More black and white ones

I kept going with the black and white, making sure not to kill any in the water jug, and I've ended up with another bunch of little beads. These are about 10 to 11mm diameter.

Dots-and-lines beads have always been some of my most favourite beads to make but I think I somehow forgot that somewhere along the way. I'm glad I've reminded myself how much I like making them.

I'll be making more today but none of these beads will be for sale for a week or so because tomorrow I'm going away for a few days. I'm off to visit my littlest sister in Northern Ireland. She and her fella moved to Donaghadee a couple of months back and my other sister, my nephew and I are going out to visit her for the first time.

This means I'm going on a plane! I haven't been on an aeroplane since 2006. I won't pretend I'm not a tad nervy about it. I don't fear flying, it's just I've not done so for so flipping long. It can't have changed that much, can it? Of course not. It'll be FINE. I had to get a new passport and everything because my old one expired in 2008. I know you don't need one to get into Northern Ireland but you do need photo ID and I don't have a driving licence so a new passport it was.

I'll leave you with a photograph of a bee enjoying one of my sunflowers.

This particular sunflower is near on nine feet tall and I had to stand on tiptoes, hold my phone as high as I could and use the zoom without actually being able to see the screen, so it's surprising I got this picture at all.

See you in a week or so!

Knotty

I do enjoy being able to design a bracelet in my head and then create the beads I need to make that bracelet a reality.

I wanted to make a simple macramé bracelet that could be for both women or men. Men get left out of the lampwork bead jewellery market quite a lot, you see. 

I started by making some small 9 x 6mm cylindrical beads in Effetre dark topaz/root beer 016 decorated with Val Cox Raku Jitterbug (AKA Reichenbach R108 Iris Orange) frit. The resulting beads remind me of shingle beaches.

I then knotted them into a bracelet with dark brown nylon macramé cord and finished it off with a sliding knot and sterling silver ends.

I've just made that sound way simpler than it actually was; I ended up making the bracelet three times before I was happy with the bead spacing and finished fit.

But I got there in the end and I love it. I love it so much I'm keeping it for me.

I'm waiting for some different colours of cord to arrive and then I'll set about making some more of these bracelets for sale.

It's a proper warm one here. The fans are out and on, Nigel's upstairs sleeping in his favourite cool spot under the bed, and I'm drinking iced coffee (and by that I mean Camp coffee with milk and ice cubes just like my grandma used to make me) and typing this. Obvs.

My garden sunflowers are still sunflowering but when I was at the greengrocers on Thursday I couldn't resist buying myself a bunch of five sunflowers for inside the house.

I will never stop marvelling at sunflowers. They're incredible things, not only to look at but from a mathematical point of view too. This little video explains how they feature the Fibonacci sequence and spirals, and also the golden angle and ratio. Spectacular plants.

Right, I'm off to research men's bracelet sizes now. Enjoy your Monday!

I'm a proper Cantabrigian now

I've lived in Cambridge for fourteen years and before that I was a regular visitor to the city for three years. When my foodbank warehouse colleagues learnt that in all that time I'd never been punting on the Cam, we decided to arrange a punting trip. After our shift on Friday the six of us hired a punt and went for a lovely river pootle along The Backs and then out to Grantchester Meadows.

King's College Chapel

It was the hottest day of the year so far and as such the river was very busy and at various points along The Backs it was a bit like water dodgems. It's so pretty, though. I'd never seen Cambridge from this angle and situation before and I had a few "Wow, I'm so lucky to live here" moments.

Mathematical Bridge

When we reached the mill pond we had to use the boat rollers to move the punt up the slipway, across the footpath and into the next stretch of river. Sounds easy but oh my word punts are heavy, and we were grateful when a couple of kindly passers-by stopped and lent us a bit of grunt to complete the task.

This next bit of the river was full of swimmers, paddle boarders, canoeists and kayakers, and everyone was so chirpy and polite. We saw moorhens, a heron, and many ducks. I was really taken with the bright blue and black banded demoiselles we saw flitting about. I'd never seen them before and to start with I thought they were butterflies because of the way they fly. They were so beautiful. (I haven't got a photograph because they were a bit far away for my iPhone to successfully capture them.)

