Sarah Downton Beads and Jewellery

Thursday Morning

So far so good this week, I’ve been able to have 3 long sessions at my torch to make lots of beads, and I’ve cleaned most of them. (I know!) It’s a struggle to balance making beads to sell at fairs and in my shop, and to make beads for my range of jewellery, but I’m happy no matter what! Now I need to find time to make the jewellery….hopefully all the dinners I’ve been cooking in the evening this week will buy me some production time from Rick while he cooks.

Now for the hot gossip…what about Katie on the Apprentice last night? Now that was a turn up for the books, she actually looked genuine after Sir Alan said she was through and with her discussions with him after the offer. I’m pleased Christine is through, I’ve been routing for her for a long time. As for those interviews….they were enough to make anyone squirm. It was amusing to observe the looks of confidence on the candidates faces as they arrived for the day, and to compare the look of devastation and worry after their gruelling.

It amazes me that in the 3rd (or is it the 4th?) series of the Apprentice that some of the candidates appear not to have watched any of the previous series, or if they did, that they failed to learn some of the key points about Sir Alan and how he likes things done. Who in their right mind applies for a 12 week long interview away from home without doing any research about him or the companies? And who applies for a job without considering that a relocation would be a probability? It just goes to prove that however smart people think they are, there will almost always be things that let them down, we are all only human after all.

Monday morning

Half term is over, daughter is at school, washing is on, kitchen’s almost tidy and the sun is shinning…all is well with the world. Now I just have to get really revved up to work hard as I have 2 major bead fairs, 1 minor beading day, 1 carnival, RAG Open houses and the Surrey Guild exhibition at Winchester Cathedral to prepare for, all in the next 7 weeks. I’m also going on a short Precious Metal clay course (already getting excited) and then a colouring anodised aluminium course (my third time) in this time frame. Phew. It always gets like this in the J months. Of course some of my preparations can be carried over from one event to the next, depending on how much I sell at the previous one, but I do like to produce some new designs for the summer events, both jewellery and beads, and this also takes more time than doing the same old same old. I also plan to make a new posh piece of jewellery, and need to mull this over while I work…..hmm, I wonder if I could squeeze a day off at the Hampton Court flower show too…..I’ll have to work on that one.

So….I’d better get on, the washing is beckoning me to hang it on the line (rotten stuff).

Oooh and while I remember, apologies to everyone who’s sent me emails in the last couple of weeks, my service has been up the spout, and Rick only just managed this morning to retrieve the ‘however many gigs of mail’ that has been sat waiting on the Talk Talk server for the past 2 weeks. We have now changed provider for my emails so normal service should soon be resumed (as soon as I get through the backlog).

Wednesday morning (1 week later)

Whoa, a whole week later, what happened? Oh yes, Whitsun weekend, and we’ve been away in our newly fixed caravan for a few days. I think I need a holiday now just to get over the packing and I would say unpacking too, but the floor’s still covered in ‘stuff’ that needs unpacking and putting away. I love going away but I really hate all the preparations beforehand and the tidying away when you get home. There must be some solution to this dilema? Obviously staying in hotels is one of them, going abroad on package holidays is another – only 1 suitcase per person and a bit of hand luggage – sounds good to me. It’s the camping thing that makes life complicated, this must be why it’s a relatively cheap holiday, because of all the effort involved.

I remember preparing for holidays abroad, this was fun because it consisted of shopping…. for sun lotion, toiletries and bikinis, also film for my camera (we’re going back a bit here….scarey isn’t it?) and a good pocket guide book. Maybe I also needed some new t-shirts, sun tops and flip flops, oh and a new suitcase. Whereas now it’s ‘have we got enough chemicals for the toilet?’ and ‘that saucepan’s going a bit rusty’ and ‘have you packed enough tea towels?’. Blrghhhhh.

I must have gone wrong somewhere along the line, I’ve gone from 2 weeks at the end of May and 1 week in September, both abroad, to 2 weeks in the UK in a caravan of all things. I suppose at least I put my foot down about using a frame tent, now that was humungous and took all day to pack up the last time we used it. Some people may say we got too complicated in our use of the tent and should have stuck to sleeping on carry mats, eating cold baked beans out of the can and sitting on the floor, but arthritis soon put an end to that type of camping for me (which is also why we’re now in a caravan).

So, the piles of ‘stuff’ are still lined up along the lounge floor, the kitchen still looks like the remains of a bomb has hit, and I have visitors arriving for lunch in 5 minutes………I’d better get on! see ya.

Wednesday morning

At last, I have a bit more time to blog in the morning…..well I don’t really, but the bench outside was beckoning and I didn’t want to let it down. It’s gorgeous out here, the birds are singing, the bees are buzzing (the Cotoneaster shrub next to me is heaving with bees, they really go mad for the flowers when they come out each year), I can hear people about their business and the scent of the flowers is amazing. I could almost be on a Greek Island in the sun, especially with the occasional sound of scooters.

