Some ingredients of the Bead Soup I sent to Stacy

Stacy tells me she received the Bead Soup I sent her (phew - WHY did I not send it recorded delivery?) so I can now post photos! Unfortunately, not all my photos of this soup came out properly, because I was in a hurry.

Here are the less-blurred ingredients:

a) lampwork toggle clasp from Earthshine Beads
b) poppy jasper rounds from Beadworks, Covent Garden
c) dark blue Bohemian faceted crystal - bought from Ron Chudy's shop when I was in Australia

all of which are shown (not all in perfect focus) in the photo below.

Photo the First. Demonstrating the refractive power of, er, plastic.

The focal is:

d) a lampwork heart bead from Craven and White

Photo the Second. Pillowcase: stylist's own.

The soup also contains:
e) some other stuff not shown here, because I am a rubbish photographer.

Readers, I made something! (Don't all faint at once).

So I finally made that knotted necklace. It is made from different-coloured ceramic discs, silver-plated large-hole beads and silver-plated toggle from Beads Unlimited  and navy waxed cotton which I bought from the Harrogate Bead Fair last year.

It is very simple but it has a bright 1980s kind of vibe. I have already been complimented on it.

Now, on to the next thing… (What is the next thing?)

Bead Soup Arrived!

My bead soup arrived a few days ago!!

It is lovely!!! There are all sorts of interesting handmade things.

 More later!

Bead Soup Blog Party

Yay! This year I'm taking part again in Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party.

My partner is Stacy, whose blog you can find at http://iridalsattic.blogspot.co.uk.

Based on her blog I can tell you that we have the following things in common:

1. Like me, she lives in Northern England, which our local radio tells us "the greatest place on Earth". They may possibly be biased. It is pretty great, though.

2. Like me, she has a small child. 

3. Like me, she has been quite busy lately and we have both left posting our bead soups until just after the deadline…

There the comparison ends, though, as her hair is way better than mine. I am keeping a list of rude things hairdressers have said about my hair. "If only hair could talk!" is my favourite. 

I hope Stacy likes the soup I have sent. I spent ages choosing the clasp on Etsy, as I felt slightly anxious after our strict instructions about Choosing Nice and Thoughtful Gifts and Not Just Any Old Tat. Not that I would buy any old tat on purpose, you understand, but it's just that my taste is rather eclectic at times and may not always fulfil all the criteria for the BSBP. And then after that I felt anxious about whether the beads I thought were co-ordinating were actually co-ordinating.

Anyway. Fingers crossed. Gotta go now, before my hair starts talking.

Amazing wirework seen at art exhibition

Today I visited the Frodsham Arts Centre in Cheshire. And I saw this amazing piece of copper wirework, which I just had to photograph.

The label says it is by Sandra Christie and is called "Healing Herbs". The copper wire is very shiny so I think it must be quite a new piece. This is just a quick snap taken with my friend's phone, so it doesn't really do the artwork justice, but I don't often see wirework in real life so thought I'd record it here.

UPDATE: Sandra herself!!!!!! has got in touch with me and provided this much better photo of her beautiful artwork. If anyone wants to get in touch with her you can go to her website here.

Sandra's proper photo

My hurried snap

Help me overcome my "block" and get back into making jewellery!

Suggestions / general encouragement please! I came across these chunky ceramic disc beads (about 3cm diameter) from Beads Unlimited and really liked the bright colours. I think this might just be my route back into making jewellery! I have been experiencing something of a "block" lately, for reasons unknown.

Here I have put them together with some navy blue waxed cotton and large-hole silver spacers, planning on making a necklace. The colours here are almost true - the second disc down is a sort of salmony-pink and the fifth one, at the bottom, is a bright, pillar-box red.

All suggestions and encouragement welcome! What would you do with them?

De Clutter 2014 Week 2! (OK, I sort of skipped week 1).

Inspired by Bonnie at Jasper's Gems I am doing a big de-clutter over 2014.

Today I have done 2 clear-outs!

Firstly I have sorted out my son's wardrobe. He had a growth spurt a couple of months ago and I'd got him the next size up in lots of things (and recently augmented his wardrobe further in the January Sales). But I had not got round to passing on (to the charity shop) all those old favourites that are now slightly too small, so we were running out of space to put anything anywhere.

So I sorted out his clothes today. I was really worried that he would take offence, as he doesn't like change very much when imposed by others (well, who does?) but he was SO pleased to wear his new pyjamas that he specially requested a photo be taken of him wearing them! (no comment on whether this may have been actually a cunning ruse to spin out bedtime...)

The second clear-out I haven't quite finished yet for today - it has also been forced on me by shopping in the January Sales (damn that online shopping, it's far too easy): so I have been thinning out my own wardrobe too. Gotta make some space for the new stuff, after all!