Lights, camera, earrings! (oh, and snow!)

My mission to get more organised has continued this week in between teaching and making lots of clasps. Remember the new photo set up I showed you here? I have finally, after five years or so, bought some new, proper photography lights and umbrellas to throw lovely diffused light on my jewellery. They arrived on Wednesday but I only got round to opening them this afternoon - we had a snow day today so while the boys were relaxing after a morning playing in the snow I went and played in the workshed!

It's going to take me a while to get really happy with the photos I take with the new lights - I only got the chance to play for an hour or so - but I'm pleased so far. I took some quick photos of a couple of pairs of earrings I've made for the Art Jewelry Elements Earrings Challenge, and they are definitely a lot better than the ones I took last week, but I want to find a few more props to show off the jewellery better on my new background as I don't think the lovely wooden box that I've used for a few years now goes that well with the lighter backdrop. I'll get there! Both pairs of earrings are now available on my Daisychain Jewellery etsy shop, and I've pinned them to the AJE Earrings Challenge Pinterest board too. If you haven't had a chance to go and look at the Pinterest board yet please do so - there are some really beautiful entries so far!

Rushing - but trying to relax!

Thank you for all the lovely responses to my last post - it seems that the word "relax" hit a chord with more than a few people! In the past the word always made me feel a bit, well, guilty, as if I was relaxing then I wasn't making the best use of my time, and as I've always got family, house and business job to do then what on earth did I think I was doing relaxing?! It took me far too long to realise that if I don't relax sometimes then I'm not recharging my batteries and I'm not going to be able to do my best at everything else. Unfortunately I seem to need to relearn this lesson periodically.

Thank you too for the lovely compliments about the cuties in the photos. I have to own up here and admit that I can only lay claim to two of them - the little girl pictured is Gracie, my beautiful God-daughter, but she is just as much a part of the family as my nephews and nieces. I always tell Ben that there is family that you're born with and family that you choose, and as Katie, Gracie's Mummy, and I have known each other since we were 10 and Gracie and my boys are growing up together they, and Katie's husband (T's partner-in-crime!) are most definitely family we have chosen. By the way, this birthday party was only relaxing as it was just family, not lots of children, and for once I had decided not to stress about making a cake myself but bought one. My baking skills are good, if I do say so myself, but I put too much pressure on myself about decorating each one perfectly! I did feel a few twinges of guilt for not making a birthday cake for one of my boys for the first time ever, but only until I saw Jamie's face light up at the sight of Peppa Pig! He does love that pig!

We had another family day this weekend just gone. I spent Saturday teaching privately in the workshop at home, but I can't show you photos of what Brenda made yet as she's coming back later in the month to complete her projects. Sunday, however, my brother and his girlfriend came over for a lazy Sunday lunch as they hadn't been able to make it over for Jamie's birthday the weekend before. They arrived complete with the giant balloon you can see above which both boys think is fantastic!

So, that's family caught up with, what about jewellery making? After all, that is what you've come here for, isn't it? Now that I've got caught up with ordering materials and new boxes and bags etc (always a good sign as it means that I've been using them for orders!) this rest of this afternoon is going to be spent cutting out some new designs I've had planned for a while, preparation for college for the next two nights and also making sure I've got everything I need for tuition for the next two days. It is another busy month for teaching, which is great! A couple of things to share with you though...

Firstly, I wrote another blog post for Artisan Whimsy at the weekend covering one of my favourite topics, hallmarking - you can see it here!

And the latest issue of Beads and Beyond is out, with a simple but elegant pair of earrings that I made from bending wire into teardrops. There's also a gorgeous project by Rebecca Anderson in there as well, so plenty to keep you busy!

The White Rose and the Red Rose

(c) The Hunterian, University of Glasgow 2012.

Back in October I shared this beautiful work of art with you - the inspiration Rebecca Anderson choose as the inspiration for the second Brit Pack Beaders challenge. I fell in love with it as soon as I opened up the email from Rebecca. It's "The White Rose and the Red Rose" by Margaret MacDonald MacIntosh, and you can read more about her work in my post from October here. Well, today I can finally share with you the pieces I made with the ingredients we pooled together based on the painting!