I think I could really do with a parasol out here as I can barely see my screen, it’s sooo bright. Mind you, we all know what happens when I get involved with parasols, tea and my laptop! It’s a lot sunnier in our garden at the moment too as we still have 5 fence panels missing, I can’t get the bits I need to repair them for love nor money. This could make the job a bit tricky when we do get the bits as our neighbours shrubs next to the fence are just exploding with leaves and branches. I just LOVE this time of year in the garden as everything grows so fast, if you blink then look everything’s doubled in size.

We also have the pleasure of enjoying coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show, supported by Marshalls (tee hee). Isn’t it funny how the non-advertising BBC have to get their presenters to say this every time the show starts or ends on TV? I just wish they’d show more of the other gardens when they do these programmes, as I’ve noticed from my trips to the Hampton Court show that they seem to concentrate on the same few gardens each time when there are many other good displays to be seen also. Maybe they’re trying to leave something new for those who visit the shows? and OK Heather, I know I’m talking about TV again. Gotta go, as much as I enjoy wittering on to you lot I’ve stuff to do.

Friday teatime

It’s been a fairly sunny day here today, and is now staring to cloud over, we just hope the weather holds for the party we’re having before Mike Frantz leaves for Holland and Germany. What can I say about Mike? He’s a friendly, kind man, who has done loads for the bead making art glass community by taking the time to forge links with the Italians so that we can enjoy a beautiful range of the finest venetian glass. He’s been awarded the ISGB 2006 Hall of Flame Award – ‘this goes to a person whose contribution to the world of glass beadmaking as well as the ISGB (International Society of Glass Beadmakers) has left a long lasting legacy worthy of recognition’.

We enjoyed having Mike to stay for 2 nights, and he showed us many goodies that he’d obtained along the way, including some very valuable Murinnis that were stunning in detail, various samples of glass that he’d obtained from Effetre and Murano and a few select designer beads. He generously gave me (among a few other things) about 1/4 lb of a brand new colour from effetre to try first and some interesting goldstone which is shaped like a ribbon. It sure makes a change for us in England to have the first chance of trying a new colour or product.

And this is what I made with the new green called Grasshopper…….including the wigwags that I talked about yesterday…..the blue one is grasshopper free.

Thursday evening

Another week has passed since I last blogged, and guess what…I’m whacked out. We had a great time at Broadfield House on Saturday and then came home to get ready for Mike Frantz’s visit. Mike owns one of the 2 largest beadmaking supplies companies in the world called Frantz and knows so many beadmakers. He regularly flies to Venice from Washington state in America to visit Effetre who make the glass that so many of us love. I’ll write more about Mikes visit another day as he stayed with us for 2 nights, but today I’ve posted up some photos from our day at Broadfield House.

I should also add that today has been a first for me as I spent a few hours being one of the first beadmakers in the world to try out the new colour from effetre. It’s a minty green colour that Mike is going to call Grasshopper and is very close to a shade that I mixed myself in February. My beads from today are annealed, cooled and cleaned and await Ricks photographic treatment. I also made several wig wag canes today using this colour and may put up a photo of these tommorrow if you’re lucky, that’s if I can move my arms tommorrow, all that wig wag twisting has made them ache like mad. Ouch. I also get to try out the goldstone ribbon that Mike picked up in Venice, that’s what I’ll do on the morrow what ho!

Wednesday morning

It’s been a manic few days. I’ve been busy with preparing for and doing a couple of informal sales of my work. Both these mini events went well and now I’m gearing up for the Beads Day at Broadfield House this Saturday. This will be my third time at this event, selling my beads and jewellery together with those of other GBUK members and demonstrating glass bead making the studio. This has always been such a lovely day and we’re all looking forward to it. There are several bead stalls arranged in the various museum rooms and the museum is well worth a look around. Open 10am – 4 pm See you there!

Sunday lunchtime

I remembered today, sat here on my bench, how I used to sit and blog here, outside in the morning. and thought I should revive the practice. Only now it’s just started spitting with rain so I may trot back inside in a minuet. But I’m going to take a few moments, while I wonder how long I should stay here, to soak up the sounds of the birds, sparrows and woodpigeons, and the phantom nose hooter, and smell of the Spring (and all my neighbours sunday lunch smells wafting in the breeze). I can also smell my most favourite wiff starting, that of the dusty ground getting wet as it starts to rain after a dry spell. I think that’s one of the most magical aromas, and I could sit for hours deep breathing in the refreshing scent.

Rain after hot spells is so invigorating, and fills one’s body with renewed vigour (no, not vinegar), maybe they should try and bottle this fragrance, it would be a best seller with the smell of new born babys heads.

