You can't always make what you want...

... But if you try sometimes you might find
You make what you need...

(With apologies to the Rolling Stones for altering their words slightly...)

All week I've been trying to get to do more of my silver, but it just didn't happen (apart from two hours in my class). But I did do my accounts (all up to date!), made some things for the website and finished a commission.

First of all, here's a photograph of Tom manning our stall at last week's market in Weston-super-Mare.

It wasn't the most successful event, but hopefully it will build as people get used to us being there. As you can see we had a lovely bread stall behind us - and over to the right where you can see a person in a red and white coat, that was the hog roast! Wonderful smells all morning... and all I had was an unripe banana. I'm being SO good at the moment... can you see my halo from where you are?

Here's some of the things that got made/onto the website this week:

Some spectacle chains. This is why most people come to my website, so I try to keep a reasonable stock on the page. I think I added 10 this week!



And then I made some wine charms... these go well at the markets.


My friend, Lynne, asked me to make a handbag charm/keyring and mobile phone charm for her sister. Here's one in blues:

And I also made one in pinks and purples, so she had a choice:


And, good news, she liked them both... so she had them both! What a lovely customer!

And that's the lesson for today... You can't always make what YOU want... you have to make what YOUR CUSTOMER wants. No point in having masses of stock if it's not the sort of thing you can sell from your website or at your venues... and if you know what your customers ARE looking for, then that's what you need to make.

OK, I didn't get to make what I wanted - but that didn't stop me enjoying making the things I did make. And hopefully, next week there will be time for more silver.

My rings and pendant that I showed you last time have gone off to be hallmarked - how exciting. I'll show you when I get them back.

Tomorrow, our regular monthly craft market in Nailsea starts up again after a break for January and February. It will be nice to be back, we have some really lovely regular customers there. And, in honour of St Patrick's day this week, we're having some young Irish dancers performing. Should be fun.

Not too much to report on the home front this week. My kitchen is currently full of teenagers discussing Biology! They're setting themselves up some revision sessions in preparation for the A2 exams in May/June. They're doing the heart and respiration today.

Right, I'm off to my book club in a minute, we've been reading The White Tiger. An interesting read. Have you read it? What did you think?

Have a great weekend, everyone. Take care and have fun.

Much love to all,

Lesley
xx

Family and Friends

Oops! Where did that month go? Sorry, blog readers for neglecting you for so long.

So, what's been happening... Well, there's BIG family news... which I'll tell you about at the end. What a tease!

Sarah and I have done loads of events and most of them were pretty good... in fact, some were excellent! We've got a busy few weeks ahead of us too. Portishead Flower Show, Publow Garden Fete and Bristol Balloon Fiesta! And our monthly appearance at Nailsea Craft Market which is proving to be a super event. On top of all that we have our office selling days which are so enjoyable.

So, it's been heads down working hard for the last few weeks - and for the next few weeks too.

New jewellery... Here we go with a small selection:

The first one is a pendant made with sterling silver wire, which I have shaped, soldered and then hammered to give a 3-D effect... then hung a wonderfully marked ocean jasper bead in the centre.


The next one I made using the same process but filled the centre with squiggles.


For this next one, I hammered the base plate - with one of my lovely new hammers - and then soldered the coils of wire onto the front. Then the whole thing - including the chain - was dipped into Liver of Sulphur to oxidise it - turn it black. I then polished it so that the blackness was removed or lightened on the highlights. I was thinking of ferns... but having consulted pictures of ferns (after I finished it) I find that they curl in the opposite direction! Hey ho, artistic license.

A lady at one of the offices asked me to make an amber necklace for her mum. I didn't have any amber... what a great excuse to go shopping... It's actually quite difficult to find suppliers and in the end, these beads came from Hong Kong! I love the different colours. Here I have teamed the amber with Vermeil (Sterling Silver with a layer of 24 carat gold) and I'm pleased with the results. I'm going to make some other styles - some with Sterling Silver - which I'll try to show you... soon!

What else has been happening... Martha took her grade 1 keyboard exam. I could hear some of it from outside the room and it sounded fine... so fingers crossed, she did OK.

Tom and I have been looking around universities. We had a day at Birmingham Uni and enjoyed that and then we went to Oxford. It must have been the hottest day of the year... we were melting. But, what a great day. We went inside many of the colleges and it was like we'd visited five or six stately homes. Fabulous. Tom loved it... so 'all' he has to do now is get in!! Of course, competition is fierce for places, but he's going to give it his best shot.

Is that the big news? No.

I had my birthday. It was wonderful. We had a barbecue on the Sunday and loads of friends - and my mum - came over and we had a great time. On the Monday - my actual birthday - we went to Bristol Museum and saw the Banksy exhibit. It's just fantastic. I loved it. Do go and see it if you get the chance.

Is that the big news? No.

I had a super night out with chums at Chepstow races. I didn't win anything! But, it was great fun. We had a delicious picnic in the car park (well on a grassy bank at the side of the car park) afterwards and ate cheese and biscuits in the mini bus on the way home.

