I've been busy!

Today was a day of playing in the sunshine with the boys and taking photos of new products. This evening was spent editing the photos and uploading pendants and necklaces to the website - and realising again just how much I love my new laptop! I edited ten photos in the time I would have edited one on the old laptop - and of course I told T this several times to justify to him the money I spent on it!

Anyway, the first piece I have to show you is Pacific, the pendant I showed you as a work in progress last week. I am so pleased with this! The Apatite stone is just gorgeous, such rich shades of turquoise and blue with an "island" of earthy brown.

I decided to make a chain for it in the end (thanks Fiona and friends on Facebook for your input!), but instead of a traditional style chain with circular links I designed one with long links that have been hammered and then twisted. The twists add both stength and a bit of sparkle to the necklace, and this style of chain uses less silver, which helps to keep the costs down for both you and me. The price of silver really is horrible at the moment, which has meant that I've unfortunately had to put the prices up on some of my made-to-order designs. It's the first price increase for a long time and I've been able to put it off for a while as I had a stock of silver I'd bought at a lower price, but I can't avoid it now.

I take the photos of me modelling jewellery by standing in front of the mirror in our hallway. That way I can see the reflection of the screen on my camera in the mirror and make sure that I've got everything I need in shot. It was taking me longer than usual to take the photos, and it took me a while to realise why - I was trying not to show the scars that my recent surgery have left on my neck. When I first came out of hospital my neck was still very swollen, and most of that swelling has gone now. The rest will apparently take a few months. The scars will apparently fade a lot. I don't hide the scars when I'm out, partly because I've never liked wearing tight scarves or roll-neck jumpers, so I don't know why I was trying ot hide them from you.....so this is me.... proudly showing off some of my battle scars. There are others but my neck is the most immediately obvious. They could have been a lot worse, and they remind me of just how much I've overcome with the help of a great team of surgeons, my wonderful family and equally wonderful friends - and I include all of you who sent me messages and good wishes in that.