Ooops!! I forgot to blog...AGAIN!

Well it's been a couple of months since I blogged...yet again! I'm not very good at keeping up with this so please accept my apologies if you've been stopping by expecting new and exciting things.

As promised in my last post, here is my news from the 2010 Flame Off (well, better late than never).
Day 1 - 9am I was picked up somewhere along the A5 by my friend Debs of SilverArtz it took us about 50 minutes to arrive at Towcester Racecourse(above) where we met up with Elise another friend of ours from Beadazzled by Elise.

This was the first time I'd been to the Flame Off and as a total bead addict I was open mouthed as I walked through the doors to be surrounded by gorgeous artisan lampwork beads, they were everywhere!! God, was my purse gonna get a bashing...

After a much needed coffee, we headed out into the marquee where there were work benches set up with different types of lampworking torches, glass rods and all the things you needed to make a bead. Now it was time to 'hog' a torch and have a go!!
This is Debs(right) giving me my very first lesson on how to make a bead...and Elise's first play on a torch (left).





...and here is my first ever bead...made by my own fair hands!! I was pretty chuffed with it as well.
It was a really busy first day with lots of demo's to see including Sabine Little's fantastic rose demo. There were also lots of beads to buy with stalls from Sarah Bedwell of Flame Force Five, Sabine Little of Little Castle Designs and Kate Sullivan of Sublime Beads to name but a few.

Day one was finished nicely with a meal in a chinese restaurant where we met up with Sooz and a few others from the Bead Buddies forum before heading back to the Travel Lodge for a good nights kip ready to do it all again on day 2...

Day 2 - The highlight of day two for me was watching Lorna Prime of Pixie Willow Designs demo. Lorna's work is amazing and to see her make one of her trademark beads has made me appreciate her work even more. I even ended up with one of her practise beads much to the envy of my friends, which is staying firmly in my stash!!

I spent most of day two on the torches and made lots of beads, I completely lost myself in the flame for 2 hours at one point. My stash of lampwork beads that I made during the two days(right)

I thoroughly enjoyed the 2010 Flame Off and can't wait to go again next year!! I'd recommend it to anyone who is thinking of starting out in the lampworking field, lampworking is an expensive hobby to start out. You need specialist tools and equipment and the Flame Off is the ideal opportunity to 'try before you buy'

WOW It's been months since I blogged...

So sorry for neglecting my blog!

I have been soooo busy the last few months that I've hardly had time to breathe...

My Exciting News

At the end of January I was approached with an amazing opportunity. Leigh Armstrong, a Senior PMC Instructor, of Magick Minx Productions asked me if I would be interested in working alongside her when her new studio opened. Of course I said YES, YES, YES...How could I turn down such a fantastic offer? The new studio is due to open its doors in May!! I'm soooo excited, it's going to be amazing.

Magick Minx HQ is actually part of Creative Hinckley, a new initiative for my local town centre. A derelict, listed factory building has been totally revamped into a fantastic development. Part of this development has been turned into studio space for the use of local artists and craftspeople. This is where myself and Leigh will be based. The rest of the development will provide exhibition and gallery space, performance and rehearsal space, retail and a café bar area, conference and meeting space and general office units for start-up and growing enterprises.

I have already started work on composing some workshops for Enchanted @ Magick Minx, I will tell you more about this when I have definite dates and details. I will also be completing the PMC Certification anytime soon. I'm gonna be busy, busy, busy...but...I promise to try and keep my blog up to date from now on.

More Exciting News

This year saw me become a regular designer for British jewellery making magazine, Making Jewellery. So far this year I've had three of my designs published and have submitted many more for future issues. I will give you regular updates on my magazine journey here.

I can't tell you how uplifting it is to actually see your work in print alongside your name and photo...I was quite dumbfounded when my first piece was published and I had people saying to me that they loved my piece in Making Jewellery this month. Wow, can this really be happening to me!!??

Well I think that's about it for tonight...I still need to tell you about the 2010 Flame Off which I went to last weekend, but I'll save that for next time.

TTFN x

I've Been Playing with PMC...

I've been really enjoying my PMC lately. I've made lots of new pieces including the pendant here, which was a commission.

This is a beautiful ivy leaf pendant with a butterfly applique.

I was really happy with how this large toggle clasp turned out. It seems that I'm kind of using a floral, leafy and insect theme in all of my PMC designs and I love using the applique method. It's fiddly and intricate but I love the way the finished pieces look.

This has to be my favourite piece yet! It's a huge fancy clasp, with a large 'S' shaped hook which fits into a loop on the back of the leaf. The leaf has a cute lil ladybug and a pretty butterfly resting on it. This is a really chunky bit of silver but is still very delicate and would enhance any piece of jewellery.

This piece is mine!! I wanted to make myself something to wear and chose a ring...I'd been wanting to have a go at a ring for a while but was a little apprehensive because I've heard that they can be quite tricky to make, so thought making myself one would give me the ideal opportunity to attempt it without wasting a lot of silver if it went wrong!

