Sarah Downton Beads and Jewellery

Monday tea time

Open Houses as part of the Artists and Makers Festival in West Sussex starts this weekend and continues the following weekend. I am exhibiting in 2 places, my first and main venue is at Edith Barton’s house in Plummers Plain, where I will have my tall cabinet of designer glass bead jewellery. Edith has once again opened her summerhouse in her huge garden to display her work together with mine and 2 other local artists, Thea Taylor who will have sculpture on display indoors and outside, and Katherine Haynes who makes bags and lampshades from bubble wrap.  We are discussing having demonstrations like we did last year, and I may be taking my equipment to make handmade glass beads again, this will depend on how energetic I’m feeling by then. Come and see our artworks, enjoy some refreshment while you watch a demonstration and have a leisurely stroll around the garden whilst admiring the sculptures.

My second venue is in the 2×4 Artists community room in the Drill Hall in Horsham town centre. I will have a smaller range of jewellery for sale, but in different colours from the other venue, so don’t forget to check out both places. The room will of course be displaying many pieces by my fellow artists in the group, including paintings, mixed media, textiles, sculpture and printmaking. Studio artists will also be opening their doors as always.

More information is on my events page and by clicking on the links to the festival website where a pdf of the festival guide can be downloaded, and a festival map can be viewed. Unfortunately this map doesn’t so far appear to have our Horsham locations marked on it, oh well!

Wednesday morning

The holidays are almost over, yay, then I can get down to making beads again. We have had some interesting days and had a great time out on Monday when we went to Brighton for the afternoon - that’s me and my 9 year old. She’s got to the age where she’s interested in looking in shops other than toy shops and enjoys looking in jewellery shop windows, hurrah! You know what it’s like with a younger child in tow, they just kick the ground and look bored all the time unless you’re walking. I think we spent the most time in an amazing percussion shop where he sells all sorts of obscure imported instruments and rhythm making things. We succumbed and bought a mini accordion for her to play tunes on, great fun.

Wednesday night

I was planning to write tonight about how smug I feel, having done my accounts for the second Wednesday in a row - I diligently worked last Weds doing my accounts for the current year - but alas I got waylaid this morning by all the contact forms I’d received regarding tuition, and spent the day communicating with all you lovely people instead. A very fine way to spend the day but not what I’d planned. Still, I can feel smug about last week can’t I? and I have planned to do more paperwork next Wednesday morning, can’t wait…lol. I also added a couple of new events to my events page, a new members exhibition at the Surrey Guild gallery in Milford and dates for the 2nd Contemporary Art and Craft fair at Winchester Cathedral.

Yesterday I had a very pleasant day in Brighton. After meeting my friend for coffee I had the arduous task of finding somewhere for lunch, which I managed quite nicely. It was rather a shock when I went past my favourite cafe, Pulp Kitchen, to find they’d closed. Such a shame, they did wonderful smoothies, great home-made soup and lovely salads and wraps. The new place I found stir fry sizzled the hot fillings individually on a small stove in the cafe, yum. I may well visit TFI Lunchtime again. I made my way back to the car park after lunch, browsing the many bohemian shops of the South and North Laines, and even treated myself to a beautiful piece of jewellery, a stunning and colourful butterfly broach made of tin in gorgeous shades of pink, orange, yellow and gold. Mine’s the middle one on the third row. I must admit I’d have been very tempted by far right second row if they’d had that one. Maybe I need to email her……

Monday…nearly Tuesday

Hi there, I’m buzzing, very unusual for me at this time of night, but we’ve only been home a short while. Ooooo, where’s she been? Well, to cut a long story, no, a short one even shorter, we’ve been to Worthing for a gig tonight, to see one of our favourite bands….Fairport Convention, and we only realised yesterday that they were touring again, so it was all very impulsive (yes, I love a good bit of impulsive behaviour). We even took our nearly 9 year old daughter to her first gig, and had one of the sets dedicated to her. All in all a good evening, and it reminds me how few gigs we’ve been to lately. Note to self….must go to more gigs.

