Instagram angst

I made this burgundy colour by encasing a core of CiM Schoolhouse with a thin layer of Effetre Medium Amethyst 042.

The decoration and spacers are Effetre Red Roof Tile 440. 

The colours remind me of red wine and cinnamon so I called the beads 'Mulled Wine' and they're currently available in my shop.

I made an Instagram reel showing the encasing process for these. I am so torn on my Instagram usage because I'm not a content creator, video maker or editor and I'd rather be making actual things than digital content but Instagram are adamant that you have to engage with people by way of video and stories and if you don't play along your boring old 'legacy media' still photographs won't get served to people in their feeds. I'm trying to compromise by making the videos I want to make and the type of videos I like watching on there. I very much enjoy seeing people just make things without a load of fancy editing and text and superfluous 'stuff'. I don't want to fall into the trap of making the same kind of videos that everyone else makes because quite frankly they annoy me. All this staring at the camera while making something in an attempt to be all Nigella but coming off more like an unhinged sociopath, tapping your long fingernails on things for the benefit of ASMR weirdos, flicking caps and lids off pens and paint tubes (again with the long nails), pulling your sleeves over your hands so they look just-so, and slapping the term 'POV' on everything when 90% of the time it’s not a point of view video at all... it just makes me want the internet plug pulled. I know I sound like a moaning old bag. That’s because I am.

So anyway yes, I've put a couple of reels on Instagram this week.

Over the weekend I hope to investigate YouTube 'shorts' and see if I can put them on there too for the people who don't use Instagram. I'll let you know how I get on with that.

In knitting news...

I've started the second sock of a green pair I'm working on.

They're totally covered in cables and I'm very glad I can cable without a cable needle or I'd have lost my mind by now.

My new sock yarn arrived and it's lovely.

This is Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in 214 Magenta and 658 Zinnias. I just need to decide which one to use first now.

Right, it's time to get on with my Thursday. Hope you have a good one!

It's not me, Instagram, it's you

Where the heck is time draining away to? I've never known time fly by so fast as it has these past couple of years. It feels like 2020 and 2021 didn't really happen.

As is usual in summer, my bead production has slowed down. On hot days I can only manage a couple of hours in the shed before it becomes unbearable and on very hot days I don't even attempt lampwork. I've been adding the occasional set of beads or piece of jewellery to my shop as and when I make them.

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen me mention that I'm easing up on using that platform. I'm far from the only Instagram user who is disgruntled with the direction in which Instagram are heading. I've used that platform since it was brand new and I've adjusted to all the changes they've made to it over the years but I don't like what it's become. They now refer to still photographs as 'legacy media' which is modernspeak for 'outdated' and they're very much all about pushing the video content. I don't want to be bombarded with videos every time I open the app. If I wanted that I'd sign up for TikTok - an app that I think should be outlawed for the damage it's doing to young people and society as a whole. I'm not a content creator. I make beads. I don't want to have to think up, film and foist videos on everyone. I'm seeing small business people I follow making reels about things that have zero to do with what they make and sell and it's clearly to try and appease the algorithm and keep their account and posts visible to others. Well, no. NO. I'm not doing that. No 'free' app is free; we pay with our data, time and engagement and frankly I've given Instagram - and Facebook, or Meta or whatever they now call themselves - enough of all three things.

I've decided I'm going back to basics. This is probably a daft move but something in my gut is telling me to sack off Instagram. It no longer feels fun and although I've always known I'm being played by Big Tech whenever I use it, now it feels blatant.

I have my website, this blog and a mailing list - three things I've had for almost as long as I've been making beads. I'm going to try and blog more (the stuff I used to put on Instagram has to go somewhere) and I'm going to try and send out maybe a weekly email with news of new work for sale.

You can sign up to my mailing list here and if you're looking at the web version of this very blog (if you're on a mobile or tablet scroll right down to the end of this post and tap 'view web version') on the right hand sidebar you can sign up to my blog feed via RSS or Atom by using a feed reader. I use and recommend Feedly for this which is available for desktop, iOS and Android.

When I can I will try and give advance notice of bead sales. Bead sales are a weird thing right now, though, what with the Cost Of Living Crisis (I'm guessing we'll be able to rename that 'The Recession' soon) and I have noticed my sales slowing down. Of course that could just be because people no longer like my beads (or me) but I'm going to bumble on through and just do what I do. I have noticed that the sales of a few other beadmakers have slowed too so I guess I'm not alone in this.

At the time of typing the beads and jewellery I've dotted throughout this post are available in my shop.

I'm now off to do myself a cup soup which I know is weird for a hot sunny day but I had a filling in a wisdom tooth replaced this morning and my lip, chin and left hand side of my mouth are still numb so I need a slurpable lunch that doesn't carry a risk of accidental tongue-chomp.

Whoosh!

That 'Whoosh!' is me flying by and dropping these words onto your screen to let you know that my Creation is Messy testing posts, as well as a record of the glasses I use for each bead and bead set, can be found on my relatively new Tumblr.

Also, Facebook is totally where my bead party is at these days. It's fast, it's fun, it's friendly and it's convenient. If you miss my waffle (and that's a big if, I know) then head on over. You don't need a Facebook account to view my posts but if you want to join in with the shenanigans, like comments and giveways, then you'll need to sign up.

I also have an Instagram account for my beads so if you're on there, give me a follow.

I hope all is good with you and yours.

I'm whooshing off again now. Farewell ...

