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Archive for Glass Beads

‘Sarah Downton Beads’ short closure….do I need a doctors note?

Monday afternoon

So this is it, my last post before my surgery tomorrow, by lunchtime it should all be done and then I can start getting better and looking forward to a healthier, more active lifestyle like I used to have. I still have 99 things to do, of course, but then I have spent more time organising things for my daughter who isn’t really old enough yet to sort out her own stuff. Anything else to do with my business will just have to wait until later next week if I feel up to it. If you’ve sent me a contact form lately and I haven’t replied yet I hope you won’t mind waiting a couple of weeks, I can’t quite get my head around them at the moment, not sure why!

I plan to start teaching again in September, and dates are booking up quickly, so there will be more opportunity during October for beadmaking lessons. That sounds such a while away, but I’m sure it will slam into us real fast, as time generally seems to have a way of sneaking certain dates up on us, no matter how well prepared we thought we were.

I must go now and finish packing my bag for my stay in hospital. Bye for now.

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2 weeks to go…..

Tuesday morning

What a lovely day. It’s so nice that I’ve taken up my old habit of sitting outside on the bench in front of my studio to type this entry. It’s truly lovely, and it’s days like today that make me so glad that I don’t work in an office for someone else any more. Being self employed is hard in itself because you seem to work loads of hours for not much profit,well, that’s the case with most art related designer makers, although if I was in another line of business I’d make real sure I was making a decent profit, but then art is about so much more than making a quick buck. However, I digress, yes, it’s days like today that make you feel glad to be alive and happy to be at home.

So 2 weeks to go, and my jobs are getting done even though I haven’t planned their timing to the nth degree. I’m hoping to get into my studio and make beads for my Open Houses jewellery again today, even though I’ve almost managed to fill my cabinet with pieces made previously. I now have the mind numbing chore of making earwires and headpins to make up my earrings and pendants, yawn! I do like making jewellery, it’s just that some jobs get a wee bit tedious and the fun part is making up the pieces and looking at all the lovelies! Today I’m hoping to make some more hollows to complete some fun fab necklaces, along a similar design idea to my large hollows necklace that featured on all of last years Open Houses literature. Oh, my tea mug is empty, that means our time is up for today, must pop off and fire up the kiln.

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Brighton breezy

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.

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Here comes the sun

Friday morning

Wow it’s so lovely outside today, and it was yesterday too. I had a better session in the studio, even though I’m suffering with a throat infection, and think I have my Tempest bead at last. I’m hoping to go out and make more lovelies today, although I’m not sure yet what I need to do……..goes off and rummages in bead boxes. I should probably be good and start getting organised for Open Houses and the Ardingly Bead Fair this summer, but I feel like experimenting today, something that I don’t feel I get much time to do. I’ve been playing around with my new press that I swapped with someone, it’s a lentil, which I thought was going to be difficult to use, but actually it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. That’s it, I’ve decided, I’ll do some experiments and some production work, a good compromise. Have a great weekend.

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Tempestuous troubles

Wednesday morning

Isn’t it fantastic having longer evenings now? I’m starting to get itchy feet and want to get lots of things done, and go abroad, it must be the spring thing. I love this time of year, there’s so much of a feeling of new beginnings. We have several projects that we’re hoping to do here this year, I expect we’re being too optimistic, but we will achieve half of them probably, although it’s already April, how did that happen? and the next 2 weeks ahead are school holidays, I just don’t feel ready for that.

Fridays bead session was fun, although I made 2 rather long beads (the longest being  70mm, although I just about managed 82mm last week before it cracked at each end, I won’t be trying that again!) that took absolutely ages to do, 1 and 1/2 hours each start to finish, then one of them had a nasty crack up the centre at one end, so disheartening. It’s always the same when you have a deadline, these beads are attempt number 5 and 6 for the Tempest invitational exhibition that I’m taking part in, and I only have 3 out of the 6 beads to choose from due to various cracks and problems with this design. I can see I won’t be doing many more of these, but I will try and do a smaller version that is quicker and easier to keep in one piece while I’m working on it.

