Sarah Downton Beads and Jewellery

Friday morning

Hurrah, we have more space in the lounge! Oh yes, we got stuck in last Saturday and actually managed to reclaim some floor space. We spent the day emptying the cupboards we bought to house all our daughters toys and bits when she was little, and for the old huge telly to sit on. It was 2 Ikea kitchen cabinets, both 60 cms wide and 60cms deep sitting out from the wall so that the TV could be rotated, and to cover the fireplace hole left when the old house owner sold up and decided to take his new fireplace with him because we refused to pay extra for it. Well it was a bit naff and not to our taste. We also (when we moved in) pulled off all the 70’s naff stone fireplace surround and hearth as we were terrified that our baby (just starting to walk at one year old) would fall and crack her head open on it. So all these years it’s been hidden by cupboards.

I have to confess to being rather staggered by the amount of rubbish that we had been storing in these cupboards, as I’d been saving all sorts of bits and pieces to use for junk modelling, something I used to love as a kid, not really realising that now if you want lovely shiny paper or card you can go and buy it. Gone are the days of recycling your Quality Street wrappers to make light catching jewels to adorn a mobile, although I bet someone out there is doing it well, but not the kids. Anyway, we have successfully sorted lots of paper and bits for recycling, and even managed so far to rehouse one of the 2 cupboards in a very successful position even if I do say so myself.

So now all we have to do (ha ha) is make some sort of fireplace surround to fake a fireplace and make the area look good. At the moment we have a small cube storage unit (one destined to go into my studio) with the TV on it in front of the fire area. Then we should have even more floor space. Talking of my studio……..how cold? I popped out to put the kiln and heater on before coming here, and it was so cold that it was almost hazy in there. The kiln was reading 1 deg C when I switched it on, and I’m sitting here putting off the inevitable. It will be interesting to see how warm I am in my new improved super dooper insulated studio. Please think warm thoughts for me.

Friday morning

2 posts in one week, boy we’re steaming. So it’s full speed ahead in the run up to Christmas, I know it’s a bit of a dirty word, but the event can’t be ignored, in fact I don’t wish to ignore it, I just wish it wasn’t all such hard work.  I used to do loads of fairs in November and December, but gradually whittled them back until I was only doing 2, and this year I have none for the first time. This is good because it means we actually have some Saturdays available, not many, but a couple, and we’re planning to use them fully.  Now this may sound like I’m sitting back and doing nothing…so wrong. I have 2 exhibitions with the Surrey Guild of Craftsmen, one at Bank Gallery in Chobham which runs from 7th December to 16th January 2011, and one in Guildford from Friday 10th December to 24th December (this means more stewarding dates and lots of jewellery to make and catalogue). More details to be found on my events page.

We’re also in the throws of having a good old clear-out, general tidy up and major reorganisation downstairs and anywhere else that things are being moved to….you know how it goes…..

‘Let’s move this’ says Sarah
‘OK, but where shall we put it?’ Says Dickie, trying not to laugh at the Darth Vader mask that Sarah is wearing as she has a real problem with the dust.
‘Oh, that could go in the _____ (insert place name here).’ replies Sarah
‘But if we put it there, then we need to move the ________ (insert name of object or furniture).’ whines Dickie
‘OK, but where will we then put the ________ (insert name already inserted above) that we move?’ says Sarah, trying to sound chirpy but getting annoyed at the amount of work to gain an extra 2 square metres of floor space.
‘Dust, dust, anyone? High calorie or low? Dust?’

…..and so it goes on.

So the plan is to regain as much lounge space as possible, I’ll let you know how we get on, maybe, if it goes well. I also probably should put on a face mask.

Wednesday morning

Well hello there. Bet you thought I’d gone. It’s about time I re-surfaced really. So what’s new and what’s been happening? The past few weeks have been full of teaching, half term ending with the Big Bead Show, and a week long stint of stewarding in the Surrey Guild of Craftsmen Gallery in Milford. To say I’m exhausted would be very true. The Big Bead Show was an excellent day out, we saw lots of friends, regular customers, lots of new customers and lots of students came by to say hello and to show off their new lampworking equipment or glass and tool goodies. Thank you to everyone who came and made our day really special.

My week in the gallery at Milford was an interesting one. I started off by cleaning my cabinet and all my jewellery in it, that took 2 days, as every time I was about to do something someone came in and I had to stop. But it all looks nice and shiny and new again now, together with the new pieces that I made while I was there. I also spent a day hatching a cunning plan to sell more in the gallery, and spent all of 2 days at home busy making lots of big hole beads and little project sets to sell. I have designed new packaging to sell these new pieces and spent Friday and Saturday packaging up my smaller items to sell and display in the gallery. It would be fair to say I worked a 16 hour day from Monday to Saturday last week, no wonder I’m officially pooped.

So, if you are in the market for a beautifully made individual  Big Hole Bead with no silver lining (I’ve called them Sky Beads) pop on down to the Surrey Guild of Craftsmen Gallery and have a look in one of my wicker baskets. I have singles, pairs and trios available to buy, already gift packed for a perfect stocking filler, prices from £3 up to £10. I also have my handmade icicle hanging decorations, these look lovely on a tree or hanging in doorways or anywhere else that they will catch the light. My other stocking filler is a pretty handmade lampwork bead with 2 plain coordinating beads on an adjustable cotton thong necklace, again gift packed, making the perfect stocking filler at only £5.

I have a couple of new tuition dates on my tuition page, one of these is my last teaching date for 2010 on Wednesday 1st December,  drop me a line now to reserve your place on either of these courses.