After a little break and some refreshments we headed back. A female mallard took to following our punt and I thought she was going to be alongside us all the way down the river but in the end she got distracted by a young boy on a paddleboard feeding her snacks.

When we got back to the mill pond (shifting the punt down the rollers was way easier than up!) there was a man serenading some gorgeous cows with his guitar.

The river was even busier along The Backs by then and people were feeding the Canada geese as we came to the end of our adventure.

All in all I had an absolutely brilliant afternoon with a bunch of utterly lovely people and I've been happy and smiley about it ever since.

In garden news...

The intense sunshine has finally made my first two sunflowers bloom.

I planted an assortment this year and so far I have one yellow and burgundy one, and one mostly burgundy one.

In bead news...

I made some cosmic-looking blue beads and turned them into a bracelet.

The beads are Double Helix Triton wrapped with fine silver wire which I melted into droplets. They're encased with Effetre pale aquamarine 038.

I've strung the beads with sterling silver beads and the extender chain is finished off with one of two silver star charms that I've had in my beads and findings stash for almost twenty years.

The bracelet is currently available in my webshop.

If you fancy making your own cosmic-looking jewellery I'll be adding some of the blue beads to the shop in the next couple of days.

In crochet news...

I've started making a grey blanket for our lounge; I seem to have fallen into a habit of making us a new blanket every year.

This blanket is one heck of a task as the squares are quite complex. Each one is about eight inches square and takes me approximately two hours to complete. I need forty-two and so far I've made fourteen.

The pattern is the Book Sale Blanket by Julia Hart of Draiguna who is one of my absolute favourite crochet designers, and the yarn is Stylecraft Special DK in Silver 1203 and Grey 1099.

Pure sunshine

The sunflower throw is complete and what a joybringer it is. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

It measures about 100cm x 120cm so it's a good size to use as throw on a sofa or chair back and it's just right for a curled-up-on-the-settee blanket.

I steam blocked the throw to set the stitches which gives it a nice finished look.

The throw is available in my Etsy shop or webshop but for UK customers only.

Pattern: Sunflower Throw by Libbycraftmakes

Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK

Faffing is my thing

I'm back into the swing of Ditsybead things. These little beads look simple but I tell you, the execution of them is anything but. If I don't place the dots just so, and if I don't heat them flush in a particular way, they just don't look right. Much faffing is required but that's the way I like it.

The beads that appear easy or effortless are often the ones that take the most skill and experience and it's very easy (and understandable) for non-beadmaker people to assume they are a doddle to make. As a maker I get way more satisfaction from crafting a well-made polka dot bead than I do a cat or cupcake bead but judging by the number of requests I still get for them, people seem to be more enamoured with the latter. I decided a long while ago to make the beads I want to make when I feel like making them and I know that makes me sound like a selfish twerp but honestly, if I'd stuck with making cat and cupcake beads I'd have ditched lampworking ages ago. Sometimes you have to be selfish, I guess.

These two sets are Effetre dark grass green 024 and light teal 026 with flowers in Effetre white 204 and CiM Hollandaise.

I'm hoping to get a couple more Ditsybead sets made this week and then they'll all be for sale in my webshop, probably late Friday afternoon.

I set fire to my cardigan yesterday. While I was wearing it. A glass rod popped in the flame and I could smell this lingering weird whiff and I looked everywhere trying to find out what was melting and it took about five minutes for me to realise it was my cardigan. It's one that I knitted a few months ago that I've practically lived in since I finished it, so that's annoying. I'll have to make me another and keep it for non-shed use.

Nothing particularly exciting is happening in the garden. The rose and hibiscus bushes seem to be settling in, the sunflowers are starting to go full Triffid, the tomatoes are still doing next-to-nowt, but...

 ...my sea holly has finally gone blue. I flipping love this plant. I don't know why it pleases me so much but it does.

In crochet news...

All forty-two sunflowers for the throw are complete and I've started turning them into squares.

I'm off for a tinned red salmon roll and a cuppa for lunch now and then I'll be heading shedward. TTFN!

