Sarah Downton Beads and Jewellery

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.

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.

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.

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.

Friday morning

I’m feeling a bit smug this morning, all I’ve done is put some chicken portions in a plastic bag with some marinade ingredients ready to tip out and bake tomorrow or Sunday, and suddenly I’m feeling like a domestic goddess. Of course I still have to sort tonights dinner and do some food shopping instead of patronising Tesco Express every second we run out of something else. But I can’t help feeling smug and slightly organised, if only it was that easy! This meal in anticipation is all down to another of Nigellas recipes, this time from her new book Nigella Express, which Rick brought home unexpectedly as a surprise for me a couple of weeks ago. I expect you’re thinking ‘that’s very nice of him’ or maybe ‘ooo, how devious, maybe I  should buy my partner a copy of this and then I’ll never have to cook again’.  Ha ha, I know what you’re up to mate!

I do like how she thinks and writes too, as she discusses spending a few minutes in the day to prepare something that can marinade/freeze/cook slowly for a couple of hours while she goes and attempts to do what she calls ‘doomed jobs’ like trying to tidy her desk. I know how she feels, but really wish I could plan things on the dinner front a bit better than I do. Marinading meat, preparing meatballs and kebabs and generally being organised, as well as using the pasta machine we bought when we married eleven years ago were all things that I thought I’d do when I gave up working full time. However I had no idea I’d start a small business and end up busier than I ever was before self-employment. I don’t really think I could ever be a ‘lady wot lunches’. I also wonder how organised Nigella would be if she didn’t write recipes for a job, I mean, she’s actually working when she prepares a meal ahead. If I did that for a living I expect I’d be more organised, after all, my work would be planning and preparing food. Maybe I’m in the wrong business? Have a great weekend!

Tuesday morning

It’s finally here, silly season has started and I’m up to my eyeballs in making jewellery to sell at the pre Christmas events I’ve booked, and the current score is 2 down, 4 to go. I actually have a slight feeling of euphoria this morning, wondering whether it’s worth slogging my guts out any more for the remaining events, but I know it will be worth it. On today’s list of makes are some aluminium earrings, using some of the sheets of designs I enjoyed colouring during the summer and a further selection of freshwater pearl earrings and maybe some bracelets to go with them. I also somehow need to get some fresh food in the house as we seem to have run out of our basic building blocks for so many of our meals here. It’s finding time to do t’internet shopping whilst I’m knee deep in fairs that’s a problem. I honestly don’t know how other designer makers survive doing the fair circuit that they do, some people I know do a couple of weekend fairs a month, farmers markets, kids parties and still seem to be able to live. What I want to know is how do they find time to make what they sell and keep their house running?…I’ll leave you with that thought, must dash!

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!

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.

Friday tea time

We’re nearing the end of the half term hols, and you’ve guessed it, I haven’t done half of the things I planned for the week. Partly because we (my daughter and I) have been going to a kids club every morning, her to take part and me to help, apart for today when I laid languishing in bed this morning with the stupid cold I seem to have acquired yesterday. We have managed to do some baking together, lovely Rainy day Biscuits from Nigellas’ ‘Feast’ and we even got around to decorating them too. I’m really enjoying the challenge of colour mixing with the food colours available, another bit of fun for the mistress of colour (that’s me by the way), it reminds me of the lovely time I had this summer colouring numerous sheets of aluminium.

Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself, we did do all the things I’d planned up to and including Wednesdays activities, I just think my daughter’s going to have to wait a bit longer for her handmade pink cushion covers to go with her new bedroom, sneakily made from the bottom of her curtains that I also have to shorten, and I’m going to have to tidy my bedroom when I can fit the job in. All that’s left to do today is to find bits to help make one of the 2 Halloween  outfits that my daughter need for the 2 parties she’s going to, this should be fun!

