Mariana

It's the end of July already - which means it's time to show you what I made for the Brit Pack Beaders challenge!

A quick reminder..... this was our inspiration - Dante Gabriel Rossetti's 'Mariana' chosen by Teresa

And these were the ingredients we had to work with - Claire sent the focal, a beautiful polymer clay flower made by Pippa Chandler. There's a hole going across the back of the flower. Teresa sent the clasp - my favourite ingredient. Lesley made these gorgeous bronze clay components - the sweet heart and the leaf connector are my favourites of these. Rebecca sent the ribbon and cord, and my contribution was lampwork and Czech faceted glass beads.

And this is what I made! 

My first thought had been a bracelet but I wasn't sure how the focal flower would sit, whether it would twist round too much. Then I remembered one of the projects in my Macramé, Art Beads and Wire ebook (an instant download in my etsy shop if you're tempted!) and decided that would be a perfect way of making a comfortable bracelet that would keep the flower shown off on the top of my wrist. The big flower and the mixed metals makes the bracelet very different from most of the jewellery I make - but then that is the point of challenges, isn't it? I'm really pleased with it, especially as despite wearing it whilst working in the studio all day it hasn't slipped round and the marcamé knots in the silk at the back of the bracelet make it really comfortable to wear. A successful challenge I think!

I'm off to see what the others have made now and I know they'd love to have you visit too!

Lesley Watt - Thea Jewellery - www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.co.uk

Rebecca Anderson - Songbeads - www.songbeads.blogspot.co.uk

Claire Braunbarth - Smitten Beads - www.smittenbeads.blogspot.co.uk

Teresa Hulley - Bo Hulley Beads - Bo's Facebook page

An Inspired Photoshoot

Yesterday morning was a busy one. The photo studio was finally set up, more storage put up on the walls and some canvases put up too - I'm going to use these to display some of my latest designs as we get quite a few visitors to the Sorting Office so I want to be able to easily show off my work when they ask what kind of jewellery I make! I've got a few more things I want to get sorted and then I'll give you a proper studio tour.

Working hard - and look at that beautiful natural light streaming in through the windows!

As I mentioned yesterday, my friend Nicky came over to work for me, something she does regularly now. The job I needed her help with yesterday was a photoshoot. I've had a project accepted by Art Jewelry Magazine (so excited about this - but I'm going to have to wait a while before I can show you what the project is!) and many of the photos needed were action shots so I needed an extra pair of hands to take the photos for me.

Can't remember what the joke was now - but it was funny!

Now that's a more professional shot

Nicky also took a few photos of me for the "About" page on here and on my website - although I didn't always realise that she had the camera snapping away! She did get caught on camera herself though :)

The wonderfully helpful Nicky

I've mentioned Nicky on here a few times before, but I don't think I've actually explained why or what she does. I've reached the stage in my business where I need someone to help me out with the non-jewellery making side of things but I can't yet afford to take someone on as an employee, even part-time - yet! Nicky bridges that gap as the whole purpose of her business is to support businesses like mine. It's thanks to Nicky that the products went up on my new website so quickly and efficiently, and thanks to her help that I am more organised now than I've ever been before. She's also updated the website and blog to the new business name for me - my Facebook page is next. Sometimes, as yesterday, Nicky comes to my studio to work and sometimes she works remotely - the wonders of technology! I can buy in her time as I need it, and her help is allowing me to grow my business - hopefully to the extent that I can afford to take on a part-time employee. Nicky's website is here - Inspired Business Support - and I most definitely recommend her - as if you hadn't guessed that already!

Bead Table Wednesday 2

Lots of progress today! I didn't quite get as far as finishing the stone settings I showed you this morning as my friend Nicky came over to the studio to take some photos for me, some for the website and some for a magazine project and the light was so good that we just kept going. I'd got about a couple of hundred photos to whittle down but I'll show you some tomorrow. I'm hoping to get some work on the stone settings tomorrow too. I did finish a few pairs of Cup of Gold earrings though. About half of these have gone in the post - but as always there some available on the website!

Bead Table Wednesday

It's been quite a while since I did a Bead Table Wednesday post and I've also decided that I don't show you enough photos of work in progress, so here we go!

Cup of Gold earrings in progress - three of these pairs need to be posted this afternoon so they are my priority.

