Happy Anniversary!

Two years ago today I phoned Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to register as self-employed. My full-time employment with my old school had officially ended on 31st August, and I was excited at the thought that all the wishing, dreaming, hoping and planning that I'd been doing for the previous couple of years was becoming a reality - but I have to say that the phone call was a bit of an anticlimax! It's not that I was expecting a fanfare when I registered, or that I was going to celebrate with a street party, but just having to give my name, NI number, date I started etc was just, well, too quick and easy!

It didn't take me long, though, to remember that official phone calls and form filling aren't the reason I started up Daisychain Designs - it's the excitment at making unexpected sales (one from Zurich and another from New Zealand were particularly lovely recently!), at meeting people by chance who have heard of my work and (I'm blushing now) admire what I do, at the eureka moments when a design I've spent ages perfecting comes together beautifully, at opening up parcels of gorgeousness (such as the beautiful focal bead from Mindy the other day!), at the satisfaction when a student is surprised and delighted at what they've created in one of my workshops. I can honestly say that leaving mainstream teaching and setting up the business was the third best thing I have ever done - falling in love with T and having B being joint first, of course!

Now, before I start gushing even more (although if you want to read lots more gushing go and read Kerry Bogert's gushing contest!) I have a couple of things that I hope you may be interested in. Firstly, you may have noticed that a link to sign up to my newsletter appeared at the side of my blog over the weekend. For ages now I've been sending out my newsletter using MS Outlook, and while that's worked well up until now, as my mailing list has been getting longer and longer it's become a rather inefficient method. I'm now going to be using a newsletter service to organise everything, so if you are already on my mailing list and would like to stay on it or if you would like to join up then please click on the link below or at the side. As an incentive (as if getting news of the events I'm attending, special offers and advance notice of new workshop dates and designs isn't enough!), each month I will be running a prize draw - and yes, that draw will be open to everyone, even those of you not in the UK - don't you just hate it when competitions are only open to those in a particular country?





Secondly, because it's always nice to get a little extra and because they seem appropriate (and I like making them) every order of £20 or more placed through my website during September will receive a present of a pair of little daisy studs (see right for an example). That includes workshop bookings. The studs are fine silver with sterling silver pins.



Thirdly (what a long post this is turning into!) I've got another little competition for you. If you fancy winning the earrings to the left then leave me a comment below to say hello. The deadline is a week today (8th September) and I will get T to randomly choose a winner. Again, you don't have to be in the UK to enter. The earrings are sterling silver, oxidised to give an antique effect, and freshwater pearl. If you fancy learning how to make a pair of these yourself, please visit the workshops section of the website!



P.S. Completely off topic here, and I'm probably going to jinx it now, but B LOVES his bed and has, so far, slept really well in it! There you go, jinxed it now, and we will have sleepless nights for the rest of the week!

All grown up!

My little boy is growing up! We finally moved B into his new room today. You may remember that the room was my old workroom and that I decorated in time for T's Dad to stay in when he visited at the start of the month. We decided to take it a step at a time. For the last week B's new bed has been up and he's been playing in it as it's a car shaped one, so he's been getting used to the room. This morning T and I moved the last few bits over from one room to another, and then we went into town together to buy B a duvet and pillow. I've never known a child to be so excited about getting a duvet! Anyway, he slept in it for his naptime, and went to bed really well tonight. I guess the real challenge will be tomorrow morning when he realises that he can get out of his new bed and come and wake Mummy and Daddy up!

Now that we've decided where the furniture goes I'm going to test my (appalling) painting skills and stencil some cars and trains on the walls. I'm sure I'll let you know how it goes!

Anyway, something more business related, Monday is the 2nd anniversary of me registering as self-employed and officially setting Daisychain Designs up, so look out for a few new things and a special offer!

And now for something completely different....

Once upon a time I did a lot of papercrafting as well as making jewellery, but since B has come along and I started my business properly it's taken a back seat. I've packed up some of my materials and other bits and pieces and put them in the loft for when B is older and can use them or for when (one day!) I have a bit more time, but I've got a few bits and pieces in my workroom too, and got the chance to use them yesterday to make a small photo album.

I've already made a couple of these for my mum to give as christening presents for her friend's grandchildren, so I obviously had to make another one when the third child was born! It's a simple accordian album with little pockets behind the photomats for tags for journalling. I've cut out titles for each page, and packaged up some embellishments too. I know that the children's mum liked the first two albums, so I hope she enjoys filling this one up too.

It made a nice change cutting paper and cardstock rather than silver today. I don't think that I'll ever spend as much time as I once did on papercrafts, but you never know, I may finish the scrapbook I've started for B's first year before he starts school!

My very first cufflinks

These are the very first cufflinks I made - yes, I know I said I would show you these at the weekend, but I had to find where T had hidden them so I could photograph them! They are made from silver art clay and have B's fingerprint in the middle - and that took longer to do than I expected!


