Stig

Remember those little crochet motifs I posted the other day? Well, here they all are made into a stegosaurus. I've named him Stig and he seems very at home next to one of my ferns.

This was such a fun little project. Stig is made from African flower motifs in merino sock yarn. I crocheted him with a 2mm hook because the motifs need to be quite dense and tight so that no stuffing can work its way through the holes. Stig measures about 40cm from nose to tail tip.

The stegosaurus is made up of triangles, squares, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons and one octagon so he's pleasingly geometric. The project was like creating all the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and then having the fun of joining them all together. The only effing and jeffing that occurred was while I was sewing his plates on because I absolutely loathe sewing. Apart from that he was a joy to make.

The pattern is Puff the Magic Stegosaurus by heidibears and it is fabulous - so well-written with very clear instructions. This designer has many different African flower animal and creature patterns and I'm sure I'll make another one at some point. I quite fancy having a go at the dragon or sheep.

A space for spacers

I have so much glass in my shed and I don't think I will ever use it all so I've decided to turn some of it into spacers. Some glass doesn't suit my style of beadmaking, or maybe it's the other way round, but it makes very pretty plain, undecorated beads.

The other reason for making spacers is that some days, and it's more often than not, I just cannot seem to make fancier beads that I am happy with. One factor at play here is obviously my over-critical fussiness about my own work, but the main issue is my eyesight. I just can't seem to find the right spectacles/prescription for the job. I've tried explaining to various optometrists what I do and they tell me to wear my reading glasses for beadmaking but this doesn't quite work. I've tried my varifocals but they wind me up because I have to constantly and consciously move my focus about which feels awkward and unnatural and I end up making mistakes all the time because I can't properly and clearly see what I'm doing. I honestly work better without any glasses (except for my safety didys, obviously) but the optometrist is adamant that I wear specs at all times. My usual and favourite fiddly and precise polka dots, scrolls and linework are now exceedingly tricky to execute and it's very disheartening. Maybe I need a magnifier or have I read somewhere that they can cause problems with your eyes? I don't know. Perhaps I should go back to the opticians again and try and get through to them what I need my glasses to do? Or should I simply accept that my eyesight is not what it once was and evolve accordingly beadwise?

I still very much want to make beads but on days when my eyes are titting about I shall just have to settle for less precise designs (spotty beads, anyone?) and plain beads. Plain beads don't have to be boring; encased spacers are lovely, whitehearts are good and a smattering of mica is always a bit magical. Spacers are useful for adding to designs featuring more decorative beads, but they're beautiful in their own right too. I love bracelets made with plain spacer beads as they're unfussy and really comfy to wear.

I've made a space for spacers in my shop and I'll be filling this new section with spacers as and when I make them. I'm selling plain single colour spacers as strands of twelve with optional tumble-etching and I'll also be selling spacer mixes.

I've got absolutely loads of spacers knocking about in various bowls, jars and yoghurt pots so I shall sort them out and add some assortments over the next few days. Right now there are some dark ivory ones and a mixed strand of reds, pinks and purples, but do keep an eye on the spacer beads page because I'll add to it often.

Very autumnal

The customer who purchased these spotty 'Festive Glow' beads asked me to make them into a bracelet for her. 

These beads have been waiting for a home for a year (I sound like a cat rehoming centre) so it was nice to make them into jewellery and finally send them out into the world. 

I made some matching spacers to go betwixt the spotty beads and the result is a very autumnal one. Job's a good'un!

I need to make some more beads to restock my virtual shelves so I'll be in the shed for a chunk of this weekend.

In crochet news...

I've been making a load of tiny motifs out of sock yarn.

I'm currently working on joining them all together, but what are they going to be? Hopefully I'll be able to show you in the next (or maybe one after) gripping episode of this blog. Stay tuned etc.

Have a nice weekend!

Languishing no more

I start to feel sorry for beads in my 'For Sale' box that have been sat there for ages waiting for a new home. It's like they're not getting to fulfil their potential and after months of them languishing in a dark box I take out the beads and turn them into jewellery.

'Rainy Day' bracelet

'Rainy Day' earrings

I've had some polka dotty 'Rainy Day' beads and some spotty 'Iceberg' ones sat doing nothing for far too long so last week I made them into bracelets and earrings.

'Iceberg' bracelet

'Iceberg' earrings

These pieces are currently available in my shop.

Blanket of stars

When I started this blanket I had no particular recipient in mind - I simply wanted to crochet it. When I saw Em in Southampton last month I showed her a photo of the pattern and she loved it so it became her blanket and now it's living with her in Northern Ireland.

I had to stand on the sofa to take this photo

It's a hexagonal blanket made of hexagons (127 of them) and that means that there were a bazillion ends to sew in. I always sew in my ends as I complete each motif but the joining of them all made a load more ends and it took me a whole day and a half to weave them all away.

The finished product was well worth all the ends-sewing-in-ness, though. The pattern is a truly beautiful one - it's the Starlite Blanket by Alice Tarry of The Burrow UK. I made it with Yarnsmiths Create DK and Wool Warehouse do a yarn pack with all the colours required for the blanket.

