Sarah Downton Beads and Jewellery

Wednesday tea time

If you have been following me on Twitter or Facebook you will see that I have been a very busy bunny adding lots of new beads to my shop on an almost daily basis, I’ve ditched the Tuesday listing only and I’m popping stuff up every day at the moment. The only days I didn’t list was when I was suddenly invited to teach at West Dean College a weekend ago. Oh yes, did I tell you I taught at West Dean?!!! Here’s some snaps of the gardens.

So I had an email followed by a phone call the next day, and before I knew it I was booked to teach the Glass Beadmaking weekend class that started the same day, which meant I had 5 hours to organise my tools, glass, books and any other teaching bits I needed, pack my clothes, sort childcare and drive there to start teaching that evening. It was absolutely manic but so worth it. I had a super weekend, wonderful students who were so grateful that I had stepped in at such late notice to teach them, and my lovely Rick came too. He spent the time taking some fabulous photos and bobbing in and out of the teaching room, and also got to go on a short chocolate and wine tasting course (the lucky thing). So while I worked he stuffed chocolate……(It’s normally the other way around, lol).  It’s a fabulous place to spend time and be creative, and I was thrilled to be asked to teach there.

I’ve just added a new tuition date for anyone who is interested in coming to my studio in Horsham for a 2 day introduction to glass beadmaking. The course has one place remaining, but if you are interested in having a go and want to bring a friend, simply drop me a line and I’ll send you a list of other available dates.

New tuition date – Wednesday 18th to Thursday 19th April, Beginners Beadmaking, 1 place.

Here’s some of my latest beads added to Etsy.

Monday tea time

So the big news for this week is that I have at last set-up my own business Facebook page, yay. It’s called Sarah Downton Contemporary Glass beads (no surprise there then!)

If you haven’t already then click below to like my new Facebook page, it will be grey if you have already liked it.

I have to admit that it took the best part of Friday to do, and is a work in progress as I have a few little bits to add to it, but you don’t need to worry about them. You can also access a peek at my Etsy store page from the page by clicking on the Etsy button on the left hand side of my new page. Did I tell you I have a new page yet? 😉 You can follow the link to go and have a looksee, and I’d love it if you’d love my page. That way I can keep you in touch with my latest beads, happenings, fairs, and Etsy listings. To make it even more worth your while I will be having a giveaway, to be drawn randomly from everyone who likes my page. I haven’t yet decided what the prize will be, but I will be announcing it later this week, and you will be eligible for the draw even if you have already liked me.

With all this flurry of activity I have also managed to add yet more new beads to my Etsy store. and I hope to revert to listing regularly on a Tuesday now that I have my shop back up to respectable levels of stock.

Here’s a look at what I added yesterday and a taster of what will go up tomorrow

Tea Time Thursday

In case you haven’t already twigged, I have new beads in my Etsy shop, yay! Some designs are completely new, others, like the Grass and Sky Jupiters have been waiting impatiently for me to take the time and make them into a lovely set, and now I have (although they are still new in regards to never having been seen in those colourways). I have another set (Terra Firma) inspired by the lovely work of American beadmaker Kim Neely, whose inspiring book of colour recipes I bought last year to help kick start my creativity and get me out of the rut I felt I was in. I have been exploring using silver glass (mainly Double Helix) and all the effects that I can get from it in simple beads but needed the push to take it all a bit further.

Here’s a peek at some of the new sets……