I filled the rest of my time with quicker things, experiments with pleat beads, I’d always wondered how Nicole Zumkeller and Eric Seydoux did their close lines, and had worked it out for myself then came across a great couple of threads on Lampwork etc . I had fun with this technique, taking it further than the tutorials for my first bead. Pics will follow later if I can persuade hisnibs to get them ready for me.

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Here comes the weekend

Friday morning

I love 4 day weeks, they seem so……short. The downside is that they reduce my days available for bead making unfortunately. I shall be going down the garden to my studio shortly as I have a mammoth 8 hours available to me today that I hope not to waste, although I do have some ‘paper’ things to do first. I have to say that the weather is putting me off somewhat, but I’m sure I’ll get over it.

So T5 (or Terminal 5) at Heathrow is up and running. lol. I can’t but help laughing, but I do feel sorry for BA as the whole project has gone so well, to time etc., and it’s not like they didn’t test all the systems rigorously. Having worked as a project manager and engineer in Industry I know what an achievement this is. Of course they forgot to factor in the mass of people problem with parking and getting in the way of the staff. Life would be so much easier for them and British Rail if there weren’t lots of pesky passengers around to get in the way and mess things up. It’s the same with the hospitals really, which reminds me of an entertaining episode of ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ where they had a hospital fully staffed with all sorts of management, not so many medical staff and absolutely no patients. Ahh, the old ones are the best……tongue firmly in cheek.

Now I have to go and decide what to make today, an arduous task, not. I think I might break out the silver foil again today and makes some real jewels of glassiness. Yippee I can’t wait.

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Definately not an accounts day

Wednesday morning

It’s Wednesday morning again, and am I smugly doing my accounts? Am I heck. I did that once only, then reality took hold and strangled all the hope out of me…..not really, but there’s always a more important job to do than accounts. It’s a bit like housework in that respect. The thing is, I do think about doing it every Wednesday, then I realise that there’s something more important to be done. Take today, I have a big deadline I’m working towards on Friday, well 2 actually, so I MUST work on that job or I will miss it, as it’s actually a Thursday deadline for the post, which means the deadline is actually tonight as I have to have everything prepared this evening. So should I be number crunching? which if truth be told is only there to support the main event, which is my bead and jewellery making. I don’t think so. Mind you when these dates are past I will have a bit of a breather, and look, it’s then the start of the new financial year, which brings with it the joys of stock taking, whoopee. I think I’ll leave any attempt at counting my stuff until the school spring break.

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Pizza party

Tuesday afternoon

We are in the throws of half term once more, and I am reminded of the events of last February’s half term when I spent the week and longer in The Royal Brompton and Harefield hospital in Chelsea with my daughter who  was suffering with a very bad bout of pneumonia. I much prefer this February! Although it looks like I won’t actually be doing my accounts tomorrow morning as planned because I forgot the school holiday and I have a hair cut booked, oh, how easily my best intentions go to pot. At least I’ve managed so far to do something vaguely mummsy today, by making dough and getting my daughter and her friend to make their own pizza for lunch. Yum. And we have half the dough left, so we can have some fun with that tomorrow….maybe bread rolls or dough balls with garlic butter, very naughty but nice.

I’m getting very confused by the weather at the moment, we’ve been sweltering at home today (not really, I thought it sounded good) and yet if I turn the heating down or off altogether we totally freeze in the evening, what’s that all about then? Aside from that I’m revelling in the fact that the evenings are getting longer by leaps and bounds, hopefully I’ll feel like making beads in the evening when the evenings are even lighter and more importantly warmer. I am fast running out of time to make my own beads and jewellery for the events that I have planned for the summer, namely the Guild exhibitions, Open Houses and 2 bead fairs. Looks like I’ll be raiding my bead box for further bargains and clear-out beads to top up my stock.

