Rough and tumble

Some of you will know about the badger cull in parts of England and how divisive it is. If you haven't heard about it you might want to check out this question and answer page by the BBC. It is a very sad state of affairs. These little guys may not be around too much longer.

Bangles and Beads (and other stuff)

Just a quick post with a few pictures of my recent samples for Gina-B Silkworks today.

 First up is a bracelet made using gold memory wire, a beaded cartwheel button (made using instruction from Gina's Making Even More Buttons DVD) and some paper beads made using Gina's Paper Bead Stencil Kit. I started out by using one strand of memory wire but felt it was too thin compared to the size of the button (see the picture below for the 'before' bracelet). So I added a second strand and used a soutache braiding technique to fasten the two strands together. Chunkier and more substantial.

 

Next is a coin purse that I came across. A lot of the things I make are targeted at women. However when I saw this purse I thought that it could make quite a nice masculine gift with the addition of a button. Worked in yellow, greens and cream, I think it adds a little bit of originality without being sparse.

 

And on the subject of the feminine objects I make, here are a couple of tins/jars that I have decorated using Teneriffe lace that I made using a Teneriffe lace kit . I had never made Teneriffe lace until I tried the kits but it makes some fabulous roundels that can be used on all kinds of crafts. 

The beads, the beads!

 As promised, here are the new bead designs. They have been in the Etsy shop a few weeks and I have had a few sales already. I have also re-opened my Folksy shop for anyone who would rather use it than Etsy. There is a smaller selection of beads in it at the moment. I am waiting to see what the traffic is like before adding a lot of choice. There is also no art at the moment but I am hoping to change that over the next few months.

I know!

I know, I'm dreadful at keeping this blog these days. It is so much harder than it used to be. But I haven't totally forgotten it. I did try and use Blogger's automated publishing settings for a while but discovered the post were not publishing at all. This is not helpful when you are trying to be good and publish something semi regularly. The Craft of the Month fell by the wayside because of the amount of time it takes to find the links and write the posts. Ho hum! I'm sure one day I will be able to find a way of running things so that I actually post to my blog instead of just thinking about it. It might just take a while. It's a long way from the days when I posted several times a week. So, as an olive branch of peace I am posting a few sketches that I have done over the last few months. They are listed on Etsy too, in case anyone needs a sketch as a gift for anyone. I have made some new beads recently too and I will post photos of them soon - famous last words, eh? More new beads are in the works too - they have literary figures on them like the Shakespeare ones already in my shop. Anyway, back to the grindstone. There is a watercolour badger sketch and pencil drawing of a wren to be finished.