Party, party, party...

So how are you all? Hope you're well and happy.

Well, the big news it that I'm now the mother of an 18 year old! Tom's birthday on 20th February was wonderful. We took him to the pub at lunchtime to buy his first legal round of drinks and then in the evening we had a big family party. It was great fun.

Here he is cutting his cake.
Also in this picture are Sarah, who is my partner in crime when selling jewellery, my fabulous hubby and my lovely, lovely Mum.

On the jewellery front, I've been hard at work finishing my project for my jewellery course. Here it is:
The basket is brass with copper foil woven in and out of it, the handle and rim are copper and the bail (more of that in a minute) is brass and copper. The necklet is silk.

This is the reverse - a piece of shiny brass.

The bail was the bit that caused me most headaches. I wanted to try making one of these woven bails, but, boy, are they fiddly!

Here are my attempts to get it looking neat...
The first attempt I made (somewhat foolishly) in Sterling Silver, I then switched to copper and then the final one is brass and copper.
To make them you form a skeleton of wire and then wrap hair thin wire round, in and out, round, in and out, to form the weaving. I'm glad I persevered and hope to make some more, I do think they're attractive.

It's been a busy couple of weeks with sales in offices, a great party last night and trying to build up stock. But I've loved every minute.

Right, that's it for now. Short and sweet just to keep you up to date. Will hopefully be back soon with more things to show you.

Take care, all, and have a great weekend.

Much love
xx

Half-Term Happenings

Well, it went by in a flash, didn't it?

Lots to show you. Firstly, the gallery wanted some earrings to go with the squiggle pendants I left there last week:

These are hammered just to widen the curves - and to strengthen the metal.

While these are more heavily hammered to give a texture which means that the light bounces in all directions making them very twinkly.

And these are three squiggles soldered together and very lightly hammered for strength. It was a bit of a fiddle working with such small scrolls, but I was pleased with the outcome.

Because these need polishing to bring up the shine - and because it's half-term and therefore no class at college where I use the big polisher - I had to get out my polishing machine. This hasn't been installed (bolted down to the workbench, dust extraction mechanism devised, cowling to prevent polish going everywhere) yet, so I did a bit of a Heath Robinson and put it into a cardboard box to try and contain the bits of polish which fly in all directions. It worked - but the box kept moving with the vibration of the machine. It was all a bit awkward holding the earrings under the polishing mops while holding the whole thing on the workbench with my elbow!

I left the polisher in situ... and obviously Cleo decided to investigate and rub herself up against the mops...
We now have a tortoiseshell and pink cat!!

I've also been working on a commission for my lovely chum, Anne. A long, long necklace (34"):
There are loads of pearls and then sea glass, chalcedony, fluorite, crystals, blue lace agate and amazonite. Part of the necklace is made with chain and little dangles of the semi-precious stones.

And also for Anne, a kilt pin to be worn with a beige cardigan:

This has Tigers Eye, nephrite, poppy jasper, rhyolite, ocean jasper, fancy jasper, moonstone, Botswana agate, smoky quartz and crystals. There is also mix of gold plate and copper.

There were three sets that also got made this week:

Turquoise rondelles with loads of silver.
Gorgeous lampwork by Clare Scott coupled with sea glass, Swarovski Crystals, black onyx and Sterling Silver. I'm pleased to report that Clare really liked it! It's always a bit of a concern that the lampwork artist will be disappointed with what you've done with their beads, so it's great to get positive feedback from them!

Hang on, I hear you cry, that's only two sets... you said there were three. Correct! I didn't get time to photograph the third set before it was sold! It was Amazonite and silver. It was really pretty and I'm hoping to make something using the same beads - in a different pattern - this week, so you'll get to see something like it soon.

Anyway, it sold at our first visit to the HBOS offices in Bristol. Wow, what beautiful offices they are too. We were selling in their vast atrium which is five stories high and has a glass roof, so the light was fantastic. And we sold LOADS! Absolutely brilliant. And really lovely people too. We're booked to go back about once a month for the rest of the year and really looking forward to it.

So that's about it for jewellery.

On the home front, the big news of the week is that Tom turned 17 yesterday. I know I'm biased but I couldn't wish for a better son. He is a kind, thoughtful, clever and gorgeous boy. And I'm terrifically proud of him and all his achievements. Can you tell?

Last weekend we went to a Sweet Sixteen party and the invitation said we should 'Dress to Impress' - so we all donned our poshest togs. Here's the rest of the family as we're about to set off:
And no, there's no picture of me. I'm the photographer in the family and rarely feature in the pictures. Needless to say, I looked absolutely gorgeous!! LOL!!!

