Free Form Purple Sea Sediment Jasper

Sea sediment Jasper is gorgeous and even a little mysterious. I searched Google for a definition to include here and while there are a few comments to say it is apparently not jasper, there is little confirmation of what it actually is instead.

I don't mind not knowing what stone it is because I love the mottled veins, spots and detail. Each piece has its own personality which is why I found these free form beads particularly individualistic and pleasing. Sea sediment Jasper comes in a variety of dyed colours and shapes usually highly polished focal beads are more widely available. A departure from blue I had great fun creating these.

Did you know that like orange and silver no true word rhymes with purple?

But I digress, the bold patterns of the focal bead have small flecks that the liquid gold glass and copper accent beads compliment. Teamed with antique toggle clasp to complete the rich colours reminiscent of Byzantine jewellery.

 

Sky Blue Quartz and Glass Bead Necklaces

Blue is my favourite colour with peacock blues being my absolute fave. These sky blue quartz focal beads are a delicate but unusual shade of blue and reflect the light so beautifully that I just had to make up some necklaces with them.

I am tempted to make some with other colour combinations but so far a variety of shapes in the same shade seem to work best. In saying that one of the necklaces has the palest lavender AB cube beads!

I have changed my Facebook page cover shot to show these too. Do you like them?

 

Zero Calorie Cupcake

Oh how I wish! Yes this cupcake is really fat free but not quite as tasty as one might hope.

Part of my range of mini glass painted pictures in rustic wood frames for the fair I am exhibiting at on Sunday, 17th, July at Chevening Estate in support of EllenorLions Hospice.

I am hoping they will be popular, affordable year end teacher presents or a gift for those who dream in cupcakes!

If you are able to come along and support this worthy cause that would be fantastic.
17th July. Sunday 2pm - 5:30pm Summer Spectacular!
Chevening Gardens, The Chevening Estate, Sevenoaks, TN14 6HG

Window Clings and stained glass effects using peelable paint

A while ago I posted about my first attempt at a window cling, of a Boston Terrier, using peelable paint. I should have started with something simple so I went back to basics and have been exploring with different colours and pictures, nothing I can actually use around my house, just pictures I liked and thought would be fun to paint ..... and they were! I am sure the butterfly will find a window or mirror to settle on though.

Still learning the ropes with this technique but it is quite addictive! The paint are opaque and milky and then just become so pretty when they are dry! I like that randomness about it, or perhaps it's more down to my lack of knowledge on these paints but at the moment the finished results continue to make me smile and who doesn't need to smile?
From this ..........

to this

Air bubbles - urgh I could do without them! Just when I think I have a bubble free picture I see them, tiny, but very annoying! I chase them round with a toothpick, taking delight in popping them, and seeing a smooth paint surface. What that says about me I probably don't want to know! Answers on a toothpick please!

For more gorgeous makes visit Handmade Monday - hosted by Wendy of 1st Unique Gifts!

Slumped glass Spoon rest. How to make them from recycled bottles

Depending on your view these can be called recycled, upcycled or repurposed. I prefer upcycled or repurposed because they are no longer wine, herb, condiment bottles and can't be used for their original function. They have a new use or purpose in life.

I use small wine bottles, herb bottles and sauce jars, all of which make ideal spoon rests and used teabag dishes.  

Slumped bottles draw a lot of attention at fairs and become a great talking point as people want to know 'how I got them to look like that'.
My spiel goes something like this...... empty wine bottle (the fun part), clean thoroughly to remove labels and allow to dry fully, then place in kiln with enough space around each one to allow for the slump.
Ramp up kiln slowly until bottles are glowing, red hot at which point they take on the consistency of thick honey. They retain their shape until gravity takes over and gently slump in on themselves and the bottom folds over.

I keep a check on them to ensure they have achieve the shape I want, then they are cooled, slowly, to allow for annealing of the glass. This stage takes the stress out of the glass so there is not a risk of thermal shock shattering your lovely creation.
Yes glass suffers from stress too!

Once fully cooled, remove from kiln, wash, allow to dry, add furniture bumps to prevent them scratching any surfaces and there you have one less bottle smashed on the pavement or clogging up landfill.

For more gorgeous Handmade Monday blogs visit here

Luscious Lime and other summer beaded cord jewellery

Such fun for summer in a range of juicy, gorgeous colours, not only are they very popular but they are great for anyone with metal allergies (myself included) but very versatile too. As a necklace they can be worn many ways including as a multi wrap bracelet or anklet.

