I have been practising my soldering skills and am quite happy with what I am able to do now! These were the matching earrings for the lentil pendant I made. As you know I love the pendant so I have kept it for myself but I am very happy with these as well so they will be up for sale in the New Year once my shops reopen.
I am going to get into my shedio tomorrow as well as I have a few orders for beads that are not urgent. I am actually looking forward to making some beads, will have to see what I can make.
Anyway must be off I have a few more presents to wrap and I need to do some kind of inventory to see what else I need for the festive season.
What are your plans for the holidays? Wherever you are and whatever you are doing I wish you a peaceful Christmas and best wishes for 2010. I am sure I will blog before then but just in case LOL.
TTFN xx
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Monday, 21 December 2009
Beads and Beyond tutorial
I mentioned a little while back that I thought I had a tutorial in this month's Beads and Beyond....well I do. It is a bumper silver metal clay special and I have a fantastic flower necklace with purple pearls in it. I must hunt a picture out now and put it up here to show you. This is my 4th tutorial and I have also done 2 readers challenges so this year has been fab for getting myself known in that arena. I hope to continue in 2010.
Saturday, 19 December 2009
Belita Beads
One of my collections of beads has gone quiet lately. I was making quite a few of these for a while but sales tapered right off. I was going to re launch this year but even in the sale I simply could not shift the last few of my Belita beads. I am not sure what to do now with them. As I have not been making them lately my success rate is fairly poor the last 4 I tried to core all broke :o( So anyway one of the things I am thinking about over Christmas is do I carry on making these or shall I leave it to others who make gorgeous ones! I think I know the answer but I do have a few of these for sale still. They are 4mm cores so fit the Troll bead system feel free to shout me to see what I have and they are only £10 each!
TTFN xx
TTFN xx
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
A bird on the hand....
....many of you will have seen this little guy already as I have been showing him off loads lately. I originally soldered him to some 1mm wire to see if that would work and it did but the 1mm wire was not suitable to wear as a ring.
The ring he is sitting on now is a silver metal clay ring I made some time ago (my first and to date only attempt at making a ring I hasten to add). it was a bit out of shape so I have tidied it up as much as I can and then soldered the little guy to it. Whilst I was soldering he sat back a bit so his beak is up in the air but actually I prefer this to how I was going to have him so I left him there.
He is now proudly sitting on my ring finger of my right hand is is very comfortable. I can see a range of these after Christmas but I need to practice ring making first.
Other news: I have shut my Etsy shop and my website for 3 weeks until 4th January 2010. Things have been so hectic with the silver clay jewellery that I have not made any beads for a few weeks and also my mojo is off so I thought a few weeks off would recharge the ole batteries. I am still around tho so feel free to chat to me on email, through here or on Facebook!
TTFN xx
The ring he is sitting on now is a silver metal clay ring I made some time ago (my first and to date only attempt at making a ring I hasten to add). it was a bit out of shape so I have tidied it up as much as I can and then soldered the little guy to it. Whilst I was soldering he sat back a bit so his beak is up in the air but actually I prefer this to how I was going to have him so I left him there.
He is now proudly sitting on my ring finger of my right hand is is very comfortable. I can see a range of these after Christmas but I need to practice ring making first.
Other news: I have shut my Etsy shop and my website for 3 weeks until 4th January 2010. Things have been so hectic with the silver clay jewellery that I have not made any beads for a few weeks and also my mojo is off so I thought a few weeks off would recharge the ole batteries. I am still around tho so feel free to chat to me on email, through here or on Facebook!
TTFN xx
Monday, 14 December 2009
Lentil pendant
Here is a little something else I have been working on! I made this silver metal clay lentil and then placed it in liver of sulphur to antique it. I love it so much I have decided to keep it for myself and I have hung it from my macrame choker which has an interchangeable bail on it so I can wear different pendants according to my outfit.
TTFN xx
TTFN xx
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Robin
So my bead mojo is still somewhat lacking but no such problem in the silver clay department.
This little guy is inspired by my friends Christmas decorations she has doves in cages trailing from her banisters and I thought I could make that! Or something like it! So here is my bird. He still needs a bit of finishing but I am very pleased with him! I don't think I am gonna make a cage but I think I will solder a ring to his back and string him from a necklace!