Thursday morning

I went out last night! I never go out, or at least hardly ever. We went and scoffed Pizza with a group of friends and then I stayed out and went to the flicks, yay! We saw Atonement, and I have to say ‘what a film’, it was a work of art, much nicer than the location of the pizza place and cinema.  It’s been ages since I last saw a film (I think it was Narnia) and I really love watching films on the big screen, but last night the whole leisure park felt so alien and bright. All the restaurants had bright lights, obviously to get you in and out really fast, and they all seemed so American and ……I hope I’m not offending anyone here, but you would have been forgiven for thinking you were not in England.

Don’t get me wrong, it was all good value and tasted nice, but where was the identity? What I mean to say is, everything has gone so global now, you see pictures on the news of people in other countries, and you’d struggle to tell where they are, and the same fast food places are seen the world over. Maybe I’ve just moved on in my culinary and cultural expectations? I like the differences you get when you travel around, and I like towns and shopping centres to feel different, but all the same shops are everywhere, which is obviously great for the chain of shops that is doing well, but one shopping centre or town centre could easily be confused for another. It’s the shopping mall and out of town stores thing.

Anyway, I am pleased we have a good cinema in Crawley, we used to have to travel to Brighton, or Lakeside to see films before Richard Branson stopped over in Crawley one night on one of his many trips to visit his Virgin offices (I followed him in to the Virgin Airlines office once, boy he was tall and walked extremely fast, which was unfortunate for me because I was going to tap him on the shoulder and say ‘gi’s a job’ only I couldn’t keep up and probably wouldn’t have been able to reach his shoulder) (that was a long bracket) and decided to go and see a film, only to find that we didn’t have a decent cinema, so decided he’d build one.

Talking of tall celebs I’ve seen on my travels, Chris Evans, he’s one, and he walks fast, also Jonathan Woss (sorry….Ross) and he talks a lot, I had to wait 20 minutes for him to stop yakking so I could get served in a fabric shop in Soho once. Trips to London are good places to see celebs if you like doing that, we used to spot at least one wild one each trip.

I’ve rambled on a bit this morning, but in true Sarah stylie I still have a shed load of ‘stuff’ to do (don’t I always?) so I’m going to get on with it and try to get past my cheese induced headache.

Tuesday morning…one week later

Morning chaps! Phew, our washpile has decreased in size, not completely mind, but significantly. It’s now all safely in the basket, rather than cascading jauntily over the edge and up the bookcase. Now we have to finish tidying up after decorating our daughters bedroom, although Rick still does have the door to paint (hint hint).  We were going to progress to doing our bedroom, but I’m starting to panic about the Christmas sales, so I reacon that might have to wait until the spring.

There’s lots to do, getting my stock of jewellery ready for the few sales I’m attending, attempting to plan ahead for our Christmas so I don’t get in the usual rush, Christmas cards and letter to do (I said I was going to do this early last year but failed miserably….we didn’t even send any cards….mind you we were actually entertaining Christmas day for the first time and organised a Christmas Carol Service), our present shopping and all the commissions I get at this time of year. I’m also planning an exhibition at the moment that will take place in February next year, so not long to go. This will be my first posh exhibition that I’ve organised, and I’ve invited a couple of friends to share the space and time with me. Most of this needs to be done before Christmas as I usually end up doing my tax through January, so I need to get as much jewellery made as possible before then. Oh dear, what have I let myself in for?

Tuesday morning (just)

It’s official……..the washing has exploded all over the floor and the wash pile on top of the wash bin is now greater than the amount inside the bin. I heard Rick snigger the other evening as he tossed another pair of used kecks onto the pile and wondered what was up. He was trying to get the top of the pile higher than the bookcase it was beside! Honestly one bead event or a show and the housework system goes up the spout (housework system? do we have one?) ha ha, although talking to other beaders on Sunday it seems they have the same problem. One even commented that if they were burgled that the theives would probably leave the house tidier than they found it! lol.

It’s nice to have a little breathing space to get my work (and the house maybe?) sorted for the Christmas rush, oh, famous last words, I just know that even though all feels so calm today that it’s all going to get mega busy again and I’ll revert to headless chicken mode sooner rather than later. Speaking of which I should go and do some more jobs. Ta ta.

