Sooz In The Shed

Would you like a hat?

2012-01-19T06:07:00.000-08:00

Well, would you? A nice wooly hat with a difference for spring?

Well, I think I shall give one away. You could win this one...

Or this one...

Or maybe this one.

What you have to do is go to this album....

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.282916641762814.70842.242521565802322&type=1

Click "LIKE" or add a comment to the one you like, any comment will be fine.

Then on Friday 27th I will first draw a hat (Brown, Burgundy, Purple, Grey, Rainbow) then I will draw a name from all comments and likes on that hat. I will then send the winner that hat :)

Simples.

Me and Barbara Windsor.

2012-01-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

I don't think I have told you the story of me and Barbara Windsor....

I am telling you now because during a big shed tidy up I came across the Christmas Card and postcards I from Ms Windsor herself.

The story goes something like this......

A few years ago, Barbara Windsor was on a TV programme, something like those programs where you research your past. Anyway, she had a lovely bracelet on, which was mentioned the next day on our beading forum Bead Buddies.

A few of us did a bit of Googling and found some very tiny thumbnails, but nothing we could really have a good look at. So I decided to write to her...

Dear Ms Windsor,

Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Sue Simmons and I own and run a Bead Shop in Cumbria.

I also run an online Forum for Beaders (www.beadbuddies.co.uk/forum), and one of my members started a discussion about a bracelet you were wearing, and I quote…

“Did anyone watch the re-showing of the "Who Do you Think You Are" programme for BW tonight - I couldn't take my eyes off the bracelet Barbara Windsor was sporting - caught a few glimpses of a silver thing with dotty-ed lampies I think??”

This has turned into a quest to try and find a photograph of said bracelet, and the only one we can find is a very small one (attached)

So we wondered, as a group, if you had a better photograph of your bracelet, or if you can tell us the bead artist who made it?

I know this is a really strange request, but Beaders are funny creatures and this will bother them for ages if I cannot get to the bottom of it.

Also, if you would be happy for us to do this, we would like to make you a piece of jewellery in your favourite colours, as a collective work.

Thank you so much for your time.

Didn't really expect a reply at all, well, celebrities have better things to do with their time don't they? But lo and behold, only a few days later there was a message on my answerphone - from Barbara Windsor!!!

She just said there was a lovely story surrounding the bracelet and she would call me sometime to tell me.

A few weeks went past and I had given up hope of another phone call, when the phone rang "Hello Sue, Barbara here, how are you darling?" WHOOP WHOOP!!

She told me the story of the bracelet, which sadly had since been lost. So I offered to make her a new one.

There was no photo of the piece, so I just had to wing it. I ended up with this... my hand-made glass beads, swarovski crystal, strung on sterling silver with my signature tag.

I sent it off and a few days later got another call, she was delighted and wanted another - but brighter and bolder this time, and on elastic.

Ok, so bright and bold it was, I used orphan beads from Kathy (My Precious) and some polymer clay beads from Elise Canning, and strung them up on strong elastic.

She loved that one too :)

At this point we decided as a Forum that it was quite fun to send gifts to celebrities, so we got together a list from the cast of females at Eastenders and made them all a little sometime.

I sent a fused hand-made glass ring each to 'Shirley' and 'Heather' and a beaded necklace to 'Pat', and got signed postcards in return :)

Later that year I got a Christmas Card , hand signed and personal. How lovely.

Maybe it's time to do another collective gift box .......

A silly mistake....

2012-01-11T10:21:00.000-08:00

I fancied a bit of knitting, but something I would actually wear and not get bored half way through when knitting it.

I found this gorgeous free pattern.....

http://berroco.com/exclusives/kia/kia.html

Right up my street is this style. Problem is it was for a certain wool type, which is now obsolete, and I wasn't sure what thickness of wool it was either. So off I trotted to the local wool shop, chose a nice double knit in a random shade of blues and greys, with a silver metallic thread running through it. Perfect. Bought my two sets of Sz 9 circular needles and rushed home to make a start.

I dug out my Sz 9 needles and set to work. You start by making the edge piece, which you sew into a ring, then you pick up the stitches along once edge and just work in a big round.

At this point I should mention that I NEVER do a test piece to check my gauge (Tut-Tut) does anyone?

So, I got the rim done, that looked fine, in fact the whole thing looked fine until I did the armholes, they looked a little neat, but just a little. I carried on, it actually wasn't until the last few rounds that I realised this wasn't going to be the big baggy waistcoat, one to fit my generous frame, that I thought it would be. In fact, it was more like a bolero jacket for my Sz 8 daughter!

I do like the pinwheel design on the back though...

The mistake? I used Sz 9 needles, which are 3.75mm instead of 9mm needles!!!

(the top ones are the ones I SHOULD have used, the bottom ones are the ones I did)

Oh well, lesson learnt.

Right, try again..... this is my new wool, and this time I have been out and bought 9mm needles.

Butterfly Rug.

2012-01-08T11:22:00.000-08:00

This was my third rag rug. My first was a mixture of different fabrics, my second was made from t-shirt material, so I wanted my third to be something different.

I had seen a fellow rug makers work and among her mixture of fabrics, she had a little swish of velvet that shimmered. I love it, and decided my next rug would be made totally from velvets.

I also wanted a different design. As I also play with stained glass, I thought I would see if I could transfer a stained glass type pattern, to a rug.

I hand-drew the butterflies on the back of the rug, but this left a large background area which I thought would be to plain if done in one colour, on the other hand I didn't want to have too much going on in the background as it might detract the eye from the butterflies. I decided on smoky type swirls in two shades of silvery grey.

I was plodding (or should I say, prodding?) along quite nicely when one of the ladies that run the rag-rug club I go to asked if I could get it finished by the 10th Jan, so it could go in an exhibition at our local Museum and Art Gallery. At this point it was only half done, but I was so pleased to be asked because I am quite a new member and they only wanted four rugs in total for the space they had.

So, this last week has been a MAD prodding frenzy, cutting, poking, ordering new velvet, stressing....

But today, I finally got it finished. Had a little hiccup in that I ran out of the light silver material, so had to unpick some bits and re-jig the swirls a bit, but we got there.

This is the front view, how it will be displayed....

And this is the back, it looks much more defined this way I think.

Quite pleased with it....... on Tuesday I will say goodbye to it for three months, unless I decide to pop into the art gallery and visit it of course :)

My Sajen Collection.

2011-12-06T06:44:00.000-08:00

I was introduced to Sajen pieces by a friend, and how I love them. I would have loads more if I had lots of pennies, but until then I have to make do with the three pieces I have.

Recently, as I have been wearing one all the time, I keep getting asked about them, so thought I would share...

They are made from Silver or Gold, richly adorned with gemstones. Designed by Marianna and Richard Jacobs and hand-made by bali artisans - you can find their website here...

http://www.offeringsjewelry.com/

The first two pieces I had are quite large and I never had a chain thick enough to look good with them.

This was my first piece...

Followed by this gorgeous moon shaped one.

My Mum asked me last year what I wanted for my birthday, so I suggested she might buy me a thick silver chain to display my pendants on. She actually bought be a wonderful (and expensive) Pandora chain, of course I was delighted with it, and strung a pendant on it right away.

Unfortunately though, these are not the kind of pendants you can wear everyday - or rather, overnight, on bed. And I am a lazy type of person who likes to keep jewellery on for weeks. So the hunt was on to find a Sajen piece that I could wear every day.

I found this one on eBay, a stunning piece with an amethyst goddess face and a stunning pink stone that changes colour to purple or blue when I move.

I have a search in on eBay for a nice ring now ;) Don't go bidding against me if you search though :)

Eye Eye

2011-11-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

Oooooo it's been a long time since I blogged - naughty me!

Anyway, I thought I would tell you about my latest experiment.

A friend of mine made me the most wonderful beaded necklace with a glass eye cabochon as the centre piece. This then got me thinking, eye cabochons.

I did a bit of research and found some glass dolls eyes on eBay, but they were something like £7.00 a pair. Gulp. I was looking for something a wee bit cheaper so I could resell to my customers.

After a lot of emails and a bit of haggling, I found a factory in China that made dolls eyes. It took a good few emails for me to get across what I wanted - oval, flat back, glass, no wires.

Well, I obviously didn't do very well as I received round with stems on the back - at least they were glass!!

So, how to get them flat. Luckily I have a kiln, so I set to work.

First of all I had to use my rod cutters and snip all the back off as close as I could get them.

Unfortunately I couldn't get some of them quite as close to the back as I would have liked, so they didn't all sit too straight in the kiln. Never mind, I thought, the odd wonky one will be fine :)

All night they were in the kiln, and I didn't peep once.

In the morning, I threw open the lid and ...... whey hey....... eyes!!!

They weren't too wonky at all, a success of sorts :)

The Pink Rug Project

2011-08-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

Just a quick blog on this new rug.

I wanted to make it totally from reclaimed t-shirts, as they are easy to cut, easy to prod, and feel lovely under the toes when you stand on the rug :)

I chose pink colours, as this was a gift for my sister, and I actually started with three t-shirts she had given me to chop up, although she didn't realise that I would be starting a rug for her out of them.

In the end it took 30 t-shirts to complete, I trailed the charity shops and begged them from friends and neighbours. There is even a starry patterned nighty in there!!!

A regular style t-shirt (Short sleeved) takes around half an hour to chop up into pieces, then about an hour to prod all the pieces into the hessian, and it makes about 1-2" in rug!! So you can imagine a good few hours went into this project.

The rug is around a meter long by half a meter wide.

Mad Summer Sort Out.

2011-08-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

Every so often I feel I need to clear everything out and start again, otherwise my mojo seems to get stale and repetitive.

So that is exactly what I am going to do :) .......... hopefully!

I have just thrown open my display cabinet, took everything out and I am going to put photos on Facebook of all the items with suggested prices. If you fancy anything just yell :)

Oh, and to thank you for bothering to read this I will do a giveaway for this chocolate & lime bracelet.

All you have to do is comment on this blog to get an entry into the prize draw.

If you would be so very kind as to share my Facebook page on your wall, I will add you into a second prize draw to win this cute red netted bracelet :)

http://www.facebook.com/BySooz

All you have to do is let me know you have shared and I will do the rest.

The Odd Rod Project

2011-05-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

In my workshop I have a box of glass rods, that when tidying up I have not been able to remember which glass is which and just chucked them into the "Odd Rod Box".

Now, anyone who works with glass will know the importance of matching the Coefficieny Of Expansion, but for people who don't - then in a nutshell, your glass has a number and the numbers have to match for the glass to stay together.

Now, there lies the problem. Because I don't know what glass has what number I cannot use them together. I can get away with frit (broken glass) and I can take a risk and try spots and lines, but the easiest and safest thing is to use them on their own.

So, to use up the box I have a cunning plan. Each day I am to make 5 sets of beads from a lucky dip of glass rods that I pick out. I close my eyes (only slightly as I don't want to spike myself on the glass) and pick 5 rods.

This was Sundays set of rods.

A caramel, clear, transparent teal, mid blue and a pearl grey.

I make as many beads as I can get out of each rod, sometimes there are just 3 to a set, and other times 9 or 10.

It can take a few hours to make a few sets, then they are in the kiln all night to cool. In the morning the cleaning starts, of course the more beads I make the more I have to clean :(

First of all the caramel rod, I used "Glazed Ginger" frit and made some gravity marbles.

Next I used the clear and simply made 9 simple beads with no frit and no other decoration. Once cleaned I put 5 of them in etching fluid and made them all frosty.

Then came the transparent teal, I took a risk with this one as I thought I knew what glass it might be, and I encased a black core. I love the effect these make.

The mid blue rod was a gorgeous colour, but not very long, so I didn't get many beads out of that one. Again I did a gravity frit bead.

