Key Bead

On Twitter the other night I exchanged a few tweets with Helga Hansen about key beads and it struck me that I haven't made any for ages.
So this morning I got up early and set about finding where I'd put my antique Victorian keys - things still aren't totally unpacked from the move, you see. I eventually located them and set to work.
I make my key beads with the Jelveh Designs Key Mandrel which is a fab little thing. Jelveh kindly gifted me a couple of her Key Mandrels and I can't speak highly enough of them.

It's fun tracking down keys to make the beads on. I buy most of mine on eBay. It's always interesting to work out what type of bead will work with whatever key you're using. This black and white spotty one needed to be a thin bead due to the ridges on the shank and also because of the 'bit' - I had to go careful working around it. This one also has a nice bow (the loop at the top of the key) and I think the simple smooth lines of the key work well with the simple design of the bead. I didn't use any bead release for this bead so it's fixed on the key and doesn't move.

The other key bead I made today is slightly more ornate - I will show you that one tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by and also cheers to everyone who has commented about my website revamp. Much appreciated.
Have a lovely Sunday evening!

'Jelvehesque' Focal

Yep, this one is totally inspired by Jelveh and her beads. Jelveh gave me a large pair of mashers so I could make big focal beads as my old mashers were only 20mm square. The bead is a mix of purples with glittery goldstone stringerwork and raised multicoloured bumps.

I took the photographs in the sunlight. This beauty would make a marvellous pendant, don't you think? It'll be for sale in my Etsy shop shortly .....

Thanks for inspiring me, Jelveh!

Key Bead

Hello Beadpeeps!

This is a quick post as I'm really tired but I just had to show you this key bead. I'll take better photos of it in the morning.

Jelveh came over on Tuesday (will elaborate more tomorrow) and she kindly gifted me (love the way Americans say that!) a special tool for making key beads. I had a play around and made this one today. The key is an antique Victorian one and the bead is pale ivory glass with turquoise stringer decoration. The bead is loose and slides up and down the key as well as spinning round and round. Great for jewellery twiddlers! I'm picturing this key on a long chain or maybe a length of silk ribbon.

So what do you think?

Lemon Meringue Loveliness

Today Jelveh is coming over to make beads and she requested some cupcakes like the ones I made the other day. However, I went to my baking cupboard this morning and discovered I was out of icing sugar for the cream cheese frosting so I had to change my recipe plans and I ended up making lemon meringue cupcakes instead. These lemon cakes are filled with tangy lemon curd and topped with light meringue. Yummayumma!

Gosh!

You know how I told you that Jelveh sorted out my beads last week? Well, I was so shocked when I strung these two particular sets together. I can't believe how I could have thought that these beads weren't worthy of selling! I tell you, I was so tempted to keep the red, black and white ones for myself.

I took advantage of the sunshine streaming in through the kitchen window this morning and photographed these sets on sandstone. The lavender ones have come out lovely. The colour looks just like it does in real life.

Both of these sets are for sale in my Etsy shop.

Fantastic Day!

I've had such a incredible day today! Jelveh, a very talented and experienced beadmaker, came over to melt glass, have lunch and have a good old chat. We've only spoken by email and today was the first time we actually met face-to-face and do you know, I feel like I've known her for years. You know when you 'click' with someone? Well that's exactly what happened.

Jelveh came bearing gifts of pudding! And gifts of glass - she gave me a strip of the most gorgeous dichroic glass you've ever seen as well as some goldstone ribbon and some cute star murrini cane. Watching Jelveh work was wonderful. She has so many skills and she showed me some pretty nifty glassy tricks and techniques. Jelveh also fell in love with Brenda and Edith, my two guinea pigs.

Jelveh also gave me a good talking-to, in the nicest possible way. Most of you know what an utter pain-in-the-behind perfectionist I am, yeah? Well, I think Jelveh may have helped me with that particular problem trait of mine. She tipped out and sorted through the contents of my not-so-good-beads bag. All of my recent students have seen this bag of beads and most of them do the whole "Laura, why don't you sell these?" thing and to be honest, when I look through them sometimes even I can't see the reason why some of them never made it to the website. Like I say, I have a problem. So Jelveh spent ages grouping the beads into colour sets and she made me look at my 'rejects' in a whole new light. The beads aren't seconds (I kill those in the water jug or bin them) and I've promised Jelveh that I will add the sets she put together to my Etsy shop over the course of the next few days. In fact, tonight I was going to list the Lonelies from the last post but instead I put the first of the Jelveh Groupings up on Etsy instead and guess what - they've sold while I've been writing this post!

I'm really glad that Jelveh and I spent the day together. I've learnt a lot from her and she's shown me a whole new way of looking at my work and enlightened me about the way other people see my beads. She is such an amazing lady and I loved listening to her American accent. The way she says 'aqua' and 'awesome' is so cool! Most of all I feel like I've made a really good friend and it is such a shame that Jelveh is moving back to the States next month. I hope I get to see her again before she goes.

Make sure you check out Jelveh's beautiful beads in her Etsy shop and also pop over and have a read of her blog.