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Spring at last

Tuesday morning

At last, I managed some beading time last week, and even managed to try 7 of my new frits and my new press, woo hoo. Now I need to experiment for a couple of projects I’m doing, one I’ve committed to, the other I’ll do if I can come up with anything good. All will be revealed by the end of March! I’m heading out to my studio today when my kiln is warmer, 13.5 deg C in my studio this morning so it’s getting warmer outside.

I love this time of year, and find it a bit difficult to understand why these are the most depressing months after Christmas. It’s a wonder to go in the garden and see the flower stems pushing up through the cold earth, so full of life when everything else seems dead. It reminds me that summer is on the way, and fills me with thoughts of new beginnings and excitement. It also smells fresh and seems to be gradually warming up outside as the evenings get longer. I love the changing seasons, even though I’d love a hot summer all the time, I find the changes exciting and exhilarating.

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Time to play

Wednesday tea time

Yay, my accounts are finished and my tax return has been well and truly submitted, albeit at midnight on Monday. Typically I was so shattered yesterday that I didn’t do anything at all, but I think I deserved a day off after working all weekend, all last week and every evening last week. I’m now turning my thoughts to what jobs I can do before the next manic season arrives. I’d like to improve my studio and get the house and garden tidy (ha ha) but I bet something else gets in the way….it always does! I’m going to have to write a plan so that I can do preparation for the next bead fairs and jewellery exhibitions and dovetail it in with some home improvements. I also need to sit down and work out just how I can keep my accounts up to date as the year progresses, that would be so lovely, as then I wouldn’t waste all of January getting stressed and spending time on paperwork when I could be making beads and jewellery. It’s a nice thought but I can’t help feeling I won’t manage it, although if I take the defeatist attitude I don’t stand a chance, so, I’m going to make it work this year. I hope to start by tackling my current years accounts and getting up to date if possible. Oh what a boring subject, are you bored with this? I know I am.

So, I think I may well have to go out to my studio tomorrow and make some beads, I have new toys to play with, a new press that I got before Christmas, a Creation Station and 10 pots of frit that Rick brought back from New York, also my stash of Double Helix glass and Vetrofond odd lots that I haven’t had time to experiment with yet.  Also watch this space for some new beads in my shop, most with a valentines theme. So much to do, so little time.

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Havana Huerto haven

Monday morning

What a weekend, I need a rest to get over it. All Saturday we were preparing for the bead fair yesterday, and of course yesterday was the main event. We had a lovely day mainly due to all you lovely people who came to say hello and spend some time with us. Now I have the unenviable job of finishing my accounts today so that my MIL can come over tonight to finish the tax part and do the online bit. Urrgh and I’m missing my class to do this today, still, it’s a good impetus to finish today.

What a fantastic and inspiring programme last night, I watched Monty Dons’ first part of ‘Around the World in 80 gardens’. I thought it would be interesting but was really amazed at the wonderful gardens and sights that he saw. Also the reasoning behind some of the gardens was very thought provoking, especially the Havana gardens in Cuba. Many of these gardens are tucked away in what used to be derelict areas of the city, and have been converted to communal fruit and vegatable plots for the benefit of the local residents. I loved the idea of the 60 small information centres where the gardeners could get help and advice on growing their crops, truly inspirational, and very green. There was also some amazing eye candy and many interesting themes and ideas for garden design and even bead inspiration. Just what I’m looking for to shape my new collection.

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Bead there or be square

Friday morning

Hi there, me again. What a lovely sunny day it is today. I’ve been walking my daughter to school every morning this week as Rick has been away, and every day has been different, but today is lovely. Especially as I now have 10 new gorgeous pots of frit to play with and my very own Creation Station at last, all hot off the plane from New York. There’s definitely an advantage to having family visit the States when you’re into making glass beads. Of course now I want to dash out to my studio and try out my new toys…err…work items…but that will have to wait until next week, hopefully Tuesday, when my accounts and thus tax will be well and truly done, yay. I just hope he hasn’t brought any critters home with him on his suitcase, it’s so reassuring to know they have high levels of bed bug infestations in New York, lol.