Lastly came the pearl grey rod, which again, was a little rod, so I made little cute beads which I dipped into frit and melted in.

Here are tomorrows colours :)

How to "Prod" a rug.

2011-03-11T06:18:00.000-08:00

After showing photos of the progress of my Proddy Rag Rug, I was asked how they were made and could I show a step-by-step photo - so here they are.

First of all you need some hessian/sacking (try your local Indian restaurant for Basmati sacks, or places with wild birds for peanut sacks - failing that, eBay) and you need a prodder. This is simply a stick with a point.

I have my hessian on a frame for tension, but it's not necessary.

Next you need some rags, you may want to keep your rug in all the same material - such as t-shirt, or fleece, or wool. As this is my first rug I wanted to try lots of different materials to see how each one worked and how well it prodded into the sacking.

You need to cut your material into strips, my strips are around 2cm x 5cm, but you can have them longer or shorter as you wish.

Hem your hessian, then draw a design onto it and sew it onto your frame if you are using one.

Right, to make the rug. Shove your prodder through the hessian and wiggle it about to make a decent sized hole.

Don't be afraid, at first I was afraid of making the hole too large, but when you add the next strip you end up pushing the hole back in place.

Take a strip of material and push one end through the hole with your prodder. Grab it underneath with your other hand and pull it just under half the way through.

Make another hole about 1cm away.

Push the other end of the material through the new hole and again grab it from underneath. You should be able to feel and adjust them until they are equal length. Add your next strip into the same hole as the previous one ended, and continue across the hessian.

This is your working view as you work on the back.

This is the view from the front.

They all bunch together nicely the more you get in.

This is very addictive, but comes with warnings:

Rug dust makes you cough.
Keep your rags seperate from your washing pile (talking from experience here)
Do not do housework, cook, taxi, work, answer phone or anything else while prodding :)

February Colour Challenge 2011

2011-02-27T03:23:00.000-08:00

Over on the Bead Buddies Forum we have a monthly colour challenge.

This month it was colours beginning with the letter 'B'

Beetroot Red / Bronze / Beige

I started this months in good time, as I usually ended up just chucking something together in the last two days. However, it did take me best part of the month and I finished it with just two days to go.

Taken from the Diana Fitzgerald Shaped Beadwork book, I made a whole load of 3D Hexagons in various colourways, then sewed them all together in a very random order.

For the clasp I made a toggle clasp from the same tiny Delica beads, sizing it so it would fit into one of the Hexagons.

The whole piece (over the course of a month) took around 13 hours to make.

Glass Wall Hearts

2011-02-08T12:47:00.000-08:00

A little idea popped into my head, you know one of those ideas that make you spend half the night wondering if it will work? So of course the next day I just had to try it out.

I chose a heart shape as Valentine's Day is approaching.

I drew a template on some fibre paper, filled it in with chopped up glass - adding different shades and a touch of Dichroic or stringers for interest, then I shut the lid on the kiln and crossed my fingers.

So....they kinda worked, I think they need tweaking a bit, and I need to find another way of hanging them as I really do not like the wire on them, but it's all a learning curve.

The big ones above are around 9-10" while the smaller one below is just around 4-5".

January Colour Challenge 2011

2011-02-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

Over on the Bead Buddies Forum we have a monthly colour challenge.

This month it was colours beginning with the letter 'A'

Aubergine / Aquamarine / Alabaster

So, late last night, I was rushing about trying to get something done - it is surprising how quick that month goes.

I had planned to do something different, but couldn't find the beads I needed, so I made some little flowers instead and then added them to some bookmark blanks.

The middle bead is an Aquamarine coloured glass pearl, and the petals are made from a peach Alabaster coloured seed bead, along with an Aubergine purple seed bead and some Aquamarine silver-lined seed beads.

Monday's Treasure Hunt - Apronqueen

2011-01-31T04:46:00.000-08:00

I was trailing through Etsy, as you do, looking for a birthday gift for a friend, when I came across this fab shop called "Apronqueen".

This lady makes the most gorgeous aprons, in fabulous fabrics - vintage style.

I love this one !

She also does funky kitchen gloves too :)

Check her Etsy shop here....

http://www.etsy.com/shop/apronqueen

"Sprite Flowers" and more.

2011-01-26T14:52:00.000-08:00

On New Years Eve I jetted off on a little holiday to Marrakech in Morrocco.

Now, being a beader, I couldn't go without a stash of beads - just in case there was any spare time.

I took 5 bags of seed beads in Pink, Yellow, Pale Blue, Dark Iris Blue and an AB Dark Grey, a pack of needles and a reel of KO beading thread. Oh, and two strings of glass pearls.

I bought some Airline safe nail cutters at Boots the Chemist in the Airport (they cut thread beautifully and you can take them on the Plane!)

I took out the box at the Airport - it is such a boring place once you have done the Perfume sniffing and Book browsing - and had no idea what-so-ever on what to make !

So I made a flower..... and another.......and another.......and so it went on. Once I had a few flowers I made a bracelet base for them. Then a necklace chain......... and on it went :)

For some really odd reason, every time I looked at them I thought "Sprite"! so Sprite is now the name of the collection.

This first necklace is a dangle of three flowers on a herringbone rope with a peyote toggle for a clasp.

Next we have a twisted spiral staircase rope, again with a toggle clasp and a pendant slider with three flowers.

This necklace has no flowers, but is made from the same beads, under the twisted grey part are sections of colours, which are hard to make out in the photo. The twists are interspersed with cream glass pearl beads.

This simple pink flower is attatched to a simple herringbone rope.

This is a Cecile's Wheel pattern, which I have done before. It's a lovely design and looks great in these colours. My Mum took a fancy to this so it is now in her jewellery box.

Onto the bracelets, this is a shaggy twisted bracelet, it fastens with two bead dangles which push through a loop.

This one is quite similar, but a slightly different variation of bead numbers.

And this one is a peyote band richly adorned in lots of different flowers.

A ring !

And finally a few pairs of earrings.

I think I am ready to move onto something else now :)

Higham Hall - January 2011

2011-01-26T08:03:00.000-08:00

Another great weekend at Higham Hall College teaching basic glass bead making.

I thought I would show you my regular room. It is a 'compact' room, but I don't spend much time in it (except for sleeping) so it suits my needs.

The bathroom could do with being a little bit bigger though :)

It looks out onto a wonderful side garden of the Hall, and in the morning I can hear woodpeckers, lots of bird chorus and watch the bunny rabbits frollicking about on the grass.

I laid the glass out following the "Rainbow Rules" (R.O.Y.G.B.I.V) or as near as I could, looked very attractive I thought :)

I was amazed when I picked up the class list - Sue, Sue, Susan and Heather - and of course me, another Sue. Made for a confusing weekend. Instead we called each other Mrs Bee, Mrs Ess, Mrs Double You, and Heather just got 'Heather' :)

Here are the Ladies, working hard at the torches.

...and showing off their stash of glassy goodies.

Heather, Mrs Bee, Mrs Ess & Mrs Double You.

(Or Heather, Sue, Susan & Sue)

I just wanted to show you this, this is Bassenthwaite Lake where the College is situated, I took this on my drive home - beautiful isnt it?

Monday's Treasure Hunt - Brian Kerr Photography

2011-01-25T03:11:00.000-08:00

Today's Treasure Hunt is a day late, sorry about that, but yesterday was a little manic.

I would like to introduce you to Brian Kerr. He is a photographer that lives in my home town of Carlisle, who produces the most amazingly gorgeous shots. He certainly has an eye for a photo!

My Father is also a photographer, so I have grown up with pretty photos of our wonderful Cumbrian & Scottish Borders landscape, but Brian's photos are so moody and atmospheric I just had to share them with you.

You can find his website here...

http://www.briankerrphotography.com/

Enjoy!

Monday's Treasure Hunt - Mark Dally

2011-01-17T02:57:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I visited "The Biscuit Factory" in Newcastle, a fabulous art gallery with some amazing pieces in it.

I had Googled the gallery before I went and discovered Mark Dally Ceramics. Having scooted through his website I fell in love with his clocks so was hoping that there would be some on show at the Gallery.

There was some Mark Dally pieces on display, but only one clock, I had had my eye on another style, so from the café within the gallery I quickly emailed him, luckily got a reply almost immediately, and decided to commision my own clock :)

This is my clock - she is called Queen of Curlies, she is the one on the right.

I also love his sculptures too - they would certainly make a great conversation piece.

And then there is the teapots ! How funky is this?

Well, go check him out for yourself.....

www.markdallyceramics.co.uk/

A little bit twisty.

2011-01-14T15:59:00.000-08:00

This week I grabbed a beady bargain. Vickie Christian was offering some of her marvelous Lampwork Beads at a great sale price, and although I do make glass beads myself, these green ones just totally got my attention. This in itself is very strange as I am so not a 'green person' - (green as in colour, I do try to be environmentally friendly :) ) but I am sure you will agree, they are very nice.

I pledged to put them to good use as soon as they arrived. I am really bad at squirrelling things away to use later and as a result have amassed a huge pile of beads and other interesting stuff that one day I might get around to using.

As it happened, the day they plopped through my letterbox I also got a delivery for the shop, two large boxes of Seed Beads. After weighing them all out there are always a few odd ones spare, so I picked out some complimenting colours and set to work.

I did a spiral staircase stitch, two pieces, which I brought together through the large focal bead, then added the dangles for a bit of interest. I finished it with a beaded toggle and loop.

If you would like to have a go at Spiral Staircase yourself then here is my free tutorial. Just play around with the sizes of the beads and the number of beads on the twist part to get different patterns.

Disaster in the kiln !

2011-01-11T06:32:00.000-08:00

I am officially a muppet, yep, a bone-fida , slap my own head, stamp my feet in temper, muppet !!

What did I do?

Well, I spent a whole afternoon cutting glass, designing a couple of large wall-hangings, loads and loads of fused glass pieces for cabochons and pendants. Filled my kiln up edge to edge, and went to bed quite excited about what I would find the next day.

What did I find? A whole load of cracked pieces, all because stupidly, I have picked up the wrong Millefiori and used it with incompatible glass. This means the glass seperates and cracks - in time the Millefiori will just fall away. It all has to go in the bin.

You should be able to see what I mean from the piccies below.

What a shame, I really liked these ones too.

I am so annoyed with myself, for the lots and lots of wasted glass, for the wasted night in the kiln, for the wasted afternoon in the shed, and for being so dim for not checking.

Lesson learnt !

Monday's Treasure Hunt - A Little Catty

2011-01-10T03:20:00.000-08:00

I am going to start a Monday Blog, but with a difference. The items I will show you in my Monday Blog will be treasure that I have found and admired on my travels, that you can purchase on the good old internet for yourself.

My first "Treasure" to show you is this fabulous shop on Etsy, called "A Little Catty", this artist is called Alison O'Bryan and she makes the most incredibly cute Folk Art - Cats, Gnomes, Butterflies, Bears.

I think I feel a treat coming on, but I cannot decide between Fancy Pants the Gnome Folk Critter or Romeo the Sweetheart Lion.

So so cute.

You can find these to buy on Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/people/alittlecatty)

And you can follow the artists own blog here (http://alittlecatty.blogspot.com/)

Secret Santa 2010

2011-01-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

Over on the Bead Buddies forum we do a Secret Santa every year.

Each person pays a set amount and gets the same pack of various beads. We are supposed to use as much of the pack as possible and we are not allowed to add anything except findings.

My Secret Santa turned out to be Aster Sadler, who does some fantastic things - check out her website. http://www.seedybeady.com/

I got a gorgeous ring, really beautiful and blingy..

Along with some cutie earrings..

and a fantastic cuff (although I wore it as a choker) of amazing beaded embroidery - how clever !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is what I sent to my recipient.

