A milestone to share

Just a quick post to share this little milestone - 500 sales in my Folksy shop https://folksy.com/shops/BlueForestJewellery

It's been a while coming, and it was reached at 1.15 am with the sale of a pair of earrings. I love it that sales can come at any time of the day and night, and go anywhere. Yesterday, three bracelets set off for Stockholm, and we all wished we could go with them!

Thanks to all my blog followers and commentators who have kept me at it over the years. Overall sales reached about 1,000 a couple of months ago.  It's great that people like things enough to purchase them, and it's always a lovely surprise to get a sales notification. 

Please pop along to have a look at the shop if you're interested. There are some new key rings, in vintage bronze and antique silver, and until the end of the month, you can use the discount code Celebrate 500 to get a 20% reduction. 

Here are some recent makes.  Which do you like best?  And what are you making at the moment?

Alison x

Handmade Monday: More poppies and Autumn colour

As it gets closer to remembrance day, I keep getting new ideas for poppy jewellery.  This week it's chain maille again.  The little poppies that make up the links take a while to do, so getting seven together for the length of the bracelet and earrings was quite a challenge.  In a way, it's a good job it was quiet in the shop this week, despite me listing a few new bag charms.

Apart from that, we've had this stunning Autumn weather, with the colours so fabulous and the sun shining on them like the middle of the summer. The park looked amazing the other day.

 Christmas themes are starting to creep in to my makes:

Isn't he cool?  I added the little daisies because the contrast between his size and theirs just seemed right!

and the stars always remind me of singing children's carols at school.

I've been working on my website too.  All will be revealed soon...

Here's the link to see what others have been making this week.

Have a great week,
Alison x

Handmade Monday: Right angle weave

It's been a lovely day here - the first day of the year I've been sitting out in the garden to bead which is always a treat. I've been experimenting with bead stitching and had a go at a simple right angle weave (or RAW) bracelet. 

The bracelet is made of crackle glass beads which are half purple and half brown, and the beads pivot on the string so it never quite looks the same twice!  It's actually the second version because rather-clumsy me dropped the bracelet on the floor and smashed quite a few of the delicate glass beads in the process!

Being challenged in not being able to tell left from right, it was quite a task to find a tutorial I could follow. So I'm recording some pictures here of how I constructed the weave, using different coloured beads to record the steps. 

I found that if you remember you are always making a diamond of four beads, that helps in knowing how many beads to add and what direction to weave in.  

The needle here is getting ready to form the next diamond, this time adding two beads...

...and going through two existing beads. 

One more diamond takes me to the end of the row....

Then it's starting again with another three beads. 

Will I ever go beyond basic bead weaving?  Not sure, it's a bit fiddly and I need more sunny weekend days when there's plenty of natural light to work by. Here's hoping!

Look, I've made the dog yawn!  He would rather I was paying him attention than working with beads. 

Here's a link to what other crafty folks have been doing this week: http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/handmade-monday-158.html

 Alison x

Handmade Monday: Jewellery for the coming season

I love that it's November, so I can start showing some Christmas makes. Only a couple, then I promise to shut up about it!

The snowman charm is quite big and looks so cool with the white beads and crystals. 

And this charm is double sided with the tree on one side...

...and the deer on the other side. Bag charms were popular in the shop last Christmas and I think they are good presents for people who love jewellery but just have too much!

Apart from that, I've been in an amber and brown mood

This is a memory wire bracelet and here's a lariat

And some simple glass bead earrings

So which do you like best?

Here's a link to what other crafty folk have been up to this week.  

Handmade Monday: Kumihimo again

So, I've been playing with the Kumihimo disc again.  This time I thought I would have a go at seed beads, as I've never tried that before.  Some hours later, with my eyesight probably deteriorated considerably, and the air blue with my swearing at the cord and the beads, and after I'd managed to unstick the underside of my finger nail from the skin underneath, here's the result.

I now have 'total respect' for the seed beaders, as the young folk say!  It will be a long while, if not never, until I try this technique again.  The bracelet has some gaps where the little beads weren't placed properly, even though I really really tried my best!  Oh well, I always like a new experience.

 Decided to stick to the cords instead and made a couple on the drive up to see relatives over Easter weekend.  Hubby was at the wheel so there was no risk of accident.  The intention is to turn all these into tassel necklaces like this one...