Sitting on my desk this morning are two different piles of work - one of made-to-order designs and one of more self-indulgent pieces. The made-to-order items have got to take priority, and I've got some more organising to do in my lovely lovely new studio, but hopefully I'll get some work done on the stone settings too before the day is done.

Three stone set pendants - look at the wonderful electric blue flashes in that labadorite!

 And if I'm really organised I'll have some photos of finished pieces to show you too!

New Lovebirds

The first lot of orders made completely in my new studio were posted yesterday! I posted some last week as well, but they don't count as being officially from my new studio as I started to make them in my old workshop. This lovely lot of parcels mainly contain bangles - always especially popular in the summer when people show off their arms in short sleeves! Which is probably a good time to tell you that I have added a new design to my Golden Collection....

My Lovebirds are now available swinging gently from sterling silver bangles, as well as pendants and earrings. They have a 24k gold wing on each side, so no matter which way the Lovebird flies it will still look beautiful. You can find the Lovebird bangles here - available in three sizes, the same as my other bangle designs.

I've also added the Lovebird earrings and pendant to the website as a set, so if you are looking to treat yourself or another lucky person then you can save yourself money by buying them as a set. The Cup of Gold pendant and earrings are also now available as a set.

A day of stone setting

Today was the day - my first student in my new studio at the Sorting Office! Julie worked really hard learning a new stone setting technique - and as she set five tiny (3mm) faceted stones in a beautiful bangle I think it's safe to say that she learnt it well!

Soldering the discs onto the bangle - a delicate piece of soldering!

Julie didn't just set the stones. We had square wire to start with for the bangle but she decided that slightly rectangular wire would work better, so the first job was to send the wire through the rolling mill to flatten it. This had the added bonus of lengthening the wire too so she ended up with enough to make a matching ring - a project for a later date! Next was making the bangle, soldering five discs onto the outside to form frames for the stones, cutting the seats for the stones - and then setting them! An amazing amount of work for one day, even if Julie is one of my advanced students from my college evening classes.

I've still got to set up my photo studio so these were quick shots taken in the beautiful natural light in my studio.

Julie set the stones using flush setting. The seat for the stone is cut into the metal sheet or wire using burrs in a pendant drill so that the top of the stone is flush with the top of the silver. After the stone is pushed into place a burnisher is used to push some of wall around the seat down onto the stone to hold it in place. I think she did a beautiful job! There are five stones around the bangle - amethyst, aquamarine, quite a pink garnet, citrine and peridot.

The Brit Pack Beaders are back!

The Brit Pack Beaders are back! We originally meant to set ourselves a challenge earlier in the year but eventually decided on a summer challenge as we were all busy with little things like building a new studio (Lesley), visiting the States (Rebecca) - so here we are!

It was Teresa's turn to choice the picture for our inspiration this time round and she chose Rossetti's 'Mariana', saying that she fell in love with the painting after seeing it at Aberdeen Art Gallery many years ago, and being fascinated by the richness, colour and texture of the dress.

I did a bit of research and Teresa gave us a little history on the painting too, so if you are sitting comfortable here is your evening (or morning/afternoon, depending on the time in your part of the world) art history lesson...

Dante Gabriel Rossetti's 'Mariana' was originally meant to have been a simple figurative portrait of Jane Morris, the wife of William Morris. However, at the request of his patron William Graham, Rossetti added a page-boy (William Graham's son Willie) as well as other symbols and motifs to turn the composition into a subject picture. The subject was Shakepeare's 'Measure for Measure,' with Jane Morris playing the role of Mariana. The character of Mariana is somewhat tragic. She is betrothed to Angelo, though he nullifies this engagement when Frederick, Mariana's brother, is lost at sea along with his sister's dowry. A delightful man! He does get brought down a peg or too at the end though.

But now onto the important business - the beads! This is what we have to play with this time round. At the time of writing this I don't actually know whether we were all sent the same, and I'll find out when I visit the other Brit Pack Beaders' blog later today.
 

Claire sent the focal, a beautiful polymer clay flower made by Pippa Chandler. There's a hole going across the back of the flower. Teresa sent the clasp - my favourite ingredient. Lesley made these gorgeous bronze clay components - the sweet heart and the leaf connector are my favourites of these. Rebecca sent the ribbon and cord, and my contribution was lampwork and Czech faceted glass beads.

I have to say that I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to make at the moment! I'm sure that inspiration will strike before our reveal on 30th July!

