Still polka dotting

I've said it before but I love the calming feeling I get when I make polka dot beads. Every one has forty-five evenly sized dots, evenly spaced, and I love the rhythmic motion of melting the stringer to get just the right size dot and then putting it in just the right place. Each one is a little challenge.

These 'Rainy Day' ones have Effetre dark grey 252 cores encased with Effetre pale aquamarine 038 and the polka dots are Effetre light turquoise 232. The beads are for sale in my shop.

I've got an overflowing jar of lonelies here so my next bead job is to clean and sort those.

In crochet news...

The octopus is complete! I took a couple of photos of him before I sent him on his journey to Northern Ireland where he's been named Otto and is now living on my sister's bookcase.

Otto ended up about 70cm long so he's a sizeable chap. The pattern is Anchor the Octopus by HumbleChildCo.

He was a very fun project and I might already have the yarn to make another one...

A bit more polka dottiness

Yet more polka dots, this time in a very Slytherinesque colour combination of black and green.

Opaque greens tend to react with themselves when used as stringer which means lines and dots develop darker centres which can look great.

These 'Malfoy' beads have Effetre black 064 cores encased with Effetre light emerald green 028 and the polka dots are CiM Weeping Willow.

The beads are for sale in my shop and tumble-etching is available at no extra cost.

In crochet news...

Tentacles!

My littlest sister asked me to make her an octopus like one she'd seen on Instagram so I found the pattern on Etsy and last night I made a start on him. Emily wanted her octopus to be burnt orange with green suckers so that he matches her living room decor. 

The pattern is Anchor The Octopus by HumbleChildCo and the yarn is YarnArt Dolce which is a chunky and very soft chenille.

Good old polka dots

I'm going to ignore the crazy long gap between this post and the previous one and just launch into writing this post.

I recently got a new oxygen concentrator. The old one was only just hanging on, puffing out next-to-no oxygen, and one day I realised that my bead making had slowed to my Hot Head torch days speed. I mean, I know I work slowly but this had become utterly ridiculous and making something as simple as a spacer bead was driving me mad. Encasing anything had become an almost impossible mission.

The new (well, reconditioned) oxygen concentrator is a beast. It's like having a new torch and it took me a while to get used to it. The flame is actually hot!

Last week I made some of my favourite beads - red with white polka dots.

These have cores of CiM Foam which I encased with a thin layer of Effetre red 076 and the polka dots are Effetre white 204.

I made a few of my 'classic' sets too. 

These green ones are CiM Peat Moss over CiM Foam with decoration in Effetre white...

...these ones are Effetre steel grey 088 over CiM Foam, again decorated with Effetre white...

...these lilac ones are CiM Yours Truly over CiM Gelly's Sty with decoration in, you guessed it, Effetre white (it's a favourite of mine)...

...and to mix it up, these have Effetre black 064 cores enacsed with Effetre light blue 052 with Effetre light periwinkle 360 decoration.

Some of the above beads are still available in my shop.

In crochet news...

I'm fully addicted to making shawls now. I crocheted my first one just over a year ago and I've not stopped since.

I like the way that a shawl can double up as a scarf but the best bit is how they make you feel all period drama when you drape one over your shoulders. They make you want to say "A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!" in your best Mrs Bennet voice.

All of the shawls pictured here are currently available in my Etsy shop and in the crochet section of my website shop. In both cases I'm set up to ship within the UK only but if you are outside the UK and you'd like to buy one, do let me know and I can give you a postage cost.

Glass Grump

My glass grump is ongoing. This one is lasting a long time and if I'm honest, this is the closest I've come to giving up lampwork in the eighteen-odd years I've been doing it. However, I'm a stubborn cow and I actually do love melting glass so I'm determined to hang on.

What's making me feel this way? I don't quite know. I mean, I sort of know, but it's hard to admit to myself.

Maybe people don't want my work like they used to?

There, I admitted it. 

I don't know the exact reason/s for this. Perhaps people simply no longer like my work? Or me? Oddly, I can deal with the latter better than the former. Or perhaps the current financial climate has meant people can no longer afford handmade jewellery and beads? Maybe it's because I refuse to play the social media game and become a content creator? Perhaps it's a combination of all of these things.

I can see other beadmakers are creating and selling less, though, and recently I've seen others retire from their torches. I don't blame people for doing that; sitting in a shed for hours, making beads and not knowing if anyone will buy them is pretty demoralising and it's the main driver of my bead grump.

If I make a set of very time-consuming, detailed beads, most people do not want to pay what they are worth. If I make spacers or 'simple' beads, which are also time-consuming, even though I can sell them for less, people might not want to buy them because they aren't fancy enough. If I make jewellery, people might buy it or might not, or even buy it to take it apart to get to the beads that they actually do want and let me tell you, that is even more demoralising and annoying than making beads that you're not sure anyone will buy. Trying to guess what people might want is a nightmare.