That'll do won't do

When did I last make Ditsybeads? I think it was about a year ago. (I've just checked and yes it was. I wanged on about them for a whole blog post.) When I've not made a certain design for a while it's like I have to retrain my hands and brain in how to execute it. I spent Thursday doing just that and ended up with five Ditsybeads that made it to the kiln. Of those five, two are not quite right, one is just about passable and two I'm happy with. This photo shows the latter three.

Today will be about properly getting back into the swing of making Ditsybeads, good ones that I'm totally happy with (you know me when it comes to beads – "That'll do" simply won't do) and then I expect I'll make them until I get bored of doing so and no doubt I'll repeat this whole process in about August 2025.

While I make Ditsybeads I'll be listening to a podcast that I discovered a couple of weeks ago called Imagined Life.

It's a Wondery podcast (I love Wondery podcasts) and each episode tells the life story of a world-famous person and you're given clues to their identity along the way but you only find out right at the end who the subject is. Sometimes you'll guess before that point but I've been really surprised by some of them. Great stuff. Imagined Life is available on Wondery, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music.

Will the weather please make up its mind? On Friday I wore sunglasses and a sun hat for my walk to and from the foodbank warehouse and today it's been raining for hours and I'm dressed like it's early October. As I'm typing these words the sun is putting in an appearance. Sort your mind out, weather!

This harlequin ladybird was loving the lavender in the sunshine last week, though.

I know some people don't like harlequin ladybirds because they pose a threat to our native ladybirds but they're here and living their little lives and if they want to feast on the aphids in my garden they can fill their boots. Munch on, you glossy spotty funbugs!

In crochet news...

Guess what? It's another shawl.

I have got to stop making shawls. I need to. I think I've got one more upstairs that needs blocking (but I made it for me so it doesn't count) and I still have the lacy black one on the go but I must put an end to this shawl madness after that one is complete.

This magma-y, fiery, sort-of-maybe Halloweeny one is listed in my Etsy shop and my webshop. The pattern is the Sis Shawl by Joanna Grzelak of Sis Homemade and the yarn is YarnArt Flowers in colour 259.

I'm nearing the end of sunflower production. I've almost got the amount I need for the the blanket. The next stage will be turning them into squares.

Right, it's time for me to make a brew and get down to the shed. See you later!

New bracelet, old bracelet

I've had a set of grey beads languishing in my beads-for-sale bowl for a few weeks now and for some reason I woke up and decided that I wanted to make them into a bracelet, so that is what I did.

I put the lampwork beads with some Czech crystal rondelles in a beautiful misty blue-grey colour, and some ever so pretty pale grey Swarovski glass pearls which have a very subtle shimmer.

The resulting bracelet reminds me of stormy skies so I've named this one 'Cumulonimbus' which is the proper term for a thundercloud.

The bracelet is in my shop as I type.

You know that sunflower-inspired bracelet I made the other day? Well, the charm on it reminded me of a bracelet that I've had in my jewellery box for twenty-five years but that I never wear. It was a gift from my mum and she brought it back for me from a holiday in France. Mum, Dad and my two sisters went camping there and I stayed at home because I was nearly twenty and I hated the idea of camping (I still do and I intend to avoid it forever) plus we'd not long had our cat Buster (bless his stripy heart; I still miss him and think of him every day) so I stayed at home to look after him and the house. I can recall all this very well because it was 1997 and Princess Diana died on the day everyone was coming back from France.

Anyway, the bracelet. It's a very simple metal one made up of sunflower-shaped links. I don't know what the metal is but it's definitely not silver and it's quite heavy. It's got a tiny little bit of blue-green tarnish in a couple of places.

After I fished the bracelet out the other day I replaced its flimsy jump rings with sturdy stainless steel ones and I gave it a new clasp too. Maybe I'll get a bit of wear out of it now I know it's not going to fall apart.
 

I do enjoy a bit of jewellery renovation. I've repaired and renovated quite a few bits of jewellery for other people over the years and the pieces have never been expensive or lavish. So often the jewellery pieces we love are from our youth, or were gifts from people who are no longer here. They might not be worth a lot money-wise but they are priceless nonetheless. I've often considered offering a jewellery repair service. Maybe I should sort a page out for the website? Yes, I'm going to add it to my to do list.

Speaking of sunflowers, I'll leave you with this photo of my 'micro' sunflowers.