First of all though, a quick reminder of what I was sent..... a clasp by Rebecca, lovely silk ribbones and cotton cords from Lesley, beads from Claire, hammered links and poppy charms from me and a couple of gorgeous focals from Teresa. I had a few ideas floating around as soon as I saw the focals, and for probably the first time ever in a blog challenge the ideas hardly changed as I made the jewellery.

I assumed that the face focal would be the hardest for me to work with as it's so different from my usual style, but in the end this oxidised copper bracelet was the first thing I made. I like the mix of subtle tones and textures and materials - mixing my materials more is something that I've definitely picked up from Rebecca over the last couple of years!

My favourite, though, is the necklace I made. It's got a very romantic feel and has far more of a vintage style than most of the pieces of jewellery I have made in recent years. The combination of silk, the motive on Teresa's beautiful focal pendant, the frosted glass beads and the oxidised silver give it an almost Victorian feel in my mind. The silk makes it very comfortable to wear. The central drop is quite long, and I can imagine it being worm with a blouse or over a jumper (sweater to my American friends!)

And last but not least, a pair of simple but elegant earrings with beautiful pearls from Claire. I think I'm going to be making some more of these for my next Christmas fair!

I'm really looking forward to seeing what the others have made! We've all scheduled our posts to be published at the same time so that we don't see each others work before we show our own off. Rebecca was down last week for a couple of days of silversmithing fun and I hid my designs so that they would be a surprise! Fancy coming to have a look at their creations with me?

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

I've actually been very organised for once, and all these pieces are already listed in my Daisychain Jewellery etsy shop!

Oh, and come back on Tuesday and I'll show you how I made the bail for the pendant!

Brit Pack Beaders Challenge

It's the second Brit Pack Beaders challenge. It was Rebecca's turn to choose our inspiration - and I love it!

(c) The Hunterian, University of Glasgow 2012.

The beautiful work of art above is called 'The White Rose and the Red Rose' and the artist is Margaret MacDonald MacIntosh - you are probably more familiar with her husband, Charles Rennie MacIntosh and his rose motives that have become popular on everything from posters to mugs. Margaret and Charles were both part of the Glasgow Four, and you can see definite links and mutual inspiration between the two. They did alot of work together, creating everything from menu cards to furniture. The work that Margaret produced on her own has a softer feel to it though, and I love this gesso panel - she's painted thin lines of gesso over a burlap background, almost piped on like icing. You can read about her on wiki here, you can see more of her images here, and there's more about The White Rose and the Red Rose here.

 As Rebecca choose the inspiration it was also her task to send out the clasps. Lesley supplied the stringing materials, a lovely mix of silk ribbons and cotton cords, Claire the beads that match the colours perfectly, I made some hammered silver links and some little poppy charms and Teresa has made a couple of gorgeous focals. I've got a couple of ideas floating about for the lilac flower pendant, but the cream face focal is definitely going to be more of a challenge! I'm looking to see what ingredients the others have - I sent the same to everyone but a couple of things Teresa and Rebecca let slip makes me think that we may have different clasps at least!

Please do go and check to see what ingredients the others have to play with, and we'll be back with our finished designs on Wednesday 24th October!

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 "Bo Peep" Hulley - Bo Hulley Beads - Bo's Facebook page

Brit Pack Beaders Challenge

Today is the reveal day for the first Brit Pack Beaders challenge! A quick reminder - Lesley Watt has asked me, Rebecca Anderson, Bo Hulley and Claire Braunbarth to join her in a bimonthly challenge. We'll take turns to set the inspiration for the challenge, and as the hostess Lesley had first go. You can see the photo she choose and the colours that she's drawn out of it to give us a bit of a helping hand below. The photo is by Carolyn Saxby, and is called "Tangled". Carolyn is a Cornish textile/mixed media artist who takes amazing photos of the environment around her. You can see more of her work on Flickr here and also sells beautiful fabric beads in her Etsy shop, Cornish Pebbles.

