The Menthol One

I finally got round to making that shimmy bracelet I mentioned. The bracelet has spacers made in CiM Sea Foam, Effetre Copper Green 219 and Effetre Light Turquoise 232. There are also a few faceted Czech glass beads in a pretty aquamarine colour.

All the findings are silver plated and nickel compliant. I'd love to be able to make these in sterling silver but have you seen the price of it lately? Also, I'd have to get them hallmarked because of the amount of silver they'd contain and can I be arsed with all that? No. So yes, consider these shimmy bracelets costume jewellery, not for everyday wear, and not to be worn while washing up, showering, wild swimming or doing thirty lengths in the local pool.

The bracelet makes a soft glassy rattle as it moves which is always nice.

If you fancy giving this 'Menthol' shimmy bracelet a home, it's available in my shop.

It's properly autumning out there now, isn't it? My favourite local cherry tree has got its full Autumn '25 look going on.

The neighbour's front garden tree is in full leaf drop mode and every now and again the wind gathers the leaves in a heap in front of our porch. I say porch because that's technically what it is but you can only fit one person in it at a time so it's a very tiny porch. Porchette? Sounds very Hyacinth Bucket, that. But yes, the leaves gather and when they do I take advantage of it and go and pick them up before the wind changes and blows them all over the show. This morning I was out there at 6:45 in my pyjamas, Harry Potter dressing gown (looks like Hogwarts house robes complete with large sleeves and pointy hood) and my garden Crocs (just terrible) picking up leaves with a flattened Amazon box and a Pizza Hut box (I couldn't be bothered to venture into the garage to find the actual leaf scraper things we own) and obviously, even though I'd chosen an early hour to do this task, three neighbours walked by and said good morning. None of them flinched at my get-up, though. Ah well.

Talking of Harry Potter, I've just spent my Audible credit on their new full cast recording of The Philosopher's Stone and so far it's really good. I'm looking forward to hearing Hugh Laurie's Dumbledore.

I'm away to give Nigel his thyroid medicine now. His most recent blood test came back yesterday and there's been no change and it's "perfectly controlled" so that's excellent news. His hyperthyroidism will get worse as he gets older but right now it's stable so I'm happy with that.

That little snaggletooth!

I was less happy about Nigel getting into yet another fight the other week because he's now getting over an abscess from a cat bite which happened in the altercation. This isn't our first abscess rodeo and they're never pleasant to deal with. The picture above shows him pre-abscess burst but the front of his neck is now totally shaved; the vet buzzed his fur away around the abscess site so we can clean it easily, and she also had to shave the other side to take his blood for his thyroid test. His mortal enemy, who I call Ann Widdecombe on account of the black markings on his white head that make him look like he's sporting a Widdecombe bob, was strutting around our back garden this morning so shortly before my leaf gathering in my wizard robes I was out there shooing him away while hissing "Piss off, Ann Widdecombe!" in an attempt to stop Nigel growling, hitting the back door with his paw and doing that 'no-no-no'-miaowing that cats do when they're angry, so yeah, I'm pretty sure the neighbours definitely think of me as 'The Mental One' or something similar.

Have a good day!

Giveaway winner

I’ve just drawn the winner of the lilac and turquoise bead pair and that person is Charlotte Wilson.

Thanks to everyone who entered – I’ll do another draw soon.

New beads and a giveaway

I had an urge to make rounder-than-usual beads yesterday. These not-quite-round rounds have cores of CiM Lilac and they're encased with CiM Yours Truly which is a lilac sort of colour. The spots and spacers are Effetre Light Turquoise 232.

I've got three lots of pairs for sale in my shop and I can tumble-etch them for you if you like.

I've also made some more spacers, this time in Effetre Ivory Lapis Medium 292.

Shiny

Tumble-etched

These are quite beachy, I think, and they look really great tumble-etched.

Spacers are available to buy on my website.

Giveaway

When I was 'warming up' ready for round beads yesterday I made a bead pair in the same colours as the ones at the top of this post, but with only a smattering of little spots. I tumble-etched these for a photo to show what the glass looks like etched and instead of listing them for sale I thought they'd make a good little giveaway.

The winner will receive the beads pictured above - one pair of lilac rounds and a pair of coordinating spacers. The lilac beads are about 12mm diameter and the turquoise spacers are about 8.5mm diameter and they've all been tumble-etched to a silky soft finish.

The giveaway is now closed and the winner has been announced and notified. Thank you to everyone who entered the draw.

Sea Foam and Banana Cream

The long discontinued Creation is Messy Sea Foam is an opal glass in a fresh, minty green. The level of translucency (or opacity, depending on how you like to look at these things) depends on how long the beads spend in the kiln and whereabouts they are positioned in the kiln. This means you can end up with a batch of beads all made from the same glass but that are all a bit different from each other which is really nice. They're quite ethereal.

I've put aside some of these Sea Foam ones so I can make a shimmy bracelet with them. I was fully intending to do that this morning with my extra bonus clocks-gone-back hour but when I got all my findings out I was peeved to discover I've run out of some of the jump rings I need for the job so I've ordered those and they should be here on Tuesday.

I made a few spacers with another discontinued glass - Vetrofond Banana Cream. Not only is the glass long gone, but the company is too. A fellow lampworker, Palala Beads, kindly sent me some yellow glass a couple of years ago and two of the rods were Banana Cream so that's how I came to have some. The glass is a bright but at the same time slightly muted yellow. Remember foam banana sweets? That colour.

The Sea Foam and Banana Cream spacers are available in my shop.

I'm off to plant my spring bulbs now. I've gone for daffodils, some green tulips, purple crocuses and mixed muscari. Oh, and I got three of those big alliums just for novelty's sake. One of the nearby neighbours had a 'free spring bulbs, please take' table out on his lawn the other day so I snagged a bag of those too. I don't know what they will be so that's a mystery bulb bonus, isn't it? Cheers, kind neighbour man.

It's sunny here in Cambridge but also nicely chilly. Lovely. I hope the sun is shining wherever you are? Enjoy your Sunday! 

Plain and simple loveliness

You know the other day when I was wanging on about how lovely spacer beads can be? I took the photo above to kind of prove my point. These ones are Effetre Dark Ivory 276 and Effetre Ivory Lapis Dark 293 and although they're only little 8.5mm spacers beads, they're an excellent example of how glass is a very lovely thing in its own right.

This streaky ivory and lapis blue mix is so pretty. Every single bead is unique and they remind me of planets, oceans and the sky.

A customer who purchased some of the dark ivory spacers asked for half of them to be tumble-etched and again, I took a photo of them to show how nice plain and simple beads can be.

Spacer beads can be purchased in my shop.

In crochet news...

Thanks for all the lovely comments about Stig. He's such a bright and cheery fella, isn't he?

I'm currently working on a second Starlite blanket. I had quite a bit of yarn left over from the previous one so I took that as a sign to make another.

I may well put the blanket in my shop when it's done, if a friend or family member doesn't claim it in the meantime, that is.

Talking of crochet in my shop, I've reduced the price of all of my shawls.

Almost all of my shawls double up as scarves and although they're mostly cotton mixes and therefore not overly-cosy, they're just right for this time of year when there's a bit of a chill in the air but you don't want to be getting too hot. Do you know what I mean? You sort of go "It looks chilly out there - I'll put my coat on" but within five minutes of walking you're clammy in the armpits and undertits areas and regretting your wardrobe choice, wishing you'd just opted for a jumper and lightweight scarf instead. That's the level of warmth my shawls-that-double-as-scarves are good for.

That's all for now. I'm heading shedwards to make more spacers. See you soon!