Tuesday evening

Another successful few hours at the torch today, I’ll go and get my goodies from the kiln in a  minute. Of course the lounge still looks like a bomb hit, but with good cause, we’ve been decorating our daughters bedroom for the last couple of weeks and there’s stuff everywhere…well, there always is in our house for some reason or another. At least the new room looks tidyish at the moment, and it looked extremely pink and bright this morning too. I think I may have to wear shades tomorrow (no kidding) when I go in there, it’s the sunlight streaming through the new curtains that really did it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the rooms new look, and it’s not at all Barbie or baby pink, just a deep rich shade of dark pink on one wall and furnishings in pinky purple, red and some orange….lush. I may have to sleep in there myself! The only downside is that I now have to go through everything my daughter owns with her, and decide what she keeps, recycles or passes on, and we have 6 years worth of stuff…eek, I’m not looking forward to it. Off to get my beads….I made some pink today!

Saturday lunchtime

Don’t blink, don’t turn away, don’t blink……..well I did and my week has been stolen. It hasn’t really, but it made an interesting start to this post. I’ve been busy teaching all week in what should have been a quiet and cooler month, and hasn’t it been hot and sunny? The weather’s been gorgeous and we’ve been getting soooooo hot with 2 burners, 3 people and a kiln in a relatively small space. It looks like summer has arrived at last, mind you the main problem with that is the wasps have arrived as well. But the good news is that most flying things haven’t bothered us this week with the new all singing and dancing fly screen. We had 2 sneaky wasps find a large gap when we hadn’t closed it properly but that was all. Not bad going really, so definitely an improvement on no screen and lots of screams!

Meanwhile the saga of the unruly house continues, you should see it (or maybe not). Stuff everywhere since we decided to decorate our daughters bedroom and are now having to accommodate 8 years worth of general stuff and art in the rest of the house. We really need to have a big sort out and de clutter before it all goes back in…which it’s NOT going to do. I’m well prepared for the sort out….got my dust masks and dust goggles last weekend to cope….I have a dust allergy see? I think it may end up looking like a scene from Silent Witness if we’re not careful. Now where did I put my white disposable coveralls?

Friday lunchtime

Still in a spin! But I’ve installed what I hope will be one of the best improvements to my studio yet…….drum roll please………..

a fly screen!

……oh yes, don’t you just hate it when you’re in mid flow, crafting some amazing bead or pendant, and in wafts a buzzy thang on the draft, buzzes around your head, whizzes left and right in front of you, and generally harasses you. What can a girl do when she’s torching at over 1000 deg c and can’t stop until said item is finished and put in the kiln! Last year I lost several sculpted off mandrel leaves in late summer as the pesky insects came in one after the other, intimidating me and threatening to set up home in my pad. I think the wasp nest in the tree 4 metres from my door didn’t help much either. Large Kamikaze moths in the evening have also been something of a problem, diving headlong into my flame then crazily fluttering around in ever decreasing circles as their scorched wings make them fly wonky, then crawling on my bench in circles on their only remaining legs and wing. Should I also mention the dust these things make as their scales flake off, only just missing my hot glass? Maybe this could be a new inclusion to my beads, like Pixie Dust. So hopefully, gone will be the days of me screaming like a big girls blouse and struggling to resist the temptation to rush out of my studio as fast as possible to avoid the critters……enjoy the sun!

Tuesday morning

Hurrah! I have the house to myself again. Oh what to do first! I’m all in a spin! I’m itching to get out to my studio and make new beads, I have so many new ideas, lots of inspiration from my last visit to Cornwall, and last night in bed – well, I was trying to get to sleep and a parade of new bead designs and colours kept floating up to my eyes and then moving on for the next one. Very peculiar I must say, and a first for me, I just hope I can make them or at least attempt to draw them or even remember all of them today ‘cos they were really yummy.

Unfortunately I have lots of admin stuff to do, and a desk and work area to organise (again) but at least the house is looking somewhat clearer now. I’ve been doing lots of gradual tidying because it’s still painful to sit down for long after my stair tumble, which also goes to show that there’s always a good side to find in any problem. lol.