I’m off down to the coast again tomorrow, to Brighton to meet a friend, so that will be a refreshing change, I hope the weather is as good as it has been the last few days. It will be nice to have a day off as I seem to have been working very hard lately, especially with loads of tuition. I have changed my rates very slightly this year, and am only offering guaranteed one-to-one for students who wish to do follow-up intermediate type bookings. I’ve had to do this as demand is so great at the moment, although we always manage to squeeze everyone in!

If you’re in the Milford area this week/month, do pop into the Surrey Guild Gallery as we have a small valentine display so apt for the season, complete with some of my glass heart pendants. Time to turn in I think, night all.

Wednesday lunchtime

Happy New Year wishes to you all.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was writing my last beadlog entry, but it’s been all go since then. Christmas preparations took ages again, and all my hopes for an organised and relaxed Christmas eve went out the window when we agreed (about 10 days before the event) to organise a Carol Service to take place on the Sunday before Christmas. We ended up with our usual scramble to get lots of jobs done on Christmas eve and a well past midnight bedtime, well, at least we’re constant!

We also scuppered preparations by going away the weekend before that to our friend Di East’s grand studio opening in Leicester. We had a fab weekend shared with lots of beady friends and almost forgot all the stuff we had to do. Follow this link to see all the photos Rick took that weekend.

I have to dash now and get ready for all the students I have coming in the next couple weeks. Byeeeeeeeeeee.

Tuesday lunchtime

Freedom! Yes it’s all over, my 6 sales and one exhibition, and now I have the unenviable task of preparing for Christmas and all that comes with it. Of course anything could go wrong with my plans and already has, oh yes, my daughter woke up with a temperature on the first morning after my events ended and now I’m stuck at home not even able to make beads. Dahhhhhhhh! So I’m tidying up today, and boy does the place need it. It seems that when I’m really busy and don’t tidy the house then no one else bothers and it all goes from bad to worse.

Hopefully having a tidy up will mean that I don’t have another embarrassing  incident like I did on Sunday, when it was a bit too dark in the bedroom when I grabbed my boots to wear, and didn’t notice that I picked up an old boot and a newer snug fitting and lovely clean one for my right foot. I only noticed the discrepancy between shiny clean black boot and scuffed navy looking left boot as I was sitting with my feet out in front of me and got the most silly fit of giggles at a very inappropriate time, that I had to control.  Needless to say I immediately hooked my left foot behind my right and kept both feet out of view under the chair hoping no one  would notice, and walked oh so confidently when I had to appear in public. I was wondering too why my new boot seemed to be letting the water in. Oh the shame!  Almost as embarrassing as owning a caravan. lol.

Friday afternoon

I’m nearly at the end of my Christmas events, one to go this weekend, and an exhibition that started today and finishes Sunday tea time. I’ve been stewarding the exhibition this morning, and will be there again tomorrow morning and maybe during the afternoon. The exhibition is a mix of affordable paintings, sculpture, original prints, textiles and my glass jewellery, and is open from 10am to 5pm all weekend. Please drop by and say hello. More details are on my events page.

It will be really good to spend some time tidying up next week, as the house always gets in a state when I have an exhibition or several fairs in a short space of time. I’m doing my best to keep Mount Washpile and its various foothills under control, but the rest of the house needs some TLC unfortunately, and we all know I’d rather be in my studio making beads than doing housework. One job I will enjoy is writing my Christmas list to put up on Ricks website family present list that he designed and wrote (sad geek!)(him….not me!) and I’m actually looking forward to doing a bit of Christmas gift shopping, I must be mad. It would also be nice to get the Christmas tree up before boxing day, I’ll let you know how that goes. If we put it up before Christmas day, maybe we’ll actually take it down before the end of March this time. I keep thinking it’s too soon to talk about the looming festivities as it’s only the 7th December, but we only have 2 1/2 weeks to go, and I always underestimate how long jobs are going to take.