Two things to tell you

I'm still tweaking my website and blog, making everything just right and in doing so I've added a couple of new things here.

First up, I've added a link to my Instagram feed over there on the right hand sidebar under 'Laura Links'. I use Instagram quite a lot and apart from the bead photographs I post on there, all my Instagram pictures are taken with my iPhone.

The photographs in this post are all from my Instagram feed. I bought myself those red tulips up there a couple of weeks ago (and yes, that's an empty Canderel jar prettied up with a ribbon; I'm not posh) and below is my Cath Kidston ladybird brooch that I bought when my friend Jenni came to stay a couple of months back. Probably the cheapest thing in Cath Kidston, that brooch. Two for about £6.00. Jenni's got the other one. Don't get me wrong, I love the look of Cath Kidston stuff but blimeyheck, it's not cheap, is it?

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Instagram. That was the first thing I had to tell you and the second one was about pinning photographs. I've added a nifty Pinterest 'pin it' button to my blog photographs. You see this photograph of my new favourite Tunnock's Caramel mug? Well, hover your pointer over it ...

... and ta-da! You should see a little Pinterest logo appear in the top right. If you click that you'll be able to pin the photo to your Pinterest board. There is also a 'Pin on Pinterest' button in the right hand sidebar. Clicking on it will bring up all the pinnable images on the current screen and you can then select which ones you'd like to pin.

I don't actually do Pinterest. I've tried it and I never got into it but I know a heck of a lot of you love to pin stuff so I thought I'd make it easier for you.

I will leave you with this photograph of the late afternoon sun shining upon some Cambridge daffodils. I took this on Thursday on my way to see Iron Man 3 at the cinema. My goodness, I love the Iron Man films (especially Robert Downey Jr) and Iron Man 3 is a triumph. I loved every second of it.

Oh, there's a very grumpy-looking grey cloud floating over the garden and my washing is out on the line so if you'll excuse me I'm going to go and get said washing in.

Have a lovely evening and don't forget to have a look at my new website if you've not done so already.

Cheerio!

Some stuff what I have done

As I said in my last post, I haven't been doing a lot.  But even so I have recorded these non-events using the medium of iPhone photography. Please allow me to bore you with some of those images now ...

I've been doing quite a lot of staring out of windows.

I've become addicted to chai tea latte.

I am still obsessed with red.

I have developed an alarmingly keen interest in post boxes.

I keep making kitsch-but-yum pineapple upside down cakes.

I've been listening to and letching on Matt Berry. (*purr-grunt*)

I've been trying to make beadmaking a tad more glam.

I've been eating sweet peanuts. (Remember those?)

I had a go at blowing glass on a tiny scale.

And I've seen some truly awful TV.  Here's me watching Cash In The Attic.

So there you have it.  I've been making beads in between all that but you've seen those already.  I think that just about brings you up to date. Now I just need to stay on top of this blogging malarkey ...

Blue Sky Thinking

I do quite a bit of cloud gazing.

Whilst I sit in my shed and wait for glass to melt or beads to round up (because the key to this malarkey is all about the glass teaming up with gravity and them working together, you know) I sit and watch the clouds.

Daydreaming.

During the week I took the photo at the top of this post and the puffy cloud fluffs reminded me of some cloud beads that I made years ago.  I decided to revisit those and yesterday I made a bunch of cloudy glass gems.

These blue beads are decorated with delicate white 'clouds' and are encased with a thin layer of crystal clear for sparkle and depth.

The cloud beads will be for sale, along with some other glass lovelies, on my website at 8.00pm this evening.

Have a happy Saturday! 

Bracelet & Instagram

While I was making beads yesterday I started to design a bracelet in my head.  I hardly ever make jewellery and it's even rarer that I make jewellery for myself but I just knew that I had to make this bracelet happen.

I was making lots of black and white polka dot beads yesterday (finally on the home stretch with my mountain of bead orders so if you're waiting for yours they will be posted within the next week) and I remembered that I had a plain red heart sitting in the kitchen window sill.  It was supposed to have a white heart on it but the postman rang the doorbell just as I was about to apply the white heart so I put the plain bead into the kiln and then forgot all about going back and finishing it.  (I'm sure you didn't want to know all that about the heart bead but now you do and I hope that this extra bead information has been of benefit to you!)

Anyway, my brain got to thinking that the black and white polka dot beads would look cute with the red heart so I made a few extra and then I also whipped up some red spacers at the end of yesterday's glass melting session.

I've strung the beads together with some sterling silver and the resulting bracelet is just how I envisioned it - very simple, quite bold, a little bit retro, a tad chunky but oh so me.  I like it!

Here is the bracelet again.  It's exactly the same photo as the one above but I've put a filter on it using my new favourite iPhone app - Instagram.

The same photo but with the Instagram 'Earlybird' filter applied.

Oh, how I am loving Instagram.  It's an amazing little piece of software that is making me want to photograph everything.  The app is free and you can twiddle about with existing images on your iPhone camera roll or you can take pictures within the app.  You can then apply various different filters to your photographs to give them a quirky, retro kind of feel.  But it doesn't stop there.  You can link your Instagram feed to your Twitter, Facebook or Flickr accounts so that all your friends and followers can see your groovy images. 

If you've already got Instagram or if you're off now to download the app (and you should because it's excellent fun) and you fancy following me on Instagram my username is, surprisingly, 'beadsbylaura'.

Right-o, it's time for some bead cleanery.  Have a great Sunday evening!