Tutorials & Time Management

For ages now I've been meaning to up date my tutorials, the ones for basic wire skills. I've got several already written - making eyeloops, wrapped loops, ear wires for example - and I used to use them in workshops alot, but since improving my photos of my jewellery I've realised just how bad the photos on the tutorials are! One of the problems is that it is very difficult to take photos of the wire actually being worked on your own - you can't hold the camera, look through the lens and hold the wire on the pliers all at the same time, and using a tripod doesn't help much!

Anyway, one of the reasons that I decided to use a zen cart based website was so that I could easily offer pdfs for people to download. So this afternoon I decided to stop procrastinating (what a big word for this time in the afternoon!) and get to work! I've improved the writing of several of the tutorials and sorted out what photos I need while B has been asleep, and I'm going to ask a friend with an excellent camera and a photography course under her belt to come round and help me take the photos over the next couple of weeks. I'll swop her for some jewellery or silversmithing tuition!

This stopping procrastinating is all part of something that Nicky and I have been talking about for a little while now - time management! We both have young children and so obviously work around them, so organising our time efficiently is so important if our businesses are to grow. She showed me a blog called Bead Nerd (I love that name!) that's all about encouraging people to fulfill their potential. It's written with bead makers in mind but the advice is fantastic for anyone who runs (or wants to run) a craft-based business. I've also been talking to Tracey, the owner of the gallery where I teach my weekly jewellery class, Spice Art Studios, about time management. Anyway, as I result of all this I have decided to block out my diary into time set aside for certain jobs, both household and business. Tracey calls it a default diary - unless there is an emergency, holiday or something like that, a default diary sets out what you are going to do each week at that particular time. I've realised that I have been doing that more or less with household chores, so now it's time for the business. It'll hopefully make me get the non-creating jewellery jobs done rather than allow them to get pushed to one side! I'll let you know how it goes - well, hopefully you'll see the results in terms of tutorials on the website, new jewellery listed more regularly and more magazine articles - oh, and another outlet or two would be good too!

Tomorrow morning is photography time, so look back for some photos then!

So cute!

I was just doing my usual quick visit to the blogs I read, UK Beaders and etsy before going to bed and I saw some baby booties on the front page of etsy that are sooo cute that I just had to show you!

I know that my baby niece would look gorgeous in a pair, and several friends are expecting babies so I think that I will be making a purchase or two...or three! You can find them by clicking on any of the pictures or by visiting www.pedrosprout.etsy.com

I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures of the jewellery I made this weekend.

Green leaf

Do you remember this from the silversmithing course I went on at Flux'n'Flame? I had originally thought that I would have small beads hanging down the centre of the leaf, but it just didn't look right. I tried a few other ideas too, until finally I came up with this.




So what do you think? I've used peridot, garnet and amethyst, a combination that I really love. And the peridot means that it qualifies for this week's green colour challenge!








As for last week's challenge, sorry this is late but I haven't been good at taking photos this last week or so. The website is looking a bit bare, but by the end of this weekend it'll be stocked up again - assuming that I don't sell everything tomorrow that is! Anyway, this is one of my triple bangles (I love making these) with beautiful rubies - the colour of these lovelies is even better in real life!

Work in progress

It's been another busy Thursday here. I'm doing a craft show with other Wessex Guild of Craftsmen members on Saturday at Chichester, so I've been pricing and organising and making some last minute bits and pieces. I was going to take some photos too but my daylight bulb blew yesterday and it's been horrible weather here (again!), so for now you'll have to make do with a picture of some work in progress I'm afraid!

First thing this morning I used silver art clay to make lots of bits and pieces. By this afternoon (with help from my hairdryer!) they were dry and so I've spent the last hour or so sanding them down. What you can see in the picture will by this time tomorrow be stud earrings, pendants, drop earrings and cufflinks - yes, I'm adding cufflinks to my repertoire at last! There's been a section for men's jewellery on the website for a while now, so I thought it was about time I filled it! I have made some cufflinks before now, but they've ended up the galleries or being given as presents. I've mentioned art clay before, but if you're not familiar with it have a look at this site http://www.silverclay.co.uk/.

Anyway, the show on Saturday is at the Assembly Rooms in North Street in Chichester. It runs from 10am until 4pm, and if you come along and spend £30 or more on my stall and mention my blog I'll give you 10% off. This only applies to my stall though! Other crafts exhibited by the Wessex Guild will include ceramics, fused glass and woodwork.

Browsing through etsy...

Etsy really is a great site - it's full of fantastic unique handcrafted goods and the forum has some really good advice. I came across this blog through the forum this evening. Shalana, a felter who makes some gorgeously cute felt jewellery, had posted on there that she had written a blog article about selling wholesale. It looks like she's done alot of research and has written some really good advice, so if you, like me, want to get your work into more outlets, go and take a look!

Oh, and her hair pins are really cute too!

Birthstones

We were chatting about birthstones at the sterling silver pendant workshop last week, and someone asked where the idea of having a stone linked to each month came from. I said I'd find out the answer - and here it is! Actually, my RE teacher would say that I should have remembered, but my only excuse is that I did do my GCSEs nearly 20 years ago!

The traditional birthstones are said to be based on the gemstones used in the breastplate of the first Jewish high priest - Moses' brother Aaron. The breast plate was designed to show the colours associated with the twelve tribes of Israel, and the 12 stones representing those colours were places in 4 rows. Over time, the fact that there were 12 stones became more important as there are also 12 Apostles, 12 months, 12 signs of the zodiac etc, and people began to associate each stone with a particular month.

So there you go! If you want to read more then have a look at these sites:
http://www.gemdepot.com/mall/birthstones.htm
http://www.askbaby.com/birthstones-birth-flowers.htm
http://www.bernardine.com/gemstones/birthstones.htm

Okay, I know it's a cliche but....

where on earth does the time go? I mean, this morning was only 1 hour long, I swear it was, and I got up early too! It's not just the individual days though. When I was teaching full time at school there were certain times of year where I used to keep myself going by counting down the weeks, days, lessons left even! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed teaching, I still do (especially now it's teaching people how to make their own jewellery!), but it was the paperwork, the meetings, the paperwork, the marking, the paperwork! Nowadays, friends who are still teaching will ask if I fancy meeting up when the holidays are about to start, and I'm surprised at how quickly they've come round again!

Today has definitely gone quickly. I was busy this morning packaging up a delivery of lovely shiney new jewellery for the Southampton City Art Gallery and writing descriptions for it and the time flew by. I left on time to deliver it and would have been there on time too if it hadn't been for a couple of cars in front of me in the queue at the traffic lights - let's just say that not everyone leaves as much space as I do between them and the car in front. I stopped to check that everyone was okay and gave my details in case anyone needed them for insurance claims, but left when people started swearing and having a go (verbally, not physically thankfully) - male hurt pride I think! Anyway, my jewellery is now in the City Gallery so go and take a look!

I made the earrings above while we were at T's mum's this weekend - look, brown to fit in with the theme last week! I've used smokey quartz and carnelian. I don't use carnelian very often, but I decided to have a change. I'm working on a commission using garnet this week, which fits in nicely. In fact, I've been a very busy girl, so I'm off now to take some photos to show you what I've made!