I’m off now to help my daughter make some cake type stuff for her school fair tomorrow. Have a good weekend.

Friday evening

Another lovely autumnal day today.  It was certainly cold when I got up this morning so winter is on it’s way at last.  I did one of my days in the Surrey Guild Gallery today and had the pleasure once more of my favourite drive over the downs through the woods between Dunsfold Aerodrome and Millford. The trees looked splendid in their orange, green and yellow leaf tones, and occasionally I drove through a leaf flurry or two, which was very much like a mini snowstorm of colourful swirling leaves. Lush. My cabinet is now restocked with lots of goodies, perfect for Christmas pressies, so do go and have a look if you’re passing.

Back to the drive today…..I’m going to get on my soapbox now….maybe I should have a new feature called ‘Sarah’s Soapbox’, it could be a bit like Annabelles rant on Virgin radio in the evening! What’s it called? ‘That’s so rubbish?’ Hmmm.  Anyway, what’s with all the 40 tonne lorries and JCB’s going along the single track road with only a few passing places and lots of wiggly bends and little hills and steep banks? Why are they driving along a road that plainly says ‘Unsuitable for heavy vehicles’ and ’single track road with passing places’? The frequency of these huge beasts that struggle to go up the hills and around corners at the same time, forcing normal cars (that’s us) to back up the road several hundred yards, seems to be increasing every time I take this leg of the journey, and to say that it spoils the route (and wastes my time) would be an understatement. My friend reckons that it’s all down to the dreaded sat-nav, where haulage companies are using  new found short-cuts  and not engaging their brains before they take said  new routes, as she has recently been having the same problem on a couple of other single track roads she takes. That’s so stupid! hee hee.

Now I’ve got that off my mind, I must dash and clean some mandrels and get a dipping them in preparation for teaching again tomorrow. Have a good weekend, see y’all.

Thursday lunchtime

Je suis tres content merci. I’ve had a lovely 3 days on a glass course and I’m smiling from ear to ear and feeling very content with my world. After 5 years beadmaking and experience I decided it was time to push the boundaries out once more and increase my skills by learning some flameworking. You may be wondering what the difference is….well, flameworking is the term generally given for items that are not necessarily made on a mandrel (the mandrel makes a bead with a hole).  So flameworking can be anything from goblets to sculptural animals and fish, dragons, the human form, you name it, but generally not beads. Most of these items tend to be decorative, or pendants that can be worn from a chain or similar. I already do a small amount of flamework with my leaves and heart pendants, but now I’m revved up and raring to go on all sorts, so tomorrow when I go out to my studio to make dichroic focal beads to sell as pendants I’m going to be struggling to stay on track!

So a huge thank you to my friend Julie Anne Denton who was such a good and inspiring teacher, and an excellent artist. Do go and check out her website.

Friday tea time

We’re nearing the end of the half term hols, and you’ve guessed it, I haven’t done half of the things I planned for the week. Partly because we (my daughter and I) have been going to a kids club every morning, her to take part and me to help, apart for today when I laid languishing in bed this morning with the stupid cold I seem to have acquired yesterday. We have managed to do some baking together, lovely Rainy day Biscuits from Nigellas’ ‘Feast’ and we even got around to decorating them too. I’m really enjoying the challenge of colour mixing with the food colours available, another bit of fun for the mistress of colour (that’s me by the way), it reminds me of the lovely time I had this summer colouring numerous sheets of aluminium.

Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself, we did do all the things I’d planned up to and including Wednesdays activities, I just think my daughter’s going to have to wait a bit longer for her handmade pink cushion covers to go with her new bedroom, sneakily made from the bottom of her curtains that I also have to shorten, and I’m going to have to tidy my bedroom when I can fit the job in. All that’s left to do today is to find bits to help make one of the 2 Halloween  outfits that my daughter need for the 2 parties she’s going to, this should be fun!