A necklace with the ceramic bead as a focal pendant..

Some earrings...

and a bracelet made out of beaded flowers, (it took me ages to sort all the beads into piles to make them!!)

Sock Monkeys

2010-12-24T08:36:00.000-08:00

I have been making Sock Monkeys of late.

What is a sock monkey you may ask, well funnily enough it is a monkey made from a sock - well, 2 socks actually.

If you google "Sock Monkey Pattern" you will get loads of free designs to make your own.

I bought a pack of 5 socks for £2.00 in Primark, just the regular ladies ankle socks are fine, you don't need extra long ones or anything.

So, basically, from the first sock you make the body and legs, by sewing the legs in place (I used a sewing machine for this part), turning it right way in and stuffing it before sewing up it's crotch (Ouch!!!)

From the other sock you cut a tail, two ears, two arms and a snout. Hem them, sew them, stuff them and sew them into place. A couple of buttons for eyes and your Sock Monkey is born !

Then of course you have to name them, just take a look at your finished monkey and see what name suits them.

Meet Zen & Lori...

And this is Pablo.

Where did you get that hat?

2010-12-23T02:28:00.000-08:00

When I was at my friend George's having a play day when she showed me the most gorgeous chenille crochet hat she had made.

Ooooo, I thought, I could do one of those.

First issue, I couldn't find any chunky chenille wool, second issue, not having a pattern I couldn't do the hat like she had, no matter what I tried, they all ended up looking like tea cosies !!

Well, I thought, I am gonna make a hat of some description, so decided on trying to recreate one of my most favourite hats which is actually a sun hat I got in Greece around 8 years ago. It is such a comfy hat to wear, although too summery for our cold winters here in the UK.

Using that style I came up with these...

The first one I made in Grey, a lovely chunky wool called Pampas by Wendy. It took two balls, with a little left over for decoration.

I added a double layered "flower" with a button centre.

I think it suits my daughter Shona better than it suits my Dad !!

The second one I made was with the most gorgeous random colour wool called "Indi", it is around £4 for a small ball, (it took 3 balls) but it is so gorgeous and colourful.

The button I used in the centre of this one is a loud, funky, glittery gold one :)

Lovely & cosy for the winter :)

Poppy

2010-12-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

I did this a little while ago for my Dad's (Daddy L) birthday, but I came across a photo of it and thought I would share :)

Daddy L loves poppies, he is a photographer and adores photographing flowers, especially poppies. So I thought I would try and do him a poppy picture with a difference for his special day.

I took two pieces of clear glass and found a nice simple poppy picture on the internet. I put one piece of glass on top of the picture and traced the poppy onto it, then coloured it in with glass paint.

Next I put it into the kiln to fuse the two pieces together.

Stupidly, however, I forgot to put the fine details on first so of course they ended up on the back once it was finished !! However I was still moderately pleased with the result. I could have turned it around but the top side was beautifully smooth and the underneath rather rough.

Next I found a pretty background image on the internet and cut it to fit the fused poppy tile, I put a piece of bright red card in a beautiful black wooden frame and glued the poppy tile in place.

Ta da, a 3D picture for Daddy L :)

A few Christmassy Gifts

2010-12-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

Been trying and trying to get a bowl designed and in the kiln, but it is so damn cold out there, I just can't stay long enough. So instead I have been just doing some odd little bits in the small kiln.

I made these the other day with a lovely glass I got given, I didn't know what it was compatible with so I just had to use it on it's own, so made these little 'snowflakes' for my Mum's Christmas Tree.

The glass has a lovely irridescent sheen to it, almost like a rainbow has kissed it.

I also made some Cufflinks for a male family member.

And a couple of rings for the ladies :)

Spoon Rests

2010-12-04T09:01:00.001-08:00

This week I have been mainly messing about with recycled glass.

I melted a Mateus Rosé single serve bottle, which when melted flat made a fabulous little spoon rest, alas I forgot to take a photograph, so in the interests of research I will have to drink some more :)

As it has been way too cold to cut a lot of glass and form it into anything arty, I thought I would just fill up the kiln with bits and bobs and make some spoon rests.

Here are the results....

A Jägermeister bottle.

A Coca Cola bottle.

A beer bottle.

A regular sized Jam Jar.

And a Marmite Jar.

A snowy weekend at Higham Hall

2010-11-30T10:33:00.001-08:00

What a gorgeous weekend to be out in the middle of nowhere in the Lake District.

I was at one of my weekend Glass Bead making courses at Higham Hall when the snow started.

An hour or so later and everything was white, crisp, and utterly beautiful.

There was a small panic on Saturday morning as three of my four students were non-residents and therefore would struggle to get into the college as it is up narrow, steep, back roads. Eventually they did arrive safely, although they did miss a couple of hours of torch time :(

Everytime we left the studio, which is based in the mansion house's old Stables (all modernised of course) we took a really sharp cold intake of breath - wow, it was chilly!! Good job we had nice warm food and home-made cakes to warm us back up :)

Still, we got some lovely beads made and everyone seemed to have a great time :)

This is Mo and Noreen...

And...Helen and Mary.

...all concentrating very hard.

I made a quick tree bead while there, but it had a huge air bubble inside so it split :(

It was a wee bit hairy driving home on the Sunday afternoon as it has snowed again, on top of already compacted snow! I did wonder if I was going to have to stay, but attempted it and managed to get home in just over an hour - it usually takes about 40 mins so not too bad.

My First Pot Melt

2010-11-19T12:41:00.000-08:00

I should stop going onto glassy websites, the stuff is way too tempting, and after a few glasses of wine a couple of weeks ago I went onto the Slumpys website and ended up with a load of new molds for glass bowls and a Pot Melt kit !!

Having never done a Pot Melt before, and there being no instructions in the kit that arrived, a lot of Googling and asking advice followed.

So, what is a Pot Melt? Well you simply fill a bowl with holes in the bottom full of bits of scrap glass (compatible of course), prop up the bowl and fire the kiln to a high enough temperature to allow the glass to melt and dribble out.

First of all I lined the bottom of the kiln with a really expensive fibre paper (cost £10 for a piece big enough to line the kiln and you can only use it once!!) then layed a steel casting ring, also lined with fibre paper, on top.

Next I put the bowl prop in over the top of the casting ring.

Then I found all my scraps of compatible glass and filled the bowl. You are supposed to use 3.5lb of glass to make a 12" melt, but I did just under 3lb otherwise the lid on the kiln would not have shut !

There was supposed to be a gap of about 3" for airflow, I am lucky if there was half an inch!

A pat for luck, and a long night chewing nails ahead.

So, this is what I found in the morning......

A gorgeous ceramic bowl full of smeared glass :) Except that is just a piece of the kit which will need to be re-used, so a waste of prettyness really.

Hmmmm....obviously that half a pound of glass does make a difference, as the casting ring was not full.

Still, it's my first one and lessons were definately learned from the process....

Find a cheaper option to line the kiln with, cannot afford to line it at £10 a time.

Do not use as much dark glass, although I didn't think I had, the darker colours really took over.

Buy a smaller casting ring, or make my own :)

Get a spirit level and check the kiln, as the melt was half an inch thicker at one side than the other.

Buy a grinder to take the fibre paper off the back of the disc with :) (Any excuse!!)

A good tidy up.

2010-11-15T10:02:00.001-08:00

I treated myself to a "Pot Melt Kit" from Slumpys (more on that later) so as you can imagine I was desperate to try it out when it arrived at the weekend.

I opened the workshop door and my spirits sank, everyone uses my workshop as a dumping ground, probably because it is nearer to the house than the shed. It was full of BBQ coals, hay for the animals, the canopy off the garden swing and loads of other random objects.

Three hours it took me, 4 repeats of an Olivia Newton John CD (It was the only CD I found in a box of rubbish under the bench) and numerous mugs of tea.

Finally it was done, and I could get to play.

A big glass bowl.

2010-11-11T08:44:00.000-08:00

My friend Carol & I took a class at Tullie House in Carlisle. Unfortunately the title of the class was wrong and we ended up doing something we have both done a few times before - glass bowls. (we expected to be Cameo Engraving on glass).

Still, we were there so we might as well put the time to good use, we thought :)

I decided to do a large square deep bowl, I took two squares of clear glass 30x30cm and some turquoise blue coloured glass.

I cut the blue into wavy lines and layed it on top of one of the sheets of clear.

Inbetween the strips of blue I added some coloured frit (broken glass).

Onto the other piece of clear I tore up some silver foil and layed it into place so it would show between the blue.

I then sandwiched the foil inbetween the two clear pieces.

Next I cut up some thick fiber paper into the same wavy shapes.

This would be layed underneath the glass when in the kiln to give some texture.

The glass was then put into the kiln twice, once to fuse down and soften the edges, melting all the bits in flush. The second firing was to form the bowl by slumping it into a shaped mould.

This is my friend Carol. :)

Her bowl was a little bit different but the same technique.

She cut two oval pieces of glass, one clear and one a striking pink (striking colours change in the kiln).

She then chopped up some random bits of dichroic glass to decorate it with, and textured it using some fiber rope all curled round.

Earrings Galore!

2010-11-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

My Mother-in-law asked me if I could send "some of my stuff" down to her in Oxfordshire, so she could take them to a craft group she attends.

How cool, I thought, and got to work packing everything up. Unfortunately a lot of my stuff costs quite a bit of money due to all the hours I put into certain pieces, so I thought I should send some cheaper items too.

So, today, I got to work on making earrings, I haven't made earrings for ages and ages, in fact I would say months, and do you know what? I quite enjoyed it. Theraputic is the word.

I just brought out a big tub of mixed beads and some earring findings and got to work. Took me about an hour, with a couple of cups of tea made inbetween, to do 22 pairs. These will be offered for sale at £2.00 each, so I hope now that the stuff I have sent will suit most peoples pockets :)

Wanna see?

Beadies for a scarf swap!

2010-11-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

My nutty friend Tania Grey is the "swap queen", she is always making bits of glassy and ceramic goodies to swap for a random assortment of stuff.

The latest swap offers were some of her most fabulous focal beads, and she wanted in return something warm and woolly.

So I offered up one of my hand-knitted scarfs.

I asked for a colour hint and she said "Sunset", she also wanted it extra long so it could wrap and wrap and loop and wrap again to keep those Cornish winds out.

This is the yarn I chose, a gorgeous sandy brown (for the setting sun) with a rich cream (for the sand on the beach near where she lives) and blue (for the sea). It is ultra soft and you just want to bury your face into it. I also added 4 pom poms, one to each corner just for a bit of fun.

It's been years since I made a pom pom !

And here are the beauties I got in return, they are magnifique ! Not sure what I will do with them yet, I might just keep them and stroke them :)

The Snake Project

2010-10-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

A little while ago my mojo was a little stagnant so I decided to put out a challenge on my Facebook page. The challenge was to throw me a challenge :)

All too often your own ideas are too easy to bring to life, so I though someone elses idea might kick my mojo back into action.

I got a good few suggestions, but decided to go with a lady called Karen whose suggestion was this:

"I love snakes and am always on the lookout for related jewellery + items. What about something with a serpentine theme, even if it is just abstractly related like a snake's eye or something? :)"

So a snake it was, and I got to work.

First of all the planning, I didn't want to just string, I wanted to put a lot of time and effort into it.

I took some lilac glass pearl beads and taking three at a time I made a netted cage for them out of seed beads in clear and navy blue. These little cages took 25 mins each to make and I ended up making 18 of them.

The head was tricky, I knew how I wanted it to look and how I wanted it to work. In the end I just sewed row after row, increasing and decreasing, and somehow it worked! I added a little tongue just to make him extra cute.