Don’t forget I will be at the Bead fair at Ardingly this Sunday, come and say hello and bag yourself some bargains, most of my reduced beads are at least 70% off, and I also have some special sets that have never been offered for sale before now. The show opens at 10am, see you there!

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Ardingly Bead fair this Sunday – 27th Jan

Wednesday morning

This has been such a busy January, I hadn’t realised how fast the weeks were going, and I’ve hardly chatted you guys. This month has been full of tuition and other pressing jobs, so much so that I still haven’t finished my accounts, and I’ve been avoiding writing here so that I don’t run out of time.

I’ve been spending some time in the evenings getting my stock ready for the beadfair at Ardingly this Sunday (27rd Jan). I’m having a bit of a clear out and it’s been fun going through my bead box, looking at the older beads I’ve made and hung on to because I like them and for inspiration. I really notice the improvement in my control of the glass, in shaping and general neatness, and have ditched several of the beads I would have been happy to sell during my first few years. However I do still have some from early on, that I’ve never offered for sale, and these will be in my bargain pots this Sunday, together with some old styles and some experiments. I hope to see you there.

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Events for 2008 & Ardingly Bead fair 2 weeks countdown

Monday morning

Hi guys and gals. I’ve just finished updating my events page with the bead fairs and Open Houses that I have booked for the coming year, so do shimmy on down for a look. My first event is the Beadwork fair at Ardingly in 2 weeks time, oooh eck that’s not long. I am planning to have a bit of a sale of some of my older beads and seconds, as they seem to have accumulated somewhat over the years, together with my newer sets and dichroic focal beads. So make a date on your diary please and at the very least come and say hello!

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It’s taxing time again

Monday lunchtime

At last, things are getting back to normal. I never thought I’d hear myself say it, but it’s a relief to get back into some sort of routine, and to get the house back to myself during the day. My first job was to tidy the kitchen while making breakfast, run the dishwasher and put on some washing. Well, I’ve managed all but the washing as I got waylaid by making sure that my birthday present worked OK, yes I know, but this is the first quiet moment that I’ve had to peek at my Kath & Kim DVD. Fatal.

Anyways, I’ve just about managed to get back on track and can actually see my desk again, having spent half the morning tidying it. (I can’t see the dining table anymore though.)These are of course delaying tactics whilst I avoid the real job of tackling the dreaded tax once more. All my new years resolutions went out the window last year very early on as we saw our daughter go into hospital for a couple of weeks and then have months off school. This seriously put me behind in every way last year, and saw me giving up my resolve to do my accounts once a week before I’d even started. lol. Hopefully things will run smoother this year, but these are famous last words so let’s see what the year has in store for us. I’d better push off and do some of the urgent jobs now. have a cool Monday.

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Happy New year

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.

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2 x 4 artists Christmas Exhibition

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.

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Breakfast in Bed (or not)(still trying to go with the song titles)

Thursday morning

It’s my birthday today, and I’m having to work cos my fairs start on Saturday, boo hiss boo. Still, that didn’t stop me trying to tart up my usual breakfast of porridge, that I normally do the same every day, with the exception of weekend when I might add a squirt of maple syrup, golden syrup or chocolate ice cream sauce – that’s the sauce not the ice cream….just in case you were wondering. So what I want to know is, what can you do to porridge to make it posh? The recipe books are full of all sorts of glamorous food, and new twists on old favourites, but seems everyone out there has neglected poor old porridge. In my quest to have a special birthday breakfast, you know, something modest and a bit different from normal, I thought where better to look than t’internet! Hmm, what I found is making me feel sicker than I do already (but more about that in a minute). Here’s a few of the recipes I found:-

Snail Porridge – yes I know, and this one’s on the BBC Food pages, seriously…check it out

Cranachan – this is porridge with cream and raspberries in, sounds OK so far? but get this……whisky! for breakfast? If I said it’s a Scottish recipe you’d understand.

