Sarah Downton Beads and Jewellery

Wednesday evening 

Ooooo, and it just gets better.  Cracking episode of LOST tonight.  Very funny, this series just gets more surreal by the week.  I found this website tv.com where you can read up about the different episodes, tonights was ‘Numbers’ and is this websites third favourite.  I had a fair tonight, so coming home to put my feet up with a glass of wine to watch Lost was just the thing to do to unwind.  I’m going to be good and not stay up to watch next weeks episode on E4.   Oh and I forgot to say, that must be the most unconvincing Aussie accent and dialogue I’ve ever heard tonight.  The accent wavered from New Zealand, to Ireland, to west countryish Africans, you get the picture.

Tuesday evening

I can see my desk again!  I had a bit of a blitz this morning and cleared all the stuff off that was filling the useful spaces on my desk, and now I can actually work at it again!  Well I could do paperwork and internet stuff before, but there was not enough space to swing a box of beads let alone a length of tigertail.  I seem to spend all my time at the moment moving piles of work from my desk, to the dining table and then back again onto my desk, before moving them back to the table again.  This is part of what happens in our household before Christmas when I’m engaged in preparing and attending the numerous local fairs that I have a stand at this time of year.  That and the complete lack of housework (so what’s new?)…….my mother-in-law has a fridge magnet that says ‘Dull women have tidy houses’, I think I should get one of those for our fridge, to add to the one that says ‘I’d give up chocolate – but I’m no quitter’.

We also had the pleasure today of attending my daughters first official art exhibition, complete with work on the walls and on white plinths, and with drinks (OK it was squash) and nibbles, and soft music.  She’s been attending a childrens art club organised and lead by 2 local artists, who are part of the 2 x 4 artists in Horsham.  At the end of every term they put on an exhibition and encourage the kids to invite family and friends to view their work.  My parents came with us, my dad has a special interest in our artistic activities as he was an art and design student himself and used to teach graphic design at Reigate and Richmond colleges when I was at school.  Needless to say we now have yet another pile of artwork to accomodate at home now…….

Monday evening

AAAAAAAAAAAAAgh, the new(ish) car’s gone wrong!  I went to the garage today to find out how much it will cost to have the car fixed.  We have a very dodgy altenator and have to disconnect the battery every time we stop for any length of time, or the battery discharges.  This happened when we were at Christ’s Hospital the other day, we packed up, Rick went to get the car and had to get a jump start and part charge the battery before we could leave.  Needless to say I think we were almost the last to leave!

I have a bit of an altenator history, which involves 3 different cars, all Fords, and breaking down in all sorts of unusual places at the most inconvenient of times.  Once my car died a death under a bridge  near Smithfields meat market on Sunday evening at 8pm.   It was cold and dark, before the advent of mobile phones and I wasn’t very pleased to be on my own in a rather empty part of London, with the occasional roar of a lorry passing by and turning into the market.  Fortunately my dad and brother came to the rescue as the nice AA man arrived, and kept me company until the wee hours of the morning.  Talking of wee, that was also the evening of my first experience in a superloo, the one near St Pauls Cathedral.  Anyway, the car got fixed on that occasion, and I ended up driving home past midnight.  I remember feeling totally mesmerised by the low streetlights and regular bumps that made the car lurch up and down as I drove along a deserted A40 past the Hillingdon airfield.  I think I made it home to Oxford by 2am on that occasion.

Oh well, we have to wait 2 weeks now until the car can be fixed, so lots more popping the bonnet and hooking up the battery with my trusty spanner over the next few weeks!

Well that just takes the biscuit….I can’t write anything without him passing comment…….and by the way, I’m not picky but discerning (hah) when it comes to visual stuff.  Take that.  And as for little boxes, it’s not small, and thank goodness they didn’t have the one he wanted to buy, it was humungous!

Saturday night

The marvels of modern technology delivered my shopping on time but didn’t quite stetch to bringing it in the house and putting it all away.  It was however a lot easier than the weekend we’ve had so far which has comprised 2 craft fairs and a mad trip to Ikea to buy new table coverings for my stand.  We also hoped to buy some furniture to house the TV but after much deliberation and hair pulling trying to decide exactly what we wanted, found that they were out of stock of our choice, tchh.  So we cheered ourselves up with some cool battery operated fairy lights to Christmassefy my display (and avoid more PAT testing) and an opaque white plastic storage box to experiment further with our bead photography.

We’ll have a good rest tommorrow I hope, ready for another action packed week and the beginning of December (eeek).  So much for my plans to get ahead with Christmas preparations, I can see the day looming up faster than the earth does when you land with a parachute (or should that be without one!).

Thursday evening

Isn’t technology marvelous!  I’ve just finished doing my grocery shopping from the comfort of my armchair in front of the telly – and who said I can’t multitask?  It’s so cool being able to sit wireless and cableless, and be able to print documents, surf the net and do ones shopping.  It beats trawling around the supermarket, especially at the moment when I’m sooooooo busy.  All I have to do is sit back and wait for it to arrive (and put it away obviously).  I just hope I don’t get any daft substitutions, they sure don’t think about them very well, that’s my only complaint.  For example, once I ordered 2 different variations of a breakfast cereal, one wasn’t available, but hey, they didn’t give me 2 of the one of my choices that was available, no, they chose something completely different!  Maybe the shopper thought I needed a new taste experience and what I’d chosen was too boring.