I strung it all together on tigertail beading wire, alternating each netted trio of beads with a glass flat bicone bead to give it some movement. Near the end of the tail I left a link out and added a simple row of small bicones, this was to be the bit where the snakes mouth clamped onto as a clasp.

Into the snakes mouth I sewed a strong magnet clasp.

He grips his tail really well now .

In total this piece cost around £6.00 in materials, but in time he took around 9 hours to complete, so at a minimum wage of £5.80 an hour, I reckon he would have to be sold at £60.00!

But I don't want to sell him, no, he is going to be slithering away to his new home very soon and I will be sorry to see him go, we have grown quite close :)

Hope you like him Karen :)

Lacy Knitted Scarves

2010-10-21T05:44:00.000-07:00

The weather has been all wintery of late. Wintery weather makes me want to close the blinds, put the fire on, snuggle into the big squashy sofa I have, amongst all my many scatter cushions, and stay there till bedtime.

Every winter the knitting needles come out, but being an impatient person I need to make things that give me instant gratification, so jumpers and blankets just don't do it for me.

Last year was a 'Glove' year, well a Wrist Warmer year really - gloves with no fingers, nice and easy.

http://soozintheshed.blogspot.com/2009/09/chunky-wrist-warmers-pattern.html

This year is a scarf year, I have found a wonderful drop stitch pattern which means it knits up really really quickly. I rooted through last years stash and used a few balls and came up with these :)

This is quite a short one as one ball wasn't quite enough, but I didn't have another ball.

It has my new "Opus Moon - hand made by Sooz" tag sewn into the corner.

The next one was the most gorgeous multi-coloured wool, it's so soft and fluffy, you just want to rub your face on it :)

Then I found this amazing ribbon yarn in my box, it knits up so elegantly, it's has turned out more of a dress scarf than an outdoor, windy weather scarf.

And lastly a gorgeous ultra fluffy pale pink wool, which is just baby soft and worked up so lacy and delicate, I know just the person to give this to for Christmas.

I have just taken delivery of another 82 balls, so expect to be shown a few more :)

Take Three Rods

2010-10-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

I had a little experiment this week, to choose three rods of glass, and see what different colour reactions I could get from using them in the same way, but different orders.

It kind of went like this... I made a glass bead with colour 1, then dotted it with colour 2 and topped the dots with colour 3. Then I made other beads using the same technique but changing the colour order around.

This set is made from CIM glass - Cirrus, Ghee & Kryptonite.

As you can see there are a lot of different colours from those three rods, some of them were worked longer in the flame which gave the different shades.

The next set I tried was also in CIM glass, in Grape Ape, Khaki & Desert Pink.

Similar technique, I prefer this set, the colours reacted nicely and stayed a bit truer.

Grey beads for a grey day.

2010-10-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a drizzly day, you know one of those days when you cannot be bothered to do much as the grey clouds and fine rain bring your mood down a notch?

So I decided to go and make some beads. I have allowed myself to get a bit rusty of late so rather than do anything taxing I went back to basics and using only three colours (grey, black and white) plus a clear I worked until the grey rod ran out.

I didn't want a matching set, although as the colours are all the same they are a set in some respect. I tried to do the first pattern that popped into my head each time, then did a few spacers at the end.

I think I will play like this again, it was fun re-discovering all the different styles when I opened the kiln this morning.

Rings in Silver Clay

2010-09-27T13:28:00.001-07:00

I've just come back from a fabulous course at Higham Hall. It was strange being the student and not the tutor for the weekend, but it was so much fun and I was totally re-inspired.

The class was "Rings in Silver Clay" with Tracey Spurgin..... this is Tracey.

So, as the course title suggests, we were learning how to make rings from Silver Clay. I have dabbled with Silver Clay in the past, but really really needed to step up my skills.

I started with this glass cabochon ring, making the base first around a wooden mandrel, pressing it into a texture plate to get an interesting design. Each stage has to be dried out as firing damp clay would result in failure.

Next I wrapped the glass cabochon with a clay 'snake' curling it round to hug the glass.

After the ring base was fired, I then assembled the two parts. After leaving it to dry out completely I somehow managed to accidentally seperate them so had to re-do this whole stage. I was extra careful the second time.

I added some fired silver balls for decoration, and to fill in any unsightly gaps, and it was fired again at a slightly lower temperature to prevent damaging the glass.

After a good polish with a brass brush and some polishing papers, I dipped it into some Liver Of Sulphur. This was to eventually give the piece an older, more antiquey looking finish.

After a good buff with some silver polish and a soft cloth, the ring was finished. I was extremely chuffed with myself too :)

I made a second one to make sure I could remember all the stages !

I then went onto make one of Tracey's fabulous flower rings, making a D-Band ring - the first one broke into four pieces so I had to start again. The flower and the leaves were made seperately and then assembled before the whole piece was fired.

For the third ring, I made a huge chunky D-Band ring, then at the plaster dried stage I faceted the ring to give it this multi-edged design. It's so solid and shiny :)

The ring in the kiln, just fired.

I also made a little pendant with the scraps of clay.

At the end of the weekend we were invited to join the Arabian Dancers, who were also at Higham Hall, to dance. It was quite good fun, although a touch embarrassing as we didn't have a clue what we were supposed to do !

If you ever get the opportunity to take one of Traceys classes, then I wholeheartedly recommend it :)

Dichroic Square Necklace

2010-09-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

I like to carry little beading projects with me wherever I go, in my little tobacco tin :)

A weekend at Higham Hall teaching glass bead making leaves very little spare time, but just in case I didn't spend two hours in the bar each night, I thought I should take something to do.

So, I dug out a Dichroic open square I had previously made in my kiln, and found some matching beads. I didn't want to do anything that required any concentration, so I took no pattern, no books, just the stuff that I had already stored in my memory.

In the end I decided on a simple spiral stitch, I was a little dissapointed as the gorgeously bright pink beads, that looks gorgeously bright pink in the packet, turned out to be pale pink when they were stitched up. This often happens, I should have tested them before I left home, nevertheless I carried on. I managed about 2 inches in the whole weekend :)

Of course, once I got home the little project got forgotten about for about two weeks until I needed to re-use the tin. So last night I decided this was NOT going to be one of those UFO's (Unfinished Beady Objects) that I have many of laying about and sat down to finish it.

So I completed the spiral rope, added a peyote tube and loop for a clasp, and a peyote bail to hold the square. It became quickly apparent that the bail needed to be stitched to stop the square moving about, so I added a little glass disc bead in the centre. I think it finishes it off nicely.

Fun with little glasses.

2010-09-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

I was wandering around a charity shop ages and ages ago when I cam across some little port glasses, and some lustered glasses (not sure what drink they would be for). Being the glass-magpie that I am I just had to buy them, they were only about 20p each so I didn't break the bank :)

Now, what to do with them. I kind of wanted them to still represent drink glasses, so I knew I didn't want to do my usual trick and take a hammer to them.

I arranged them in a cascading manner in the kiln and shut the lid !

So, this is the result, a weird kind of wall hanging. I quite like them.

Next time I am going to incorporate some wire to hang them with as I have been left wondering how to hang these ones up :)

Higham Hall / Sept 2010

2010-09-05T13:09:00.001-07:00

Just completed another fabulous weekend teaching absolute beginners how to make glass beads at Higham Hall.

Set on the Bassenthwaite Lake, this place is so peaceful and calming, no phone signal, no email, no TV. Just glass to melt, amazing food to eat and Cumbrian Life magazine to read - although I did sneak in a Martina Cole novel.

My students this time were Linda, Catherine, Angie and Sheila, and what a fabulous bunch of people. We laughed all weekend and had a great time. Here they are with all the beads they produced over the weekend.

And here they are concentrating very hard at their beadmaking.

We had a little hiccup on the saturday afternoon when we unexpectedly ran out of Oxygen and the spare tank was empty. We were at a loss what to do, but a mercy mission to my own home 40 minutes away, saw us with a nice healthy new tank to play with. Phew ! disaster diverted. It wasn't me who went though, the Principle of the college went, and I am so glad when I saw how his car scraped the road nearly with the weight of the tank ! My poor car wouldn't have liked that very much :)

But, thankfully, we were able to carry on and the Ladies made a whole string of beads, plus a Tree Bead each.

They must have all enjoyed it as they have all rebooked another class in February. Looking forward to it already. :)

Suite Of Cards

2010-08-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

A Bead Buddies Forum member, Tina, set a challenge - named, "Alice In Wonderland".

I have only ever seen the Johnny Depp movie, and the first thing beadable that came to mind was playing cards.

So based on that, I designed and made these little cards in Square stitch.

I then had to look up what order to put them in, and if indeed suites of cards did have an order. There seems to be different orders for different games so this layout is Poker - Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts & Spades.

I strung them with Chinese Crystals, black on one side and red on the other using tigertail and finished with a hook clasp.

Cecile's Wheel

2010-08-27T04:15:00.000-07:00

Found this fabulous pattern during a random Google search for something completely different, It is called Cecile's Wheel.

Liked the effect so thought I would have a go.

It works up really quickly, and is easy to pick up.

I did it in a lined pink seed bead with a grey transparent larger seed bead for contrast.

Finished with one of my favourite fastenings, a Peyote Toggle and loop :)

Now I need to stop getting distracted by pretty patterns and get on with some of the long list of stuff I need to be doing !

A Slice of Rainbow

2010-08-24T04:22:00.001-07:00

Another of my time-consuming, fiddly, annoying, 'why did I start this', cuffs :)

This time I used a rainbow of colours - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet - and in that order.

I did design a pattern and followed it to begin with, but then I got fed up of trying to work out where I was so after about 3" I freeformed it. This resulted with it being picked back a good few times. In retrospect I should have stuck to the original pattern :)

To fasten I added a large press-stud which is not seen when the cuff is worn, but it also needed something focal for added oomph, so I found a very pretty large green button and added that as decoration.

Now, when you work with Delica beads, which are really very tiny, you should make sure your lighting is as bright as possible, you might notice that there two black beads within the Indigo section, I am really annoyed by them, but not annoyed enough to start again :)

A fiddly twiddly pendant.

2010-08-22T14:01:00.001-07:00

Had a colour challenge to complete, in colours I would not normally ever put together, for fear of it looking too "Union Jacky". The colours are Red, Navy, White and Pale Blue.

So I started with a circle of beads in Herringbone Stitch, added a frill and thought it looked a bit boring. I made a second, slightly larger one in Brick Stitch, and again added a frill. Then I sewed them together with a pale blue glass pearl. The nice bit is that they swivel - a pendant you can fiddle with !!

Originally I was going to add this to a netted cuff bracelet, but once I had completed it I thought it would be a little heavy and wouldn't sit right, so an alternative plan was needed.

I decided on using it as a focal piece in a necklace.

The "chain" part is RAW stitch (Right Angle Weave) with a peyote toggle to fasten.

Oh, and here is the netted cuff, I think it is quite nice just on it's own :)

Jasper Cluster Pendant

2010-08-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

I made most of this a little while ago, but as is quite usual, never got it finished :)

I started with a cable chain which I chopped up into identical sized pieces, I then took some wire, and threaded some Cat's Eye & Stardust beads on, before looping the ends and using them to link two pieces of chain together.

For the pendant part I took a lovely chunk of Purple Jasper, I pinned it through the centre hole and attached cable chain so it draped down the front of the stone and connected to the underneath of the Jasper, before being allowed to dangle down.

To this I then added some little beaded charm using pins and any bead I could lay my hand on that was in the purple and silver colour range.

Another Unfinished Object - finished ! :)

Duck

2010-08-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

This cute little duckie was designed for a challenge, funnily named "DUCKS".

Unfortunately I was a bit tardy and therefore a day or so late to get the piece in to be judged, but I decided she needed to be finished anyway :)

So let me introduce ....... Gertie The Giddy Duck. She is off for a walk in the sun, making sure she has her sunhat on so she doesn't get sunstroke, and of course she has her favourite pink bow around her neck.

