Anyone who had a heart...

This was my haul from the Chepstow Bead Fair at the end of January - and as you'll see, there were quite a few hearts! The lampwork ones are by my lovely mate, Julie of Lush Lampwork. The bright coloured ones are fossil beads - not quite sure what they are fossils of, but that's what it said on the label!

Since then I have also been to the Spring Fair at the NEC and bought a 'few' more beads, but they are already in the process of being turned into lovely things, so you'll have to wait to see those!

Here's what happened to some of my Chepstow beads... These are all Sterling Silver earrings:



These three feature little porcelain hearts that I fell for in a big way! I love the mottled colours.



And these three are enamelled ceramic beads - aren't they gorgeous? I've got some more of these, so expect to see a few more yet!

I have got some more things to show you, but haven't got round to the photographs yet. Hope to get to them soon!

And I must get on and use some of the lovely beads I've bought over the last couple of weeks - not to mention the hundreds that I've already got! So many beads, so little time.

And I've got to finish my project for my evening class soon. I've done the (more interesting) practical part, now I've 'just' got to do the write-up. I'll post up a picture of what I've made in the next post.

On the home front: Tom is away on a field trip this week. He's on Exmoor. Don't envy him at all, it's bloomin' freezing! The house is very quiet without him. He's due back tomorrow. And then it'll be just over a week until he's 18. Still trying to get my head around that one.

Martha is on cloud 9 at the moment as she's going on a school trip to Barcelona. Now that one I am envious of. Barcelona is top of my 'places I really want to go' list.

Happy birthday, Dad. Love and miss you, every day.

Take care, everyone. Keep warm!

Much love,

Lesley
xx

First items from the new workshop!

Do you think it's ever going to warm up? Ever again? I'm so fed up with being cold, aren't you? I've got the new heater in the workshop, and it's a bit warmer but it's still quite cold in here. Hey ho. Remind me of this when I'm moaning about being too hot in the summer, won't you!

Anyway, I've finally got round to making some jewellery! Just a pair of earrings, but it's a start. This is a design I've had in my sketch book for months, just waiting for time to get to it. I'm pleased with how they turned out and will probably make some more.

I have shaped and hammered the curves to give them texture - they really catch the light well. The beads are faceted Amethyst rondelles.

The next two photographs are of a project I did in my silversmithing class. We had to make beads. The first one is copper.

It started life as two squares which I textured with a tiny 0 punch and then domed. I then turned the corners and soldered them together.

The next one was as a result of me not wanting to do what I was told (nothing changes!). The idea was to make a round bead. So, you cut out two circles of silver, dome them and then solder them together. But, my urge was to kick against the norm and so I soldered my hemisphere's back to back to make a sort of egg cup shape.

I incorporated it into this necklace, with Tanzanite coloured Swarovski crystals nestling into the cups. The rest of the necklace is (ready made) sterling silver beads and smaller Tanzanite Swarovski Crystals.

We started on the etching project on Monday - it was very exciting - and I've bought some bits and bobs to have a go at doing some at home too. It's a bit scary as it uses strong chemicals, but I promise I'll be careful!

Hope you've got a lovely weekend planned. We're going to be doing accounts :-( Hey ho, it has to be done.

Whatever you are up to, have fun and keep warm!

Much love xx