What do you think?? I hope all your Christmas plans a re going well. I think I may have finished the girls presents but you never know what you may stumble across.
Oh and finally before I go to work I think I have a tutorial in this months Beads and Beyond! I will get it tomorrow so can let you know then if I have or not ;o)
TTFN xx
This little guy is inspired by my friends Christmas decorations she has doves in cages trailing from her banisters and I thought I could make that! Or something like it! So here is my bird. He still needs a bit of finishing but I am very pleased with him! I don't think I am gonna make a cage but I think I will solder a ring to his back and string him from a necklace!
What do you think?? I hope all your Christmas plans a re going well. I think I may have finished the girls presents but you never know what you may stumble across.
Oh and finally before I go to work I think I have a tutorial in this months Beads and Beyond! I will get it tomorrow so can let you know then if I have or not ;o)
TTFN xx
Saturday, 5 December 2009
You won't get customers if you don't advertise!!
Yesterday I did a market in Margate Old Town. It is supposed to be a 3 day market and last night coincided with the turning on of Margate Christmas lights. This has cost me £50 for 3 days and yesterday I made £20 and apart from one other lady I was the only person to make a sale. Why is this??? Because it was really poorly advertised. There are posters around and I saw some posters at Imogen's school but there was nothing in the local press I even checked last night in case I had missed it.
Please don't get angry with me and think I am putting down the guys I worked with yesterday because I am most definitely not. They are a great bunch, enthusiastic and keen to promote Margate Old Town but at a higher level they are being let down. There was a torchlight procession last night with 2 local schools being involved and I knew nothing about it. There were fireworks and carols with the Salvation Army. I knew nothing about it. There was a mini market with local craftspeople selling their art and craft. I only knew about it cos I was involved.
The torchlight procession was lovely so nice to see all the kids dressed with christmassy LED lights all over them. This has happened for the last 4 or 5 years maybe more and I have lived here all my life (nearly 40 years) and I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT IT. You would have thought that even by osmosis it would have got around the Thanet grapevine is a wonderful beast but not with this little snippet! Everyone moans about Margate says that there is nothing going on well last night there was and how many people were there??? I know for a fact that people stumbling across the market probably totalled a maximum of 100 if we were lucky.
How to advertise? I am no expert but there are some very simple and free things that can be done to raise the profile of someone or something. I should know I have done it with my own business!
1) Facebook fan page
2) Twitter
3) Blog
4) Join forums on the internet and promote yourself.
5) Local radio may promote you
No money involved in any of these and not a great drain on time a group can quite happily work these things together and raise profile instantly.
Come on Margate sort it out and stop being so apathetic.
BTW I am back at the market today from 11 til about 1.30 so come along if you mention my blog you can have a 10% discount on all your purchases.
TTFN xx
Please don't get angry with me and think I am putting down the guys I worked with yesterday because I am most definitely not. They are a great bunch, enthusiastic and keen to promote Margate Old Town but at a higher level they are being let down. There was a torchlight procession last night with 2 local schools being involved and I knew nothing about it. There were fireworks and carols with the Salvation Army. I knew nothing about it. There was a mini market with local craftspeople selling their art and craft. I only knew about it cos I was involved.
The torchlight procession was lovely so nice to see all the kids dressed with christmassy LED lights all over them. This has happened for the last 4 or 5 years maybe more and I have lived here all my life (nearly 40 years) and I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT IT. You would have thought that even by osmosis it would have got around the Thanet grapevine is a wonderful beast but not with this little snippet! Everyone moans about Margate says that there is nothing going on well last night there was and how many people were there??? I know for a fact that people stumbling across the market probably totalled a maximum of 100 if we were lucky.
How to advertise? I am no expert but there are some very simple and free things that can be done to raise the profile of someone or something. I should know I have done it with my own business!
1) Facebook fan page
2) Twitter
3) Blog
4) Join forums on the internet and promote yourself.
5) Local radio may promote you
No money involved in any of these and not a great drain on time a group can quite happily work these things together and raise profile instantly.
Come on Margate sort it out and stop being so apathetic.
BTW I am back at the market today from 11 til about 1.30 so come along if you mention my blog you can have a 10% discount on all your purchases.
TTFN xx
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