Gertie is a brooch, I have sewn a little brooch pin to the back, and she looks so cute just marching across someones jacket.

A session on the torch.

2010-08-02T02:29:00.001-07:00

It has been ages since I managed to fire up the torch, there is always something else that needs doing first, but on Saturday I had some time all to myself and thought 'why not...'

The problem was I had bead block, what to make, what colours to use, what shapes to do?

I sat for ages just staring at the flame doing nothing and no ideas were jumping into my head.

Instead, I grabbed the glass that was already hanging about the workbench and made a long tube, added some silver ivory stringer, which was also left over from the last session, and poked and prodded it about before encasing it.

I continued with this mish-mash of designs bead after bead, some I shaped, some I made into nuggets (which photograph really badly, making them just look wonky) and some I pressed with the mashers to flatten.

So I ended up making all these without taking any new glass off the shelf, a good nudge back into beadmaking I think :)

Chevron Bracelets

2010-08-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

Following on from my failed Chevron Necklace.... well, I say failed, I actually liked the Chevron pendant part, but it just did not work on the chain I designed for it. I needed to advance the pattern into something else.

This Purple bracelet was already a pendant in the making, I had already made the same section as in the previous pendant, so I turned the pattern around and added another bit, then I extended the sides to make it long enough to fit around a wrist.

The gap in the centre definately needed something, so I added some matching Swarovski Crystals to give a bit of interest.

The clasp is a Peyote tube with Swarovski Crystals on the end, and a loop at the opposite end to fasten.

I chose the colours for this one to go in with the Bead Buddies July Colour Challenge of Purple / Teal / Chocolate, and I think it works really well.

Next I changed the pattern slightly, and instead of having decreasing Chevrons I kept them all identical. I used the same fastening of a beaded toggle and loop. This one was done in Burgundy, Red & Silver.

Variegated Peyote Bracelet

2010-07-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

Time and time again I come across the statement "Oooo I would love to work with seed beads, but don't know where to start" (or similar), and it really really shouldn't be that daunting. Once you have made your first bracelet you will be addicted and ready to try new designs.

The beauty about working with seed beads, is that they are quite portable, you can put a few in a little tin, with some thread, a needle and small scissors and carry it in your handbag. (this might annoy your partners, parents, children, but who cares?)

I have even taken projects on Planes with me, you cannot take the scissors for obvious reasons, but 'Airline Safe' nail clippers (£2.99 from Boots in the Airport) cut thread beautifully.

Most beaders begin with Peyote Stitch, and continue to use it forever as it is so adaptable. It is really simple to learn, and once you have it you will be churning bracelets out in no time.

With this in mind I have developed a starter kit, with step-by-step, very easy to follow instructions with photos, and all materials needed (except scissors)

The nice bit is I have also added a little bit of design, the kits will come with 5 numbered bags of beads, you start with Bag 1 - working through to finish with Bag 5, this means you will end up with a prettily patterned variated strip with very little thought :)

Also included are the bead for the clasp, and instructions on how to add it, so you will finish up with a wearable piece that you can show off and be proud of. And the price is only going to be around £4.00 (plus p&p)

The sample one I have done is in lilac, through to purple. I have loads of other colour variations in mind though.

What do you think? A good idea?

Chevron Necklace

2010-07-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have a little sketchpad by my bed, and often scribble ideas in it, or rip things out of magazines like the patterns on a dress, or an interesting neckline, to see if I can translate it into some jewellery.

One evening I had just driven 300 miles up the motorway, and spotting the Chevrons on the road around Birmingham, got it into my head to try and play around with the shape to make something. I sketched some Chevron designs in my pad when I got home.

So, this is the first attempt, three decreasing Chevrons. Made in Delica beads in Clear, Pale Blue and Iris Blue, sorry about the bad photo, I find that these colours are the worst to photograph.

Then I had to work out what kind of "chain" to put it on, nothing seemed to match the very straight design, in the end I did a play on the original Chevron and decreased and increased as necessary.

I don't like it at all (The chain part, not the pendant part), everyone who I have shown it to actually do seem to like it, but it's just not me. Whether it is because I generally prefer softer edges, rounds and swirls, and this is just a bit 'straight', I don't know.

But moving on, I have now taken the original design and adapted it into bracelets. So watch this space, hopefully I will be finished them very soon.

Earthy Twist

2010-07-20T12:25:00.000-07:00

When my Mother-In-Law was visiting from Oxfordshire, she spotted a necklace I was making for my Mum, and as she was admiring it I offered to make her one too.

She chose her colours and I set to work.

I was a couple of inches in when I decided I didn't like it, it just didn't work for me. So I simply swapped a chocolate brown bead for a smokey grey one (the smallest bead you can see in the design) and it looked totally different.

I ended up doing a necklace, bracelet and earrings for her, adding a button as a fastening. I like buttons as fastenings, they are so easy to manage when taking the jewellery on and off.

Luckily she didn't mind the change at all, and loved it.

Result ! :)

Stained Glass at School.

2010-07-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

I was asked to go into my daughter Shona's 6th Form Art Class at school to let the students learn how to make some Stained Glass panels.

It was quite bizarre going back to the school that I left 26 years ago !

There was 6 students, the teacher and an assistant wanting to play :)

I bought some lovely packs of mixed glass, and the colours were bright and vivid, perfect for what we wanted to do.

The students drew a plan, and cut themselves some glass to match the patterns.

Then they used the grinder to take of the sharp edges, taking care to use safety goggles, hats and aprons,

...in fact I think they enjoyed the "dressing up" part a little more than they should have :)

Next they stuck copper tape to all the edges,

then it was time to face the soldering iron.

They all did incredibly well, even the teacher, and some lovely pieces were produced.

I had a great time, it made a lovely change.

Project Tins

2010-07-09T05:34:00.000-07:00

Thought I would share this genius idea.

A Bead Buddies Forum friend Mary, suggested a cute little tin that came free with "Lady Products" to use as a project tin. What a fabulous idea I thought, but the tin looked a little too small for my projects.

After some searching about I came across these Tobacco Tins.

They turned out to be the perfect size for what I needed.

I cut up a bead mat to line the lid and the base.

The lid now makes a perfect little working area...

...and the tin can hold quite a lot of bits, including my thread scissors.

You could have a different little tin for all your various projects :)

Perfect for travelling and sneaking into your overnight bag ;)

If you want to buy your own little tin, here is the link where I bought mine from.

http://www.golliwogg.com/?id=1163675&page=home&search=tobacco%20tin

Safari Cuff

2010-07-02T04:02:00.000-07:00

This piece was invented for the Bead Buddies Forum "Africa" Challenge, which was set by Caroline Harvey.

The brief was...AFRICA - landscape, costume, flora and fauna, art, culture....anything inspired by Africa.

The first thought that came to my mind was "animal print". A peyote cuff with Delicas seemed to be the best option, so I sat down and fiddled with some colours and came up with this.

Tiger, Giraffe Aligator and Zebra prints.

Teamed with a big black wooden oval button for a clasp.

Africana Twist.

2010-06-23T03:14:00.000-07:00

I started this necklace for the Bead Buddies June Colour Challenge, which was Orange, Brown, Black & Cream.

I used 4mm Cats Eye Beads in Orange and Cream, 4mm Glass Beads in black, and an AB coated brown seed beads to make the twist. It is the same pattern as the Twisted Bracelet from a previous blog.

I was planning to make the clasp a button and a loop, as I often do, but here comes the mistake. I sewed a button onto each end !

Now, rather than cut it off and repair it, I took it as a challenge to adapt it in some way and make it different. So I made a double loop from seed beads which attaches the buttons together. Then I made a matching dangly to thread on between the buttons.

So now you can wear this necklace in two different ways. As a simple rope with the button fastening at the back, or as something a little more detailed with the dangles at the front. :)

Just about to start a matching bracelet, will try and not make the same mistake this time :)

Abstract Wall Hangings.

2010-06-22T04:11:00.000-07:00

A little experiment fresh from the kiln.

It does need a little tweaking, as most experiments do, but quite pleased with the outcome.

So, a selection of glass rods, chosen in complimenting colours and arranged (or should I say balanced) in the kiln and left to slump down.

The beauty about these is that you can hang it in whichever way you prefer, so if you like things square you can have it straight on, and if you prefer it diagonally you just hang it from a corner.

This is the same piece, just photographed from a different angle, as you can see it looks quite different.

They measure approx 15" x 12"

What can I make?

2010-06-18T04:54:00.000-07:00

Picture the scene.....

Sitting in front of the TV, trying to complete a beaded necklace and you run out of black beads !

Well, unlike other people, I am lucky enough to have a "shop" at the bottom of my garden, but could I be bothered to walk 13 steps down the path, turn all the alarms off, unlock the doors and get a new pack of beads? NO...

Instead, I grumbled and mumbled and sat back on the sofa in a sulk.

Then, not being one to sit for long doing nothing, I picked up the box of beads I stash indoors, and tried to work out what I could make without trailing out to the shed.

I had some clear seed beads and some sparkly acrylic faceted beads. So I made a twisted bracelet. It is a stitch I have used many a time, but this time because the beads were slightly bigger so the design was stretched out a bit.

I added a gorgeous acrylic sparkly heart button, as this was all I had in the house that matched - but a good match I think :)

Anyway, if you want to have a go, try this....

Take a length of thread and string on 12 seed beads, tie in a circle with a double knot.

Thread on 3 seed beads and a 4mm bead, and sew into the 5th bead in the circle.

Thread on 3 seed beads and a second colour 4mm bead and sew into the 10th bead in the circle.

Thread on 3 seed beads and a third colour 4mm bead and sew into the first bead before the first 4mm bead.

That is basically it, thread on three seed beads and a 4mm bead each time, alternating the 4mm colours, and sew into the bead before the next 4mm bead. Round and round in a circle.

I still have not collected those black beads from The Shed, every time I go in I forget !

A few new glass pendants

2010-06-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

Had a little play, I fancied trying different shapes for pendants.

So using some bits of glass left over from a stained glass project which were already in quite pretty shapes, I just simply added some Dichroic bits for sparkle and these were born.

This one was a triangle of glass with some millefiori chips covering the whole surface. My Mum claimed this one :)

And lastly, I played about with some old cuts off from headpins, formed them into letters and sandwiched between two layers of glass. The wire caused bubbles inbetween the glass as it melted which I think makes quite an interesting effect. It makes the whole "name" pendant, look abstract and not immediately noticeable as a name. I quite like it :)

It says "Julie" just in case if is totally abstract :)

Julie is my sister, and this is, strangely, for her.

Quirky Grapes.

2010-06-14T03:37:00.001-07:00

Another one of my Quirky designs. A bunch of Grapes !

Why Grapes? Well as a lover of Red Wine, I felt I should honour the humble grape - red ones of course :)

Made with Delica beads, the actual Grapes section is very flat and smooth to the touch and measures around 3" long.

I added a St Petersburgh Chain in green & purple, to look like a vine. Finished with a peyote tube as a toggle clasp, so no metal parts.

I love doing these Quirkies, I have another few ideas in mind, so watch this space :)

Frilled Garter Bracelet.

2010-06-06T12:16:00.000-07:00

You know when you pick something up and wonder what you can do with it?

Well, that happened with a Crystal Clear open square I had. I pondered and turned it, and wondered and scribbled ideas, but nothing seemed to fit.

So I decided not to be too adventurous, to try and keep it simple and classy.

I got some sz 8 Seed beads in the most gorgeous matte mixed grey colours, and using the square as a centre piece, added a Peyote stitch band to each side. I made a Peyote tube with crystals on the end as a clasp, and a loop to fasten.

