1 December 2011

Had to post a short blog today as it's the 1st of the month.

I have been busy sorting stuff out and now I should be working on jewellery as I left my handtorch in the shop yesterday and I have just got it back.  I am working but just taking a break to post this.

This is a new pendant, based on my Fickle range and I have added gold leaf to it.  It looks great on but I am not too sure about the gold leaf and its sustainability.  You can buy it off my website The Jewellery Room.

I will just have to keep wearing this piece to test it out.
I am off to the shop again tomorrow in Skipton and I am going to decorate the windows for Christmas.  My boss is a Muslim so we are definitely not going over the top, we are going to be subtle so I hope likes it.

Interesting article about the Creative Industries from the CBI.  The creative industries are expected to grow more than 4% from 2009 - 2013 which is double what the rest of the economy is expected to do!

I am at home today doing some repair work on a salt and pepper cellar from the 1920's.  I quite enjoy this type of work as long as it is not too difficult!  At least it is one of the rewards of having to work for someone else and getting a regular wage for it.

I have sent quite a few pieces of jewellery out over the last few weeks, all on sale or return so my coffers are getting depleted as I won't get a return until nearer Christmas when the buying kicks in.  I have a lot more to do so I hope my cash flow improves.

Simple pair of earrings made in sterling silver with lava beads which are a great charcoal colour with a smooth but rough looking texture.
On my website for £24.  I am working on a long pendant to match them.

Sunday 9 October 2011

My girls are at the Teen Awards today!  It has been loud and full of energy in this house since they got tickets 2 weeks ago.  The youngest daughter got 4 tickets and gave 2 to her sister so they each took a friend.  Thanks to the wonderful Sunday train system here in the North West they had to travel down on Saturday night so that they go there in time for 12noon Sunday.  Big adventure all round.  I will go on line at 2pm on to Radio 1 to see what is happening.

I have finished off another pendant.  It is a slice of greeny blue agate set in sterling silver.  The design of the setting is unique and has already been admired by people.  It is on my website for £55.

As it is a miserbale wet day today I am going to get on with some spring cleaning, I always do mine in Autumn! 

Thursday 26th May 2011

Happy to report new bread machine is great.

I haven't ranted about the lawn mower yet, have I?  It broke (yes we have had a succession of break downs recently, think I am next or it feels like that), and as it is a ride on we needed the repair man to pick it up.  That took 2 weeks and it is still with him, 4 weeks later.  As you can imagine the grass is quite long now and we do have a lot of it.  It normally takes about 2 hours to cut anyway in normal circumstances.

I seemed to have mislaid my camera so I cannot upload any images that could help you to understand better what I am going on about but never mind I am sure it will turn up.  I also have a picture of the hash tag and peridot earrings that I was commissioned to make.  They drove me crazy, so small, 1mm and 2mm pieces of 1.2mm thick silver that I had to make in to hash tags and then I had to set some small peridots in them ................ nothing more to say!

Hopefully I will find my camera and show you the results.

I have a full day today, more jewellery to make, cleaning, food shopping etc so need to get on.

Tuesday troubles ..

Washing machine, water heater and lawn mower broke over the weekend!

Apart from that it was a great Easter weekend, my nephew came to stay and 2 lots of friends came over for dinner so we had a busy but fun time.  The weather was great, got gardening done and watched the #twicket yesterday in the sun.  Feel quite privileged to have been part of the first ever village cricket match to be streamed live on Twitter!

The people who viewed our house last week came back for another look but have decided not to put an offer in which is bad news but hey ho, we shall plod on.

I have been busy making earrings this afternoon.  I have enjoyed making this teardrop shape and I think these will be the ones that I donate the profit to a charity.

Let me know what you think and also what charity?  I am thinking about a soldiers/wounded charity ........

Another commission done ....

This was a commission to set a stone in a pendant.

It is similar to the sea glass ring I did which I showed to the customer when we were thinking of designs and she really liked it.  It shows the stone off well and make sit more natural looking ....... it is in the post to her today so hope she loves it!

Sea glass ring

Another commission done ....

Another commission completed.

I loved making this one.  A lady asked me to make this for her daughter's birthday this week.  It is made from a piece of sea glass that her daughter collected from the beach at St Andrew's where she studied English.  She is now an editor at Cannongate Press in Edinburgh and she loves that area.  Her Mum has had this ring made for a surprise so I hope she likes it.

We watched The Joneses last night on DVD.  I had been looking forward to it  for a while but was a bit disappointed.  It is a great story but the script was a bit weak, the film could have been developed more, it was all there but I felt it just wasn't powerful enough.  Get me the movie critic!

Went for a run this morning and then got sidetracked when I got home and I am way behind already with my workload.  I should have set off to go to Lancaster 10 minutes ago but I am still here! 

Ok, enough already, I am off now ................

Monday 21 February 2011

Its Monday again already!

This is the Mother's Day pendant I have made for April 3 2011.
It is approximately 44cm long and has Mum stamped on the back.
And it is made from recycled silver.  I recycled the silver myself by melting it down and reforming it.  I have made some stud earrings to go with it.  Price is £35 for the pendant and £14 for the earrings.  You can buy it from my website http://www.thejewelleryroom.co.uk/

I have been working on my website, it is not getting any easier!  Just when I think I have made progress it all goes wrong again.  But I shall persevere.  However when I have made enough money, I will change it completely and I will never use Actinic ever again.

I spoke to UCAS this morning about me dropping out of uni last year.  I did complete the year but decided not to go back.  I was wasting my time really, there were many factors involved in my decision but I still want to do continue with design work so they looked in to it for me and came up with some good ideas.  I am looking into doing some modules over the next few years until the girls have gone and then I can do full time again.

In the meantime I am still doing a part time job which has its highs and lows but mainly lows!  I am looking around for other work but there is not much out there.  If only people would buy more jewellery off me ........

Progress ..........

I am currently working on some new designs.  I am recycling some of my scrap/old silver and also looking in to a supplier of recycled silver in this country.  I want to use recycled silver but there is only one supplier here and they do not supply all shapes and sizes so it is restricting.  There is a great supplier in America but what is the point of all those air miles etc.

So .... a new range.  I am melting down silver in to blobs and hammering them out to thin disc shapes.  I have soldered one to a chain, it looks good, dainty (not my usual style at all) and I will post an image when I can find my camera.  Think my daughter used it over the weekend and hasn't put it back in its place.  I am also going to put names on to the discs if people want them, was thinking about Mother's Day and putting Mum on the back of the disc?  Will see what people think.

Anyway, progress report.......... website is going very slowly.  Every time I try to something I come up against and a brick wall.  I am in conversation with the software people at the moment, they are trying to remotely do some work for me .... very weird watching your mouse on your computer when its not you moving it!

All in all I am moving in the right direction so I am happy ..... the bangles in the image are my favourite at the moment and I am just working on a ring to match!  Watch this space ............