Is that it? No.

My lovely mum will be having her birthday soon. She'll be 80. But, you'd never believe it. She doesn't look her age - and, thankfully, I inherited those genes and I'm told I don't look my age either. She's pretty sprightly for her age too. Love you, Mum.

Is that the news? No, but close.

OK, I give in. The news is related to Mum's birthday. My brother, four years younger than me, emigrated to Brazil in 1979. And he's never been back to the UK since... and none of us have ever been over there. BUT, he's coming for Mum's birthday. So, I'll be seeing my brother for the first time in 30 years... next Friday! And I can't wait. He's bringing his wife, Kelle, who we haven't met before - and who doesn't speak English - so that's going to be fun. His daughter, Patricia, is coming too. We have met her before... remember me blogging about it? Here. It's going to be just amazing.

See, I told you it was BIG!

Right, better get washed and dressed and get on with the weekend.

Take care, All, and much love to each and every one of you.
XX

Silk, stoppers and squiggles

Here's our stall set up for the craft and gift fair in the Broadmead Mall, in Bristol on Saturday. That's Sarah talking to the daughter of another stall holder. You can see that the fair took up a good area in the shopping centre. However, sales were really poor. People just didn't stop to look at what was on offer. Which was a real shame, because there were some wonderful things (and not just on our stall!).

This is the middle of our table - and I just wanted to show you these new canvases that Sarah has made - aren't they fabulous!

Onto Sunday and our table at Bowood Dog Show and Country Fair. You'll see that with a smaller area we couldn't take the canvases with us. We did quite well at Bowood. But spent almost as much as we made on lovely goodies from other stall holders! Hey ho.

Onto some jewellery. Actually managed to get outside to take some pics today.

First up is a set made with Chrysocolla - which is a new favourite for me. Wonderful colours.

The next few are a new design. Beads are threaded onto dyed silk ribbon ((by Diane Turton of Sowzere Designs) and the ends of the ribbon are then threaded through a matching bead and knotted. This means it can be slipped over the head and then the bead moved up so the necklace is the correct length. (Thanks to my lovely mate, Julie Fountain, for this wonderful idea... which I have shamelessly pinched!) I've been wanting some of these ribbons for the longest time, but always seemed to miss them on Diane's website. Once I got my hands on some, I couldn't wait to make them into something lovely. I just love the colours.

The first one has beads by Clare Scott and the ribbon is threaded through a large-holed Sterling Silver bead and then back through the bead.
These beads are also by Clare and again I've used the Sterling Silver beads.

The beads in this next one are by Julie Fountain of Lush Lampwork and I've knotted the silk between the beads.

A similar method using more of Julie's wonderful beads.

As Father's Day is approaching and we've got Nailsea Craft Market the day before, I thought I'd better make something suitable for men. So, here are some bottle stoppers onto which I've added lampwork beads. The beads are by various artists including Julie Fountain and Clare Scott.



And lastly some new Sterling Silver Squiggles. Two textured, one not.



Not much else to report - having been out selling all weekend, there wasn't time to get up to much! However, we don't have any more events now until 20th, so I've promised myself some time with the silver - watch this space for the results.

Take care, all, and I'll be back soon.

Much love
xx

We're off!

Just grabbing a few minutes, while I drink my coffee, to say hello and goodbye!

We're off on our American adventure tomorrow. First to Dillon, near Denver, to see friends, Jim and Becky. It's FREEZING there at the moment -14 Centigrade as I type!!! BRRRRRR. Admittedly it is the middle of the night, but still... The forecast it that it might go as high as 4 degrees C while we're there. Still sounds jolly cold to me. But Jim and Becky are super people and we know we're going to have a great time with them.

Then we'll be off to California and some sunshine.

My hope is that I'll be able to update the blog with details of the trip and some photos as we go along, so check back and see how we're doing.

On the jewellery front, it's been very hectic since my last posting. Visits to all our offices, a few parties and we had a stall at the new Nailsea Craft Market.

The craft market is running on the same Saturday (3rd in the month) as the Farmers' Market and if the first one is anything to go by, it will be a great addition. We had a fantastic time - sold LOADS and met some lovely people. The next one is on 18th April - the day we get back from hols, so Sarah is doing that one with her daughter.

A few pictures to show you:

The first one uses glass beads which I'd had for a while, then once I found the fire polished faceted ones, I knew just what to put with them. I've named it Rust and Scribble. This one is sold.

The next two features beads by Tania Grey of Tan, of course. I love Tan's little Fritett beads, as she calls them.
This one, I've named Violet Lawn. Tan's beads are a fab mixture of green and purple which I've echoed with freshwater pearls and peridot.
And this one - the necklace sold, but the earrings are still available - is a lovely mix of pinks, khaki and browns. I have used Unakite to bring out the colours.

Once I get back from holiday, it will be nose to the grindstone for me as it will only be two weeks until North Somerset Arts Week... which is actually 10 days.

So, look out for updates about our holidays and take care of yourselves.

Much love to all.
xx