 

We're taking it in turns to send each other ingredients for the challenge, trying to make sure that everyone gets something slightly different. Although I'm not actually taking part this month (just in case you haven't seen the hints that I've posted recently, we're in New Zealand!), I still wanted to contribute so my ingredient was stringing materials. I chose silk ribbons from Marsha Neal Studios in shades of aqua, cream and rust and some turquoise cotton cord as a contrast. Everyone got cotton cord, but I mixed up the silks so that no two people got the same combinations.

I'm really excited to see what everyone has come up with! To see what Lesley's inspiration has led to (and to leave some lovely comments on my friends' blogs too, pretty please!) you can visit the rest of the Brit Pack Beaders at:

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 "Bo Peep" Hulley - Bo Hulley Beads - Bo's Facebook page

 

Meet the Brit Pack Beaders....

Although I work from home on my own for most of my work time, it never really feels like I'm on my own, and that is mainly through the wonders of the internet and the amazing people I have met through it - even though I have only met a few of them in real life! I love being part of such a friendly, creative, supportive community. And it is such an international community too! 

One part of this wonderful community life that I have enjoyed over the last through years is taking part in challenges. They have stretched my skills, introduced me to new techniques and improved my confidence in my design skills, especially when it comes to colour. So, when Lesley Watt (aka Thea Jewellery) asked if I'd like to be part of a Brit Pack of designers I didn't have to think twice! There are five Brits making up the Brit Pack Beaders, and I expect that you already know them through their blogs and shops, and if you don't then do go and visit them at the links below. They are.......

Lesley Watt - Thea Jewellery - www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.co.uk, www.THEAjewellery.etsy.com, www.theatoo.etsy.com

Rebecca Anderson - Songbeads - www.songbeads.blogspot.co.uk, www.songbead.etsy.com

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

Jo Tinley (me!) - Daisychain Designs -  www.daisychaindesignsjewellery.blogspot.co.uk, www.daisychainjewellery.co.uk, www.daisychainextra.etsy.com

Teresa "Bo Peep" Hulley - Bo Hulley Beads - www.Bohulleybeads.etsy.com

Lesley has called us together to take part in some bi-monthly challenges with a little bit of a difference, and as she put it perfectly I thought I'd just quote her!

"For each challenge, one person will choose a theme based on anything they like - could be music, literature, film, visual images anything at all that inspires that person. Each of us is then allocated one of five design items - clasps, focal beads, accent beads, decorative embellishments and stringing material, and must send each team member a different one of those items that has some relevance to the theme. Ultimately, we will all end up with a different bead soup created by 5 different people with which to create a piece of jewellery inspired by the theme."

 Lesley has kicked off the challenges with the photo below as inspiration

 "Tangle" by Carolyn Saxby.

Carolyn is a Cornish textil/mixed media artist who takes amazing photos of the environment around her. You can see more of her work on Flickr here and also sells beautiful fabric beads in her Etsy shop, Cornish Pebbles.

Lesley has also sent all the pack members (apart from me - I'll come to that in a bit!) a slightly different clasp, Rebecca is providing the focals, Claire the embellishments, Bo the accent beads and I've sent out the stringing materials. For the next challenge we will rotate so that we get to send different items.

The reveal for this first challenge will be Wednesday 8th August and we would love it if you'd come back then to see what everyone got up to. I won't be in the country then - in fact, this post is coming to you through the wonders of blogger scheduling - so although I'm sending out the stringing materials I'm not actually making something for this challenge, but I'll come back on here to remind you about it!

In the meantime, if you'd like to find out more about the Brit Pack Beaders you can visit their blogs using the links below our photos.

Macramé, Art Beads and Wire

6 brand new projects featuring art beads 

from Moogin Beads, Humble Beads, Starry Road Studio, Beads of Passion

50 pages

over 100 photos

step-by-step instructions for projects and macramé knots

inspirational gallery featuring work by 

Rebecca Anderson,  

Leah Curtis, 

Malin de Koning,  

Keri Lee Sereika, 

Sherri Stokey 

and Cilla Watkins

The book costs £12, which works out at only £2 per project!

It is available through my website and also through my Daisychain Extra etsy shop.

I hope that you enjoy it!

Thank you to the wonderful designers who contributed to the gallery 

and to Rebecca and my very own T for proof reading for me!

