Handmade Monday: lovely beads and lovely customers

Since I last blogged, we've had the pleasure of my nephew's wedding at which my homemade jewellery was admired. You might remember a slightly anxious post about whether I should whip up a fascinator or not. In the end, I made one but didn't wear it. Good choice, I think, and I did notice some of the ladies were removing theirs as the day wore on!

Last weekend I had a visit from a regular customer to my Folksy shop. It's always great to know people like your jewellery enough to come back for more, and this particular lady shares my love of bronzite. A while ago, she bought a little delicate bracelet with drizzled glass beads in deep blue, gold and red, combined with bronze swirls as connectors round each bead. 

It took quite a lot of time and effort to make those connector links, so when the lady came back asking if I could make a matching necklace long enough to wear as a double strand, I was kind of glad that the nights are drawing in,and there are stacks of TV programmes we watch which you can still follow whilst shaping wire! I have to admit to having sore hands from gripping the pliers,and I won't be rushing to recreate this one in a five strand version, but I'm quite pleased with the result. 

This time I added other glass beads with different combinations of the same colours.  The effect is a bit Venetian, I think, don't you?  It's been delivered now and hopefully being enjoyed.  We had a lovely sunny Autumn day today, perfect to see these colours at their best.  

Visit http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk to see what other crafters have been up to this week,  

Alison

Folksy Friday: Blues and whites

Working with some lovely handpainted blue and white ceramic beads gave me the idea for this weeks Folksy Friday.  Aren't they beautiful?  Click on any of the pictures to go directly to the shops.






1. Blue and white oval buttons by Amanda Mercer/Designer & Maker
2. Tea cosy by Ruby Ruby
3. Pill box feather hat by Rachel Wykes Milliner
4. Glass bowl by Abundant Glass
5. Felt flower brooch by Charlys Gems
6. Shopper by Ann Lampitt

Wordless Wednesday - Strawberry cream tea anyone?

BESTeam weekly feature: Keiglass on Etsy

Promoting the BESTeam Etsy shops

This little rainbow selection comes from Keiglass - click on each picture to find out more. Keiglass is Kat, who makes beautiful dichroic glass jewellery and object d’art and is based in Denver, Colorado. Having started out producing beautiful pendants and earrings in a range of lovely jewel colours, Kat is now branching out into a wider range of glass objects, starting with zipper pulls and windchimes. So watch this space for lots more craft-related home ideas from this shop.

This Venice glass pendant really caught my eye with its bold blue and greens and its translucent qualities

it would make anyone want to be on the Grand Canal!

Each object tells a story, with the pendants named after some of the beautiful places that Kat has visited. It’s great to have a piece of jewellery that’s a reminder of somewhere, isn’t it? Inspired by places like Rome, Athens, Tokyo and Sydney, they really conjure up some of the colours and flavours of those cities.

I also love this sunrise set – the reds, pinks and oranges are so cheerful and life-affirming and the glass pieces are really glowing

All pieces are one of a kind and Keiglass also accept custom orders, so you’ll probably never meet anyone with an identical pendant, earrings or home accessory.

Kat also shares another of my passions – dogs – so I just had to include a pic of the lovely pooches! Here they are relaxing:

You can also find Keiglass at her website, on her blog and on Facebook and on Twitter