But I still wasn't sure, it need something else, so I added a delicate frill in crystal seed beads, each loop overlapping the previous.

It ended up looking quite 'garter' like, hence the name :)

I have another one of those squares, so I might try one in a different colour, and write it up as a tutorial if anyone might be interested :)

Bookmark Swap

2010-06-04T08:08:00.000-07:00

Over on the Bead Buddies Forum we had a bookmark swap.

We got paired up with another Buddy, and we had to make each other a hand-made bookmark, especially for them.

My swap partner was Sandie from Jewels Of The Dales.

For her bookmark I decided to try and make some Foxgloves, as she helps out with the Foxglove Covert Nature Reserve.

I made them from Delicas with a 24k Gold Delica inside as stamen.

I was quite chuffed with how they turned out, and Sandie seemed to like them too :)

......and I got the most magnificent bookmarks from her - two of them, which is great, as one I shall use, and the other I am going to dangle out of a book on my bookcase and admire it lots :)

The first one was a silver hook with the cutest Lampwork Sheep bead, teamed up with two real wool balls, gathered from the fields around Sandies home in the Yorkshire Dales.

The second was this amazing beaded treasure, I must apologise for the photos, they do not show just how gorgeous it really is, but I love it. This is the one I will dangle out of my book and admire.

Dichroic Glass Donuts.

2010-05-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

I had the urge, as you do, to play with glass.

So off to the shed I trotted, glass cutter in hand, and set to work. I wanted to produce Donut Shapes, simply because they can be used in many different ways.

You can, of course, add a simple bail to hang them. You can bead around them like a Cabochon. You can thread a cord through and simply hang them around your neck. You can wire them and make them totally unique....and the list goes on.

I used lots of different coloured Dichroic Glass, layering it up for a very textured look. I cut different sizes and shapes, and I have to say, was quite chuffed with the turn out.

These are just a few, didn't want to bog you all down with images, but if you would like to see the rest, here is the link :)

Opus Moon on Facebook

UFBO - Gone wrong !!!

2010-05-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

One of my many UFBO - now finished.

UFBO stands for Un-Finished Beady Object. I am notorious for starting things, and never finishing them.

My bead box is full of half-finished Beaded projects, but the real issue is, when I pick them up again months and months later, I can never find the beads I was working with at the time. This means I have to totally adapt the pattern and find something different to do with it.

This can be quite fun though, it's like having a platform to start from.

Anyway, the middle section of this necklace is a Peyote Spiral stitch, which is in green, cream, gold and brown, was the bit residing in my bead box, waiting to be finished. Of course I couldn't find the original beads - except the brown and cream, so a compromise was rapidly needed.

I attached a brown beaded spiral peyote to each end, but then found I was running out of beads, so had to swap to cream. I finished it off with a real copal amber bead to fasten.

Then I thought I was quite happy with it, until I spotted something........ on one side the brown section was thicker than the other. I had added one to many beads. Now you might not spot it, but now I have noticed it, it is irritating the life out of me !!!

Argghhhhhhhhhh. Oh well, sod it, it will have to stay like that, I aint pulling all that out !

Quirkie Butterfly for Tan

2010-05-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

My very good internet friend Tan (Tan of Course!!) came up with the name for these odd little Peyote stitched designs. I needed a collective name, and she came up with QUIRKIES.

http://soozintheshed.blogspot.com/2010/04/introducing-quirkies-chocolate-tie.html

So, as a thank you, I made her her very own Quirkie. She chose a butterfly, and left the colour and the style to me.

So here is it, Tan's very own Quirkie Butterfly. Teamed with a whole host of various glass, metal, plastic beads to make it unique.

Candy Fleur Cuff

2010-05-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

The colour challenge for the Bead Buddies forum this month was Candy shades of Mint Green, White, Pale Blue, Lemon, Lilac and Pink.

To incorporate a lot of colours I think you need something bold and fussy, so I set about making this..... which I have named Candy Fleur Cuff.

Each little flower took between 15-60 minutes to make. In total, this piece took around 10 hours to make.

I made them in all different sizes, shapes and colours, then made a plain Peyote Cuff in Lilac for the base and sewed them all on.

For the clasp, I found a fabulous Mother Of Pearl pink button in a flower shape, then sewed a beaded flower on the top. It fastens with a simple loop sewn onto the opposite end.

I like to do "big" projects with no metal parts, therefore removing the risk of tarnish and allergies.

I enjoyed making this cuff, but I don't think I will be doing another for a little while :)

Disketts

2010-05-03T05:06:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about things to do with a disc of beads.

Following on from my "Marshmallow & Chocolate" Disc necklace,

....which was featured in Beads & Beyond Magazine in Aug 2009, I had a few practise discs left in various bright funky colours.

So, last night, I sewed them all together, added a simple white RAW (Right Angle Weave Stitch) chain, and a hand-made Lampwork bead for a clasp, and this was born.....

As yet no name for these piece, but as I have loads and loads of ideas for these little disks, I have collectively named them "The Diskettes Range".

I am starting a new one tonight, in pastel colours - a bracelet I think - but that could change :)

Watch this space....

Tea Party Lampwork Necklace

2010-04-27T05:19:00.000-07:00

When I was at the Flame Off, I spent some time with the effervescant Ray Skene. At the class we both attended he showed off some of his marvelous Lampwork beads.

My eye was immediately drawn to a string of frit covered beads in white with lilac and hints of green. "Ooooo they are nice" I exclaimed, to which he said "£1.00"!

Eh? £1.00, nah, I must have heard wrong, so I laughed nervously and continued to fondle them.

"Yeah £1.00" he says, and thrusts them into my hand.

I felt a bit bad actually, I mean £1.00 for a set of Lampwork beads, it's daylight robbery, but anyway, I agreed to the deal (well I would be a fool not too!) Then he almost chucked a matching set at me, "Now it's £2.00" he said.

Talk about it being my lucky day :)

So I kept the large round ones, I will do something with those later. The shaped oval ones I decided to make into a necklace for my Mum, she has a dinner to attend and needed a nice necklace.

This is "Tea Party" called so as it has a cute little Teapot toggle clasp. With Ray's lovely beads I have strung Swarovski Crystals and some Fire Polished Czech Crystals.

Another Weekend at Higham Hall.

2010-04-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

I LOVE this place (http://www.highamhall.com/) I have just spent all weekend there teaching basic beadmaking. It was my second session and it was, like last time, simply brilliant !

The students were really keen to learn, eager and willing to try anything. They made some fabulous beads, and went away happy bunnies.

The lovely ladies were Sue, Judith, Jill and Chris. Here they are showing off their beads.

....and here they are working hard, and making pretty beadies.

If you ever decide to do a course there, I would fully recommend it. The food is magnificent, and they treat you really well, on top of that they offer a huge range of different courses from Languages, to History, to Crafts.

Unfortunately, for me, that's me finished now until September, but looking forward to it already :)

Quirkies - The Cream Bra

2010-04-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's another one of my mad Quirkies. This time a pretty feminine Cream Bra.

Made in Cream AB Delica beads for a little bit of sparkle (which also made it blooming difficult to photograph) with a sapphire blue and a touch of lilac for a lacy trim.

I used Cream glass pearl beads along with Violet AB Swarovski Crystals to make the chain, and finished it with a silver toggle clasp.

And here is my chubby Buddah modelling it, although I think it needs an extra few rows to fit :)

Sharon Peters Lampwork Class

2010-04-19T02:15:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to get one of the 10 places available for the Sharon Peters Lampworking Class - Kissy Lips & Goblins - at this years Flame Off extravaganza.

What a fabulous class it was, we laughed lots, played with glass lots, and produce some unusual looking beads :)

Sharon at the Torch,

Some of Sharon's amazing work....

...and this one just shouted out to me, so I had to buy it :)

If you ever get a chance to go on one of Sharon's classes, I would highly recommend it. It was fantastic learning the tricks from the master.

And these are the ones I produced. not quite to the same quality, but I tried :)

Now to practise, practise, practise :)

Introducing QUIRKIES - Chocolate Tie.

2010-04-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have been following my blog, you will have seen my little odd bits & pieces, namely the ties, the bras and the butterflies.

Well, now they have a name ! QUIRKIES

An online Dictionary says that Quirky means "odd, unusual, eccentric, idiosyncratic, curious, peculiar, unpredictable, singular, fanciful, whimsical, capricious, offbeat, out there"

The Urban Dictionary gives the following definition: "something that is strange/not normal but cool"

So I think that name might just suit them very well, big thanks to my good mate Tan, who came up with the name.

So this one is a Tie Quirkie, in dark chocolate brown, with cream, pumpkin and turquoise patterns, oh and there is a touch of gold in there too - these little gold beads are real 24k gold plated delica beads, and they cost a fortune :)

I have strung it on Tigertail wire, with complimenting glass beads and gorgeous sparkly turquoise Swarovski beads.

Now let me show you one of the beads I use for the tie part. Tiny aint they? :)

If you have any suggestions of things I can do to make into a Quirkie, shout out and let me know.

Coming soon..... more Bras, more Ties, and a Crown :)

A Bead Giveaway....but with a difference.

2010-04-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

It is quite a mad idea, but I am very impulsive, and when an idea hits me I have to run with it :)

This is a Bead Giveaway, but with a HUGE difference. You have to find me and ask for the beads in person.

The Bead Hunt will happen tonight....(Sat 10th April 2010)...yep TONIGHT....between the hours of 8.30pm and 10.00pm. If they are not collected tonight, then I will hide them for some lucky person to find at a later date. :)

They are handmade glass beads, made by myself in my little studio, and are one-of-a-kind.

So you will want some clues?

I will be in the City of Carlisle, in a family pub on Scotland Road, which has a Premier Inn attached to it.

This is my Weemee avatar, you have to be able to work out who I am from that (unless you have already met me of course, then it will be relatively easy)

...and this is a snippet of the top I will be wearing.

All you have to do is march up to me and say "May I have the beads, please" and as long as you are the first person, I will hand them over. I will try and update our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/TheBeadShed) as soon as they are collected, so try and keep an eye on it.

If you are not near Carlisle, then do not worry, I will be hiding beads all over the place in the next few months, so you might be lucky then :)

Good luck.

A Blue Bead Day

2010-04-08T02:48:00.000-07:00

On Easter Monday, the weather was unpleasant, so dog walking in The Lakes was out of the question. So what a fabulous excuse to turn on the torch and make some beads.

I decided it would be a blue day, and only use blue glass - mixed with a bit of this and a bit of that.

To start with, while the kiln was heating and the mandrels were drying, I made some simple fritty gravity beads. These are made by rolling a basic bead in broken glass "glitter" and melting in, then letting them droop to drag the colour round.

These next ones are a deep deep cobalt blue, encased thickly with clear, and dotted with white. They are a Laura Sparling style :)

Next I used an Ivory base bead, put a wiggly stripe of aquamarine transparent blue, topped with a turquoise.

And these have to be my favourite. An aquamarine transparent base, with a covering of silver foil, fumed to give it a depth of different colours and encased in thick clear.

Free Tutorials.

2010-04-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

I have put some of my designs on my website as downloads, some are chargable, but most are free :)

There are some tutorials for total beginners, and also for intermediate. Along side are a couple of useful "how to's" for basic beadweaving stitches.

Do let me know if you make anything, and I will include your photo in one of my next blogs :)

I hope you enjoy making them as much as I enjoyed designing them.

Here is the link for you :) http://www.thebeadshed.co.uk/tutorials.htm

Bra !!!

2010-04-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

Some say I am a little mad, some say I am a little odd, I just think I am a little eccentric :)

And here is the proof...... yep, it is indeed a little bra, made from tiny Delica beads.

Why, you may ask? No idea, it just popped into my head and I had to do it.

