Handmade Winchester countdown

Just a quick post tonight as I've had a busy day creating the last few designs for my stall at Handmade Winchester this weekend. Well, I say the last few, but I'm sure I'll fit in a few more earrings at least before bedtime tomorrow! Although the event has been running a few years now, and I'm proud to say that I've taken part since the start, this is the first year that it's been a two-day event. It's also the first time that I've done a two-day event for several years, so I'm slightly nervous about the amount of stock that I'll need! If I don't spend all of tomorrow evening in the workshed I'll pop back on here and show you some of the new pieces I'm taking with me, although you'll actually see a couple of them tomorrow as Friday is the reveal day for two challenges that I've been taking part in this month (so many challenges in November!) - the Art Jewelry Elements' Component of the Month, and Erin Prais-Hintz's Challenge of Color.

See you tomorrow, but in the meantime go and checkout the tutorial I wrote on the Art Jewelry Elements blog today!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Well, actually today I feel mainly tired and will be off for an early night very soon, but yesterday with Christmas music playing in Winchester Guildhall and lots of fairy lights twinkling on stalls (must get some new ones for my stall next year!) and between 5.5 and 6 thousand people through the door (so many the clicker counter couldn't keep up!) it definitely felt a lot like Christmas in Winchester!

We had an amazing day, and the atmosphere was wonderful right from setting up to packing away. Handmade Winchester has always been my favourite of all the craft shows I've ever done, partly because I get to meet up with friends I only usually get to see in real life at the show, partly because absolutely everything for sale is handcrafted by the people behind the stalls, and partly because the atmosphere is so wonderful. Everyone is so cheerful and smiling and so delighted to be there taking part again, or so delighted because although it's their first time everyone is welcoming!

Thank you for the comments on Friday's post. I didn't sell the necklace (I'm not too upset about that as I am still rather tempted to keep it myself - afterall, I have to wear my jewellery to advertise it, don't I?) but did sell two of the bracelets, and in total I sold nearly 30 pieces of jewellery with prices ranging from £10 to £80, the best I've ever done. My stud earrings sold very well. I put the tags I showed you a few months ago pegged onto cord running across a painted canvas this time, which showed them off very well. It made it easy for people to compare the different styles.

I also had simple brown paper bags to put the jewellery boxes and bags in this time, something I've been meaning to do for ages, but I've got a few things I want to do before or at the next show I do:

• get a sign/banner made similar to the one my gorgeous friend Helen had made - a great way of showing people that she made everything that she had on her stall. Helen and I always have a stall next to each other now, but we didn't have much of a chance to chat yesterday as we were so busy!
• get a stamp made with my logo on it to stamp the brown paper bags.
• put a leaflet about my classes and private tuition in the brown paper bags ready to go. I got bags ready with two business cards in (one to keep, one to give to a friend), I don't know why I didn't put the leaflets in there too!

Ready for Winchester!

Well, I'm all packed, everything's priced and labelled, my new business cards have arrived, I've even packed my lunch for tomorrow - yes, it's not yet midnight and I'm ready for the Handmade Winchester show! I am really looking forward to tomorrow. Handmade Winchester is my favourite of the shows I do (not that I've done many this year with a new addition to the family!). It's got such a wonderful atmosphere and, of course, all of the crafts on display are wonderful. It's the only show I do where you can guarantee that everything you see for sale will have been beautifully made by people in the room, that you can talk to the designers and makers about how they work, where the inspiration for the piece you're interested in came from. And this time it's going to be even better as my Mum is coming along for part of the day - which means that I get a rare chance to wander round myself and do some Christmas shopping!

I promised you photos of some of the pieces I've been working on this week....

These bracelets are a design I've been wanting to make for ages. I really like lampwork bead bracelets but I don't like wearing them while I'm working or typing. These bracelets are great as they're really comfy, they don't twist round as you wear them so the lampwork you want to show off stays on top, but there's no lampwork under your wrist to catch on anything.

However, they're not the easiest of designs to photograph, so I decided to take an "in-action" shot so you get a better idea of how they look - and that turned out to be not so easy as well! After several dozen takes the best I got was a shot of me taking a ball of yarn out of my new Raspberry bag - and Alice (Raspberry) is going to be at the show too - of course, afterall, she organises it!

The next design nearly didn't make it to the show. I am so pleased with how it turned out. It's one of those rare situations where I planned how I'd like to set the lampwork cabochon before it arrived and the design has barely changed as I've made it. Am I allowed to say that I absolutely love this necklace? Is that too much showing off considering I made it? What the heck, it's my blog I can say what I like! I LOVE this necklace, and if it sells tomorrow there definitely a part of me that will be very sad!