Banoffee Porridge – this intrigued me, but what on earth is dulce de leche?

This was all a bit complicated for me this morning, and I’d come across a couple of recipes using apples and cinnamon, so I thought I’d just use a bit of the later to spice it up a bit. I have to say I’m now feeling a bit queezy, having gently tapped my jar of cinnamon and about 1 teaspoon of the powder came wooshing out and onto my porridge, covering it in a brown dust of old smelling spice which I quickly stirred in hoping it wouldn’t be too bad. A little pinch would probably have been better, and a quick look at the date on the jar revealed it was best before 1998, that’s not so long ago, isn’t it? oh yes, it is, 9 years!

An hour later and the taste is still there, better go and eat something else that might get rid of it at last. I don’t think I’ll be trying apple and cinnamon in my porridge, ever!

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Keum-Boo yah

Tuesday morning

I was reminded today that I haven’t blogged for over a week, is it really that long? I’ve been so busy teaching that the last couple of weeks have wizzed by and now I’m in full swing (well trying to be) getting ready for my local Christmas fairs. I’ve cut right back on these, concentrating on three that are really good normally (all in private schools), together with a couple at Bromley Adult Education centre where I go for a day off (ha ha) each week. I also have a group show with the 2 x 4 artists that I belong too, details for that can be found on my events page. Of course these shows are like buses, all coming at once, I have 4 in 8 days, then the rest are better spaced fortunately.

Oh I’d love to go out to my studio and make beads, but I’m indoors keeping warm and dry, spending my time making silver jewellery and assembling pieces with my beads. I’ve been going through my toolbox and jewellery experiments box the last few weeks to try and use some of the bits that I started and didn’t finish, it was amazing just how many ‘bits’ I’d accumulated, etching experiments, Keum-Boo shapes (gold foil applied to a silver sheet substrate), bits of fusing, castings, and list goes on. I’ve managed to use a small proportion of these, and have been going through the process to turn them into jewellery, but today is the best, as I’m actually finishing some pieces now, woo hoo.

Well, that was a pleasant break, chatting to you guys, but now I have to get on with my work, and go and see if my Flog Blog on Facebook has updated. Ciao.

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Now you see it, now you don’t

Tuesday Morning

It’s a beautiful day out there today. The sun’s shining and it’s not too cold, so, lovely conditions to meander down to my studio today and make some beads. It feels fairly calm today, with an undercurrent of panic setting in when I think too hard about the work I have to do in the next few weeks in the lead up to Christmas. I’ve already spent several days sorting my beads into sets and assembling them into my range of jewellery, and oh, I had to stop myself from just going and making beads or cute penguins and maybe a fish sculpture or two. To say ‘I’d rather be making beads’ would be an understatement. I’d better pop and put the kiln on as I’ve already spent far too long tidying the kitchen. (I’ve changed my mind, it’s a bit nippy out there, 6.5 deg C, but I’m still going to make beads. Now where did I put my thermals? )

It looked like the proverbial bomb had gone off in our kitchen after we entertained a friend on Sunday, and of course all the bakeware was still piled up in several greasy (but delicious smelling) piles waiting to be cleaned. I’ve managed to squeeze it all in the dishwasher, so I hope it comes out clean….but don’t tell Rick, I want him to think I’ve been stood barefoot at the sink all morning…lol.

Our visitor on Sunday was a friend, James Brown, who does magic, actually it’s a bit more than that, he was awarded the Magic Circle close-up magician of the year in 2006, and here’s a link to a video clip on You Tube. What a weekend it’s been, teaching on Saturday and James visiting on Sunday, and today it’s Ricks birthday, so, Happy Birthday Rick.

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