So, that's got you call caught up on events at this end.

I hope you've all had a good week, whatever you've been up to. Have a terrific weekend and I'll be back next week with the next exciting installment.

Much love to all.
xx

Mother's pride...

Just a quick post to let you know that Tom passed his grade 7 keyboard exam... with distinction. I'm so very proud of him.


Also to show you this photograph of Cleo taken on Christmas Day. She loves to get into really tight spaces for a sleep. This box was just big enough for her.

We had Cleo as a rescue cat - in fact, we took her from the person who had originally rescued her as her other cats didn't get on with Cleo. They reckoned she was about 8 then - which was 4 years ago. Where had she been before then? What sort of life had she had? What makes her want to always get into tiny boxes to sleep?

Although she's not an affectionate cat, she isn't aggressive - except if you are on the stairs when she'll try to hook you through the bannisters. Why?

I'll never know the answers to these questions, and I guess it's the same for anyone who has a rescued animal. You just wonder, don't you? And hope that the love they are getting now makes up for any mistreatment in their past.

My brainy boy...

There's so much to tell you... so much to catch up on... it's going to take me several posts - probably over several days!

But first, and most importantly, I have to boast about my gorgeous boy. Tom got 8 A* and an A in his GCSEs. This adds to the A* he got last November. He also got an A in his Additional Maths Qualification. We are so very proud of him.

It's not the actual grades - although they are, of course, very impressive - it's the fact that he fulfilled his potential, that is so very pleasing. We are just as thrilled for other friends and family members who got - or exceeded - their predicted grades. I think that's all we can ask of our children, that they do as well as they possibly can - in all things, not just exams.

I hope all of you who have had exams - or exam takers in your family - feel equally proud of the results achieved.

Family matters...

So, let me catch you up on family stuff...

Tom has finished school! Well, he'll be going to 6th form college in September, but he's finished at his present school. His GCSEs went well - just the looooooong looooooong wait for the results in August now. I know he'll have great results... he's a clever old stick and has put in a lot of work.

On Friday it was his last day at school. They had a leavers' mass in the morning and then in the evening it was his prom. So, last week was spent dashing back and forth to Bristol (a 20 mile round trip) to get him measured for his suit, to fetch his suit and then take it back again. But, it was worth it. He looked gorgeous (although I admit to being rather biased!). Here, judge for yourself.

Nice picture of our kitchen radiator too! LOL!

Tom had a great time at the prom, dancing the night away with a bevy of beautiful girls!

He's got a great smile, hasn't he?

Also, I had my birthday in June. I had a super weekend. On the Saturday night I went with the rest of the family and my lovely friends, Mike and Helen, to see Bruce Springsteen at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. He was fantastic - as always. I danced for the whole evening - much to Tom's embarassment! But at least he knows where he got his dancing skills from, that stood him in good stead for the prom!!

Then on the Sunday, my actual birthday, which I shared with Father's Day, we had some chums round for a BBQ. The weather was brilliant and we had a fab time.

My mum came for my birthday and then stayed for a week. Whenever she comes to stay the time always flies by and we're saying goodbye almost before we've said hello.

On the weight front, I was going great guns and I'd lost 9lb between coming back from Spain and my birthday. I put on a pound for my birthday - well, if you can't indulge for your birthday, when can you? And then I lost that and another half last week. Stayed the same this week. So nine and a half altogether since Spain. I really must get back on track now and lose the other five that I promised myself I'd get rid of before the school holidays. Whoops, only 25 days to go... Better be good!!!

I think that's about it on the home front.

Ring-a-ding BLING!

Been making some rings recently - bling rings or cluster rings. I was inspired when I found these rings - when I was buying something completely different!

I'd not seen this shape before and thought they were really unusual and desirable... I made a couple using the wrapped loop method, but when I was trawling about looking at other people's rings, I found the suggestion of attaching the beads to the ring with jumprings. Well, that was it, I was off! Here are two of the first ones, along with a wrapped loop one with Swarovski crystals:

I really like this method. It is quick and gives a different look to the ring. And I can use my Miyuki drop beads, which are some of my favourites in the seed bead department. Lots of these on the website now.

The Christmas weight is slowly shifting. I lost 2.5 pounds last week, stayed the same today. Will try and have a good week this week, but we're away at the weekend which is always a challenge!

Am extremely happy to report that Tom got an A* in this GCSE Maths which he took in November and also that he passed his Grade 5 keyboard exam with distinction. Am thrilled for him.