Making comments

After dusting off this blog I’ve discovered that it’s not possible now for you - or me - to make comments under my posts unless you use Firefox as your browser. Annoying but there you are🙄.

Messing with metal

Been practising some metalwork, sawing, bashing and soldering. Great fun!

A comet for November. 

A new Treasure Bottle bead

I have been making more of my treasure bottle focal beads. They take so long to make that I stagger away from the flame...but I love making them! This one is an inch and a half tall
 (c 4cm) - the pictures show both sides of one bead. They are really hard to photograph and come to life in the hand as is often the case with glass. See my post in May last year for the story behind these.

Returning to the studio

After a pause to heal a broken arm, I'm back and beading again - and it feels good!

I like to see the sea at least once a year: we've just come home from this year's summer break in Sidmouth, Devon:

Now I have to pace myself, but there's so much I want to make!

Staithes harbour

A picture from our summer holiday - magical Staithes with dramatic sky. We stayed in Whitby on the Yorkshire coast, sigh, seems a long time ago now (was only a month ago...)

Beachcomber bracelet

Forum challenge beads

Final bracelet

Quite some time ago I took part in a forum challenge, exchanging images to kick-start a new beadset idea. I was lucky enough to receive a beautiful photo of a harbour at night and made these. I hoarded them for ages before recently deciding to make a knotted bracelet out of some of them adding a stoneware and copper clasp, stoneware cogs and lampwork discs.

 I like to age my copper, but inadvertently used coated wire which refused to darken, lesson learned. As well as this pitfall, I decided I wasn't too fond of the grey cord, so decided to darken it with coffee. This would have done the trick if the cord didn't turn out to be man-made, grr. So I bit the...chocolate, and re-threaded it on darker cotton cording. After all that, I decided to keep it and have worn it frequently this summer. I'm planning to  make a few more along these lines for my shop (minus errors!).

Before alterations

Treasure bottles

 I made a series of four decorative ocean-themed bottle shaped focals at this time last year and thought I'd make another batch now that summer is on the way (supposedly!). These four are the latest ones and this is the story behind them: 


"Could these bottles have been thrown overboard by a drunken pirate centuries ago, sinking to the ocean bed where they gathered barnacles, seaweed, netting, sand, anemones, and were then washed up onto a sandy shore? Well if they were, mermaids must have magically miniaturised them, which is lucky for jewellery fans..."









I've loved making these - each one is different, and the possibilities are probably endless. I'm keeping the last one for now - I just adore this tealy green glass and I'm not sure if I can get any more. I'd love to see what other jewellery makers do with these. 






 



Oh, I kept another one of the
prototypes and quickly 
wire-wrapped it with one of my 
soldered rings. I can dream of the sea!