The plants just keep blooming and one of my three currently has nine flowers open on it. Joyful!

In a bracelet groove

My sunflowers are out! I normally plant about a dozen bog standard, tall sunflowers but this year I went for a couple of the smaller, bushier ones that have multiple flowers and I'm pleased I did, what with the lack of rain and all. Sunflowers are thirsty buggers so now me is thanking past me for not doing the big tall sunflower thing.

I adore sunflowers. I'm sure I've droned on about them on the blog before but honestly, they are just things of wonder. I can look at them for ages. The bees and other insects like them too.

I've never rendered a sunflower in glass because I know I would never in a million years be happy with it, so I've not bothered. However, I decided to use the sunflower colour scheme to create this simple spacer bead bracelet.

The bracelet is finished off with a little sunflower charm.

I've also made a seaside-inspired bracelet this week.

This one is made up of ivory, turquoise and pale aquamarine beads, with just a touch of silvered ivory here and there. Some beads are shiny and some are tumble-etched.

I threw in a few aquamarine Czech crystal rondelles for a bit of sparkle and the bracelet is finished with two seashell charms.

Both of these bracelets are in my shop as I type.

I'm still a bit sporadic with the beadmaking at the moment because of the heat. It's looking like next week's weather will allow me to work mornings in the shed. If I can get more than two bracelets' worth of beads made I'll give you advance notice of when they'll be for sale. That will be either here on my blog or via my mailing list.

I've come to an Instagram compromise with myself and at the suggestion of a couple of followers there I'm going to post-and-run. Basically, it'll just be a photo along with whatever name I've given the beads or piece of jewellery. Any mildly-interesting stuff I have to say about the thing in the photo will be posted here, away from the Instagram madness. Also, you get other assorted waffle here. Lucky you, eh?

Flower power

*Monty Don face*

Welcome to the blog post where I bore you with news of my uninteresting garden. Don't worry, there are some beads too, but first, let me show you my munchkin pumpkin. (Oooh, Jeremy.)

I grew munchkin pumpkins for two reasons:

1. The name 'munchkin pumpkin' which I sing to the Oompa Loompa song as "Munchkin pumpkin, pump-a-di-doo"... obviously.
2. Because who can resist the idea of growing an actual tiny pumpkin?

The plant itself is like a triffid; massive leaves and curly-wurly tendrils aplenty. I was starting to think I would never get any pumpkins because it's done loads of flowers but those just wither, leaving no offspring behind (which I can totally identify with because that's how I'm living my life) but then I read about it and they have male and female flowers. Nature.

My sunflowers are an embarrassment. I couldn't get the same seeds that gave me the amazing ones I grew last year so I have eighteen weak and wimpy sunflowers that are no more than three feet high. I did intentionally grow micro sunflowers, though, (I'm clearly all about the miniature garden stuff this year) and they've turned out really well.

My favourite plants this summer have been my poppies. There's one at the top of this post and look, here are some more:

Poppies making the grotty fence look nice

Poppies refracted in raindrops

Raindroppy poppy

I've also grown chillies and tomatoes and wild strawberries and mint. All the mint. Mint-mint, peppermint, spearmint and watermelon mint. So. Much. Mint. Oh, and catnip, which I'm having to grow in hanging baskets out of Nigel's reach as he goes totally Renton for catnip.

Anyway, beads. These are flowery too.

I made these beads ages ago. I rescued them from a jam jar of odd beads I found in the cupboard under the sink. I don't know why I 'rejected' them. (See? That's how annoying my pernickety faff brain is; I can't even remember what I thought was wrong with them.) The only reason I can see is that a couple of them have small, harmless bubbles in the encasing but that's pretty normal for encased florals so I'm fine with that. For today, anyway. They're in the shop as I type.

I don't want to be a premature idiot, but I'm pretty sure I can smell a slight whiff of autumn. Something about the weather's mood has shifted and I like it. Don't get me wrong, I think there are some summery days left to come but there's something different about the morning light and the coolness of the breeze this week.

Now I must away to the shed where I will spend the day blowing glass bubbles and chair dancing and singing along to Lucius.

Have a great Friday! (Of course you will. It's Friday.)