Bottles under the recycling hammer!

I'm planning to have a smashing time today!

These Bombay Sapphire bottles have been expertly and efficiently emptied by my sister's petit ami, big thanks to my hero, Jon!

I haven't made any recycled beads for ages. Once the bottles have been broken up into shards small enough to handle in the flame, I will be turning them into beads like these I made a couple of years ago.

I may even make some earrings too!

New recycled glass earrings made from Talisker whiskey bottles

Two new pairs of earrings in my Etsy jewellery shop. They're made from recycled Talisker whiskey glass and sterling silver.

Drink responsibly!

Asymmetry

Asymmetrical earrings. I sold a blue pair of these at the weekend, I never got round to photographing them so when I made this green pair from recycled Perrier Water bottle beads, teeny pieces of faceted peridot, swarovski crystal channels and sterling silver daisies, I thought I'd better record them for posterity.

I did have a couple of people tell me that the two earrings didn't match ... they didn't quite get the point ... oh well! :-)

I'm in a bit of an asymmetrical mood at the moment, possible big changes on the way (not with my beads or business) but will post more in next couple of days if things pan out the way I hope ... ;-)

Talisker whiskey jewellery

I've made another batch of recycled Talisker whiskey bottle beads. This time I've kept them to myself and turned them into a set of jewellery. Above is a close up of the bracelet which may (or may not!) make it onto the stall tomorrow. I really want to keep it myself!

Below is the complete set including a necklace and matching earrings. I've teamed the beads with some gorgeous Czech faceted glass beads, some Jasper rondelles and copper. The fantastic primitive and rustic stoneware bead was made by Beadfreaky in the US.

They'll all (maybe minus the bracelet!) be for sale on my stall at All Saints Art & Craft market opposite Trinity College in Cambridge tomorrow. The weather forecast is for some early rain but it's clearing up and the rest of the day should be dry, so I'll hopefully see you there!

Messin' aroun'

I've been playing with Etsy this afternoon. I rephotographed all the earrings I have in stock made with Bombay Sapphire lampwork beads and have listed them in the my new Etsy shop. Then I read up about this thing called a Treasury. People seem to like it when they get included in one and seeing as I'm so new, I thought I'd be unlikely to be featured so soon so I made one myself in my company colour of aquamarine. I only included one of my own items, all the rest are things I like which are in Etsy and are either aquamarine colour or its close cousin, turquoise. It's called Aquamarine Dreams Hope you like it too!

I'll be adding the rest of the range of recycled/upcycled earrings very soon:

• Cava bottle
• Perrier water bottle
• Harveys Bristol Cream sherry

Coming soon (when I get my new kiln): jewellery made from upcycled wine bottles and the much anticipated return of the beer bottle.

From pears to pairs

First of all, here's a picture of some pears growing on the West wall of our cottage. This is our third summer here, the first year, we didn't get any at all because whoever pruned it before we arrived, did it at the wrong time of year and cut off the flowering branches. Last year we got lots of teeny weeny pears which we left to the wasps. There are fewer this year but they look far more promising (which they have no right to do at all as I haven't done anything to the plant at all!)
So ... clever link coming up here, from pears to pairs (of earrings!) These are the earrings that I made for my sister and I to match our pendants, Sandy has already seen the photograph, though she hasn't got her jewellery yet (soon, Sandy, I promise!)

I wasn't going to blog about these at all as they won't be for sale on my stall however, the earrings have a new component that I'm introducing to my work which I realised today I haven't told you about - the little silver bit at all top is made from PMC. The idea behind this design is that the earring is a stylised flower. The PMC silver bit at the top is the covering of the flower bud reflexed back after the flower opened. The two glass beads together are the flower, the closest flower I can think of shape-wise would be a fuchsia (though the colour is way off!!) and then the trailing bits of silver chain hanging down are the stamens.

I liked the shallow reflexed item a lot but thought it would be a lot more dramatic with lots of petals and more finely divided so I some eight petalled versions but unfortunately, at the greenware stage whilst I was refining edges and sanding out minor blemishes, this happened - I have four like this! All attempts at repairing them at the greenware stage have ended in frustration and the broken ones now look much worse than the picture - they will be recycled into PMC paste I think.
Out of six, I did manage to get two made without breaking them and here's the result on a pear (ha!) of earrings made with a couple of my orange/red plasma doughnut nuggets and some 8mm carnelian rounds. I clearly need more practice in being gentle with PMC at the unfired fragile biscuit/greenware stage. Fortunately, once it's fired, its indistinguishable from normal fine silver and can be handled normally.