It could be that the answer is to be more active on social media, but I don't want to make Instagram stories, reels or videos. Do you have any idea how much beadmaking time that eats into? I don't want to be a YouTuber, a Facebooker or a TikTokker (absolutely screw TikTok). I don't want to give away my skills and knowledge for free in exchange for follows and likes because why should I? And I don't want to sell in Facebook groups or auctions because I cannot stand Facebook.

I am a beadmaker, not a content creator. So I'm going to carry on hanging on and just make the beads I feel like making whenever I sit down at the torch.

And besides, I've got so much glass and so many jewellery findings that I have to carry on because the idea of sorting, selling or chucking all of it makes me feel uneasy. And sad. And the sad thing is why I know I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet.

ANYWAY...

Headpins. I made more headpins. These are all made on 20 gauge (0.8mm) copper wire.

And beads. Polka dotty ones, because polka dots are my favourite.

The headpins and beads pictured are in my shop and if you fancy 15% off anything in there, including jewellery, just enter the code XMAS15 at checkout. The code is valid until midnight (UK time) on Sunday 11th December. I'll be adding a few new bits to the shop between now and then so do have a check back later in the week.

My beads

I've always said that I don't have a 'signature bead' but many people have pointed out that I do. They normally say something like "Your scroll beads are your signature beads" or "I can spot your polka dot beads a mile off" so maybe I actually have a signature style as opposed to a bead? Scrolls and polka dots aren't fancy or wow or how-did-you-even-do-that? but they require a steady hand, oodles of patience, careful heat control, precision and a good knowledge of what each glass type and colour does and how you can make that work for you to get the results you're after.

I often feel like I should be making more elaborate beads—big, showstopping, takes-an-age-to-make beads that contain a bazillion elements and techniques—but I just like the simple look of my dots and lines and I enjoy making them. That last point is very important to me. I enjoy getting lost in the rhythmic placement of polka dots and I get a buzz from completing a bead that's covered in curvy, loopy scrolls. I'll often do an out-loud "Yes!" as I put a finished one in the kiln. And I know that they look simple, but finishing a well-executed spiral bead—the ones with the continuous trail of fine stringer wrapped from hole to hole—always makes me smile.

For me, beads are as much about the beauty of the glass as they are about the prettiness of the design. I like my beads to show off the glass itself; how it plays with the light, and how certain colours look together. For me, the negative space is as important as any decorated parts.

Now my beadmaking time is limited due to my studies, I'm making sure I thoroughly enjoy my shed sessions. Yesterday I got absolutely lost in making navy and white polka dot beads while listening to Steve Coogan's autobiography. The day just flew by and I walked out of the shed feeling all relaxed and happy. In the past I've often felt bad about making "just some polka dot beads and a few spotty ones" or "just a few scrolly beads today", like I should have created some massive focal with silver glass, gold leaf, silver foil, goldstone, enamels, and maybe some CZs and fancy cane, all finished off with a touch of sandblasting instead, but I've decided to not think that way anymore. This probably won't make sense but it does in my head... my beads are my beads because they are my beads. And that's fine by me.

Shop Update

I've added a couple of items to my shop. Firstly, this vibrant orange, green and brown 'Autumn' bracelet.

I saw a weather forecast on telly the other week and the backdrop was a beautiful photograph of autumnal leaves and berries in these colours.

The findings are copper and copper plated metal with an antique finish.

This 'Autumn' bracelet is priced at £50.00 and it is available here.

Now we're moving closer to Christmas, I'm trying to build a little stock of jewellery so should you need a gift, hopefully I will have something that suits, in stock and ready to post.

Right now there are some 'Toadstool', 'Brown Owl' and 'Acorn & Oak Leaf' necklaces all boxed up, ready to go. These can all be found here.

And finally, a strand of stylish black and grey polka dotty beads.

This set of 'Noir' beads costs £18.00 and is available here.

That's all my Friday computer-based work done. Now to make beads.

Happy Friday!

Old favourites

Ah, red-with-white-polka-dots, how I love thee. You make me smile, you make me feel calm and you please my eyes. If they please yours, you may like to know that these lovelies are for sale in the usual place right now.

More 'Scarlet'

I reckon a lot of you are as taken with red-with-white-polka-dots as I am so I've made a whole wodge of them.  They're over in the usual place.

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!

'Strawberry'

I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has left comments and sent emails and tweets about Buster.  Your kind words and thoughts are really appreciated.

I started making these red beads on Tuesday morning and I had to stop after the Buster news on Tuesday afternoon.  I carried on with them yesterday and they were really comforting to make.  I've told you before that I like making polka dot beads when my mind is preoccupied - their repetitiveness and regularity is quite soothing.  And of course you know how much I like red and white polka dots!

These three strands already have new homes but do check my Etsy shop tomorrow night as I'll be adding some beads to its virtual shelves then.

