Spikes!

You'll see there's a definite theme to the pieces I've been making this week... ceramic and spiky!

I've been lusting after these colourful ceramic washers for a month or so. I've been using the silvered ones in my designs for a while, but these coloured ones are so vibrant, I couldn't wait to get my hands on them.

Here's the purple and blue mottled ones with some silver washers and the spikes. These give the necklace real drama and look fabulous on.

The back of the necklace is leather and the sterling silver fastening is on the side.

This next one uses the same design, but with the blue and turquoise beads.



This one uses just the smaller washers - along with the silver - in the really, really bright colours. Fabulous for holidays. I do wish I'd made these before we went away!!

And then, lastly for today, a different look where I've used the spikes with lampwork beads by Tania Grey of Tan, Of Course and freshwater pearls.


I have made a whole batch of lampwork pendants, wine bottle stoppers, bottle openers and letter openers too this week, but haven't had chance to photograph them. Hopefully, I can show them to you next posting.

Tomorrow (Monday) Sarah and I are selling at the North Somerset Show. This is our local agricultural show and very popular. We've not done this one before, so fingers crossed that the sun comes out (it's pouring down with rain as I type) and there's hoards of visitors - and some of them want to buy some jewellery! Will let you know.

On the family front, Tom's exams last week were all 'OK' or 'Not bad' - so that sounds hopeful!

Martha's prize giving on Thursday was a nice event, celebrating the successes of the school. The guest speaker was the Olympic gold-winning athlete, Jason Gardener, who was a great speaker and his recounting of the 100 metre relay race when he won gold was totally gripping so that we all felt we'd run it with him and had tears in our eyes as the National Anthem played as we stood on the rostrum...
Martha's prize was for Excellent Attitude... yes, you can imagine the comments from all the parents of teenagers who'd won a prize for Attitude...

We had a lovely time yesterday afternoon and evening when some of Brian's family came over. I say 'some' of them... we were twelve to sit down for dinner. We did the calculations and if ALL of his family had come, it would have been 31 people!! He's one of nine - and then with husbands, wives, partners, children... it's a crowd and a half.

Hope you're having a great weekend - and enjoy the Bank Holiday if it's happening wherever you are!

Take care, all.

Much love
xx

Recyling, Repurposing and Re...er... Sunshining!

I've been waiting a couple of days to show you this... the light has just been awful here, so dull, but I couldn't wait any longer. Look at this!


Can you guess what it is? It's a cabochon of Fordite, a remarkable and rare material. It is solidified car paint from the Ford plant at Dagenham. Can you believe it? When the paint shops were closed there was a huge build up of paint on the walls and floors and it was found that this compacted material could be cut, shaped and polished like a stone. The colours and patterns are just fabulous.

I have set the cabochon in Sterling Silver.

So, that's the repurposing, here's the recycling:


These lovely lampwork beads by Tania Grey, of Tan, Of Course, were made into another set, but I wasn't happy with it, so that was taken apart and I've made this new one. The lovely Swarovski pearls compliment the lampwork beautifully.

I've added a few new spectacle chains to the website today too, here are two of them.

And last, but certainly not least, my love and thanks go to Maz Simpson of Amari gems (do pop over and have a look at her blog: here - she makes the most amazing jewellery) who has given me the Sunshine Award. This has really brightened my day, which outside was cold, wet and misty with low lying cloud.

The rules for accepting the Sunshine award

~ Put the logo on your blog or within your post

~ Pass the award onto 12 bloggers ~

~ Link the nominees within your post ~

~ Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

~ Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

My nomiated award winners are:
(please do go and visit their blogs, they're all really interesting)

Beady Pool
Behind the Scenes at Jewelry Tales
Chameleon Designs
ChatElaine Jewellery
Cristina's Jewelry
Eve's Gems
Fired with Imagination
Kiamyka - Now and Then
Little Castle Designs
Lush Blogs
Made by AnnaK
The Makings of Beads by Clare Scott

OK, that's it for now.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Much love,

Lesley
xx

Jewellery Catch-Up

Phew! So, North Somerset Arts Week is over for another two years. I don't know how long it's going to take for me to recover - I'm SO tired. Tired but very happy. We had 400 visitors through the door (and trampling on Sarah's cream carpet) and they were all very complimentary and lots of them purchased from us which was fantastic considering how much choice there was - over 100 venues!

It's an age since I showed you any jewellery - some that was made has already sold - and lots of it I didn't get time to photograph. But, there's still plenty for you to see:

I've made quite a lot of this type of set, using lampwork beads from different artisans. Both of these feature beads by Tania Grey of Tan, Of Course. They are threaded onto leather with Sterling Silver beads and all the fittings are Sterling.
Continuing with lampwork, these wonderful etched beads are by Suzy Hannabuss of Moonlight Beads - aren't they great? I've teamed them with lots of Sterling Silver, including my favourite mirror ball beads, so this set has great twinkle.
I love this design so much, I've made it with three different coloured beads. The main part is made with top-drilled ivory pearls which give this lovely patten and then coloured pearls to add a zing.
One of my favourite stones - Picasso Jasper. I've put Sterling silver between the rondelles in this one to lighten it... I know from experience just how heavy these necklaces can be!
Another favourite - Spiderweb Agate - here coupled with Black Onyx and Sterling Silver.
And this is Feldspar - which is a new stone to me. I really like the veining on it though, so I think I'll be using it again. Here I've used it with Black Onyx and some lovely Sterling Silver rectangles to echo the shape of the feldspar.
And last, but not least, this marriage of turquoise and silver, which is a favourite combination. I've used both chips and rondelles here with Sterling leaves at the front of the necklace and textured tubes at the back. It comes with a choice of earrings because I couldn't make up my mind...

So, that's a quick selection of what I've been up to. I'll be back with some more soon.

Take care, all.

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

Out of my comfort zone...

...with grateful thanks to Tan... Tania Grey of Tan, Of Course.

When I'm blending colours with beads, I'm not too adventurous - keeping things matching and toning... but then, when I have some of Tan's beads, she gives me a sharp boot up the bottom and sends me WAY outside my comfort zone. Her colour combinations are always interesting and they inspire me to put colours together in a more interesting and unusual way.

Take this one for example:

Just look at the fantastic colours in Tan's beads! I found turquoise freshwater pearls and candy jade chips to echo the colours and teamed them with Sterling Silver.

The name of the set comes from the wonderful Burl Ives' song which was part of the soundtrack to my childhood. Remember the chorus?

Oh the buzzin' of the bees
In the cigarette trees
Near the soda water fountain
At the lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
On the big rock candy mountain

You can hear Burl sing it here.

These beads are a little more subdued, but still have surprising colours... the soft heather purple, with red and turquoise... translated into a necklace with garnets and glass seed beads.

Purple and green is a favourite colour combination of mine... so these beads always had my name on! Here the beads are Amethyst and Peridot.

Lastly, here's anther shape of bead by Tan. One of her lollipop beads... and what great colours! Here I've made it into a pendant with my new favourite findings.


We had a very fine weekend, lots of eating, drinking and making merry. And, I didn't fare too badly at WW on Tuesday. Think I'd better be good the rest of the week in case it catches up with me!

A quick *wave* to my bro and his missus, who have recently become blog readers!

I cannot let the day pass without saying, "Well done, America!" I'm not a political person, but today I feel we have witnessed history in the making.

Enjoy your fireworks if you are having them... be safe and have a sparkler for me.

Much love to All.