I had been told that it was better to make a mould of B's finger print and then use that to make an impression into the art clay as that would give a better impression, so I mixed up some two-part moulding compound. B loves playing with play dough, so you'd think that getting him to press an index finger into the moulding compound before it set would be no trouble at all, but it took a few attempts! I then used fimo to make a 'finger' that I could bake and then press into the art clay. It's not that that clear in the photo, but I also scratched B's name and the date into the back of the dried cufflinks before I fired them. The finished cufflinks were lightly oxidised to make the fingerprints easier to see. Thankfully T did like them alot after all that work!


By the way, the cufflinks that I posted on Friday are finally on the website here!

My cufflinks!

There is a category on the front page of my website labelled 'Bridal and for him', and up until now it's been empty apart from a sign saying 'coming soon'. At last I have something to put in it! I've decided to take out the bridal part, as I realised that alot of the designs I was thinking about putting in there are ones that I'd put in the Limited Edition section anyway, and I don't see the point in having the same items listed twice, it only makes the site more confusing. Anyway, the bridal commissions I've done so far have been either completely new designs or variations of existing designs that brides have seen in the Exclusives or Limited Edition sections.

So, the category has been renamed 'For Him' and these are the first items going in. Each cufflink has been made using silver art clay, so the front design is fine silver while the chain and bar on each is sterling silver. I love the feel of finished silver art clay - it is so tactile. I've lightly oxidised them to give an antique effect and given them a satin finish, but I'm also going to make some that aren't oxidised.

I have a confession to make though - these aren't the first I've made, just the first I've actually photographed and shown you! The first pairs I made were for T and my Dad for Father's Day. I've made some for Spice Art Studios too, and just finished a couple of commission ones, but I can't show you those yet! I'll photograph T's to show you tomorrow as I'm really pleased with them!

P.S. It was my neighbour's funeral today - it went as well as these things ever can. There was a lovely turn out, and I'd say about a third of the households in the street were represented - a lot in this day and age. All this has definitely made me want to get to know my neighbours better. You can't predict what your neighbours are going to be like when you move into a new house, and we have definintely been lucky with ours.

P.P.S. I haven't been able to post since Monday. To cut a long story short I'd tried out a new comments box that blogger had come up with, but I didn't like the look of it in the end. I couldn't upload the backed up original of my template that I had thankfully remembered to save until I remembered older versions of IE sometimes work better with blogger templates than the latest, so uploaded the backed up template through that - and here I am! Maybe now I'll learn not to mess around with my template - maybe!

Silversmithing

A quick update on the reduced silversmithing tuition - there are is now 4 3 2 1 places place no places left at £100 for the whole day or £60 for half a day. Just so you know!

Workshops update

I realised, as I was talking to people this weekend about my workshops, that I haven't posted about the next set of dates on here - oops! So, here are the dates of my next workshops, and also news about something I'm really excited about!

Wednesday 24th September 7.15pm-10.15pm – Jewellery workshop

Suitable for all abilities. I will teach you the basics of jewellery making, after which you are free to copy or adapt one of the couple of dozen of projects on offer or to create your own design.

Saturday 11th October 10am-4.30pm –Sterling silver charm bracelet

An all day workshop suitable for those with some experience of working with wire - as long as you've used a pair of round nosed pliers to turn eye loops before you'll be fine, I'll take you through everything step by step! The workshops will cover techniques including making clasps, chains, jump rings, ear wires, wrapped eye loops and coils, and an explanation of the different gauges and types of sterling silver wire. The photo above is an example of the style of bracelet you will make.

Wednesday 22nd October 7.15pm-10.15pm – Sterling silver earrings workshop

Learn how to create a base for your earrings from sterling silver wire, solder the shape closed and then decorated it with fine sterling silver wire and semi-precious stones. You will also learn how to oxidise your earrings if you wish to give them an antiqued look, and to make your own ear wires. No previous experience of working with wire is necessary.

For more information on any of the workshops look here. You can either book via the website or email me.

And now the bit I'm really excited about! You may have noticed by now that I am rather addicted to beads and all things related to jewellery making, and that I like passing the addiction on! When I set up my workshop (okay, shed!) I had a surprising number of people ask me whether I would be adding beginner's silversmithing to the list of workshops I run - so, after checking my insurance, equipment etc, I decided I would. I have had a couple of willing volunteers to help me work out how much jewellery people are likely to make during a day or half a day’s tuition and everything is now in place to start taking bookings.

More details of the tuition will be available on the website as from tomorrow, and I will be offering full day tuition at £120 including the first £10 of materials and half day tuition at £70 including the first £10 of materials. Places are limited as I will usually be able to take only one, sometimes two students a month initially. As a special offer for those signed up to my newsletter and you lovely lot the workshop fee for the first 5 people to book will be reduced to £100 for a day’s tuition and £60 for half a day’s tuition. For more details please email me or use the 'contact me' form on the website!