Sarah Downton Beads and Jewellery

Friday morning

230 beads…………that’s how many I had to clean after my mamoth session on Tuesday added to the results of all my play work last week. Yikes, I really should try not to let them pile up like that. Today I’m having my final bead making session for the magazine comp, at least I hope it will be, I may have to sneak out tomorrow and finish off if the beads don’t sit properly together. My work on this on Wednesday was, I feel, successful, but it’s adding to what I’ve already done that could potentially be a problem as I’m reet proper fussy when it comes to making up my really posh sets.

I had another fab teaching day with 2 lovely ladies yesterday, and that was my last bit of teaching until the new year, and of the course the last this month, which has been chocka full of teaching dates. Now all I need to do is get ready for the 2 fairs I have next weekend, and the 2 exhibitions I think I’m doing, that also start next Saturday, so have to have the pieces to deliver on Friday at the latest. I’ve been trying not to get stressed about my work during the run up to Christmas and this has been working well, but to be honest, it’s working too well, so well, that I’m so laid back I’m horizontal and have done almost nothing to prepare. I have a stash of beads I made last month waiting to be turned into jewellery, but all my time has been spent doing masses of teaching, making my weekly order and getting to grips with Double Helix glass as well as my efforts to enter the magazine comp. I would normally have been making up jewelley in every spare moment, and all evening, but I’ve been so tired or busy cleaning beads and preparing my studio and tidying up from teaching that by the time all that’s done I need to rest……..I think I’ll put it down to still being a bit under par from the huge doses of anaesthetic earlier this year and my continual healing, after all it does get a bit zingy around my scar from time to time, so stuff is obviously still happening on some level.  Right, I’m off to run the kiln and start making beadies again. TTFN.

Tuesday evening

I can’t remember what I was going to write about and I’m sat here wondering why I feel drained. The answer to the second question is probably because I have made 94 beads today, my bigest number yet in a single day so far, and it was heaven to have my huge pink Maxine kiln to get them all in so effortlessly, although I’m still working out the best way to arrange the mandrels inside. The bad news is I’ll have to clean them all later, grrrr.

Meanwhile, back in the bedroom, Mount Washpile has reared it’s ugly head once more, and this time has several foothills around it. The problem is that I’d rather be making beads and stuff than doing housework, ask anyone I know. (Rick has just indignantly pointed out that he’s been helping to gradually reduce the foothills :)) As for the shopping….well the last time I placed an order was the start of October, and we were so disgusted at how our food had been packed (for the second time in a row) that I haven’t placed another order and haven’t decided where to try next. Oh dear, I’d better get a handle on this as we all know what festival is looming next month.

Tomorrow I’m planning to have a proper bash at some beads for the Beads and Beyond magazine. I’ve been mulling over several ideas, and dinking around with new glass and ideas, but I think I’m going to expand on my usual style, as this is after all what I do best, so tonight I’ll be planning how I can acheive this.

Saturday night

It’s my birthday and I’ve had such a great day. We didn’t do much but I’ve been pampered from start to finish, apart from having to tidy the fridge to put in the remains of our Indian takeaway tonight. The day started with a fab pressy that Rick got me when he was in Minneapolis last month – I made him visit the Pandora shop to look at some big hole beads and a chain bracelet, so I can wear my own glass big hole beads together with his choice of beads to fill the spaces. What a perfect combination, now he can actually buy me jewellery! It’s been lovely to just have a rest today to be honest, as I’ve been working really hard but struggling not to get tired.

My experiments with Double Helix glass continued yesterday, where I made some gorgeous transparent red beads with streaks of my newly conquered Phyche glass, which I reduced to a lovely variety of shades of greeny-blue part shiny colour..ish…thing. I also experimented combining it with some of my CIM (Creation is Messy) colours to see what would happen, and got some interesting reactions where the CIM has concentrated the silver to the edge of the Phyche streaks, yum. The dinking around with my designs for the perfect set to enter Beads & Beyond continues and I only have just over 1 more week to achieve this. eeek.

Wednesday afternoon

All is going well on the Double Helix (DH) glass front. I’ve kind of got to grips with Terranova 2 (TNT), the very colourful striking glass that starts off very dark brown, and here’s a pic to keep you amused….

yay it worked this time…..Rick asked his mate Peter (now one of the lead developers for WordPress) and then sorted the problem the other night. The top row is TNT encased in Laucha clear, not too bubbly, the bottom is encased with Vetrofond Crystal Clear, bubble city, and the centre row is TNT on a mix of clear and transparent amethyst glass. The top 2 rows sold at the Big Bead Show, but the bottom row is available, I may even pop them in my shop…..

Today I spent a happy few hours playing with Pysche, another DH glass, this one is a reduction glass which means that I can get shimmery oil slick effects from it if I wish. So I’ve been noodling around with it seeing how it responds to clear dots and stringers. My main aim with all this, as well as hating to let anything defeat me, is to produce a stunning focal or set of beads to enter into the Beads and Beyond magazine competition. I believe I’m getting there by steps,  but we’ll see what the kiln fairy leaves me later tonight, and if it’s a goodun, I definitely won’t be sharing just yet.