It’s stopped spitting now, but I’m covered in ducky bumps – otherwise known as goose pimples – it’s a term some friends and myself came up with as an alternative to the norm back when I was a nutty teenager. Anyway I’m done here for today, but I’d just like to say ‘hi’ to any of my friends who may have popped over for a visit today from Frit Happens, the UKs liveliest forum for glass beadmakers, fusers and the jewellery obsessed.

Tuesday night

Woops, I didn’t mean to leave it so long to blog, it’s not like I’m short on stuff to say, but we have been busy. By which I mean that we had a weekend away (and muggins had to do all the research and looking for a place to stay before we could go anywhere). Another wedding anniversary gone and the memories of a fab weekend in Tetbury between Cheltenham and Bath linger on.

It was just the sort of weekend a gal wants, country drives, oldie world villages, loadsa Georgian architecture, lovely meals out and a man on a pink unicycle in a pink t-shirt and a pink tutu, juggling knives. (Now why can’t Rick do that? he has the skills, and the equipment…..well maybe not the pink gear……but yes he can juggle……balls, clubs and fireclubs, and can ride a unicycle…what’s he waiting for?) Oh yes, the west country and Bath in particular has everything a gal could want to see and do.

Sunday evening

It’s bluebell season again, and whilst enjoying one of my ocassional drives to the Surrey Guild Gallery at Milford I had the pleasure of seeing huge swathes of bluebells making a purple haze under the trees along the way. I also nearly suceeded in killing 1 grey squirrel, 2 sparrows, 2 blackbirds (the birds were having a mid afternoon snack, tea break and general old crows meeting on the road) and one pheasant. I also had the dubius privaledge of hearing distant guns shots probably from game shooting. There were numerous other patches of pretty spring wild flowers and I had to turn off the stereo and listen to the birdsong as I drove along. Ahhh bliss.

I can now report that my cabinet of jewellery at the Milford Gallery is now replenished with some new pieces including my ever popular Porthmeor pendants and a new style of bead earring to match.

Thursday night

I do love The Apprentice. What a bunch of numpties! They’re supposed to be the creme of the crop and yet they make such basic obvious mistakes, like trying to design a product for a specific group of consumers without doing any market research first. Don’t you just love it? I feel that I’ve learnt so much more about business since I’ve been running my own very small business, and I do get a bit frustrated when I have loads of ideas and know what I need to be doing to achieve my targets but do not have enough time to do everything. So it’s very reassurring when Sir Alan Sugar makes mincemeat of these guys and teaches them stuff that I had worked out for myself. I wouldn’t really want to go back into the workplace now, especially one like the potential apprentices are in, it’s a shark pit!

I love the way they all back the project leader when they win the project, and attack when they loose. They always try not to say what they think until they know whether they won or lost, just so they don’t loose face….and the lies they tell..what whoppas….we do have video evidence you know!

Wednesday evening

It’s all over, the wonderful series Life on Mars ended last night, and now we have Ashes to Ashes to look forward to, the spin off featuring our favourite Gene Hunt. I have to say I was confused last night, they certainly kept the twists coming, but I’m all clear now having read this blog.  And I thought I was sad blogging about TV and film I’ve watched. Now the only sureal TV I have left is Lost, and scattered repeats of Father Ted.

Saturday evening

Nearly one week of the hols over and we’re having fun here. As a family we’ve spent the last 3 days gardening and making the outside areas look a bit more respectable, and I have to say it’s working. I paniked when I looked around the garden last Monday but we’ve been steadily plodding away and progress has been made. My daughter helped me plant lots of pansies on Thursday to brighten the front of the house, and Rick painted what’s left of the fence after the gales, which has smartened the back garden no end. We were going to mend the 5 fence panels that blew down but could I get the parts? Completely sold out everywhere, seems the whole of Sussex had the same idea for the Easter weekend. Rick’s also started moving the huge pile of stones from the back garden, they were a ghastly 70’s fireplace that we pulled out 7 years ago when we moved in (we were terrified of our just walking toddler cracking her head open) and the huge stones from the rockery that we pulled out to make space for my studio. My plan is to tart up the back and put in some slightly raised beds with some lovely archictural type plants.

Monday lunchtime

Well, it’s started again….school hols and Dr Who. I don’t know about you but we’re big Dr Who fans in this house, and wasn’t it a cracking start to the new series on Saturday? The question I have today is, what makes David Tennant so yummy? He’s just soooooo, you know, attractive. We knew he’d make a great Dr Who after seeing his winning ways on Cassanova a couple of years ago, even before we knew they needed a new Dr. He’s just so twinkly, even our daughter loves him and she’s only just 8. Roll on episode 2 I say.