I do most of my glass shopping on the net.  Lots of good glass, frit and tools are availalable from the States, so I just have to do it that way.  I love getting my parcels through the post, especially when it’s dinky jars of frit (crushed glass) individually wrapped in pink or orange tissue paper, although one order I did with a sample pack of 18 jars had 3 or 4 pieces of sticky tape on each jar and took forever to unpack (you do the maths!).  I must admit I was getting a tad impatient to see all my purchses as the minutes ticked away and the pile of sticky tape strips grew.

I’m off to get another mug of coffee now and look at my Chihuly tome.  TTFN.

Wednesday evening

Brrrrrrrrrrrr it’s cold out there.  Minus 1 deg C this morning in the studio.  I had to don my thermals again – oh yes!  It was so cold that I didn’t fancy going out again after lunch, but I was glad I did, you just can’t beat that feeling of melting glass, I find it so relaxing and theraputic, even if it was to do beads I had to do rather than play.

Oh that was too funny, the ending of Lost this week with the profiles of people sitting on the beach.  I was determined not to get drawn in, but ya know how it goes!  I’m still mourning the loss of Frasier and haven’t found anything that gets anywhere near the wit of that show (although Green Wing came pretty close – I’m a bit of a Tamsin Greig fan).  Friday night used to be good for comedy, but it just doesn’t hit the spot at the moment.  Oh well, more time to make beads.

Tuesday afternoon….

Hellooo.  I had a lovely steaming hot mug of tea in bed this morning, looks like my hint worked.  I also had pressies to unwrap, one of which said ‘Nah, not in here!’, and there I was thinking I might have Jamie Cullum’s new CD in my hot mitts.  Instead I received a cool book about making silver chains, and best of all a beautiful book about Chihuly and his glass.

Tuesday evening….

It’s been a lovely day.  We went down to Brighton today and popped in on Judith to collect my beads that had been to Newmarket.  We had a lovely chat and coffee and proceeded to Brighton for lunch.  We found this lovely juice bar and deli called Pulp Kitchen this time last November and decided to go there for lunch.  It’s lovely to have a break from the usual run of the mill Tuesday.  I’ve had a brilliant days holiday.   Pulp Kitchen, 31 Bond Street, North Laines, Brighton.

Monday evening

Wow it’s suddenly got real cold, and it’s all foggy outside.  I did brush off my thermals last Friday to wear while making beads in the studio…and yes I do wear jeans and T-shirt over the top…and yay I did get to make some snowmen and penguins.

I’m franticaly trying to top up my stock levels of jewellery to sell, it gets very manic at this time of year.  I am constantly trying to balance lampwork with making up jewellery and going out selling and trying to get a life.  It’s my birthday tommorrow so I may just take the day off.

Did anyone catch Peter Andre and Katie Price on Children in Need last Friday.  I’m not a fan of Jordan or her life, and wondered what on earth they were on this fundraiser for, but boy, as far as I was concerned they stole the show.   Katie sings really well, and I think they outshone even Madonna that night.

And so ….to bed (I wonder if I’ll get any pressies tommorrow, I don’t think I deserve any from Rick, cos I completely forgot to do the wrapped up pressy bit for him from our daughter or me).  He’ll either do tit-for-tat, or lavish me with pressies and attention to make me feel bad (I wish!)……although a mug of tea in bed in the morning would be nice, hint hint.

Saturday evening…..
Phew what a week it’s been.  Five events down and maybe 1 to go.  It’s been a very mad week with a very late night dash last night down to the coast to deliver my beads to my friend Judith who’se ‘womaning’ the stall tommorrow at the Newmarket bead fair.

I had a good day today, even if it was exhausting.  I sold some beads at the craft fair to a lovely bead enthusiast, had a couple more enquiries about lampworking tuition which I’m planning to start in the new year, and I made a new glass buddy!  Woo hoo, and she only lives about 5 miles away.  It will be so nice to have someone else nearby to talk glass with and swap notes.

Here’s a few pictures Rick took today at the lovely setting of Christ’s Hospital, while I was inside at my stand.

Late Thursday evening….

So much for making Christmas cuties this week.  I haven’t set foot in my glass studio yet this week because of the 4 events I had to prepare for, that turned into 5, that is now 6 if you include next Monday, which is a possible new event.  3 down and 3 to go for this week.  Maybe I’ll squeeze a couple of hours in at the torch tommorrow if I’m cunning.

Only 1 more day to go before the Craft Fair at Christs Hospital, and 2 days to go before the Beadworks Fair at Newmarket, if you’re around come and say hello………better go get me some more of those zeds………………….

Found another cool site, literally,  Snowdays hours of fun.  Make sure to enter your name and location, or you’ll never find it again.