Donaghadee done

My trip to Donaghadee was lovely. The picture above is of the beach at Donaghadee. It is so pretty and I would love to have this on my doorstep. 

The plane was a bit delayed flying out on Friday evening due to Storm Amy and the landing was quite hairy. The pilot attempted to land but decided it was too dangerous to do so safely so we did a twenty minute loop and then he had a second go.

Taken before the second landing attempt

It was extremely rollercoastery and the cabin crew had a stack of sick bags at the ready. One woman across the aisle from me was crying and literally clutching her rosary beads. Just as I was starting to feel pretty groggy myself we landed and oh, the relief to be back on the ground!

Goliath, one of the Harland & Wolff cranes

Em and I visited Titanic Belfast on the Saturday which was great. The museum is really good and its final couple of sections made Em and I quite teary. The story of Titanic is such an enduring one and I think it's nigh-on impossible to not be moved by it.

Outside you can go and stand on the slipway where Titanic was built. There's something special about standing on that spot and imagining the men building her all those years ago.

The plaque in the above photo reads 'This plaque was unveiled on 31st March 2009 by John M Andrews, great nephew of Thomas Andrews, chief naval architect, Harland & Wolff, to commemorate the centenary of the keel laying of RMS Titanic, built on this slipway between 1909 & 1911'.

On the Sunday we went to Streamvale Open Farm to say hello to all the animals. If there's a goat or sheep available for a fussing and a feeding, I'm there.

A lot of the weekend was spent with Em's dogs. Sadly, Em's dear little dog Pu-Ki died in July. Trigger has been missing him terribly and Em and Adam felt it was time to find him a companion.

Trigger

They saw that a Pomeranian puppy needed a new home (he'd been rescued from a puppy farm) and now Macho is settling in with them.

Macho and his ball

I'd never been around a puppy before and blimey, what a lot of work! Macho is very sweet, though, and really intelligent.

He reminds me of Noel Edmonds

Trigger's still not sure about Macho but they're making progress and I'm sure they'll be the best of friends soon.

I flew back home on the Monday, no dodgy landing and half an hour ahead of schedule. I've never been much of a holidaymaker or traveller and I've barely been anywhere compared to a lot of people, so a 90 minute plane trip is a big deal to me but now I've done the Northern Ireland trip solo I know it'll be fine in the future.

Postage changes for UK customers

"Flipping Royal Mail. What can you do?" said Pat

Royal Mail have changed the compensation level for its Tracked 24 and 48 services. Before Monday 6th October, packages sent via these services were insured for up to £150.00 and now they have halved that to £75.00. The next compensation level is £750.00 via Special Delivery but this is a heck of a price jump postage-wise. 

My new UK (not including Northern Ireland) P&P rates are:

• Order value up to £20.00 = £2.00 P&P via RM Second Class
• Order value £20.01 to £75.00 = £3.50 P&P via RM Tracked 48
• Order value over £75.00 = £9.00 P&P via RM Special Delivery

All I can suggest is if your order is multiple items with a combined value of over £75.00, maybe place two separate orders? Example: a £20.00 necklace and a £60.00 bracelet totalling £80.00 would be £9.00 P&P as one order but as two orders it would be one at £2.00 and one at £3.50 totalling £5.50 meaning a saving of £3.50.

I know this is annoying - blame Royal Mail and their pricing and trying to compete with Evri and the like - and I do apologise for any extra faffing or inconvenience but I refuse to send anything uninsured because I don't want you or I to be out of pocket if anything gets lost, damaged or stolen in transit.

October means acorns

September came and went in the blink of an eye, and I never blogged once.

At the start of September I went down to Southampton to celebrate my niece Robyn's 21st birthday (21!) and I was I picked up from the railway station by my nephew Dylan who is now driving and about four inches taller than me. Honestly, every time I see them I feel more and more like an aged old aunt.

We had a lovely weekend with pub shenanigans, a barbecue, cake and lots of laughter.

Obligatory sisters photo of me, Sal and Em

Robyn lifting Em

Smudgy lens photo of Dylan and me

Enca, Sally's beautiful pussycat

It was also my birthday in September which passed without fanfare or much ado. I struggle a bit with birthdays as I get closer to the age my mum was when she died. I woke up on my 48th birthday thinking "When Mum was 48 she didn't know she had just five years left" which I realise is a very morose and morbid thought but I am an eternal pessimist so it's pretty standard thinking material for me. I keep telling myself that when I make it to 53 years and ten days I'll have conquered this ridiculous mental barrier I've erected for myself which I know is no way to think about life but I just can't seem to help it. From what I can gather this is a pretty common thing in people who have lost parents or older siblings so if anyone else out there can relate – solidarity.

In glassy news...

I've been making acorns and oak leaves. I've made these on and off over the years, iterating and tweaking the design as I go and I think I reached peak faff with them this time. They are a true labour of love.

The glass components are shaped by hand, by which I mean I don't use a press or mould for them. Each oak leaf shape is painstakingly sculpted by building up the leaf one blob of molten glass at a time and shifting everything into place with a graphite paddle, a brass shaping knife, a razor blade and gravity.