Well it was difficult and fiddly, only because getting the measurements perfect is a science all in itself!! I got it just right it fit my finger loosely, to allow for shrinkage upon firing and I was really chuffed with it.

It was fired in the kiln and I was quite confident that it would be fine...hmm...

Well...it seems I didn't allow enough for shrinkage! It was far too small for the finger I wanted it for, I wasn't a happy bunny :O(

But all was not lost, I've now added a little bit more clay to the shank, refired and it now fits my other finger perfectly. It's not a perfect finish, but it's mine and I made it and I'm dead proud of myself for that!!

NOTE TO SELF: Measure correctly next time! ;O)

Mission Complete...

In my last post I mentioned that I'd been working on a massive PMC commission. Well I'm happy to tell you that this comMISSION is Complete!!

My objective was to produce 46 bunches of grapes out of PMC.

These grapes were to create keepsakes for the ladies and gents that have worked with St Barnabas Primary School in Portishead, which sadly has been forced to close. It was decided that the ladies were to receive a necklace and the guys would receive a keyring. The bunch of grapes being the school emblem.

After working for over a month on the project it was great to finally have the whole 'bunch' of 45 pieces gift boxed and complete ready to go yesterday. The keepsakes will be presented on Monday as a gift from the Friends of St Barnabas.

The pendants in their pre-fired state...PMC is an amazing medium. Tiny particles of fine silver mixed with an organic binder to create the clay. Upon firing at temperatures of around 1000c the binder is burnt off to leave 99% pure silver.

The pendants post-firing. They have now been brushed off with a wire brush, after brushing the silver has what's called a brushed satin finish. To get the grapes to a high shine I placed them in a tumbler machine for 4 hours and finished by hand polishing with a silver cloth.

The completed product. 35 were placed on a sterling silver chain for the ladies and 11 placed on a sterling silver split ring for the gents.


What a thoughtful and unique way to say thank you...I do hope the people of St Barnabas Primary School enjoy their gift as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Recent Work...

I came across loads of vintage style charms while browsing the internet a while ago and never used them. I dug them out last week and here is what I made with some of them. I still have a bag full.


The large oriental fan is complimented on this piece by a beautiful pink daisy by polymer clay artist Elise Canning along with foiled pink Czech glass facets on an antique gold plated chain.

A huge copper butterfly attached to an antique gold plated chain and finished with bright red swarovski crystals on varying lengths of chain. There is no clasp and I've added the feature of 2 back drop dangles both finished with Siam Swarovski round beads.

A stunning silver dragonfly charm suspended from a fancy silver hoop off a silver chain. Finished with Indian Red AB Swarovski round crystals on 2 lengths of chain.

A large silver hoop tied with suede thong in bright cherry red which is then tied to silver chain to create the necklace, I've then simply tied more thong and knotted on to both ends a beautiful artisan lampwork bead by British artist Debbie Dew. Simple but stylish I hope you'll agree.

I'm busy with lots of fairs at the moment so much of the new stock is being sold before it gets entered into the web shops. I'm happy to work on commissions in the meantime, but there won't be much new stock added onto the web until the beginning of September now which is when I have a break in fairs.

I've been working on a massive PMC commission recently, I can't show you yet because the client hasn't received the finished product but watch this space to find out more...

Craft Fair at Thurlaston Carnival, Leicestershire...

I had a lovely day out at Thurlaston Carnival in Leicestershire today. The weather was fantastic and a better day couldn't have been wished for by anyone, it got a bit too hot in the marquee though, which is unfortunately where we were sitting all day.

It was really great to see a proper village get together, where the whole village had made an effort for a good turn out.

I made lots of elasticated bracelets and childrens thong style necklaces, as I figured there would be lots of little girls with their pocket money to spend and I sold out!! Wow, need to make more now, BUT I'm not going to bother with the thong necklaces again...you will understand when you see the picture...

This is how my lovely tidy bundles of thong necklaces ended up!! Never again...

Tourette's Syndrome...

Ok, I know this is far away from the normal content of my blog but I felt I wanted to share this.

I missed the documentary that was on BBC 1 last week about John Davidson who was first followed by the BBC in the late 80's. I had seen the previous two documentaries and little did I know that his story would play such a huge part in my own life. I was so happy when I was able to watch the programme by using BBCiPlayer...

John Davidson has Tourette's Syndrome a neurological disorder that causes tics, in his case quite violent tics which make him, among other things, shout and swear, these tics are totally involuntary and he has absolutely no control over them.

My own son Josh was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome aged 10...it was from watching documentaries such as the one on John Davidson that gave me the information I needed to realise that there was something with Josh that wasn't 100% right. It took a long hard fight, 7 years in total, but eventually my son received a diagnosis and the help and support from the experts that we so desperately needed!

If you missed the documentary on BBC One, 9:00pm Thursday 28th May 2009 then you can watch it again by following this link Tourette's: I Swear I Can't Help It