Wow!

Last Saturday was the 'Flame off', a lampwork bead show where the UK's top lampwork bead artists demonstrated their work and generally left everyone who was there in awe! I wasn't lucky enough to go but the feedback from those who did make it was fantastic. Laura Sparling was one of the demonstrators and she has posted a couple of videos on youtube that you just have to see - here. The control that Laura has over the glass is absolutely amazing - the white 'thread' that she is laying on top of the bead is glass. How she manages to work with it without breaking the glass rod or completely melting it I'll never know. Anyway, go and read her blog and watch the videos! And if you want to see what her stringer and scroll beads look like once they're finished have a look at the bracelet below (for a larger picture look on my site here!).

We're away in (hopefully!) sunny Barcelona for a week so there will be a legitimate reason for no posts for a little while. The beadshops there are fantastic, so I'll hopefully have a few goodies to show you when I get back! The only member of the family who's not going is Millie the cat, but don't worry, we've got the cat sitters (aka my parents) in - she's going to be very spoilt!

My Shed!

I've been meaning to show you some pictures of my new shed! We've still got a way to go, but the insulation and boarding is nearly done now. It looks a bit of a mess at the moment, but it's going fantastic when it's done!

Anyway, here are the photos so far - from clearing the space to T and a friend putting in the insulation. (and yes, for those who haven't seen him in a while, T has grown a beard. The jury is still out on that one.....!)

By the way, Magriet, you asked if I'd given the shed a name - not really, hadn't really thought about that. B calls it Mummy's shed though!

I'm a happy girl today!

It's been a good day today! The sun is shining, and I've got a new outlet for my jewellery! I had an appointment with the woman who decides what the shop at the Southampton City Art Gallery will stock, and she liked my work. She's given me a rough list of what she'd like and they've got space available from the beginning of July. I know that seems like a while off, but it gives me time to get everything ready without neglecting other outlets and my website etc. Anyway, judging by the year so far the time will go very quickly!

I'm off to pick B up from his childminder's in a little while (we've swapped days as her little boy was ill last week and she's also got an appointment on Thursday, B's usual day with her), but there's just time to show you a couple of pictures. The first is the cuff that I made Mum at the silversmithing course - I can show you now as I've given it to Mum! The second is a set of 3 bangles that I finished last night. They're held together by bead 'charms' of freshwater pearl, blue fluorite and smokey quartz. I was trying it out last night and it's very tactile - I kept spinning the bangles around!

Treasury!

I've been meaning to post this all weekend! I managed to get a treasury on etsy on Saturday - I just happened to log on to the site at the right time. Here's what I chose, and if you want to see it before it's time runs out on the site the link is http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=38783

More news on the shed later, and some pictures of latest jewellery.

New toys!

It's been another busy week, but then again I think that's the norm round here! B and I have been out and about at Toddler Twist and visiting friends, we went to see my parents yesterday lunchtime and we're all up at T's mum's this weekend to celebrate her 6oth birthday. I even had a social life this week - a lovely meal with friends I used to teach with (we were definitely the lively table at the pub!), and Thursday morning was spent being pampered at a local spa. My brother gave me a voucher for my birthday last year, so I thought I'd better use it before it runs out in a couple of weeks! It was a lovely treat, especially as a friend came with me.


It's also been a busy week for buying new toys! B and I visited Goulds in Portsmouth on Wednesday and bought bracelet mandrels and hammers and lots of other lovely things. Look out for some bangles on the website next week. But the biggest 'toy' that arrived this week was my shed! T and I spent some of the weekend clearing a space for it and generally tidying up the garden ('assisted' by B, of course), the shed arrived on Tuesday, and by Wednesday evening it was up. We've still got to insulate it, put electricity in etc but I'm so excited already! I've taken some photos, but I'll have to add them when we get home from T's mum's.

Hope you have a lovely weekend!