Happy Dance!

I know I've been quiet here over the last week, but it has been for good reasons, promise! I've been really busy working on magazine articles (can't show you anything to do with those yet though, sorry!) and the ebook that I mentioned last week. That's been coming along really well (well, I think so anyway, and even T thought it was looking good!), and I'm hoping to be able to release it in a week or so. In the meantime though, here's a quick sneak preview of one of the projects that's in it....

But anyway, I want to tell you why I've been doing a happy dance, or rather happy dances, around the house over the last couple of days!

A while back I posted that I'd was one of ten designers nominated by the Beads and Beyond readers for the Readers' Designer of the Year. This afternoon July's issue of the magazine arrived ......and I won!! I am so amazed, and so chuffed!! Thank you so much those of you who voted for me! It means so much that people actually like the projects I write. As much as I love working in my shed, hammering away, it can be pretty isolating, so this really does mean a lot to me. Hopefully you can see from the (poor, taken with my iphone) photo that my lovely friend Rebecca Anderson came second out of the ten - personally I think her projects are more appealing to a wider set of readers as they don't need soldering kit etc to do!

And the second thing - yes, there's more! If you can remember back as far as last June I wrote that I'd submitted a project to a book for the first time and that it was accepted - and the book is now available to pre-order! 30-minute Bracelets is one of Lark's lovely books, and has over 60 projects by some fantastic designers such as Erin Prais-Hintz, whose blog I love to read. I haven't had my copy of the book through yet as it's probably still flying over the Atlantic, but I've seen the front cover on Amazon, and that's what started the happy dance, as you see the smoky quartz bracelet with the oak leaf clasp on the front cover? That's mine that is!!

Well, I think that's enough excitment for one day. I'm off to give Jamie his late night feed - that'll bring me back down to earth!

Well, that was quick!

This whole week has flown by, but that's probably because I managed to fit a lot into it! Let's start at the beginning, shall we...

Monday...my birthday! Yet again I didn't blog on my birthday. It seemed a little too attention seeking and despite teaching, chatting to customers and having a blog etc I am actually quite shy, honest! As it was a school day most of my birthday was pretty normal, although T and the boys had got me pain au chocolate for breakfast (my favourite!) and gave me time to eat it, and I got greeted with lots of "Happy Birthdays" down at the school gates - I'd completely forgotten that my birth date is on my Facebook profile! We did go out for tea with my parents, which was lovely, and I gave myself the day off from doing housework - which meant I had double to do on Tuesday, but never mind, I had a lovely hour and a half sitting knitting and relaxing while Jamie had his afternoon nap! Most of my birthday presents were money towards a Kindle, but I did have a couple of lovely parcels to open....

an absolutely gorgeous journal from my friend Katie. She found it on etsy (www.etsy.com/shop/KarenGeddings) and I LOVE it! Every page is different, with spaces for photos, for journalling and tags to jot memories on.

and a pair of sweet earrings from Rebecca - who also had her birthday on Monday! I've been wearing them all week, and they've had lots of compliments. They are, of course, in turquoise and red :)

Tuesday...catching up with housework, music bugs with Jamie (which he mainly spent crawling around the room, emptying the basket of musical instruments and bouncing up and down on his bottom - his version of dancing!) and then an evening of organising our new tools cupboard at college. I know it's sad but I've been so looking forward to getting this cupboard! Up until now we had boxes scattered in different cupboards in two different rooms, neither of which are the room I teach in. Now everything is in the same place, we've had a good clear out of broken bits and pieces and some lovely new tools are on their way too!

Wednesday...I spent the morning doing something I haven't done for years - I taught Geography! Ben's school had a Geography week and asked if any of the parents had any Geographical knowledge they could share, talk to the children about Geography based jobs etc. They based some of the week on the water cycle, so I spent the morning going into classes helping them to set up a "water cycle in a box", and teaching them about it. Lots of fun, but no, I'm not going back into mainstream teaching - I love what I do now too much. The afternoon was spent on etsy orders as was most of...