T is calling me, reminding me how late it is and how early I've got to get up, so I will leave you with this reminder the show details. Have a great weekend, and Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

BTW

Today started off with a maths lessons! Ben's school has been holding maths workshops for parents first thing in the morning each day this week so we can find out more about how the children are learning their numbers. It was fun! We've been doing some maths with Ben at home but it was useful to learn more about the language his teachers use so that we can use the same terms at home.

I spent the rest of the day working on some new pieces for Handm@de Winchester on Saturday. I'll take some better photos for you tomorrow but here's a quick view of some of the pieces - I'm watching an episode of Alphas and cleaning up after liver of sulphur!

BTW

Sorry for the silence apart from the tutorial link yesterday - it's taken me a couple of days to a) recover from doing a workshop and a craft show on the same weekend and b) catch up with all the washing that I didn't do at the weekend. It's amazing how many clothes Jamie gets through now he's eating solids!

Both the workshop and Handmade Winchester went really well. All five lovely ladies on the workshop left with smiles on their faces and shiny bangles on their wrists. I love how different each bangle was despite the fact that they started off with the same choice of two thicknesses of oval wire! Handmade Winchester had a slow start but then really picked up in the afternoon. Maybe people came to us once the Farmer's Market closed? Either way, it was again a very successful day - good sales and lots of great compliments from visitors about the high standard of work everyone had on display, lots of people saying that they'd be back for the Christmas fair (Saturday 26th November - put it in your diaries!), and of course it was lovely to catch up with Helen (Blue Fairy Designs), Su (Quercus Silver) and Alice, our lovely organiser (Raspberry). Hopefully next time I'll have a helper with me and be able to catch up with more people - and do some Christmas shopping myself too of course! Typically for me I forgot to take photos of both the workshop bangles and the craft show, but if you visit the Handmade Winchester Facebook page you'll be able to see photos there! Visit http://www.facebook.com/handmadewinchester

Anyway, Bead Table Wednesday - I'm hoping to make some pendants with these lovelies today, either while Jamie's napping this afternoon (he's tired due to his first swim this morning! Or should that be first splash in a swimming pool rather than a bath?!), or this evening after the boys are in bed. They are hollow lampwork beads from Outwest on etsy. Aren't they gorgeous? And big too - look!

I've made some interlinking oval rings for them to hang from, and I'm thinking leather rather than chain would suit them better. What do you think?

A quick peek

Just a couple of photos to show you. I've been finishing off quite a few pieces of jewellery this week, some of which I half made as examples for my college classes last year. I thought it was about time I set the stones, finished the filing, soldered on bails etc so that I could put them on my stall at Winchester on Sunday. I haven't had time to take photos of those, but I did photography two new bracelets I've made, both made to the same design as the poppy bracelet I made last week. That first one is definitely mine!

The first uses another of Mindy's gorgeous poppy beads - just look at the colours and detail on that! The second uses a beautiful soft pink bead with silver and black highlights, and I'm sorry to say that I cannot for the life of me remember who made it. I know it was a UK designer, but I bought it (and another very similar long bicone) a few years ago and never kept a note of who made it. I can remember that I made a necklace that sold very quickly with the first bead, but that's all! If anyone knows who might have made it, please do let me know! Both bracelets fasten with one of my handmade clasps, and all the chain and rings are hand made too. The clasp fastens on any of the links so that you can wear the bracelet as loose or as tight as you please. The cupped shape of the clasp and the fact that it's made of a couple of layers of silver causes it to make a gentle tinkling sound as you wear the bracelet - I love that!

Both bracelets will be on my stall at Winchester Guildhall on Sunday so I haven't put them on the website yet, but if you'd like one and you can't make it to Winchester then email me!

Handmade Winchester

It's the third annual summer Handmade Wincester Fair on Sunday! There will be over 50 stalls selling gorgeous goodies, and every single one of those goodies will have been made by the person standing behind the stall selling them. I love the atmosphere of this show. It's definitely the friendliest and most supportive one I do, partly because many of us who show and sell our work there knew each other through blogs and forums before we met in real life at the first show - it felt like a reunion, and the fairs last summer and Christmas were even better!

And if the Fair and the delights of Winchester aren't enough, Sunday is also the Winchester Farmer's Market, the largest Farmer's Market in the UK and, according to the Guardian newspaper, the best in the UK as well. All in all, a fantastic day out!

Think I need to tidy up....

This is what happens when I have lots of things to finish off, lots of projects to work on, filing some while others are in the pickle after soldering, preparing several piece so I can solder or drill or polish them all together. Please please tell me that I'm not the only one who works like this!!