 I love a long necklace, but often find that a chain irritates the back of my neck.  The cord is perfect as it's so soft and smooth, and I luuurve the cobalt blue with the antique bronze findings, it's my favourite colour combination (today!)  Front fastening toggles are easy to do when you're in a rush too.

The little glass flower beads are new.  Pretty, aren't they?

Here's a link to see what others have been doing this week for Handmade Monday. 

Alison x

Handmade Monday: Thank you blog readers!

I wanted to thank everyone for the feedback you gave me the other week on the bag charms 'with or without beads' issue.

Most people said they liked the non-beaded flower version best so I've been busy putting together some non-beaded examples and should be able to show you some more soon.  Just to add to the consensus, I had a custom request on Etsy for five bag charms without the beads.  So there we go.  The jury has spoken. 

I guess that the colours and combinations of the beads won't always appeal to everyone, and just having the charms it will be easier to appeal to more people.  So I'll list, sit back and wait for the rush!  (Well, I can live in hope ;-)

In the meantime, here are some new beaded bag charms and a couple of other pieces listed this week - see what you think.

Two little owls with hematite stars and crystals

Deco style dragonfly with glass beads

Filigree peacock with crystals

Steam punk style bi plane earrings

Sari silk and heart charm bracelet

Bird cage charm necklace with pearl

Hope everyone in the UK is wrapping up warm against the cold and reading lovely blogs.  Here's a link to see what others have been doing this week for Handmade Monday. 

Alison x

Handmade Monday: Busy, busy, busy flowers

What a busy week!  Record sales in my Folksy shop this week, and the little cord charm bracelets are still proving popular everywhere.  There's not been time to do a tutorial, and at one point in the week, I was literally selling faster than I could make.  Long may it continue, and if I can get to 100 sales on Etsy (I'm at 97 at the moment!) then that will make me a really happy crafty bunny.

Every sale just encourages me in my obsessional, charm-buying habit and this week was no exception.  These beautiful flower connectors arrived in time for me to make and list cord bracelets in pink, coffee brown, red and lilac.

Aren't they pretty?  One has sold today, so later I'll be making a replacement.

I thought they would also make nice bold but light earrings too and combined them with some of my favourite drawbench glass beads in deep blue with red and gold drizzled paint.

Drawbench glass beads, this time in red with green, blue and gold drizzles, also found their way into a flower themed bag charm...

... and into these 'bubble' rings...

...

 ...which were a bit of an experiment but might well get repeated.  I thought they looked quite Christmassy - what do you think?

Talking of which, I have custom orders to do in time for Christmas, and presents to make for the family.  And someone said it was only a couple of weeks away, now that can't be true, can it?!

Here's the link to see what other crafty folk have been up to this week.

Alison

Handmade Monday: Kumihimo experiment

Last week, I gave in to temptation and bought a Kumihimo braiding starter kit.  It's an ancient Japanese craft and the real traditionalists do it with a beautifully crafted wooded disk. Mine is mass produced and made of foam, but if it keeps the craft alive, I'm all for it!  Anyway I had a go.

Making the braid is great fun and surprisingly easy.  The board has loads of numbers on it, but you don't need any maths for the simple braids.  All you need to do is keep to a simple pattern of moving the left and right cords and rotating the board.

I'm severely dyspraxic, so I have a lot of trouble with left and right (as well as spatial awareness, balance, co-ordination and a whole variety of other stuff which means that some days just remaining standing without falling over is an achievement in itself!) but this is actually quite good for me to practise.  After a little while, you can do it whilst watching Coronation Street (although you don't want to miss any of the Sue Johnston, Nigel Havers and Sue Nicholls storyline which has been comic genius with three of our acting national treasures, IMHO)

So far so good.  Then I came to the end.  You are supposed to then 'squish' (technical terms!) the ends into a bead cap or stopper, having first 'whipped' them by tying them with a piece of cotton.  My ends were way too big (it's been said before, LOL!)  I think the bead caps in the kit were a bit small.  My maths isn't brilliant, but I'm struggling to see how eight threads each at 2mm diameter with cord wrapped round them can fit into something with a 6mm diameter.



I tried with a bead cap and a bit of wire wrapping but it's not up to standard really.  Going to have to do some more research as the glue in end caps don't seem to be widely available in bronze tone in the large size.  Anyway this was the idea - to combine the braid with this ornate leaf clasp so that it can be worn at the front of the necklace or the back.