Thursday morning

I went out last night! I never go out, or at least hardly ever. We went and scoffed Pizza with a group of friends and then I stayed out and went to the flicks, yay! We saw Atonement, and I have to say ‘what a film’, it was a work of art, much nicer than the location of the pizza place and cinema.  It’s been ages since I last saw a film (I think it was Narnia) and I really love watching films on the big screen, but last night the whole leisure park felt so alien and bright. All the restaurants had bright lights, obviously to get you in and out really fast, and they all seemed so American and ……I hope I’m not offending anyone here, but you would have been forgiven for thinking you were not in England.

Don’t get me wrong, it was all good value and tasted nice, but where was the identity? What I mean to say is, everything has gone so global now, you see pictures on the news of people in other countries, and you’d struggle to tell where they are, and the same fast food places are seen the world over. Maybe I’ve just moved on in my culinary and cultural expectations? I like the differences you get when you travel around, and I like towns and shopping centres to feel different, but all the same shops are everywhere, which is obviously great for the chain of shops that is doing well, but one shopping centre or town centre could easily be confused for another. It’s the shopping mall and out of town stores thing.

Anyway, I am pleased we have a good cinema in Crawley, we used to have to travel to Brighton, or Lakeside to see films before Richard Branson stopped over in Crawley one night on one of his many trips to visit his Virgin offices (I followed him in to the Virgin Airlines office once, boy he was tall and walked extremely fast, which was unfortunate for me because I was going to tap him on the shoulder and say ‘gi’s a job’ only I couldn’t keep up and probably wouldn’t have been able to reach his shoulder) (that was a long bracket) and decided to go and see a film, only to find that we didn’t have a decent cinema, so decided he’d build one.

Talking of tall celebs I’ve seen on my travels, Chris Evans, he’s one, and he walks fast, also Jonathan Woss (sorry….Ross) and he talks a lot, I had to wait 20 minutes for him to stop yakking so I could get served in a fabric shop in Soho once. Trips to London are good places to see celebs if you like doing that, we used to spot at least one wild one each trip.

I’ve rambled on a bit this morning, but in true Sarah stylie I still have a shed load of ’stuff’ to do (don’t I always?) so I’m going to get on with it and try to get past my cheese induced headache.

Monday evening

The school hols are well and truely here. We’re one week in and I’m still not on holiday even if my daughter is. My work and emails are so stacked up, but fortunately even my mum doesn’t think I’m a failure, she reckons I’m behind because of my daughters pneumonia earlier on this year, and I have to say I think she’s right. All those days spent in hospital and at home caring for a convalescing child meant that I didn’t get any torching time in, and when I did, well, remember the kiln problems? Also my mind was on more important things, family health means so much and can’t help but take priority. Still, I’m much less stressed now, having finished my do’s for now, although we do have the GBUK bead fair looming at the end of August.

The design fair at Winchester is over, we went down on Friday as I was stewarding and made a family day of it. The city is lovely, I didn’t see much, but what I did looked nice. Also the work in the show was lovely and I saw several items that I could have spent my money on. Thank you to every one who came to see my work and those of you who came to say hello to me on Friday, it was lovely to meet you.

Tuesday evening

We have our book! We decided to live dangerously and go to Waterstone’s at midnight for a bit of fun. It was an interesting experience, with youths in cars slowing down to shout funny stuff out of the window at the queue. We waited 1 hour in the cold and dark to collect our book, with a small witch at our side, and when we were given our book in a black plastic bag and asked where the posh orange paper bags were, the manageress replied ‘we have to save some for the people coming in the morning that couldn’t come tonight’. I’m sorry, but what’s that all about? Surely if we make the effort to stand in the cold and dark at midnight we should reap the benefits, not the lazy dudes who couldn’t be bothered, or who didn’t care less, or just couldn’t make it. It’s a shame if they wanted to get there but circumstances were against them, but we were there! Tch. lol.