Thursday....but I spent the morning with my gorgeous friend Anna, touring the gargage that she and her husband Syd have turned into an amazing studio for metal work and lampworking. It's a bit smaller than my workshed, but they've fitted so much in there and there's so much beautiful colour! It really is filled with colour and looks like a fantastic place to create. Thursday was, of course, also the last day of my Flap Your Wings bracelet auction - thank you so much again if you bid/left a comment/helped to spread the word on Facebook!

Which leaves Friday (housework, food shopping), Saturday (gallery order in the morning, lego with Ben and his homework in the afternoon) and today (trying to get Jamie to take a few steps on his own, cooking chilli, more lego), and then it all starts again tomorrow....without my birthday of course :)

Spotted and Pinned!

My clasps and findings have been featured on both Art Bead Scene and Rebecca Anderson's Songbeads blog this week. Rebecca is one of the ABS blog team, and has written both a tutorial (using my poppy and daisy clasps, silk and macrame) and the Studio Saturday post over there this week - head over to the ABS blog and leave a comment on her Studio Saturday post to be in with a chance of winning a set of my poppy headpins and charms, and to get a code for my etsy shop that will get you 15% off until the end of May!

And the "pinned" part of the post title? I've set up a Pinterest board for designs made using my Daisychain Extra bits and pieces - you can find it here, and if you've got pictures of jewellery made using them please let me know where they are and I'll pin them. All the photos get linked back to your website/blog/etsy shop or wherever the pictures were pinned from, so it's an easy way of getting some more publicity.

There will be a shop update later on this evening - some new made-to-order designs that I've been working on for a while and some limited edition pieces too. I'll post here again when they're in the shop!

Thank you!

Rebecca's the cover girl this month with her gorgeous romantic spring bracelet!

It's voting time over at Beads and Beyond again! The finalists to the Jewellery Maker of the Year have been shortlisted, and the readers have also nominated their favourite Beads and Beyond Designer - the lovely Rebecca Anderson and I have both been nominated, thank you so much it everyone who sent a nomination in! It's so lovely to know that people like the projects I send in. And congratulations to all those who have been shortlisted. There are some really beautiful pieces of jewellery and lampwork in the finalists again this year - I have my favourites, but I'm not going to tell you who as I don't want to influence you!

To see all the finalists and to vote for your favourites in each catagory, visit the Beads and Beyond voting page here - you have until 1st April! I know I'm probably slightly biased, but I really do think that B&B is the best on the UK market, and one of the best available in the States too as there is a really good mix of materials and techniques, and a far better ratio of projects to adverts than many craft magazines.

Buttons!

I reviewed a button jewellery project book for the Spotlight page in Beads and Beyond the other week - it'll be in the July issue. Anyway, it got me thinking and planning and this is what I ended up with:

Simple squares of silver, hammered with my favourite hammer (of course!), with two holes drilled in the middle. The corners have been rounded and the holes have been bevelled slightly to soften the edges. There are nine in total, and I've made a toggle clasp to go with them too. Mind you, I say simple squares, but neat squares are actually one of the more difficult shapes to cut. With curves you've got a bit of room for error, for filing to correct little slips, but with squares everyone would notice if your saw blade went off the line!

I can see these layered with coloured buttons to make rings or with lampwork discs, as charms on bracelets or with wire wrapped beads in between. I've added them to my Daisychain Extra shop on etsy in the limited edition section as this design will not be made to order. I may make another set in the future but each will be slightly different as that's part of the charm of handcrafted items!

I've also listed some simple wire toggle clasps in oxidised copper, oxidised silver and polished silver. They're listed in sets of five, and there are discounts if you buy more than one set. They will be on my website as well shortly, but the buttons will only be on the etsy shop.

Oh, and while I'm talking about clasps, the new Beads and Beyond is out now! I've got a set of jewellery in there teaching you how to make your own toggle clasps, and one of the giveaways is for three of my clasps - details of that are on the Retail Therapy pages. My favourite project is Rebecca Anderson's Songbird necklace - I love Rebecca's work, and she always uses colours I love! She's used beautiful bird beads by Heather Powers as the starting point of her design, and if you have a look at Heather's blog you can see some great pictures of the different stages her beads go through.