Made from cotton cord, knotted between each bead to keep them in place. No two are the same so please ask for any colour you like, I would love to make one for you. I have a wide range of glass beads and cord colours in stock.
If I don't have the colour you want, and you are happy to wait a few days, I will order in and make one up. I love fulfilling specific requests.

Here are some beaded surfer style bracelets too, very comfy and fit a wide range of wrist sizes as they are adjustable. I have leather and wooden beads too for those who prefer a little less bling and more rustic look.

Novelty Cupcake cufflinks

Quite a while back I was asked to make a pair of cupcake picture tile cufflinks for a groom. The customer was very pleased with their cufflinks I am happy to say and as it was the first time I had a cupcake request so I added ‘novelty’ cufflinks to my website to accommodate any other themes people might want.

They have proved extremely popular, especially the cupcakes! I am sending a pair off to Australia today. I have been so busy of late that I have neglected my blogging and other online networking that I thought I would do a quick blog post.

If you know someone who loves something a little quirky, different , very personal or commemorative I can make cufflinks, earrings and pendants to order with your picture, motto or design (clean, family friendly pictures only please!) I can’t do copyright images or logos, unless it is your own. 

I also sell the clear glass tiles for inchies and tile pendants for those who want to make their own too. These are hand cut from 3mm clear art glass, no nasty green tinges here! The edges are gently softened in the kiln before being properly annealed and cleaned. They have a slightly textured back which ‘disappears’ when the image is applied.These pictures show the textured back as they are just placed over the image to show clarity and smooth edges unlike the cufflinks which show no texture.

Any size glass tile for jewellery such as pendants, cufflinks and earrings available, please just ask. Perhaps you want the edges less angular and more softened, that is possible too. Personally I prefer a more rounded, organic shape to my pendants but that may just be me!  

To date I have only made and sold the clear tiles on request but as requests seem to be increasing I am going to add them to Etsy, Folksy and my website soon.

Apple Blossom Promise

Today sitting in the glorious sunshine under our apple tree that has just sprung into life feeling happy as I look forward to summer.

Apple blossom is beautiful but short lived and brings the promise of ripe apples later in the year. Here is a pendant and necklace to match that warm and sunny mood.

Juicy green, rosy apple jade beads dangle from a Tibetan Silver dragonfly pendant with a swirled glass heart focal bead. Pendant comes complete with bronze organza and cord 18" necklace. There is only one and it's in my Etsy shop. Let me know if you want earrings to match.

Glass that looks like Marmite

I was asked to make some long earrings with bronze and gold type colours on a background of glass 'the colour of Marmite' that doesn't look buttery when the light shines through.

Seemed easy enough, I ordered some Deep Rose Brown glass and some streaky brown and started to play. I quickly realised that the undesirable 'buttery' effect was not due to the backing glass but in fact as a result of putting clear gold dichroic glass on top that diluted the dark glass.

Once I realised that, I knew there was no way to include gold tints on a clear glass so I cheated (err a work around) and used black backed gold glass interspersed with darker clear glasses to get the hues right.

Here are 3 pairs that I put forward to choose from. My lovely customer has ordered 2 of the 3 (originally she only wanted one pair)

I like the long thin shape, it is tricky to get right in the kiln because there is a lot of little bits of glass carefully balanced on a narrow base so once it starts to heat up it can easily slip.

Happy Mothers Day 03 April 2011

It's Mothering Sunday here in the UK on 03 April - a wonderful opportunity to remember all our mums have done for us. Bookmarks for Mother, Sister, Nana, Aunt in fact for all the great women in your life!
These 2 were a special order and have a hematite rose with freshwater pearls, a love heart and dangle from a patterned shepherds crook style bookmark.

Happy Mothers Day! xxx

Help for Heroes Auction

I was approached for a donation to this worthy cause. I am very happy to be able to offer this pendant. This auction will run from 31 March 2011 - 02 April 2011. There are so many gorgeous items to bid on.

Here are a few words from Sarah who is organising this event.

" I'm doing these auctions to raise money for HELP FOR HEROES in memory of a friend I lost in November last year, Dale was killed by a road side bomb in Afghanistan, 3 days before his 21st birthday. He had everything to live for a beautiful girlfriend and a son on the way. His son Liam was born 2 weeks after Dale died and he is the double of his daddy.

This charity not only helps men and women still serving in Iraq and Afghanistan but it also remembers the fallen, the heroes who never made it home.

We did an auction on Facebook at the beginning of the year and made £1500, and not only did we raise a great amount we promoted small businesses world wide and we all made new friends, so we are back again hoping to beat our last amount.

Every item that is donated is put into the auction folder on our website, with a description and a link directly to the donators page, as many of the bidders want to buy further items :)

The bidding will start on the 30th March and end on 2nd April at midnight.
I then get in contact with the bidder and donator after the bidder has paid to organise posting of the won item.