It measures around 4" across, and I have strung it onto tigertail wire adorned with Czech pressed glass flower beads and Swarovski Crystals for a little sparkle.

A pink lacy one next I think :)

Tartan Cuff.

2010-04-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

Well, this piece was a labour of love. It was a case of three rows forward, two rows back !!

What a nightmare, I have never unpicked so many beads in my life, even then I see a few stray ones where there should not be, but I got to the point that if I did not get it finished, I never would.

Maybe I made the pattern a little complicated, the next one will not be quite so detailed :)

So..... it is Peyote stitch, made in Japanese Delica beads, a nice thick cuff with a huge chunky button, measuring around 40mm, as a clasp.

Bay City Rollers fans, eat your hearts out :)

Some more Klimt Cane Beads

2010-04-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

Today, my daughter Shona, and her mate Hannah decided to have a play day.

They decided on Fimo beads for this morning activities, as Hannah is studying Klimt at school for her GCSE Art, and I had previously made some Klimt Beads, we decided to revisit the technique.

After the last attempt at these beads (http://soozintheshed.blogspot.com/2010/03/klimt-complex-cane-beads.html) I had bruises on the palms of my hands from pushing the clay through the extractor! A friend who makes the most magnificent fimo pieces, suggested I bought a wind-down extractor, rather than the push one I was using - I have to say it was worth every penny of the £22 I paid, it made making the beads so much easier.

All three of us picked totally different colours, I did mine in a muted grey & pinks with a touch of turquoise, while both girls picked vibrant psychedelic shades.

Here are mine, a set of eight beads with a matching pendant, which is very large at around 60mm.

The girls hard at work, Hannah is the blonde, and Shona..... well, the non blonde :)

These are Shona's beads and a matching pendant.....

...and last but not least, Hannah's beads and matching pendant.

After lunch the girls went on to bake !!

Shona + Hannah + cake making ingredients = MESS !!!

Still, at least they had fun :)

Glass Bead Making Therapy

2010-03-30T04:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just need to take some time out. Undisturbed time out !

So Sunday saw me trotting off to my workshop to play with glass. I tend to get undisturbed peace in there due to a nasty burnt thumb once when someone popped in and made me jump ! Now, everyone steers clear when the torch is on.

I just needed to play, but without thinking too much about shapes and designs.

I had my iPod on my favourite toons playlist, a large glass of White Zinfandel, and a few rods of glass. What more could you possibly want?

(Note: It is probably not a hugely good idea to partake in alcohol whilst operating a propane & oxygen torch, so please do not follow by example) :)

I made these......

Some simple gravity frit beads, love the colour they ended up being.

and these......

A simple striking yellow glass with a Silvered Ivory stringer band.

and these.....

Inspired and taught to me by the fabulous Laura Sparling, she is an encasing genuis, and I love coming back to re-make these beads, they always look so cute.

Klimt & Complex Cane Beads

2010-03-28T05:13:00.000-07:00

I went and bought a whole pile of different colour packs of Fimo, for another project..... but as usual got sidetracked and made cane beads instead :)

Kilmt cane is where you roll your Fimo into a sausage then cut it into slices, do this with a few colours and then lay the discs together to form a long coloured sausage, push this through a clay extruder and you get some fabulous coloured canes. You then bunch these all together and roll slowly to combine, then lay on your beads.

I made a pendant first then the matching beads.

Then I made a complex cane, like a kaleidoscope, using sausages of colour, wrapped in other colours, cut and re-wrapped to make many different canes, of varying shapes and sizes. I bundled it together, chopped it into 6 and bundled it all together again before wrapping it all in purple. I then reduced by rolling it into a sausage.

I made the pendant first using the larger slices of cane, then I reduced it further by rolling to make the beads. On reflection I think I reduced it too much for the beads, as the pattern has become a little too small to see. These beads I shaped into lentils.

I had two left over slices of cane from the pendant, so I just put a little hole in each to make earring charms.

And this is my left-over bead. All the left over bits of clay, mushed into one, swirled and shaped into a large lentil measuring around 35mm. I quite like it :)

The Tie Project

2010-03-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

I had this mad notion...... blame it on too much cheese, or wine...but it seemed a good idea at the time :)

The idea was to take a Tie and reproduce it in as many different ways as I could.

The tie I was initially after was one I spotted on David Dickinson, him of the antique fame, it was a patchwork of different patterns and colours - a riot of colours, and very interesting.

However I failed miserably to find one, so instead I trailed around the local charity shops and found some different ones.

I decided on this one in the end. A navy blue tie, with 6 stripes of different shades of green.

THE BEAD WEAVE TIE

Ok, so the first project was to recreat it for a necklace - imagine his and hers for a posh party, this necklace strung over a little black dress would look so eyecatching :)

This was stitched in Peyote Stitch, using Delica beads, it was tricky to match the greens in the fabric exactly, so I tried to do it as close as I could. The actual tie measures around 7" long.

I then strung it onto some wire with some cat's eye glass tube beads alternated with Swarovski Crystals and Fire-Polished for a bit of sparkle :)

THE GLASS TIE

The next thing I had planned was a glass tie, to be used as a pendant. Only when I started cutting the glass I realised that the thinnest strips I could cut would make it way to large to wear, so it is now a wall hanging measuring approx 10" long.

Have you noticed the not so deliberate mistake? :(

Keep your eye out for the next instalments :)

Another Patchwork Flutterby

2010-03-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

I thought I would show you my second Patchwork Flutterby, if you missed the first here is a link :)

http://soozintheshed.blogspot.com/2010/03/patchwork-flutterby.html

I have designed about 12 so far (only stitched two), this one though I decided to do in just two contrasting colours. The original was designed in black & white, but when I came to stitch it I picked Chocolate Cherry and Cream AB for a little sparkle.

It is around 5" across, so it really is a statement piece when worn.

The 'chain' is made up from gorgeous Pink Aventurine gemstone beads, teamed with some deep red AB coated Fire-Polished beads. The antenna is a eyepin, threaded through the top beads.

I really love doing these, they are so therapeutic, until you get tired and end up having to pull out 8 rows because of one wrong bead!! But that's another story :)

A Dragon Bracelet by Donna Sanders

2010-03-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

You may remember a couple of months ago I made Raphael the Delica Dragon.

http://soozintheshed.blogspot.com/2010/02/raphael.html

Well, over on the Bead Buddies Forum I entered Raphael in the "Myth & Magic Challenge" as set by Donna Sanders.

I was chuffed when the entries were put in a poll, and Raphael won !!

But, if I was chuffed then, I am much much more chuffed now.....just look at my amazing prize, as made by Donna herself.

It is an amazing beadwork Dragon bracelet, using a variety of stitches, AMAZING ! I totally love it.

Check out her website.. http://www.delicatesparkles.com/ you can also fan her on Facebook "Delicate Sparkles"

Thanks Donna :)

Japanese Delica Dolly

2010-03-18T04:58:00.001-07:00

Let me introduce you to Mizuki (Japanese meaning: - Beautiful / Moon)

This piece was originally thought up for the Bead Buddies Forum Japanese Challenge.

She is made in Miyuki Delica Cylinder beads, which are very uniformed and lay beautifully when stitched together, but they need patience and lots & lots of time. She took a good few hours to complete :)

If you would like to have a go and make her yourself, you can find the pattern in Bead Magazine - Issue 21, out this week.

I would be very interested in seeing how you get on if you decide to have a go. Email me your pictures to thebeadshed@gmail.com and I will show them in a blog, and send you a little gift :)

Glass Beadmaking at Higham Hall.

2010-03-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend was my first as Glass Beadmaking Tutor at Higham Hall College.

Of course, I was a little pensive, having not taught there before, but it was a blast !

I had four students, all of them lovely ladies, who I hope to keep in touch with, they made the weekend so much fun and filled with laughter, so if you are reading Ladies, I thank you :)

If you have never looked at the Higham Hall website, do have a peep, I can totally recommend doing a course, the food they serve is amazing - with everything hand-made and mouthwateringly yummy. In fact I have booked on one myself, Silver Clay Rings :)

But hey, it's not all about the food, so back to the bead talk. This is the brand new equipment, ordered in just for the course. All shiny and spangly :) (Well, it was!!)

The students, Gill & Lucie and Jackie & Veronica.

So, none of the students had ever melted glass before, but look at the stash of beauties they managed to produce!

By the end of the day two they were making a tree bead which pulled together all the techniques they had learned throughout the course - pulling stringers, twisties, shaping, pressing. I think you will agree they did really well.

The Ladies with their Tree Beads...

....and a closer view.

Can't wait until the next one :)

Shona & Stained Glass

2010-03-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

Shona, my daughter, has decided to do a Stained Glass piece for her A-Level Applied Art.

Her big plans are eventually to do a big 3D Violin, but having never had even the most basic lesson, we thought a session in the shed might be in order.

So tonight we did just that. I have to say, it does make me ever so slightly envious how Shona can pick things up so easily, and always make something nice, I, on the other hand, often turn out a 'dog's dinner' for the first couple of attempts!

So here we are, a step-by-step photo blog into Shona's first attempts at stained glass.

First of all she took a rectangle of glass and just simply cut it into 4 pieces.

Then, using an inland grinder, she ground (grinded?) the edges to make them less sharp. At this point you are flicked with tiny chippings of glass which embed themselves in your clothing and hair.

Next it is time to add a sticky copper foil around all the edges of the glass, this gives the solder something to stick to.

When all the pieces are complete, you lay them back together in your chosen pattern and 'tack' them together with little bits of masking tape.

Next is the fun bit - melting the solder and filling in the gaps between the copper, smoothing it over to make it look nice.

Then you turn it over, do the other side, and finally the edges, taking care not to let the solder drip onto your hands (coz that really hurts !!!)

Then she added a cute wire curl, because she could :)

Tada ! The finished piece. Ready to stick into her work book as a sample.

Now....... to order a huge pile of brown glass for this Violin idea !!!

Patchwork Flutterby

2010-03-10T15:16:00.001-08:00

I have been busy designing a range of Peyote & Brick Stick Butterflies - which I have cunningly named "Patchwork Flutterbys" :)

I have designed about 8 to date, so thought it was about time I stitched one up to check it works. I have sent a second pattern off to someone who kind of volunteered, but didn't actually, but she got the job anyway - you know who you are CAROL BEAD QUEEN !!! ;)

This one is the purpley one, although they are designed for you to use up all your leftover delica beads from other projects, so you can make them any colour you would like.

The antenna are made from a head pin, simply threaded through the top beads, and then I added a sparkly crystal strap, with Czech and Swarovski Crystals.

It will take a very plain top, or a low cut top to show this off to it's full advantage, it's very colourful, and funky. Great fun to make, watch out for a few more soon......

(I plan to sell the patterns eventually, but give me a nudge if your impatient ;) )

Memory Beads

2010-03-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I made some Memorium Pendants for my friend Kate, using the ashes of her beloved dog Sam.

(click on link below for more info)

http://soozintheshed.blogspot.com/2010/02/in-memory-of-sam.html

Well, this week I have made some beads, encasing those ashes between layers of glass.

They look beautiful, and glittery, and full of life, just how you would want to remember a loved one.

These were made using a deep red base and a top layer of crystal clear for shine and magnification.

What a great way to remember......

Again, thank you Kate for trusting me to do this :)

Duke Of Edinburgh Skills Training

2010-03-02T14:12:00.000-08:00

For the past 12 weeks I have had two fab girls in for a Skills Training session for the Duke Of Edinburgh Awards. Lauren and Eleanor.

Lauren

Eleanor

No idea why the hoods were up, must be a fashion thing :)

It was a 12 week course in Beading & Jewellery making. We covered basic beading, earrings, beadweaving stitches, polymer clay bead making, wire work, tiara making and glass work, including fused pendants and glass bead making.