The mess been made slightly worse by the fact that until this afternoon I was only in the workshop for maybe 45 minutes at a time during Jamie's naps or after cooking (and eating!) tea etc. This afternoon, however, was Jamie's first afternoon with the childminder who has looked after Ben a couple of days a week for the past few years. I felt horrible driving away, but I know he'll love it there as his brother does and now I've spent some time hammering and soldering I FEEL SOOO GOOD!! Better mentally than I have in months, and I just know I'll sleep well tonight. And before my Mum panics about the last sentence (hello Mum!), it's not that I've been feeling horribly down about what's gone on with my health so far this year, it's that with all the hospital appointments coupled with the normal school stuff with Ben and looking after two young children I've been feeling a bit harassed, as if I've been rushing around constantly and haven't had time to stand still and take stock of things. Now I feel human again.

Amongst the tools, scrap silver and coils of wire are two new bracelets waiting for their clasps, handcrafted chains and some new earrings. I'm still using the cupcake tin to keep beads etc for projects tidy - such a simple yet effective idea! And talking about those new bracelets and chains, my first job while Jamie is napping tomorrow morning is to take some photos so I can show you my new pieces for the show on Sunday. And talking about the show, Handmade Winchester now has it's own facebook page where you can see details of the shows and information about the crafters show their wares - you can find it here - www.facebook.com/handmadewinchester

What a week!

It's been a mixed week so far. Monday was very productive - I spent most of the day catching up with boring but necessary admin jobs but managed to set the stones in the part-made examples I'd put together for last Saturday's stone setting workshop. However, I tossed and turned all Monday night, and woke up on Tuesday morning looking like a cross between a chipmunk and a relative of the Mitchellin man - and a throbbing abscess on a tooth. If I hadn't already written and scheduled the tutorial this week it would have been very quiet here this week!

Thankfully, one emergency dentist appointment and strong (pregnancy friendly!) antibiotics later and I look and feel a lot more human. I even got some sleep last night!! Whether I sleep next Tuesday night, though, is another matter as I'm having the abscess drained on Wednesday! I had to cancel my classes on Tuesday night, which I hated having to do, but I wouldn't have got much teaching done without being able to talk.

Anyway, today has been alot better. Anna has been round for a day's silversmithing tuition to build on the stone setting skills that she learnt during Saturday's class. You can see the pendant she made on Saturday here, and she's popping back round to finish setting the stone tomorrow morning - I promise to take some photos when she's done as it's going to be a gorgeous pendant!

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day - it's the Christmas Shopping Evening! I've still got a few pieces I'd like to finish to take along with me (I always want to make more, just in case!), and I've also got to buy the wine for the drinks included in the ticket price and finish collecting the raffle prizes. Local shops have been very generous with prizes - we've got everything from vouchers for the local butcher to a gift basket from the hairdressers and a voucher from a great local photographer who I'm hoping will take some photos of our newly enlarged family in the New Year. If you're in the area tomorrow evening do come along - ticket sales have gone even better than we hoped they would, but there will still be some tickets on the door!

Christmas in November!

It's that time of year - the Christmas craft shows are nearly here and I'm busy creating new pieces to go on  my stalls. I've got two more stalls this year, one in Southampton in just over a couple of week's time and one in Winchester the next day - and then I think I'll give myself at least the morning off the next day!! I'm really excited about both events, but for different reasons.


The first show is the first one that I've ever had a hand in organising. At the beginning of the year I suggest to a couple of friends who also have their own small businesses in the area that it would be great if we could get together for a shopping evening before this Christmas, either at one of our homes or in one of the local church halls. We've finally put our plans into action - introducing our first every Christmas Shopping Evening on Friday 12th November, 7.30pm-9.30pm!

The venue is the Old Chemist, a beautiful old shop in Bitterne Park that's now a church office for the local evangelical church and a small community centre, and we've got seven different stalls, from gorgeous handbags, great traditional wooden toys, Pampered Chef, Vie at Home cosmetics, Phoenix cards, and, of course, my jewellery! The evening is also raising money for the Wessex Cancer Trust, who do a amazing amount of work helping cancer patients and their families in the South of England - more information about the evening can be found here! We're selling tickets in advance, with money going to the Wessex Cancer Trust, and the tickets include a glass of wine, mince pies and a raffle ticket. There will also be tickets available on the door.

The event the next day is the Christmas Winchester Handm@de show at the Winchester Guildhall on Saturday 13th November from 11am - 5pm. This is the third Winchester Handm@de show, and the first Christmas one that we've had. The first two shows were a great success, with beautifully unique handcrafted goods - some of which you can see here!

Until next time!

The Winchester Handm@de show yesterday was great fun and a great success! I even met a few more people who read my blog, which is always a strange feeling - like, you mean people actually read this?!? So, hello to those of you I met, and thank you for taking the time to stop and say hello! Sales were good, I had lots of enquiries about tuition, spoke to people about my evening classes at Eastleigh College and managed to fit in chats with crafty friends I hadn't chatted to in real life since the last Winchester show - so, all in all, a great day! Thank you, Alice, for organising it all, and I'm looking forward to the show in November!