Elephant earrings

I just knew I had to buy these sterling silver elephant charms when I saw them in my supplier's shop. I have made two pairs of earrings with them, one with my dark blue bubble beads for Sandy as they will match the bubble large-hole bead that I included on her Pandora bracelet and a pink version for Alison. They're a thank you for the various safaris the two of them went on in London to take the Elephant Parade photos for me. Here are the intrepid duo hunting elephants in Selfridges (Sandy left, Alison right) and there follows a round-up of some of the other photos they sent to me.



Here are three which represent the three main political parties in our recent election, Alison snapped these in Victoria Embankment Garden. They are called Mr Cameron, Mr Brown and Mr Clegg (in no particular order!) all resplendent in party colour shorts.

I understand this one (Emerald Queen) is one of Alison's favourites. Apparently it features a 678 carat ethical Zambian emerald from Gemfields which carries a reserve price of £90,000! Sandy's very words to me were "She knows how to pick em! No wonder we were getting funny looks when we got up close to her!" Emerald Queen is on the left here and the other (pearly Prince) is encrusted with swarovski crystals and is closely guarded at Coutts Bank. The plinth rotates for maximum sparkle effect.

And here are a selection of the rest of them, most are in Green Park. Particular highlights for me are the seaside one, Taxi Elephant apparently lights up at night, he flanks the entrance to the Royal Exchange and is sponsored by Sotheby's. Harapan is in aid of Sumatran Orangutan Society, Russell is very cleverly done to blend into the park surroundings. 'Never forget' reminds me of a Zentangle (newish hobby for me) and I mustn't forget to say "Hi" to Pat! (in Jewel-Ele pic; Pat is another friend/colleague of Sandy's who obviously got seconded into safari duty!)

SLS and earrings

SLS = serious life stuff. SLS has been dominating the last several days, hence the relative quiet for last couple of weeks. DH is starting a new business which has required some financial re-jigging. A long trip down to Sussex to say goodbye to Uncle Fred, that was sad. Also, some not-so-SLS has been going on with my new varifocal glasses but enough said about that the better - it has just taken up so much flippin' time; being able to see well is really important for me doing so much close up work!

In addition a sudden glut of commissions from my lovely customers visiting my stall; it's brilliant to be so busy but leaves me less time for photographing new work and updating the website and blog so I may not be here much in next couple of days though I do have some toe-up socks I've been meaning to show off for a while!

Whilst I get myself back into gear after a nice bank holiday Sunday and Monday (I just worked on Friday, I cannot take Fridays before a market Saturday off!) I can show you some matching earrings and a bracelet which were made to go with the almond blossom necklace.

Cava bottle earrings

I have now made a Recycled Black Glass page on my website. I've photographed a few of the Cava bottle recycled earrings and added them and also moved the Aeolian Treasure jewellery to that page as well so although this jewellery is not new to my stall, they are new to the website and my blog. The photograph above is just one as an example.

There is always more jewellery on my stall than on the website. I'd always rather be making beads and jewellery than taking photographs!

Wrong turquoise

I am cross with myself. On Monday I had a play at the torch trying out all kinds of things I didn't get time to do at the back end of last year and had a fine old time. As I went, I made a note of what glasses and frits I used in case I wanted to go into production with any of the beads that resulted. I quite liked this turquoise lentil on the left and spent four hours yesterday making a batch of them along with some smaller round matching spacers. I was so disappointed when they came out of the kiln. Instead of actually reading my notes to check, I just went ahead and used dark turquoise glass instead of light turquoise. As you can see - the frit hardly shows up at all! I guess I can use them in combination with some other beads so it's not an entirely wasted morning but disappointing nonetheless.

Just to update you on the fine silver stud earrings, I'm not sure that diamond stud earrings really work as a shape. I'm not happy with them, the diamond design works really well as a dangly earring, I love them despite the wonky holes, but for studs they're just not right. So I've made some round stud earrings, similar design just a different shape. These are firing in my kiln as I type so I'll be cleaning them up, enamelling and then finishing them off hopefully today.

I think because I wear dangly earrings a lot myself and I prefer them to studs, I just have more of an affinity with making danglies. If I don't like the new round ones, I think I'll have to call it a day on studs. I can only make jewellery that I like myself; I can't sell jewellery that I have little enthusiasm for. It's like I've been asked to make men's jewellery in the past but I had to pass on that. I just don't "get" men's jewellery, DH doesn't wear any at all (not even a watch!) so he can't guide me in what men are looking for. I am beginning to wonder if I "get" studs ... we'll see!