I'm terrible at abandoning things when I hit the first bit of difficulty, so I'm relying on you lot to keep nagging me to carry on with this one, OK?

In the meantime, here's a link to what other crafty folk have been making this week.

Handmade Monday: Chocolate and caramel

It's a well known fact that I have a relationship with chocolate.  Not always an entirely healthy one.  We got a chocolate labrador because he reminds me of one of my favourite things!  Truth is, I'm a bit of a brown person altogether.

I was reminded of this when I sold this bracelet in one of my favourite stones - bronzite - this week.

Bronzite is a deep chocolate brown, with amazing natural flecks of lighter browns and golds.  It's difficult for the camera to pick them up, but they are beautiful and especially in low light, give the stone a little glow.

So off to my bead stash to see what I could make.

Simple coin earrings with a little bronze wire work.  This time the camera did pick up some of the light play as it was a crisp sunny day.

Then I came across these beautiful glass beads with patterns like caramel and chocolate ice cream.  Food again! They look so delicious with a bit of wire work and some smaller bronzites.

Liked them so much, I had to do a necklace too.

There are still beads left, and I resisted the temptation to try and eat them!  But let's hope I've got it out of my system for a while ;-)

Have a great week and don't forget to visit other crafty folk's blogs to see what they've been making.

Alison x

Handmade Monday: drifting into Autumn

Metal clay - well, it was fun while it lasted, but I couldn't get the bronze clay to fire properly and some pieces broke, and yet another gas torch bit the dust!  Really, the little torches are probably better suited to scorching the top of a creme brulee rather than being kept on continuously for eight minutes.  So it's the end of clay.  Or is it?  I've only just discovered that you can get air dry clay in a lovely terracotta colour.  Hopefully there will be some pictures next week...

A bumper week in the shops this week, so I seem to have been doing more packaging up and sending out than making.  Not that I'm complaining!  And I've reached a milestone with 100 sales in my Folksy shop.  It's worth it when you get lovely feedback from customers who really appreciate your work, and makes all the effort worthwhile.  This week I've sold necklaces for two people as birthday presents which is really special too.

So, I'm still working on a Viking knit chain for a pendant and the tutorial to go with it, but in the meantime I have been weaving.  It's so straight forward and therapeutic once you have the main structure done.  Here are a couple of creations...

I love the shape on this one - it took ages to get it (nearly..) symmetrical - if only I'd paid more attention in geometry at school!

This is for days when you feel like a square peg in a round hole...

And this is more scroll work than weaving, based on a technique demonstrated by the fabulous wire work queen, Laura Binding, on Jewellerymaker TV.

Meanwhile (in the world beyond my wire-work obsessed mind!), we seem to be drifting toward Autumn.  Here are the blackberries already out behind the lake near us.  They are not very sweet yet though...

I love the sunshine, and wish we'd seen a bit more of it this Summer, but the colours of Autumn are really my favourites.  But before we head there, here are some dragonflies making the most of the current season.

Hope everyone enjoys the Bank Holiday, whatever the weather you're having, and gets time to relax, craft and make.

Here's a link to see what other lovely crafty folk have been making this week.

Alison x

Handmade Monday: More flowers and weaving

My obsession with all things floral seems to be continuing, and at least today the sun is shining, so maybe it's working as a charm to create some good weather? Hope everyone gets some respite from the rain this week.

I find making rings challenging so I was pleased with this little one.  The rose motif is becoming a bit of a signature, and it won't be long now until I see my roses necklace which has been professionally photographed for the September edition of Bead Trends magazine.  Really looking forward to that.

This lapis bracelet has mobius flower chain maille links in between.

This woven flower turned out a bit bigger than I envisaged.  Now I'm not sure whether to make it the centrepiece of a necklace, turn it into a brooch or wire it onto a hair comb, or something else.  What do you think?

Just noticed everything is blue and brown this week  One of my favourite colour combinations, think it's because it reminds me of my chocolate Labrador in his blue collar.

Had to order more wire to finish off a project, and hoping to do a tutorial next week.  The non-jewellery makers will probably be saying 'What on earth is that?' - all will be revealed.

Here's a link to see what other lovely crafty folk have been making this week.

Alison x