Although sales were good there are still a few new pieces to show you, so I'm be back with some photos later in the week.

P.S. If you want to see what my stall looked like, have a look at Alice's husband flickr stream here - I forgot to charge up my camera battery after B's preschool end of year show. He played a train, by the way, and was very excited about it all!

Winchester countdown

There's no Tutorial Tuesday this week as I'm rushing about teaching, preparing for the stone setting workshop on Saturday and making some new pieces for the Winchester Handm@de show this coming Sunday (4th July). I may regret organising a workshop on the same weekend as a show, but hopefully not!

So, for the rest of the week I'm going to show you what pretties I've made and also show you a few of the other exhibitors who will be in Winchester. I am really looking forward to the show. It's the second one organised. The last one was at the same time last year, and it had such a wonderful, warm and welcoming atmosphere. Unlike some other shows, every single stall there was stocked with wonderful handcrafted goods made by the people standing behond the tables - no bulk bought cheap jewellery imported from China, no mass produced tat, just beautifully handcrafted goods, most of which were unique pieces. I think that one reason that the show had sucha great atmosphere was that although most of the stall holders hadn't met each other before, we all felt as if we knew quite a few people as we'd read each others blogs or chatted on forums.

The crafts on show this year include ceramics, clothing, pottery, paintings and textiles as well as, of course, beautiful jewellery! One of the stalls that I'm looking forward to visiting is Turned Light. Kathryn Ward creates beautiful lampwork beads like the seaside one below. She uses some of the beads to make jewellery but she also sells her beads to provide temptation to people like me!

I've been working hard over the last few weeks to create new pieces for Sunday. This one is Peacock - a beautiful faceted labradorite teardrop in a rubover setting with balls of silver decorating the top. It took me a while to carefully plan out where to put the silver balls so that they would look fairly random but still create a balanced piece! The labradorite is set in a seat cut into the silver so that the back of the pendant is open to allow as much light through as possible. The stone has beautiful flashes of electric blue in it - and it took about 25 photos to be able to capture them!

And relax....

I meant to post last night about Handm@de Winchester, but I sat down after unpacking everything and you know how fatal that is!

Handm@de was a great event, and very well organised, much better than others I've been to, and I've been to lots - thank you to Raspberry for all her hard work! It was great meeting lots of people who up to now have been usernames and blog names, and just as great to catch up with people I hadn't seen for a while and meet some new people. It was also great to chat with visitors about what I do and about jewellery tuition. There are some photos of the fair (including a rare photo of me!) on flickr here.

I did do a bit shopping myself - well, with all that temptation, how could I resist?! I bought a pink sock bunny from Half an Acre for Gracie, something for my mum (not saying what that in case she reads this before I give it to her!) and something for me - my first skein of hand dyed yarn - isn't it gorgeous?


I bought it from nimu. She's got an etsy shop here, that she'll be stocking with lots of loveliness as soon as she comes off maternity leave! I've already decided what I'm going to use it for. I spent a lovely hour searching for scarf patterns on Ravelry, and I'm forcing myself to finish at least one of the projects that I'm knitting at the moment before casting on this one. What's the betting I give in to temptation (again!) and cast on before the end of the week?

A quick note before I go and sort my workshed out and put things from yesterday away properly - I've got some more new gold and silver designs to show you tomorrow, and they'll be on the website too soon!

5 days to go!

The Winchester Handm@de show is less than a week away - I can't believe how quickly it's come around! I signed up for it in the depths of winter, and now we're having the hottest day of the year!

I thought I'd show you some work from more of the designers who will be at the show - just to wet your appetite you understand, and to encourage you to come along! Remember that you can find all the details about the show and a list of everyone who is exhibiting at the Winchester Handm@de blog here

The first person whose work I'm going to show you is Izabela -I had real problems trying to choose photos to put on here as her work is amazing! She creates beautifully finished, often very delicate but contemporary crocheted designs, some of which I've shown here.


Have a look at her blog, her website and also her photogallery for some more. I think my favourites are a beautiful multicoloured baby blanket in her gallery and the teeny tiny doll's dress below - beautiful work!


And the second person is Raspberry aka Alice who has been doing an amazing job organising the whole Winchester Handm@de show. As far as I am concerned, you can never have too much jewellery or too many bags, and Raspberry bags are gorgeous, beautiful colours and I'm really looking forward to seeing them in real life. You can check out her work here.


She's been coming up with some great new designs lately, and I'm really hoping that I might be able to persuade her to make a knitting needle roll for me - after she's recovered from Handm@de of course!