How is it March already?

I've fallen off the blog again, haven't I? I mean, between my previous post and this one we've had Christmas and are into the third month of a new year, so that's quite a large blog pause.

I had a sad start to the year with the death of my maternal grandmother. Nannie was my last remaining grandparent so her death feels like a generational chapter closing.

Nannie and Mum (holding a very tiny me)

It sort of feels like the year hasn't really got going yet. I've been crocheting doily after doily. The doily stack has reached insane levels of ridiculous but round and round I go, adding picots and pineapples and shells and mesh in a soothing, increasing, concentric fashion.

'Concentric'

'Pinwheel Mesh'

I keep trying to design my own doily but it involves maths which always defeats me and I end up throwing part-crocheted lace circles across the lounge in frustration. I will get there with a doily design, though, for I am human and will not be conquered by hooks and string.

'Sunvale' - a design by Julia Hart

I've added a crochet page to my online shop, not because I want to become a doily merchant but because whenever I post a photo of a doily on Instagram someone will always comment and tell me to sell it. I know that nobody really wants doilies - I don't even want bloody doilies - but they're there in a section of my shop anyway, just in case there actually is someone somewhere who is on the lookout for a doily.

'Whirl' wall hanging

Some doilies lend themselves to being mounted within a ring as a mandala-style wall hanging and I've got a couple of those for sale in the shop too.

'Radiate' wall hanging

I'm still a bit in the bead doldrums. Sales are very slow and hot on the heels of the pre-Christmas postal strikes we had the barmy Royal Mail 'cyber incident' that stopped anyone posting anything outside the UK for almost two months. Both events have been a right kick in the teeth to many microbusinesses and several people I know shut up shop for good because of it.

But still I plod on, making the beads I feel like making, when I feel like making them because making beads is what I do.

'Vintage' Tendril bracelet

'Orchid' Tendril bracelet

I've been working on some jewellery pieces combining my lampwork beads with wirework. At the moment I'm working in solid copper because A) it's a fraction of the price of sterling silver and I can make as many muff-ups as I like without feeling bad about it and B) I just love copper. It's such a gorgeous metal, whether it's left shiny or allowed to build up a natural patina, or if you hurry that patina along. I've been patinating the jewellery I've made with liver of sulphur, or 'egg water' as I call it. (See this post for explanation.) After the piece has reached the level of patina I'm after I polish parts of it back to a shine using fine steel wool which brings out the detail of any fancy wirework and creates a lovely antique shop style finish.

'The Blues' bracelet

'Sand & Sea' Tendril necklace

'Sand & Sea' Tendril necklace detail

Solid copper can react with some people's skin, particularly with sweat or lotions, but any skin discoloration is totally harmless and can be removed easily with soapy water. I wear a copper chain maille bracelet and have had no skin discoloration issues but then again I don't wear jewellery to bed, in the shower, or all day every day. Basically, what I'm trying to say is don't let the copper put you off. Embrace its warm tones and vintage, bohemian look.

'Lemon Curd' Tendril necklace

I've not abandoned sterling silver totally. I had a toadstool moment a few weeks back and I turned them into pendants.

Toadstool pendants

All of the jewellery in this post is available in my shop. I also have a few beads for sale and a few of these, along with some older pieces of jewellery, are available at reduced prices. Head this way to the shop.

It's snowing here today. It's wet mushy snow that isn't going to settle but that doesn't matter because even at forty-five years old I still find the sight of falling snowflakes magical.

I'm going to stay in the warm today and work on a crochet shawl because I'm doing a pattern test for another crocheter. I've never tested a pattern nor crocheted a shawl before so it's an adventure. Always be making, always be learning.