As for the school hols, I’ll be dipping in and out for the next 2 weeks but I’m really supposed to be taking a break. If you want to email me regarding tuition enquiries please feel free, but please be aware that I may take several days to get back to you. Happy holidays.

Friday evening

The school Easter holiday is upon us, 16 days of child at home (mind you she’s been at home most of the past half-term). I’ve just been out to my studio to collect the afternooons work and the bunch of beads that I batch annealed with them. The batch that I annealed today had already been through the cycle about 3 times but every time something went wrong, and now they’re done, woo hoo. Now I have to clean them…..yuk. I still have another 4 skewers of beads to anneal, but I need to remember not to swtich the strip light on or off in the studio or the programme will go nuts (the kiln runs now but goes wrong when the leckle tricity spikes).

I’ve got so many jobs on my list that need doing that sometimes I feel like Earl Hicky on ‘My name is Earl’. It’s just so nice to be able to cross items off sometimes. I managed to knock 4 things off this evening while Rick cooked. Maybe he should cook every night and I should use that time to catch up?

Tuesday Evening

Hasn’t it been a lovely day? The weather has been gorgeous. I sat in my studio this morning with my fleece and all my thermals on and made a few beads (still vermiculite), gradually getting hotter and hotter, having to strip off layers as I went. I also managed to get my first glass hole in my new pink beadmaking fleece bargain from Millets. I look like Obi-Wan Kenobi in it with it’s voluminous hood, or like I’m in a short dressing gown ready for bed.

Rick is busy working on my kiln again at the moment, we had to buy a new part and we’ve found out what’s going wrong. It may be a couple more days before it’s completely sorted, so my bead making is still rather restricted regarding what I can do and putting any sets together for sale. Of course we’ve also got the school Easter holiday looming up this weekend which will also put the Kaibosh on my bead making activities.

Friday evening

I managed 3 (or was it 2?) torching sessions this week, only an hour and a bit each but it helped. Both times though the kiln crashed, hopefully Rick is getting to the bottom of it. I have to say all this is very upsetting, it seems like the odds of beadmaking are stacked against me at the moment, as whenever I get torchtime something goes wrong (kiln each time) or something else urgent comes up. To say it’s driving me nuts would be an understatement.

All this is very unsettling, and I have to say it doesn’t help me much, especially as I’m feeling so distracted with my daughter at home most of the time. It’s been a very frustrating couple of months, I can only hope that I can work like a superwoman after Easter. Maybe I should write a plan (cunning) so I can do everything I need to in the best time. I’m off now to nip out and collect my slowly cooled but not annealed beads. lol.

Tuesday Teatime

Yo ho, another week almost gone since I blogged. I still don’t have much time to make beads and even when I do I have something of a kiln crisis at the moment, and I’m having to cool my beads in Vermiculite and haven’t been able to anneal any for a few weeks. The second kiln (my Chilli Pepper) was supposed to be a backup but won’t work in my studio as it is at the moment. Hmmmm. So it’s a bit of a stale mate at the moment.

Last week was a very busy week for me, with 2 days lampwork tuition (always very enjoyable), preparaton for my daughters party and then the party itself, with some visitors who stayed until midnight (it’s OK, they were invited to stay longer!). I’m still trying to recover from all the physical effort. I hope to get some beadmaking time tommorrow if all goes well, and I must remember to nudge Rick to take another look at my original kiln. I hope normal service will be resumed soon, but it will probably be after the Easter hols. Bye for now.

Wednesday night

Hellooo, a quick hi cos I’m heading off to bed in a mo. I’m gradually getting back in the swing of things, but it’s a bit difficult with my daughter still not at school full time. She’s done 3 mornings so far this week, and hopefully will try all day Friday if she doesn’t get too tired before then. I’m finding it very hard to settle to anything with her health still a major issue, and also having her around so much. Still she’s improving all the time, but I still am amazed how long it’s all taking.

Talking of our daughter, she was 8 today. It seems such a short time ago since she was born but also a long one in a nice way. I had the day off, and popped into town to do some party shopping and get some bits to make and decorate a cake for her today. And here it is, very rushed in the icing department because we were going out, I did the most of the cake, and the white icing, and my daughter cut out and stuck on the flowers.

Thursday afternoon

Life is sweet. Do you know I had just 1 hour and 10 minutes making beadies and I feel so much better for it. I’m using my vermiculite today, I just don’t trust my kilns at the moment. Rick needs to plug his computer into the controller and watch what happens before I put anymore beads in to anneal.

And what a lovely day it is today, I’ve done two loads of washing and one is on the airer outside in the sunshine. Even my daughter exclaimed how nice it was outside when I walked her to school this afternoon for her first proper afternoon back. Hopefully I’ll get to play for a short while tommorrow as well. I can but hope.