Wednesday morning

It’s been a while hasn’t it, did you miss me? It was a real struggle for me not to post over the past few weeks, and yet before I started my beadlog I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to keep it up. Still, here we are towards the end of the school holiday, and I’m in a rather delicate state! Not through being in the constant presence of an 8 year old, but due to the mishap I had yesterday lunchtime when I managed to slip and bump down all but 5 steps on a very steep carpeted staircase at a friends house. Woops. Needless to say I’m still feeling a bit shaken and am wondering how I’m going to cope with all those jobs I need to do today and this week. The house still looks less than tidy, due to lots of trips, the Winchester exhibition, GBUK beadfair, the course I did last week and general stuff that needs putting away. Oh well. Some things never change.

I’d like at this point to say how lovely it was to meet everyone who came to say hello at the bead fair this weekend. It was good to put faces to names, and we all had a very enjoyable day. I’m not sure what other bead-fairs I will be doing next year, I’ve applied for a few but need to hear back from the organisers. I will post details on my events page when I have them.

Monday evening

The school hols are well and truely here. We’re one week in and I’m still not on holiday even if my daughter is. My work and emails are so stacked up, but fortunately even my mum doesn’t think I’m a failure, she reckons I’m behind because of my daughters pneumonia earlier on this year, and I have to say I think she’s right. All those days spent in hospital and at home caring for a convalescing child meant that I didn’t get any torching time in, and when I did, well, remember the kiln problems? Also my mind was on more important things, family health means so much and can’t help but take priority. Still, I’m much less stressed now, having finished my do’s for now, although we do have the GBUK bead fair looming at the end of August.

The design fair at Winchester is over, we went down on Friday as I was stewarding and made a family day of it. The city is lovely, I didn’t see much, but what I did looked nice. Also the work in the show was lovely and I saw several items that I could have spent my money on. Thank you to every one who came to see my work and those of you who came to say hello to me on Friday, it was lovely to meet you.

Tuesday evening

We have our book! We decided to live dangerously and go to Waterstone’s at midnight for a bit of fun. It was an interesting experience, with youths in cars slowing down to shout funny stuff out of the window at the queue. We waited 1 hour in the cold and dark to collect our book, with a small witch at our side, and when we were given our book in a black plastic bag and asked where the posh orange paper bags were, the manageress replied ‘we have to save some for the people coming in the morning that couldn’t come tonight’. I’m sorry, but what’s that all about? Surely if we make the effort to stand in the cold and dark at midnight we should reap the benefits, not the lazy dudes who couldn’t be bothered, or who didn’t care less, or just couldn’t make it. It’s a shame if they wanted to get there but circumstances were against them, but we were there! Tch. lol.

It is Friday today…

and Potter mania is well and truly here (together with the rain). What we want to know is how much effort goes into organising the distribution of the new books by the posties. We know that Royal Mail lost the contract to one of their competitors (a quick chat to our friendly postie told us that) but they will still end up posting all the books anyway but get less money for it. How daft is that? So my questions are ‘do they employ more postmen for the day? What about the poor chaps who go on bikes down remote lanes? What happens if a few really remote houses down a bridle path have all ordered 10 copies each? Do the Royal Mail know well in advance where the books are going to be delivered so they can get extra staff where needed?’ I can see it now, Mr postie on his bike wobbling down the path with 300 Potter books on his back. How do they know where the bulk of the orders are, and if they’re not in places where people don’t normally get much post? So does everyone who pre-ordered (including us!) get their book on Saturday, or do lots of people have to wait for the cogs of the system to cope with the extra bulk? For us it’s a trot down to our local friendly Waterstones amid the wizards and witches at midnight, although I think I’d rather be tucked up in bed, especially if it’s chucking it down like it is at the moment.

What I do find bizarre is the people who wait all this time for the story, then speed read it. Where’s the fun in that? Surely you want the enjoyment to last as long as possible? I know I always have to force myself to put the books down, but speed reading! It’s certainly a dilemma, you want to enjoy the book for as long as possible, but on the other hand you just HAVE to know what’s going to happen next. JK has certainly crafted a wonderful series of books, and I’m going to miss them. I wonder what she’ll come up with next?