Hades & Peace

I got a delivery of glass for testing from Creation Is Messy on Thursday and I've been playing about with all of the delicious glasses.  I'm going to be adding a couple of colour testing posts to the blog this weekend so do stay tuned.

One of the CiM glasses I've been experimenting with is Hades.  This is a really intense black.  Black glass is actually transparent and is normally really saturated purple or blue and when you pull that into fine stringers the black is no longer black.  Hades, like Effetre's Intense Black, doesn't do that.  It maintains its blackness even when pulled into freakishly fine stringer.

This isn't the first time I've tried Hades - I've used it before but this time I set time aside and really watched how it works.  I've found that you have to treat Hades really gently.  The beads at the top of this post are CiM Peace (white) with Hades polka dots.  You may be able to see that the polka dots are not totally flush with the base bead.  They're really nearly almost smooth but I was erring on the side of caution when it came to melting the dots in.  I've decided that if you work the Hades slowly in a cooler flame it will keep its crispness.  If I'd melted these dots in at my normal rate they would have feathered and bled at the edges creating a murky grey-brown halo to the dots.  So I went slowly which paid off and the result is crisp jet black on plain white.  Simple yet striking. 

There's more to discover and say about Hades but I will save that for a proper CiM testing post.

Polka Dotty Interlude

At the end of my last post I told you I'd be back later with beads.

I didn't come back, did I?

I got sidetracked.

Our wedding is in about three weeks' time and my brain is all awhirl with wedding thoughts.  Chris and I sat down and wrote a to-do list on Monday and now we're setting about crossing things off that list.

As I've explained before, when I have things on my mind I find concentrating on beads quite a tricky task.  Yesterday all I could make was polka dot beads.  I think that the regularity and just-so-ness of them allows me to switch to bead autopilot and simultaneously think about wedding hair, wedding food and other wedding-related malarkey.

Even though our wedding is going to be a small one it's still stressing me out.  I seem to be in a constant bad mood at the moment and poor Chris never knows if he's going to come home and find a happy Laura or a whining snappy one.  It's a wonder that he still wants to marry me!

Please bear with me during this polka dotty interlude .....

'Rainy Day'

These beads were made on a drizzly, overcast day. The sky was pale grey with little patches of blue peeping through the clouds.

I liked the colours and decided to make a polka dotty set using them.

I'll be drawing the winner of the prize draw tonight so if you haven't entered yet do click here to put your name in the hat.

Have a good Wednesday!

Favourite Flowers

My little sister Emily is visiting for a few days which is lovely. We don't get to see each other much and it's fab to have her about the place. When she arrived on Tuesday she brought me a gorgeous bunch of bright red tulips - my favourite flowers.

Today we popped into Oxford to look for a bridesmaid dress for her. We found a couple of potential frocks but no purchase was made so that job is still on the wedding to-do list, as are many many other things ....

In bead news I have another set of polka dotty beads, this time in purple and spearmint.

I reckon this'll be the last polka dot set for the time being - I'm all dotted out!

Just a quick post .....

..... to show you this handful of loveliness. I made these polka dot gems yesterday and I've been out in the morning sun taking photos of them. Just off to sort through the resulting pictures now and I'll post again later on.

'Purple Polka Dots'

Yes, more polka dotty beads. You know me and polka dots - I make one set and then I can't stop! These pretty purple ones (which I am in love with) are CiM Heffalump encased in Vetrofond clear, decorated with CiM Lapis polka dots. The spacer beads are CiM Crocus. Purpletastic!

'Pacific'

Pretty polka dot beads made from CiM Glacier and CiM Fremen. These will be for sale on my website at 8.30pm (UK time) tomorrow night.

Ooooh!

Tesco shopping can be mundane so imagine my joy when I happened upon this little red and white polka dot case. Isn't it just so sweet? I don't yet know what I'm going to keep in it. All I do know is that as soon as I saw it I knew I needed it in my life.

Shiny shiny polka dots

I love polka dots. I mean I actually really do love them!

I was in a gift shop in Abingdon buying a pressie for a friend the other week and I got into a conversation about polka dots with the shop assistant. She loves them too and we agreed that they're definitely happy and smile-inducing.

Two timeless colour combinations here - classic black and white and yummy turquoise on chocolate. The latter two colours together always remind me of Chris's flat as he has lots of brown and turquoise things. Although, it has to be said, more and more red and white things are sneaking into his flat. Can't think how or why .....

Could this be any more me?

Do you know, I've received so many gifts this week and it's not even my birthday or owt. I know such a lot of generous, lovely people! I feel thoroughly spoilt.

This über-sweet little bag was a pressie from my great mate Tina Scott. The bag has everything I like - denim, cupcakes, buttons and red and white polka dots! Tina said she thought I could store all my ready-to-be-despatched Cupcake beads in it which is exactly what I'm going to do. I'm also going to stash the sterling silver bits that I use for Cupcake pendant making in there too. The bag is from Acorn Attic on Etsy.

Thank you so much, Tina! You're a gem.