Friday morning

Whatcha! The last 3 days I’ve had a ball. And how’s that? Remember all those things I had to stuff into July? Well, I managed 2 of the 3 days on the Art Clay course, and I didn’t get to the Hampton Court flower show, but I have just completed 3 consecutive days on a course colouring anodised aluminium. It was so much fun, even though I’d done it before several years ago (I hadn’t realised just how long ago until I pulled out my notes to get some dying ideas). Of course I was just getting really revved up with ideas and loads of inspiring stuff to try when we had to finish. Looks like I’ll have to book it again if it runs next year.

Today I have to source and buy materials to make up a demonstration area for making glass beads. I hope to be demonstrating at the Open House and Garden tommorrow, so I’d better get cracking.

Monday morning

At last, a day off. I’m enjoying a leisurely morning on the settee with my feet up and drinking loads of tea. I’ve been working flat out for the last 3 or 4 weeks now and I’m very much in need of some R & R, unfortunately our housework has been AWOl also for the last 3 weeks and is in need of some effort (actually it’s in need of masses of effort). The house truly looks like a bomb exploded, and the kitchen’s even worse, the main problem being that the dishwasher broke down and it all has to be done by hand at the moment. If I hate housework, I hate washing up even more, it’s such a waste of time, and there’s always something more important or fun to do. So unfortunately my day isn’t going to be a complete rest (even though I’m also struggling with a cold) but will be interspersed with washing clothes and the occasional bouts of tidying up unless I keep getting woozy cold induced wobbles. Now, if the new Harry Potter book was out already I could be sat here reading that instead……

Thank you to everyone who came and said hello yesterday at the Lingfield bead fair, it’s so good to see old friends and students and to meet new ones. This is what really makes these days so enjoyable for me, even if the drinks machine in the restaurant did break down for the second year running…do you suppose they say this because they want to go home early, or do bead ladies and gents drink more tea?

The Open Houses and Studios has also got off to a good start. Saturday saw Claire stone carving most of the day, while I sat and made up some of my earrings and phone dangles for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I hope to be making glass beads in the garden next Saturday and maybe Sunday morning, so please pop along to see how it’s done and say hello. There will also be some watercolour painting and textile work being done next weekend (but not all at the same time!). This is such a good opportunity to see collections of work in a very informal environment and there are several venues around Horsham and Worthing that are also taking part, so make time next weekend for a tour of the West Sussex studios. Festival Brochures are available around the county in Tourist information centres and libraries, or you can download one from this site Artists and Makers. The information postcards around also feature a necklace by yours truly.

Monday afternoon

Phew, I need a rest. I started my art clay course this morning and only got back an hour ago because the traffic was so terrible on the M25. I decided to leave the motorway and take the A25 but that wasn’t any better, so I left that route and went the very scenic way through Ide Hill, Edenbridge and Lingfield. 1 hour and 40 minutes later I got home. It makes you realise how the motorways have changed the way we all live now, and how easy it is (when the traffic is good) to travel long distances with ease. This journey normally takes me 55minutes, and the first 20 minutes were a breeze. Still, I got to see some more of the beautiful countryside as I drove up and down the south downs, as it was really high up when got to Toy Hill.

I will post a picture of what I made this morning when I’ve finished it, it was all a bit of an experiment morning, getting the feel of the clay and how to manipulate it. The wire I stuck on with slip didn’t stay on the whole length and I have to solder about 1/4″ to make it secure, as I do the bail that I put on the back. I also have to clean up the edges and barrel polish it. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished article, but I’m really not sure if I like this medium or not, or if it’s any easier than doing normal metalwork with silver.

Friday evening

Do you ever get those days or weeks where you’ve been busy non-stop, and yet when you look back to see what you’ve achieved you can’t work out you’ve been doing with your time? I have to say this week has been one of those. I’ve hardly made any beads, although I suppose odd little jobs have been done. One of the fun things I had to do yesterday was go to my friend Ediths house to see where we are locating our work for the RAG Open Houses. It was great to all sit around with a mug of tea, wander around the garden and discuss our plans.