All my paperwork from the charity is in the discussions on the auction page it has my event id number and written permission to hold charity events for help for heroes.
here is the link again to our page have a look, the coming soon folder is all the items for this up and coming auction. :) "


A huge effort for a worthy cause, please go along and support it, or perhaps donate an item of your own if you wish.

Fused Glass Cabochons with Decals in Sepia

I ordered these from the States - I really should move there as all my craft goodies are there already!
They are sepia images which can be fired onto an already fused cabochon. I can get a compatible printer and special paper and do them myself but it is much easier to design and let someone else print them for me. I hasten to add I did not design these images, except for the Hebrew one at the bottom, but now that I have seen the results I am in the process of designing my own.

Decal work is tricky! Too hot and you ruin it, not hot enough and it will rub off. The glass has to be a light colour for the decal to stand out so they are not suitable for dichroic or other sparkly glass which is a pity as there are very limited 22k gold, titanium and black decals available.

The upside is that you already have a cab in a finished state then you add the decal, whereas firing a decal onto, or into, work to be fused has a lot more room for error and waste.
I can always rework a failed cab, but if it has a messed up decal in it ..........that's not fixable!

If only they stayed black! Here they are all dried and prepped for the kiln. Decals are very fragile and need to be positioned carefully on the glass, squeegeed flat to remove any bubbles or water and left to dry for at least 12 hours.

And after a session in the kiln. The kiln has to be vented to allow the decal medium to burn off, phew does it stink! They have to soak at temp for about 20 mins.

and after...............

I have something slightly different planned for the stop watch as it looks antique. Currently trying to source suitable brass or copper bails to go for a vintage look. I bought some copper ones but they are very shiny so the search continues.

100th International Womens Day

I did a Sales and Trading Development workshop last week aimed at helping creative women in business. It was superbly run by Yemisi and Marie of Hatch Events in conjunction with Urban Inclusion. This week was time to put into practice all that Dan Meier, our trainer, had taught us at the WOW Arts Fair in Spitalfields Market!

"The WOW Arts Fair is being held as part of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day showcase the high quality designs and innovative products being produced by female designers in London."

I arrived at Spitalfields Market after having got through London morning traffic without too much delay but couldn't see anyone I knew. On site organisers noticed me hovering and when I said I was there for WOW Fair they called over Yemisi who greeted me warmly and showed me to my stall.

I set out my space, regretting the decision to leave my jacket in the car fairly early on and eventually asked my hubby to fetch it for me.
The day was a hive of activity with energetic entertainers, speakers and even a poet!

 As promised Baroness Oona King and Rushanara Ali, MP for Bethnal opened the event

Mel B made an appearance with Fitness First.

After Mel B left so did most of the press which freed up the space so people were able to move amongst the stalls better and more entertainment followed. Then they announced that Carroll Thompson was up next. At this news my husband shot out from behind the stall and proceeded to enthuse that Carroll Thompson was his most fave singer of all time! He sings the lyrics to 'I'm so sorry' on occasion, (he is always singing something or other) but I hadn't made the connection with the name, Phil obviously didn't need to hear it twice though!

Carroll was very gracious and came over to meet me as I couldn't leave my stall unattended. I asked if I could take a pic of her with her biggest fan to which she kindly agreed.

Phil was like a puppy dog with 2 tails (his words not mine) and although he originally came to assist me he was totally made up to have met Carroll unexpectedly.

In all it was a lovely day, the sun was shining but it was still very cold, sales were good and I have some commissions to work on! I learned loads!. The entertainment was fantastic and the whole event was very well organised.

I am so happy I agreed to take part. Thanks to one and all who made it such a super day! Even the trip home in rush hour traffic couldn't put a damper on it.

Tangerine Lariat style Necklace with matching earrings

I believe orange is one of the top 10 colours for Spring 2011. It is not a colour I usually consider when designing jewellery so I decided to give it a go. Here is a lariat style necklace with a Tibetan silver toggle clasp on beading chain with tangerine colour facetted glass beads and matching rhinestone rondelles. There are 5 dangles including a butterfly and a ladybird and matching earrings.
This set is available on my website and as I don't have any more of these orange beads is a one off colourway although I will be adding different colours in a similar style.

 

Freshwater pearls for Spring 2011

I have several strands in a variety of shapes and thought that the delicate colours would be perfect for this Spring.

So far I can show you my multi strand bracelet in aqua, I made a matching necklace too.

a bracelet in buttercup coloured pearls

and another necklace in raspberry.