Our last lesson was glass bead making, and both girls took to it like ducks to water, producing some fabulous beads which they then made into bracelets for themselves.

So, I would like to thank Lauren & Eleanor for attending and being so enthusiastic, and hope that the skills they have both learnt will prove useful to them in the years to come

And here are their finished beads from last night :)

Laurens

Eleanors

In Memory Of Sam.

2010-02-22T07:07:00.000-08:00

My friend Kate, asked me if I would do something in memoriam of her beloved dog Sam.

Of course, it would be a pleasure. so a little tub of Sam's ashes arrived in my workshop.

Never having worked with this material before, I am afraid it was a case of "suck it and see".

These are the first attempts, some glass pendants with Sam's ashes encased in glass.

The varying texture of the ashes caused some bubbles to appear which then gave the pendants a slight "snow globe" effect with the ashes being able to move about within the bubble. A really interesting result.

The pendants are now bailed and ready to string and wear. Will be trying some beads next.

Thanks Kate, for putting your trust in me to have a go.

Wine Bottle Bowl

2010-02-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

A moment of madness overcame me I think, when I wondered if I could make a bowl out of mini wine bottles.

But SUCCESS !!

This was a many stage project:

Stage One: Go to local Indian restaurant and chat them up very very nicely to save lots of little 'one glass' wine bottles for you.

Stage Two: Be extra nice to partner and slip into a chatty conversation that you would be so chuffed if those bottles were to be washed and their labels removed.

Stage Three: Get off your backside and wash the bottles, remove extra sticky labels by scrubbing with a scouring pad, then scratch remaining glue off with the back of a knife.

Stage Four: Spend at least 3/4 of an hour balancing the bottles in the kiln, so they will flatten to make a large petalled flower.

Stage Five: Wait impatiently all night for the kiln to do its work, then in the morning take out fused glass bottles whilst still warm, passing them hand to hand so not to burn your fingers.

Stage Six: Wait until the kiln is cold, then prepare it for a second firing.

Stage Seven: Find a suitable recepticle to use as a mold, a stainless steel mixing bowl did it for me, and put it upside down in the kiln, lay the fused glass on top, and prepare to wait impatiently again for a second night.

Stage Eight: Lock yourself out of the workshop so there is no temptation to burn your fingers once again.

Stage Nine: Take out your masterpiece, pat yourself hard on the back (put the bowl down first) and tell your visiting parents that they produced a genius. :)

Stage Ten: Text your neighbour and ask if she has any grapes, or other fruits to use as photographic props.

So there you go, the making of a bottle bowl.

The neighbour couldn't supply fruit, so I had to used baking potatoes - they don't quite have the same beauty as a bunch of juicy grapes, but a compromise was needed. :)

Cufflinks

2010-02-18T04:57:00.000-08:00

Do men still wear cufflinks?, none of the ones in my household do. But nevertheless I thought I might make a few pairs and see if they sell.

I thought bright & bold with a touch of loud, they are not huge so are not going to overpower a nice shirt, just add a little flash of colour.

Real glass, handmade in my own shed (maybe I should say Studio so I sound a bit posher?) with a touch of Millefiori or Dichroic, set on plated cufflink stems.

A little bit of glass.

2010-02-17T08:45:00.000-08:00

This week I have been mainly playing with glass.

My Auntie Winnie, invited me to attend a Charity Evening, for Ladies, and take along my ready made bits and bobs.

PANIC !! I don't really have many ready made bits and bobs, so I needed to knuckle down and get some things made. Trying to cater for all purses I thought a few little glass stud earrings might be nice. I have made loads of the glass nuggets, but got bored glueing them onto the posts, so at the moment I only have 8 pairs.

I also made a few pendants, I only try and do a few at a time so I can make fresh things each time, otherwise I tend to get into a mass-production mode and make loads the same.

I know it's not much for a stall, but it's a start..........right? :)

Florence.

2010-02-12T04:56:00.000-08:00

After finishing Raphael the Delica Bead Dragon, I decided that he needed a Girlfriend. A nice pink and purple Girlfriend, and so Florence was born. Made from tiny glass Delica Beads and lots and lots of time and love.

So why Florence you may ask?

Well, as you may know, Raphael was a famous artist, so I did a bit of Googling to find out a little about his life and find him a name for his Pink Dragon girlfriend. Apparently he had a companion called Maria. The name Maria just didn't seem to suit the lady Dragon, she just doesn't look like a Maria to me, so I searched a bit more.

Apparently Raphael travelled to Italy and spent a lot of time in Florence ;) I think that says it all :)

The happy couple.

Raphael

2010-02-04T03:51:00.000-08:00

This was a labour of love, and I have loved every minute.

I bought this pattern at a bead fayre way back in October, it is from http://www.amuseink.com/

I never got around to doing it until a challenge was announced on the Bead Buddies Forum (Myth & Magic).

It is a flat Peyote stitch, worked in Delica beads for a wonderfully smooth flat piece of work.

The sparkly gold beads around the edge are 24k Gold Plated, quite expensive, but oh so sparkly. :)

The whole piece measures around 5x7", so you can imagine how many tiny delica beads there are in there !!

Not sure what I am going to do with it yet, I could add a beaded chain to the 'ears' and wear it, or I might just hang it from a mirror and look at it :)

Links

2010-02-02T08:24:00.000-08:00

This piece took ages !!

I called it "Links" for reasons that might be obvious :)

I used the colours as they were part of a colour challenge on the Beading Forum Bead Buddies. Lime / Lilac / Black / White / Turquoise.

I chose seed beads deliberately in different sizes to give different thicknesses and texture to the finished piece.

I made a few tubes in Peyote stitch, which I then sewed into rings, then linked them together with other tubes, 'frillies' amd peyote strips.

The whole piece is one continuous chain which just slips over the head, very easy to wear and no clasp.

Springtime Tiara

2010-01-26T06:25:00.001-08:00

At the moment, I am teaching Jewellery & Beadwork skills to two Duke Of Edinburgh Award students.

The course, which I devised, is for 12 weeks, and covers most of the more popular jewellery and beading techniques.

This week we made Tiaras :)

While the girls made pretty, almost bridal, pearl and crystal tiaras, I decided to plunge into my huge box of Bead Soup mix and just pull out a single bead to kick of my inspiration.

The result was a fabulous Polymer Clay Daffofil made by the very talented Elise Canning, I then dug out some complimenting beads in the same colourway and set to work :)

Just a bit of fun, hope you like it.

Beaded Butterflies

2010-01-14T06:24:00.000-08:00

Crystal Lace Necklace Patterns - Sandra D Halpenny - I have had this book for quite a while now, but not really looked at it. but I wanted to make my Mum 'something different' for Christmas so I dug it out of the bookcase.

Since then I have been addicted to Sandra's designs, especially these butterflies. The finished piece is so eye-catching and unusual.

The first one I made was the blues, I had a bag of mixed Crystals so I picked out different colours for each wing, although the pattern had the same colour crystals. I think using the different colours seems to give it a stained glass look.

Then I made the red one. I have run out of mixed crystals now, so the next one I make will have to be colour co-ordinated :)

BBC Radio Cumbria

2010-01-12T04:24:00.001-08:00

I was asked to provide a week of short blogs for Radio Cumbria. Five days with 150 words a day, just simply a snippet into my life.

On Sunday I went to record them in the studio in Carlisle, I have never been in a radio studio before so it was quite exciting, I managed to complete it in a couple of takes too :)

Monday found me curled up on the kitchen floor cringing in embarrassement, don't you just hate the sound of your own voice? I am sure that person who didn't finish the words off properly, and used slang, was not me !!!

In case you are interested and missed the programme, here is the blog I wrote:

Saturday
I promised myself a day of glass play, and for once I got it, which is unusual as I am usually side-tracked by work, friends, teenage children needing a taxi and various other things.
My project today was a stained glass panel, all in blues, with swirls, curves and nuggets. Designed to hang in a window to catch the sunshine for extra sparkle.
I have been glass working for a few years now, fusing, melting, cutting, painting, but Stained Glass is a new style for me, and this was just my 2nd piece.
I start by cutting the glass, then grinding it, adding copper foil to the edges, and soldering it all together. It is time consuming, but very satisfying, I just wish I had more hours in the day, or even more days in the week.

Sunday
For a while I have been planning to take photographs of Talking Tarn for inspiration to use in my glasswork. Ideally I needed the four seasons, so when the snow made an appearance this week I jumped in the car and got myself up there with my camera.
It was splendid, the Tarn was frozen, except for a little patch in the centre that the ducks were taking advantage of, and there was a layer of crisp white snow everywhere. It was difficult to see where the path ended and the iced Tarn began.
The view was monochrome, breathtaking and so so still. It was almost disappointing to turn around and see the coloured covers of the docked sailing boats on the shore.
On leaving the car park the sky exploded into an amazing hue of oranges and red, the sun was setting and the sky was on fire.

Monday
Work - - - always busy on a Monday. When you are self-employed, and your business premises is attached to your home, it takes a lot of self-control not to nip out and catch up on the emails. Instead I torture myself by watching them mount up , I try not allow myself to switch on the computer but I just can’t help checking from my mobile phone.
Technology, a must for an online business like mine, but sometimes I despise being tied to the computer, it is like a ball and chain. It gives me a tiny snippet of information, bait, and then it reels me in. The long walk in the Lakes, the phoning and meeting up with friends, the gardening – it all gets forgotten when the computer calls.
In 2010 I vow to spend less time with the computer and gain some real life back.

Tuesday
Snow, why does it arouse such excitement I wonder. It’s cold, damp, slippy, and you never can tell just what is underneath the big handful you have just scooped up ready to form into a missile. Yes, even at 41 I still get the urge to throw a snowball, although these days I only throw one and remember how long it used to take to thaw out frozen fingers.
I also remember sitting in school with my coat on, shivering. The classroom door would be left open as one teacher supervised three or four classes as the other teachers had not made it in. I can never remember school being closed, or being sent home.
Today I am the proud owner of a large igloo type building in my back garden, built by my 19 yr old son, see? You’re never too old for snow.

Wednesday
Knitting is back in trend, lots of people I know have picked up the knitting needles again, myself included.
How soon you forget though, the sore fingers from pushing the knitting needle through. I believe this is why there are two rows in regular knitting – knit row and a purl row. The knit row hurts your index finger, which you allow to recover while you do the purl row which hurts your thumb. Or perhaps I am doing it wrong.
I decided on a baggy cardi, I started with the back panel, as this is usually the bit I get bored with and leave unfinished to re-discover years later. I have an added push this time though, a friend stated that I would never complete it, she knows me too well, but my competitive nature has taken this as an insult, and so the challenge is set.

Stained Glass Wall Hanging

2010-01-02T10:23:00.000-08:00

Following on from my Stained Glass course with Mo Wallis way back in November, I came home and ordered all the equipment and gadgets that I needed to have a go myself.

Until this week it has sat in a box unpacked, but I decided I should really have a go while I can still recall what to do.

A wall hanging, I decided.

I love waves and circles as opposed to straight lines and right angles, so I drew a random pattern on a piece of paper, blobs and rounds, and curves.

To add texture to the piece I decided to fuse some glass to make nuggets, this would make the finished hanging a little more 3D I thought. Then I cut glass, grinded (ground?) the edges and got showered in millions of glass splinters. On trying to pull one out of my hair I managed to cut a chunk of hair out !! A bandana is needed next time I think, or perhaps a baseball cap.

I still need to work hard practising my soldering skills, it's all a little too rough for my liking, but hopefully it will improve with time.

This piece is just slightly smaller than A4, and I think I will gift it to my Godparents, who I am visiting tonight after too many years of not being in touch.