Talking of snow (it’s the weather chat again – well, I am in England) and all things Christmasy, they’ve been filming an Argos advert in Horsham town today and yesterday, lots of people wandering around with boxes made to look like Christmas pressies, no sign of Richard E Grant though.  It will be interesting to see the finished thing.  Photo courtesy of Rick.

 I think it’s time for more Chihuly photos today………..

I didn’t make it down to the studio today, too many other things happening.  Maybe tommorrow afternoon, after my coffee morning.

We had frost here this morning for the first time this autumn, time to go out and wrap up the delicate plants in the garden I think.  Talking of weather I just saw a stonking video of a twister on the ITV news.  I don’t think I would have stayed around to make that video, you wouldn’t have seen me for dust, even though I would actually like to see a twister.  Dust, anyone, dust?  High in calories, low in calories?  Dust…..

I’ve just spent a merry couple of hours reorganising my many links in my firefox bookmarks manager.  Phew.  Lets just hope my p.c. doesn’t crash again and lose the lot.

I’m looking forward to getting out to my studio tommorrow to make some more Christmas cuties, I feel a few penguins and snowmen coming on, and maybe a Christmas tree or two.  All this talk of snowmen is making me wonder whether I need to get my thermals out of retirement yet.  How sad am I, I invested in new ones at the beginning of the year!

I have to torch whenever I can now, because the local craft fair season has begun and I’m going to be out selling a couple of times a week from now on.  It’s going to be a hectic week this week.  I have four events to prepare for this week, including the Fair at Christs Hospital and the Newmarket bead fair.  I’m also heavily involved in organising the Christmas Display of Jewellery for Sale at the adult education centre I attend, and we set up the display this week.  I’ve done the majority of organisation, paperwork and accounts for the last 4 years, but this year I’m sharing the job fortunately.
I’d better go lie down and get some zeds…………………zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 

Good news – I can now accept credit cards on my stall at local craft fairs, and I’m waiting to receive the credit card swipey dooberries that I saw on ebay.  We had fun making our first ever bid on ebay for these, and got so carried away with watching the final minutes, cooking dinner and getting ready for a local craft event the same evening that we forgot we had an appointment at the school.  Woops.

He came at last, and now we are snug and warm, good job too because it’s suddenly got cold this weekend, it was 5 deg C in my studio the other morning.

Late Thursday (more like Friday am)

Discussions at my adult education class were fun again.  Topics up for debate were how they make these spreads that replace butter – are they better than butter or worse because of all the chemicals and chemical processes used to synthesise them.  That led on to battery chickens versus free range (don’t ask me how!), and how to spot Hock burns and what they are.  I also learnt that free range chickens have tough legs and thighs (she’s a tough old bird).  We then got on to the demise of my friends tortoise that they’ve had for 40 odd years, bought in the 60’s when their son was a kid, and now gone walkabout……or was he nicked?   Apparently they’re worth a bit now.  If the poor thing has gone walkabout we hope he’s found shelter or dug a hole, that way he may survive the winter.  So unfortunately he’s missing….presumed dead (or half inched).

Did any one else spot the reference to ‘The Office’ in last nights episode of Lost? 

Tuesday Evening

I’m just about to send Rick down to the studio to get my beads out and turn the kiln off (please), he’s reading this as I type!

11 deg c this morning when I started work, but at least it wasn’t raining.  I made several more snowmen, 2 penguins, Father Christmas and a robin.  I now know why I haven’t seen many robin beads, it’s impossible to tell the brown and red glass apart when they’re hot, I await my lopsided robin….And would you believe it, my gas ran out at tea time.  My plan to always have a spare available went Pete Tong today, cos I didn’t have my spare bottle full.  Rats, I now have to rush out tommorrow morning to get a refil before I can start.

Rick just brought my beads in, oh well, you can’t even see the red breast now he’s out.

More Chihuly photos as promised

Oh wow, I’ve just watched Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart performing, njhhhhhhhhh.
Perfect end to a perfect day.

click on the photos to enlarge them.
Oh yes, we managed to get to Kew Gardens to the Chihuly Exhibition today. What a stunning show of jaw dropping glass. The colours and forms collected into his installations were beautiful and breathtaking. I wanted to see his Persian chandalier, this was suspended in the Temperate House and lit up. We were able to walk below and admire the twirling lines that radiate from the centre of each form which looked rather like masses of lily pads. My other favourite was his grouping of Macchia (Italian for spotted). They were as beautiful in life as the photos you see in his books. Incidentally they are for sale at Kew for the small sum of six thousand pounds. I think I’ll nip back next week and get one.
More pickies another day…ahhh, I’ve saved the best!

Rick found this very cool website today…….The Interesting thoughts of Edward Monkton

I had more to put here, but lost it twice so I decided it wasn’t meant to be written in any detail. It was to do with a lunchtime conversation I had with my fellow jewellery students on my adult education course. One of the retired class members posed the question of whether we thought some evil people were just born that way. Suffice it to say the conversation went to seedier matters and several unsavory characters were discussed. The words ‘Dr, moors, patios and Acid’ come to mind. It was all very bizare.