BTW

 

Poppy soup, anyone? I am really pleased with this bracelet - I've finally used one of the poppy beads that Mindy made for me after hoarding them for much longer than I usually hoard her beads for, I haven't used it in a necklace or pendant as I would normally do, and I've continued to break out of desire to make everything symmetrical!

I had planned to make a necklace using the bead soup ingredients that I tucked away in my cupcake tin yesterda , but as I started to make it up I realised that it wasn't really going to work out. I wanted to use the bead horizontally rather than vertically as I would usually do, but it kept spinning over due to its weight. I actually went to bed feeling a bit fed up last night as neither of the two pieces I was working on yesterday evening were going well. But then inspiration struck - how about a Summer Solstice bracelet instead of a necklace? This is the reason why I keep a sketch book beside the bed!!

I'm really pleased with the poppy clasp. I wanted to do something to balance out the bead so it wouldn't spin too easily underneath your wrist, but if it did something lovely would still be on view - and it works! I wore it out tonight to test it - yes! I went out somewhere that didn't involve children, although they were the topic of conversation more than once. I went out for a meal with some friends I used to teach with, and it was lovely. We don't get to meet up often enough. Thank you Ali for organising us, and congratulations Tiggy on the pregnancy and Suzy on the new job!

If you want to remind yourself of what my ingredients looked like, and where the inspiration for the bracelet came from, visit this post!

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.