Blog giveaway!

Just thought I'd draw the attention of my fellow jewellery makers to a fabby blog giveaway!

http://muranosilver.blogspot.com

Get over there, have a look and get your name in - it closes on 30th April. Good luck! Jo x

Some good news to add!

Just wanted to share my exciting news - which will bring me an extremely busy rest-of-the-year, esp if I've got to somehow fit in a return to full-time work ...

Anyway I've managed to book a stall at a Christmas Craft Fair (at the beginning of November) to sell my jewellery at!!! This is an extremely popular fair, barely room to move, and in aid of a local hospice (which is close to my heart as my grandpa was looked after by them before he died in 1992) which in my opinion is a very good cause!

So my mum (also a jewellery maker and VERY good dressmaker, specialising in bridal and special occasion wear using 100% silk - please get in contact if this is of any interest to you and you have a need!!!) and I will be getting busy making new items using our new semi-precious stones, and we also want to stock up on some lovely new lampwork beads we've been eyeing up on various websites - so going to be making some special stuff and bumping up our prices!!! Wish us luck ....

And fingers crossed that my fabby mate Emma (mrs giraffe's bloggy) will get a stall secured at this event too to sell her lush cards ... in case you hadn't guessed we live locally to each other ... as in 3 doors away!!! lol

Jo xxx

Several projects on the go!

Morning all! Sorry nothing new to post on here yet, I've been busy trying to sort jobs between myself and hubby (redundancy looming) - I'm quietly confident one, or both, of us will get something out of the many jobs applied for.

In terms of jewellery making, atm I'm trying to make several things, but nothing's anywhere near finished to post on here ... firstly there's my loomwork bracelet (in previous post) which I've now undone and re-making using brick stitch. Only a few rows done so far but colour scheme looking good and it's very tactile!

Then there's my necklace using blue size 12 delicas and crystal faceted 6mm beads made into a star shape - lots of these joined together using jump rings. One star made so far - I wanted to be sure I like the colour scheme before I continue ... I may even make a pair of matching earrings.

Last night I started a 'chainmail' bracelet - lots of jump rings linked together, with a small bead threaded onto each one. I'm using different shaped pinks and purples for this one. I've finished the length of it, now just adding more to bulk it out and make it chunky!

Lots more ideas being stored in the brain, but no time to jot them down never mind start making! What I often find easier when dreaming up a new creation is to gather the beads and findings together for a project (I use old cleaned food pots, i.e. couscous or marg tubs, to keep these all in one place) - that way if I run out of time, which is often the case, to actually start making it, at least I've done the choosing process of what I want to use - I find this takes me longer than I anticipate!

Hope everybody else is getting plenty beading time - child-free and no other distractions!!!

Jo x

Loom work

I started to make this bracelet on my bead loom using 4 colours of 4mm cubes in 3 rows.

Unfortunately when I took it off the loom after weaving mall sections of thread at each end, gluing, tidying loose ends etc, I discovered it was too loose and slack for me to be comfortable adding the clasp and wearing it.

So I've decided to undo it all and re-make by hand using brick stitch, wider than 3 cubes and a different fastening.

I'll be sure to post a pic of take 2!

After many failed attempts ...

I have finally mastered tubular peyote stitch - I don't have a clue what I was doing wrong all the other times, but it all just clicked into place last week!

So here it is, just a little sampler to get it going - I used cream, orange and brown seed beads in a section just over an inch long, trying to close it in at each end by decreasing by a bead for each row, finished it off and then wondered what on earth to do with it!!!

So I thought I'd try it on a memory wire bracelet with some colour co-ordinated beads either side - orange discs, two-tone cream/brown rounds and cream tumble chips ... and there you have it! I'm determined to master some more stitches in the coming weeks (a bit of a beginner at these) including African Helix and Dutch Spiral which have got the better of me several times now!

Please tell me what you think of this one though .... thank you for your time!

[this is for sale]

Some earrings!

These are what I call my octopus earrings, as you'll see! [These are for sale]

Oops I've not been on here for a couple of days, sorry! I can't even say I've been all that busy to stop me posting on my blog or having a look to see what fellow crafters have been doing; but at the same time I don't seem to have sat down and relaxed either!

I have however started making something in cream, orange and brown seed beads using tubular peyote stitch - I just haven't decided what it's actually going to be made into!

I'll get some more jewellery pics on here tomorrow hopefully for all to see, but I'll go browse thru my pics currently on laptop to see if I've got anything to post now...

I'm new to this!

Welcome everyone who has kindly chosen to come look at my jewellery blog - thank you for your time!
I've only just started my blog this week and still finding my way around here; and at the moment only have 3 pieces of jewellery for you to look at - but please bear with me as I will endeavour to post something new to see every day!
I've got masses of jewellery already made to show off, but have hit a bit of a mental block just now in terms of designing new pieces, never mind actually sitting down to make them - more to do with my 2yr old twin girls climbing on me even as I type this! Plus it's school holiday just now so I also have my 7yr old son at home to entertain etc etc! They're good kids really and well behaved so I can't complain too much! But why oh why can't SOMEBODY give me an extra day each week - child-free and housework-free of course - to devote to playing with my beads and being creative?! What bliss that would be!
Anyway I appreciate if you've taken the time to look me up and see what I've made here - please visit again to see more of my creations. By the way, most of my jewellery is on sale but I need to set up a PayPal account or something - but please let me know if you're interested in buying anything you see here! I'll comment on each photo to say whether it's for sale or not.
I'm also having great fun finding fellow beaders out there and adding myself as a follower to your blogs, and so far seen some fantastic inspiring work, so thanks to you all as well for giving me food for thought!
Jo xxx

My entry for the Jewellery Challenge

This necklace I made is a multi-strand with crystal, orange and red seeds threaded on white Nymo thread, with large chunky orange disc beads in between each section of colour. At the bottom is another large orange disc with red seed tassles as the pendant. The strands lead up into silver cones with a large patterned toggle clasp to finish.

I'm entering this necklace for the Jewellery Challenge #7 which closes on Sunday - fingers crossed!

[This is for sale]

Memory wire set

This is one of my memory wire sets comprising necklace with pendant, bracelet and earrings, all in co-ordinating amber and bitter chocolate seeds, cubes and larger beads for the pendant. [This is for sale]

First pic! This is my tiara I made for my own wedding last year! I used two colours (silver and purple) of wire wound onto a tiara band, twisted corkscrews and spikes with Swarovski crystals entwined into them - very asymmetrical and random (a bit like me!). For my first attempt ever at a tiara I was extremely pleased with the result and proud to wear my handywork on my big day! Look out for pics of all the rest of the wedding jewellery, also made by me! [This is NOT for sale]