Rings in rings in rings

After my trip to the cemetery on Saturday I walked into the city centre, popped into a record shop, paid a visit to Fitzbillies for a couple of their famous and ridiculously delicious Chelsea buns, then caught the bus back home. At some point in that very small window of being out and surrounded by other people, I caught some kind of lurg. Four lateral flow tests say it's not Covid but I'm constantly coughing, sneezing and my energy levels are very low. Pre-Covid era I'd not had a cold for years so maybe it's just a bog standard one of those and I've forgotten what they feel like? Whatever, I've been next-to useless this week so not much beadmaking has happened.

However, I cannot ever bear to be doing nothing for long and if my hands aren't making something I get kind of edgy. I spent Monday in bed with a temperature but I wanted to be making something so I fished out my box of jump rings, grabbed two pairs of pliers and sat in bed making a chain maille bracelet.

'Byzantine' weave bracelet

The next day I lounged about downstairs and made two more bracelets and some earrings.

'Byzantine' weave bracelet with patina

'Shaggy Loops' earrings

I've said before with regards to crochet, I'm very much a process maker. I get so much enjoyment out of the process of creating things that I tend to make stuff just for the sake of making it. This is fine but it means I end up with all these finished things – blankets, socks, doilies, jewellery – that I don't need and am never going to use.

So I've resurrected the chain maille jewellery page of my shop and put some of the items I've made for sale on there. Maybe there's someone out there who would like to give a bracelet or earrings a new home?

I've tracked down the winner of the last prize draw and I've figured out a foolproof way for how I'm going to run the monthly draws from now on. More details on that soon.

Project Headpin

Not beads but glassy prettiness just the same. Lampwork headpins.

I've been having lots of fun, experimenting and fiddling about making these. Glass headpins are great for embellishing jewellery designs. They look great at the bottom of earrings; wrapped as charms; in clusters; as dangles at clasps; wired onto jewellery. Basically, they have all the lovely looks of a glass bead without having to thread them onto a headpin because they ARE the the headpin.

All of the headpins pictured are made with copper wire but I also have stainless steel and brass wire too. I've settled on 0.8mm wire which is about 20 gauge and the headpin wires themselves are about 2.5 to 3 inches long. (Check me out muddling up my metric and imperial!)  To give you an idea of glass size, the glass ends of the black and white spotty ones are about 10mm diameter. I'll be making smaller ones and different coloured ones and different shapes and so on and so on ...

I started off with a very simple leaf shape because I have a bracelet idea in mind that requires glass leaves but I don't like the 'clunkiness' of glass leaves that have a glass loop or that are made on a bead. They just don't fit with what I need for my design so I figured that headpins were the way to go.

Having that heap of glass leaves sat on my desk all got too much for me and in the end I sat and wired them onto a copper chain to make this very simple but striking bracelet. It makes that lovely glassy rattle and it feels SO nice to wear. So yeah, that's one thing you can do with headpins. But what else?

This is where you come in.

How do you fancy being part of 'Project Headpin'?

I'd like to invite some of you to make something with some of my headpins. I will send you half a dozen or so headpins (for free - WOO!) and then you can make whatever you fancy with them. The headpins you receive might be like the ones pictured and they might be different; depends what I make over the weekend. The resulting piece/s will be yours to keep/sell/give to Auntie Edna for her upcoming birthday. All I'd ask for in return is a photograph of your finished piece/s so that I can post them here on my blog and Facebook so that others can see what can be done with my lampwork headpins. And of course, you'd also be able to provide me with valuable feedback regarding size, length of wire, blah blah blah etc.

How does that sound? I'm looking for about ten people to enrol in Project Headpin and if you're interested in doing so please email me at laura@beadsbylaura.co.uk with the subject 'Project Headpin'. I'll then be in touch to discuss the matter further.

EDIT: Thank you to all who have emailed about Project Heapin but I am now at maximum capacity and I have enough testers. Thanks!

Well, it's flipping miserable here today. It's all soggy-wet out there and the cat is not impressed. He's wrecking the joint, running about like a mad thing, all annoyed that it's raining outside. I really hope it's nice wherever you are.

Have a super duper Saturday!