It's been on my mind since Christmas that I really need to do my on-line tax return and get all my papers sorted out and filed (they're currently in a big pile awaiting my attention). I had steeled myself to do it today but when there's jewellery to be made, I'm afraid that has taken priority, I've got 10 more days before the £100 fine deadline kicks in, I'll do it next week!

Enamelled jewellery

I have made my first pair of enamelled stud earrings, here they are in all fine silver including the earwires, the colour is Kingfisher Blue and this time I've got the enamel level and smooth. Very pleased with these.These are dangly diamond earrings with Celeste enamel but I am utterly, utterly ashamed of the holes I have drilled in these. They are not central. I am used to drilling in .3mm or .5mm sterling silver. I use a punch to make a small pilot depression to guide the drill bit and then use my .9mm dremel bit to make the hole. This method does not work on thicker fine silver made from PMC. I think the main problem is that I have textured the surface and the drill bit has skidded out of the pilot depression off to the side. I cannot offer these earrings sale because of that so I'll be keeping these for me. I just wanted to show off the enamelling!Ditto goes for these rectangular earrings in Pale Blue - this is my very favourite colour so far of enamel.It would have been so easy just to poke a well placed larger pilot hole when the PMC was wet and this is what I'm going to do with the next batch that I make - hopefully I'll be able to offer them for sale. I'll probably have a competition and a giveaway of the first pair.

I have received some really sweet e-mails from regular readers worried about me disappearing from my blog for a week after writing about headaches; I'm sorry I worried you - I'm still very much alive, not in hospital or lying in abject misery in a sick bed!

I do still have the headache, it has now been a permanent feature for about three weeks. Disprin is controlling it during waking hours so I can go about daily life. I spoke to a doctor about it again yesterday. GP still thinks it’s a muscular problem but as a precaution she is making an appointment for me to get a scan at the hospital in the next couple of weeks (I always knew I needed my head examining!) I also have an appointment with an Osteopath on Monday to see if he can "unspasm" it.

I feel a bit of a wimp moaning about my headache when so many other people are going through so much worse in the world, particularly in Haiti, so I am looking on the bright side and counting myself lucky that I have shelter, food, warmth, medical help and people who I love.

Whilst replying to e-mails about my health (thank you again!) I recalled a poem I read in my youth about someone's "get up and go", which "got up and went". Some research on the net has shown it to be a traditional poem so I guess I'm not infringing copyright if I reproduce it here:

MY GET UP AND GO HAS GOT UP AND WENT

How do I know my youth is all spent?
My get up and go has got up and went
In spite of it all, I'm able to grin
When I think of the places my get up has been

Old age is golden, I think I've heard said
But sometimes I wonder as I crawl into bed
My ears in a drawer, my teeth in a cup
My eyes on the table until I wake up

As sleep dims my vision, I say to myself
Is there anything else I should lay on the shelf?
But nations are warring and business is vexed
So I'll stick around to see what happens next

When I was younger, my slippers were red
I could kick up my heels right over my head
When I was older my slippers were blue
But still I could dance the whole night thru

Now I am old, my slippers are black
I huff to the store and I puff my way back
But never you laugh, I don't mind at all
I'd rather be huffing than not puff at all

I get up each morning and dust off my wits
Open the paper and read the obits
If I'm not there, I know I'm not dead
So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed

Name that jewellery

I didn't make many new designs last week, there was only one necklace with matching earrings and that was the sum total of new items on my stall last Saturday. Any necklaces and bracelets costing over £25 and made with lampwork beads are one-off designs. I might make some more of the same type of beads but next time, I make a totally different necklace or bracelet with them.

Many people want earrings to match their necklaces/bracelets and I've found from experience that if you don't have matching earrings in stock, you can lose a sale. But last week, everyone was mainly buying earrings - it was a big earring day - so almost my entire week's production was on making more to match the unsold necklaces and bracelets! My zebra necklace (with matching earrings!) was a notable exception. One of my regular customers purchased it to take with her on holiday so I hope she's having a lovely time!

So, rather late, here are photographs of my latest new creations.
When I first made the beads (see close up in my blog entry Blue and Green shouldn't be seen on 8 May), I named them blue grass but I'm not that keen on it. The lack of a name has stopped me putting them up for sale on the website! It's got me completely stumped. Has anyone got a better name for them? I will run a draw of everyone who suggests a name here on the blog and the first out of the hat will get a pair of the earrings. Deadline for entries here on the blog is midnight on Wednesday, 3 June 2009.

If you prefer, you also enter by e-mailing me via the Contact page on my website.

Website update

I have added several new things to the Sooz Jewels website, here's a selection of three of them


I have also added some items to the Gallery page which are added for one of my customers who commissioned me for several pairs of earrings