's built in RSS reader) from certain people do I rush to read them before others. And I have been looking at some of the plentyful online resources about blogging and trying to decide where I want to go with this blog.

I have come to really enjoy sharing things on here but I realise I am rather random in my witterings !! So if you have any thoughts on posts you have enjoyed, topics you like to read about (or ones you dont like) then I would be delighted if you would leave me a comment. Im planning to make a few changes, to be a little more focused in my approach and hopefully you will enjoy reading as much or more than you do now !

One of my new pendants

...and for anyone interested my current favorite, rush to blogs, at this very minute are The Noisy Plume and  Brandi Girl...  I let you know as a discover new favorites, its one of many things Im thinking I should share more.

Nelli Rees "Glass Bead Jewellery Projects" Book

I am most excited today to have received my copy of this book. It seems like ages ago Nelli said she was writing it, (and to be fair with publishing times etc it probably is). I have always admired Nelli's take on tombo dama beads and as a result have been greatly anticipating the arrival of the book and it definitely lives upto expectations.

I love the book cover, it is a soft back book and has a matt front cover that has ben spot laminated over the pictures (aka the pictures are glossy the rest isnt) which is an effect that I love - I have been trying to source a company who does spot laminating on photobooks for ages but that is another story- and it makes a great "oooo" first impression.

I havent had a chance to sit and read cover to cover but I have had a good nosey through the book. It has been split into sections for different abilities and each lampwork tutorial is then followed by a step by step tutorial on a piece of jewellery made with those very beads. I am always intrigued to see how different people use beads and I think this format is a great idea especially for those who are new to lampwork. I know when I first started making beads, having made anything i liked i had to immediately make it into jewellery so i could wear it and show it off. Looking back at the things i made then its rather clear to see i was as new to wire work and stringing as lampwork and a bit of guidance would have been very useful ! So congratulations to Nelli on a lovely book which I am looking forward to sitting down with a brew and reading thoroughly.