Our work is going to be inside and outside of the massive summer house, with a relaxing area outside to sit and enjoy the garden, and we also plan to do demonstrations of our discipline, so if you fancy seeing how my beads are made, do pop along and have a look. I’m not sure what days I will be demoing but I will put details up here, so stay tuned. I will of course be at the Lingfield Beadfair on the first Sunday, and may well be doing the headless chicken dance the day before if previous events are anything to go by. Have a great weekend.

Wednesday morning (1 week later)

Whoa, a whole week later, what happened? Oh yes, Whitsun weekend, and we’ve been away in our newly fixed caravan for a few days. I think I need a holiday now just to get over the packing and I would say unpacking too, but the floor’s still covered in ’stuff’ that needs unpacking and putting away. I love going away but I really hate all the preparations beforehand and the tidying away when you get home. There must be some solution to this dilema? Obviously staying in hotels is one of them, going abroad on package holidays is another - only 1 suitcase per person and a bit of hand luggage - sounds good to me. It’s the camping thing that makes life complicated, this must be why it’s a relatively cheap holiday, because of all the effort involved.

I remember preparing for holidays abroad, this was fun because it consisted of shopping…. for sun lotion, toiletries and bikinis, also film for my camera (we’re going back a bit here….scarey isn’t it?) and a good pocket guide book. Maybe I also needed some new t-shirts, sun tops and flip flops, oh and a new suitcase. Whereas now it’s ‘have we got enough chemicals for the toilet?’ and ‘that saucepan’s going a bit rusty’ and ‘have you packed enough tea towels?’. Blrghhhhh.

I must have gone wrong somewhere along the line, I’ve gone from 2 weeks at the end of May and 1 week in September, both abroad, to 2 weeks in the UK in a caravan of all things. I suppose at least I put my foot down about using a frame tent, now that was humungous and took all day to pack up the last time we used it. Some people may say we got too complicated in our use of the tent and should have stuck to sleeping on carry mats, eating cold baked beans out of the can and sitting on the floor, but arthritis soon put an end to that type of camping for me (which is also why we’re now in a caravan).

So, the piles of ’stuff’ are still lined up along the lounge floor, the kitchen still looks like the remains of a bomb has hit, and I have visitors arriving for lunch in 5 minutes………I’d better get on! see ya.

Thursday evening

Another week has passed since I last blogged, and guess what…I’m whacked out. We had a great time at Broadfield House on Saturday and then came home to get ready for Mike Frantz’s visit. Mike owns one of the 2 largest beadmaking supplies companies in the world called Frantz and knows so many beadmakers. He regularly flies to Venice from Washington state in America to visit Effetre who make the glass that so many of us love. I’ll write more about Mikes visit another day as he stayed with us for 2 nights, but today I’ve posted up some photos from our day at Broadfield House.

I should also add that today has been a first for me as I spent a few hours being one of the first beadmakers in the world to try out the new colour from effetre. It’s a minty green colour that Mike is going to call Grasshopper and is very close to a shade that I mixed myself in February. My beads from today are annealed, cooled and cleaned and await Ricks photographic treatment. I also made several wig wag canes today using this colour and may put up a photo of these tommorrow if you’re lucky, that’s if I can move my arms tommorrow, all that wig wag twisting has made them ache like mad. Ouch. I also get to try out the goldstone ribbon that Mike picked up in Venice, that’s what I’ll do on the morrow what ho!

Wednesday morning

It’s been a manic few days. I’ve been busy with preparing for and doing a couple of informal sales of my work. Both these mini events went well and now I’m gearing up for the Beads Day at Broadfield House this Saturday. This will be my third time at this event, selling my beads and jewellery together with those of other GBUK members and demonstrating glass bead making the studio. This has always been such a lovely day and we’re all looking forward to it. There are several bead stalls arranged in the various museum rooms and the museum is well worth a look around. Open 10am - 4 pm See you there!