But for your delectation and pleasure now I’d like to present the beads I was going to post last week……drum roll please..well, I have to make a fuss because I don’t usually post photos…..

Monday morning

Well helloooooo there. I probably shouldn’t be so chirpy as I am missing my jewellery class yet again – the place to go for me to have a fun afternoon chatting with like minded jewellery making obsessed ladies. And especially today they are having our Christmas class jewellery sale. Yes I’m a bit sad about this, but maybe it’s a good thing as I am still just sooooo wacked out. We really must get our car situation sorted out….anyone got an estate car for sale? anyone? anyone?

I just popped out to my studio, and man, it’s chilly out there, only 5 deg. C this morning, but I’m off out to make some handmade glass beads in a mini mo for my regular weekly order. Then tomorrow and Thursday I’m teaching yet again, I seem to be doing about 2 days a week at the moment, which is so much fun and a bit tiring but hey ho, it’s worth it.

The big question on everyone’s mind today is…who on earth is voting for John Sergeant in Strictly Come Dancing? It sure ain’t me, but he really should go now, I know he’s fun to watch how badly he does everything, but it now seems so unfair that the really fabulous contestants are being booted off the show a week earlier than they should and missing their potential to learn new dances and improve more. I suppose maybe we should be asking ourselves if the BBC are cheating and keeping him in to give the show controversy and generally rigging the polls to suit what they feel the show should be like? Or does he have a huge cake baking, blue rinse, daytime TV watching, lady fan base? Who knows.

Friday lunchtime

Already! The good news is that I haven’t cut myself again since Monday, well, I managed to spike my fingertip with an upright stringer, but it didn’t leave a hole this time, yay. I’ve had a few near misses, but nothing like last week, I think I must be going back to my usual state of ‘No burns or cuts’. In the 6 years I’ve been doing this I only have 3 burn scars and have only cut myself about 10 times, 6 of those last week, so you see why I was getting all annoyed, lol.

I’m actually procrastinating at the moment, this is happening a lot at the moment mainly because I’m so tired, I guess I’m still getting over the whole op thing, and probably overdoing it when I do feel like working. I should be getting ready for a small jewellery sale on Monday, but I think I probably won’t be able to go because the brakes are going on our car, and we don’t have a spare car anymore….the headgasket on our other car blew again back in April the evening before my very early morning appointment with my hip surgeon, leading us to be relayed home at midnight, then drive back to arrive at the hotel around 2:30 am for a 7:30 appointment the next morning, yeech. So much for the relaxing sleep the night before. But I digress.

So I thought I should start putting some eye candy up on my blog, and conveniently Rick has done some photos of the stock I took to the Big Bead Show and tweaked some of them. So here they are! or not…there will be a blip while I sort this out.

Monday afternoon

I don’t know what’s going on, but the last few days I’ve spent bead making I seem to have managed to cut my fingers twice a day, that’s 6 cuts on 3 days. Wot? I just don’t get it! And of course they’re the kind of light paper styli cuts that keep opening up slightly and stinging lots. Ouch. So what’s going on?

Well, I think I may be starting to panic a tad, oh yes, it’s that time of year again when offers of exhibitions and shows, all starting on the same date, all come slewing in at the last minute to tempt me to join in. Now if it was one event after the other it wouldn’t be too bad as I could make some new stock, display that, then while it’s out there make some more to top it up and so on. But of course it’s not, and here was I planning to start making up Christmas stock in September and October, but what happened? I had 3 bead fairs in 2 months, only 1 that I’d actually planned well in advance, and that kind of put things back. I’m also very pleased to be doing lots of bead making tuition and I can now reveal that I have a regular order now too. I wanted to do it for a while before mentioning it here, but it’s going well and giving me lots of practice although it does give me less time for my other activities.I think I may have to resort to making myself a timetable, or I should say do some project planning to make sure I get everything done. Oh well, I’d better get off and put some washing on and run the dishwasher…what an exciting life I lead!

Monday afternoon

Phew, I’m glad this weekend is over. It was a very busy show on Saturday at Sandown, a huge event with masses of stalls and hundreds of visitors. Thank you to everyone who came to see us and say hello, and of course to everyone who bought my beads. My tray of new beads was decimated by the end of the show, I hope you all enjoy using them. I was so busy all day that it was only when I popped over to Tufnells late afternoon to collect my glass supplies that I realised how wet it was outside, yuch. Fortunately we didn’t have too far to drive to get home so were tucking into a well deserved curry and a bottle of wine by about 8 o’clock that evening, and today I’m sat here with my feet up having a second day of rest to get over the last 2 months solid of work. I now have to plan how I’m going to fit in the next 2 months work and sort Christmas at the same time, rather than leave it all until the last week before the event.

I have 3 tuition dates remaining this year, all of them for 1 person to attend a 1 day Beginners Beadmaking Course. The dates available are

Friday 7th Nov (yes…this week!)

Wednesday 12th Nov (next week)

Thursday 27th Nov

Email me to secure your place on one of these courses, the last dates available before next February! We are planning to replace the studio in January next year so I will not recommence teaching until February.