In the past I've made my acorns and oak leaf headpins straight onto copper wire. For ages I've wanted to be able to make sterling silver ones but the amount of heat and reheating required to make the glass components means that sterling silver wire would melt in the flame, so for these ones I made the acorns and leaves on the end of a very thin mandrel which results in a glass channel in each piece. This is thoroughly cleaned and dried and then I use a very high-quality epoxy glue to firmly fix the sterling silver wires in place. Once everything is cured, cleaned up and polished, I assemble the necklaces.

Each necklace has a brown acorn and a transparent oak leaf the colour of caramelised sugar. These glass components are affixed to a soldered ring which is threaded onto an 18 inch (45cm) sterling silver belcher chain. All metal is sterling silver apart from the acorn cup bead cap which is high-quality .999 fine silver plated lead-free brass.

The acorn and oak leaf necklaces can be purchased in my shop.

And there's good news for my American customers - I can post things to you again. Hurrah! All you have to do is place your order as usual and the checkout will add the 10% import tax to your order. There is also a £1.20 handling fee per US order which is also added at checkout. In effect, you are paying the tax to me, which I then forward to the Royal Mail when I pay them for the postage for your order, and then Royal Mail will pass that on to Donny Trump's Postage Tax People further down the line. In effect, that should be it and you should have nothing else to pay and your parcel will hopefully reach you in a timely and smooth fashion. I have asked the two US customers I've posted to since the taxes came in to report back to me to let me know how the process went but alas, I've heard nothing back from them, so I'm hoping no news is good news.

In knitting news...

Fat chunky big knitting! Robyn asked me if I could knit her a blanket (aged old aunt skills) in really big chenille yarn. 

It's like knitting with broom handles

The needles are 25mm (ten times the size of sock knitting needles) and the yarn is like dressing gown cord and knitting with them makes me feel like a Borrower. It's coming on very quickly, though. I don't quite know how I'm going to deliver it to Robyn when it's done. I might have to pack it in one of those sucky-out-the-air vacuum bags? I'll worry about that later.

I think that's it for now. I'm flying to Belfast tomorrow to visit Emily for the weekend. I'm saying that like I'm really cool and blasé with travel but inside I'm nervous as heck. I'm getting the train to Gatwick (never been there before) and then I'm flying on my own (not done that for nineteen years) so I keep getting a flurry of butterflies every time I think about it but it'll be fine, won't it? I don't actually hate flying - it's all the getting there and the security and the waiting and all that guff that I stress about. It'll be fine. It will.

Have a good weekend and I shall see you soon.

Ever decreasing bead market

Alright?

Bead-wise, I've been quiet. We had Covid a couple of weeks back and then more heatwave happened which made the shed far too warm for work but I was back in there this week and I got a few beads made. I think the summer is slowly fading now, much like my pot marigolds, so give it a couple of months and I'll be wanging on about how cold my shed is instead.

The beads I made were these black and white 'Dapple' ones:

These are Effetre white 204, black 064 and light red 428. Encasing is Effetre super clear 006, as always.

The customer who purchased them asked me to turn them into a bracelet and earrings for her.

I also got my Whirly-Go-Round on and made these teal and blue ones: 

They're Effetre white 204, light teal 026, dark periwinkle 222 and super clear 006.

At the time of blogging, the Whirly-Go-Rounds are in my shop and a bracelet upgrade is available.

A note to my American customers:

I'm sure you're probably aware by now that the de minimis exemption will be no more as of the end of this month. This rule allowed you to receive parcels under the value of $800.00 without having to pay any tariffs or suchlike. 

Because of this, and because it's happened much sooner than people were expecting, I am unable to post beads to you for the foreseeable future. This is because there will be inevitable customs delays and potentially very high import charges that the buyer is responsible for. It seems nobody quite knows or understands exactly what the outcome will be but apparently things will be uncertain for the next few months, and platforms like Etsy are advising people not to send orders via Royal Mail. To say this is a bit of a bummer is an understatement. You Americans make up about 70% of my customer base. At the start of the year I lost all my EU customers due to their new postage and import rules, and now I've lost you too. A few years ago I could post packages to pretty much anywhere in the world and now I'm down to England, Scotland, Wales and Canada.

I've seen so much talk of Etsy shops shutting and people giving up their little craft businesses because of this and I totally understand why. I've not yet ruled out doing so myself but I'm going to hang on until I find out if this de minimis thing can be fixed in a way that works for me and my customers.

I think I just wanted to say "thank you" to my American customers for all your past orders and support and also that I'm sorry I can't send my makings to you right now. And I'm sorry too for anyone who is going to have to give up their businesses because of all this.

Who knows what my bead future will bring? Maybe I'll end up with so much bead stock I'll do an actual craft fair (URGH! and ARGH!) or something? Perhaps the US will sort its mind out with regards to import duties and tariffs? Or could it be that my time as a beadmaker is coming to an end? Who can say? What will be will be. In the meantime I shall just plod on.

Enjoy your day and if you're Bank Holiday Mondaying, I hope you have a nice one. Personally, I'm heading shedwards.

See you soon!