To see what the others think of the ingredients for our challenge and to find out if inspiration has struck them please visit their blogs/facebook pages!

Lesley Watt - Thea Jewellery - www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.co.uk

Rebecca Anderson - Songbeads - www.songbeads.blogspot.co.uk

Claire Braunbarth - Smitten Beads - www.smittenbeads.blogspot.co.uk

Teresa Hulley - Bo Hulley Beads - Bo's Facebook page

Ready to go!

It's been a busy few days, but my new studio is ready for my first student tomorrow morning! I'm actually teaching in there Thursday, Saturday and Sunday as well but Julie is my first student tomorrow. We've got stone setting planned!

A quick reminder of what the studio looked like at the start and end of Saturday...

And this is how I left it on Sunday...

And this is what it looks like now!

Tables are up, the soldering station is set up in the corner, the tools are set up on my desk which is also where students will work. I've gone back to using clamp-on bench pegs as the desk is a bit more flexible then. I can just have one out when it's just me and move things about a bit for visitors. The bookcase (on the wall opposite the window) hasn't changed much yet, the photo studio isn't set up yet and the drawers under the desks aren't how I want them yet, but that will come. And so will more shelves on the walls, and finishing touches like a notice board and pictures. I'll get there!

All Change!

There is a very good reason why things have been so quiet round here lately. I've been hoping for, planning for, dreaming of some big changes, and as I couldn't tell you about them until they became a reality I found it impossible to blog about anything - I couldn't focus on anything else! But now they have become a reality....ready? It's definitely all change here!

Firstly, I've changed the name of my business to Joanne Tinley Jewellery. Visitors to my website over the last week will have seen the new logo above, and I have a new web address (www.joannetinleyjewellery.com) and a new email address (admin@joannetinleyjewellery.com), although the old daisychain web and email address will still forward you on to the right places. I've been thinking of making the change for months - well, a couple of years to be honest - but the time never felt right until now, and I am so pleased that I've done it. Daisychain no longer gave the right image for my designs, and as galleries and magazines use my name and not Daisychain it makes far more sense. I've still got a few jobs to do such as changing the Facebook page, and I'm in the process of moving over to a new Joanne Tinley Jewellery blog, and they will be done over the next couple of weeks because this is not the only change. Ready for the next one?

I'VE GOT A NEW STUDIO!!!!

Did everyone catch that? I tell you, if I wasn't typing at this moment I would be doing a happy dance round the room! I applied for a space at a new set of studios at the beginning of May, and it has been so hard not telling the whole world about it. My new studio (I love typing that!) is one of 16 spaces in Eastleigh, the small town just outside Southampton. It's called the Sorting Office as it's in the old Royal Mail sorting office right in the centre of town. It's in the perfect location for my students too - even easier to get to from the motorway than before, and 5 minutes walk from Eastleigh train station which is a mainline from London. And Southampton airport, which I do pick students up from every now and then, is actually in Eastleigh, not Southampton! The building had been empty for the last five years but now it is a beautiful, bright, light and colourful creative space full of wonderfully creative people who I will introduce you to over the next few months. I had to go through an application and interview process as the studio comes with EU funding designed to help the residents develop their businesses - you can read more about the Sorting Office here. We've got a Business Manager to basically mentor us which is fantastic as, let's face it, we creative types aren't always the best at being business like!

Most of the studio spaces are fairly open-plan but mine is just through that door way - and has it's own lockable door. Not that keen on the colour of the woodwork, but you can't have everything!

I signed the lease agreement on Thursday, spent that evening measuring up and sticking masking tape to the floor as that was the only way that I could get a real idea of how best to use the space, and started moving things over there today. Brenda and Paul, two of my regular students, were absolutely wonderful today at helping me move so many boxes and drawers over there - thank you again both of you! It's a slightly smaller space than my shed - 8' by 9' rather than 8' by 12', but it's got a proper high ceiling and strong walls rather than wooden shed walls which means that I can make much better use of the space, and it's still big enough for teaching. The residents have also got access to the Production Space, a massive room that will be perfect for teaching my small group workshops.

My studio before and after we started moving things in today! Tomorrow's job is building the bookcase and desks and getting unpacked.

So, that's what I've been up to while I've been MIA from blogging  - well, that as well as the usual teaching and orders and magazine projects. Watch this space for photos of my empty room with masking tape on the floor being transformed into a wonderful creative space!