'Psychedelic Peacock'

These have to be some of my favourite beads to date. The gorgeous green and pinky purple just seem to sing. They look so good together. Super duper! That's nice! (Excuse me - I watched Anchorman today.)

Well, the big hole beads certainly seem to be a bit of a hit. They're now called 'Torus' beads thanks to Jo Sacker's excellent name suggestion and they sold out in minutes. Big thank you to all of you who bought them and also to those who tried to buy them but missed out. Fear not, there will be more .....

My bread turned out good! The kitchen smelt like a brewery what with the brown ale and the yeast doing their thing, but Dad seems to like the bread. Well, half a loaf has gone already so he must do!

I'm off up to Cambridge tomorrow and I won't be back until Thursday but I may well blog in between then. Have a great bank holiday weekend!

Big Hole Beads

A rather ungracious name but it describes these perfectly!

These beads don't have a silver core and they're not going to get one either. That way I save time and stress (accidentally bashing up beads is quite disheartening) and in return that means that they won't be too pricey. Also, because of the lack of a silver core I can take the surface design right to the edges of the bead. The bead holes are 5mm diameter and the beads fit onto a Pandora bracelet, as shown, and will therefore fit all other collect-a-bead/charm bracelet systems.

But of course, they don't have to go onto charm bracelets. I'm sure you jewellery makers could find some interesting ways of incorporating them into your designs.

So what do you think? Should I make more?

Oh, and if you can think of a better name for them than 'Big Hole Beads' then please leave your name suggestions in my comments section!

My first 'proper' Silver Core

Here it is! It's been a long while but I've finally cracked (along with a gazillion beads!) the silver coring process. This is the first one that I'm totally 100% pleased with and it is currently residing on my Pandora bracelet. Yes - a Laurabead for me!

My silver core beads will be available to buy on my website in the very near future. I shall let you know as soon as I add them to the site.

Long time, no blog!

I've been quiet again but I have good reason. I've been on holiday, then it was my birthday but now I'm back making beads again like those ones up there that are currently on eBay.

Talking of beads, the world seems to have gone silver core beads mad. When I got back from holiday I waded through my fat and bulging email inbox and found three emails asking me if I could start making silver core beads.

I've been asked this several times before. Now I am a the proud owner of a Pandora bracelet which my friend Elaine gave me for my birthday I can see the appeal of the silver cores. My beadmaking buddy Helen at Beady Bugs has been giving me all sorts of silver core advice which I am extremely grateful for. You can see Helen's amazing silver core beads by clicking here.

And yes, after some go-on-mate-have-a-go emails from Helen I've decided to give this silver coring malarkey a try so I will keep you posted with regard to progress . . . . . . .