Friday 20 December 2013

Who's been a busy little elf? Last orders for Santa's Sleigh...

Hi all, I've got a beer by my side already this time so all set up to write the blog! 
(It is Christmas after all ;-))


SAFARI

The SAFARI beads are done!! Yay! I am sooooo happy with the outcome!


Been playing around with techniques for this set for a good while now, and I am very happy to say that I am finally satisfied with the results. 

(I went to town, somewhat with the photos so sorry if there are a few two many for your liking!)

This one is a TIGER BEAD pendant for a very special lady who likes her big cats!. It is strung onto waxed cotton and has pure sterling silver clasps and fitments. It's a lovely bauble shape. 
I hope she likes it.




These are the set of big hole beads for her charm bracelet. There are three tiger style beads each with their own very distinct, individual markings and two amber complementary beads which help give texture and separate them out a bit. One has a load of little bobbles in three different colour amber glass shades, and the other bead is a darker amber hue with little disc shaped cog-like bobbles going all the way round. I think that as the set of five they really hang together well.





On a bracelet they just look amazing. I was a bit 'mouth-watery' while I was taking these piccies, it was quite sad to see them go out the door really.... but I have to remember... business is business!!



BLACK & WHITE

Black and white is always a winner. It always looks so clean and fresh and elegant. I have been making a few little black and white pieces recently. Here's the first:


The set consists of a sweet little pair of earnings and a charm bracelet bead to match. 



The next set is a charm bead group of five. These always look so cute on a silver bracelet and the monochrome thing means that they will go with absolutely anything you are wearing and always look so pristine!





 PURPLE PARADISE (2)

I had a lot of interest in the purple paradise set shown in the last blog. So have been making more of that type. I have two bobbly ones (1,4) and three smooth ones. I have used some great colour changing glass laden with silver. Number 4 is actually quite metallic to look at with the naked eye, but this effect doesn't come out too well in the photographs.


Here is a close up of the number 4 one.
You can see the mirror like bobbles a little better on this one.


This one is really lush up close. The purple is really electric!



This pendant below, was made for a very special and wonderful, inspirational lady; my Mum! My Mum has a very serious weakness for all things purple, so I have made this silvered reduction glass pendant for her for Christmas! It is a really delicate cylindrical shape. It's about 2.5cm high and about 1cm wide. It has little iris purply/blue swirls on it and the base glass is an inky blue transparent purple too.




RAINBOW CHARM BEADS

These little beauties are also made with silver glass, but treated to a different heating and cooling technique. I'm so pleased with the way they have turned out. They shine up so great in the light.









These finally, are some little earrings I made with a very light shade of pink, lilac, clear and white. I love the way the light moves through the baby clear glass beads. They look so gentle and delicate!


Not sure I will get another one in before Christmas, so if I don't, have a really lovely holiday. I will try to get plenty of torch time in so I can stock the shop up in the New Year! Loads of love, Chellie xx


Friday 13 December 2013

Coming down a chimney near you!


Hi everyone, Happy Christmas!!

The wrapping is just about done, the kids are off from school; this Christmas thing is really starting soon isn't it?.. I don't feel quite ready for it yet!! Maybe a Christmassy blog will get me in the mood…

Might actually get me a little Sherry to sip while I write…hang on…

(she goes to kitchen to get Sherry..)

Oh yes that's much better! (she has her Sherry..)

In the last few weeks I've been making beads for Christmas commissions and also making lots of presses for my friends and family too. (Funny that.. everyone has asked for beads this year…)

I thought I might pop a few on here to show you what I've been doing.

Right then first up:


 This is one of my 'spotty' sets. A little birdy said that they would like something in red and black. So this is the result. There is a little opaque core covered in clear encasing and then little random black dots placed all over. I did some earrings to match..





This pair of earrings were a special commission in particular colours for a Christmas present. I really love the way they have turned out.




I've got into hearts recently.. These turned out really interestingly, and they are really festive. They have  a base of ivory with a deep crimson red circle of six hearts around the middle… The red colour doesn't photograph that well I'm afraid..sorry!

I also did some cute little charm beads to go with the earrings.




This set is also quite Christmassy and similar to the ones above in some ways but very different in others. These have a pure white background and a more bright red colour to make the pattern. They are still festive but have a cleaner more modern look…. and they also come out much better in a photo!




These ones are real stunners! All purply and gorgeous! Some are made with silver reactive colour changing glass (1,3 and 4). One has gold stone glitter encased inside (2), and one is made with a clear purple pinky glass.

The bobbly one in the middle is my favourite!

 


This set is similar but more in the blue/green spectrum. Again my favourite is the bobbler one on the end!





The last silver glass set has really interesting colours. We have greens, blues and browns. I imagine that if mermaids wore beads, they would wear ones like this!!…





The next ones are for a lady who really loves pink! This pair of beads have a mixture of baby pink and candy pink. The first one has a series of bubbles all the way round and the second has a heart motif running all around it.


The earrings turned out to be a really lush mixture of the two colours in a swirly pattern.




The last two items are really delicate little earrings. One is an multi-shade opaque and white turquoise, and the other is a clear glass almost translucent blue pair with pretty see-through ghost flowers inside.

 

 










Well, there is still time to fit a few more bits in before Christmas descends. If anyone needs/wants anything then just give me a shout and I'll be happy to put something together for them. The shop is a bit understocked at the mo. (Sorry about that), been too busy with homey stuff. I will rectify the situation over the next few weeks!!

Happy Christmas again everyone. Have a lovely holiday!!