Thursday, March 31, 2011

A Lovely Day...

Or at least I think it is. It's certainly not as humid as it was a couple of weeks ago. And the nights are cooling down enough to need to wear a light cardi, so I'm happy :)

It's been raining a bit today, though the Sun is out right now.

I am working on a couple of new pieces at the moment. But I've kinda lost my mojo again. I need to learn new things, but trying to get a hold of the supplies to do so (at a reasonable price) is a little more challenging. As I've written before, we kind of get ripped off for things over here. I don't know if it's because of supply/demand issues or because that's just how it is. Either way it's frustrating.

I want to get a repousse set, which seems to be cheaper to get from the USA and I seriously need to source some nicer new stones. It is super hard to find any here. There are a couple of gem shows coming up I think, so I might try and get to one of them to see what's available. Right now, Etsy/Ebay is my only supplier, which sucks because of the wait time and the cost of postage.

I found out this week that I can't post to the Czech Republic. I've had someone ask me if I could send a particular piece to them and when I looked up online, "Precious Metals" was on the prohibited list....

I am having a hard time sawing things lately. I don't know if it's my blades, or me?? But it just doesn't seem to happen smoothly anymore. I've never used any type of bur stuff and it used to be just fine...but lately it's harder and it puts me off. I want to get a decent saw, like one of those big red ones I've seen on a few other's blogs recently. I am pondering a decent size disc cutter and a rolling mill and a new bench. Want much???? LOL :)

There's a lot on my mind lately too. We are moving again when our lease comes up for renewal in June. Not far to go now. As great as this house is, I'm over it, for lots of reasons, which I'll blog about another time. I also want to bring more colour to my home. If you were to walk into my home now, you would think I was boring (till you saw my shoe collection lol) I don't really like our furniture. So I am on a quest to sell on what we have and replace it with stuff that I actually like. I won a nice deco cabinet on the bay last night and I have a nice colour in mind to redo it with. It's going to be a lamp table.

Wow that's been a long talky blog....
Potty training has been going well.....ish.
Time to get back to looking at cabochons :)

Monday, March 21, 2011

100th Post!

So I've finally written 100 posts!! It took me a little over a year to do it, though it feels like I've been blogging here for a lot longer than that.

Sadly the weather is rubbish here again and it feels like Autumn will never come...nor Winter for that matter. But I am fortunate and grateful that we aren't experiencing what the rest of the world has been. As everyone knows the latest - Japan and now Libya. Things are terrible for a lot of people out there and I can't even imagine what they are all going through. But my heart goes out to them!

Below is my latest work:




The Summer ring is mine. I haven't worn a thumb ring for a loooong time and I felt like making something rustic looking...not pretty...but hard wearing. I am wearing it now and enjoying it..it's quite comfy :)

I have a few other pieces on my desk that just need stones setting and then polishing up.

It's been a tough week and a half.
I started toilet training my daughter.
I tried once before a few months back, but it didn't feel right, so I postponed it and now we are in it for the long haul. It's been hell on earth on and off, but I know she knows what she has to do...she just has to get on with it now...we have given her the tools, the incentives/rewards and now it's up to her to let it 'click'.

I had some trouble with an online service this month and the last couple of days I was trying do sort it out and not getting much help from them AT ALL. Fortunately my parcel has arrived, be it over 6 days late ( it was EMS International) and I am relieved to put it behind me. I don't think I will be using the service again, I don't think the owner will want me to either lol...but I don't really care :)

How has your week been?? I hope no one has any family/friends who've been affected by the disaster in Japan.

Monday, March 7, 2011

A little Change

Yay! The weather has finally taken a little turn towards Autumn! I am so happy and so looking forward to the months that come. For some reason I always feel like I can do anything when the cooler weather comes along.

I have taken a small advert out with a little handmade directory at mumswhomake
it's only for 1 month, but I thought it's time to start spending a little on getting my work 'known'. Now with the weather changing for the better, I should be able to get more things into my shop soon. Below are the 2 latest pieces I have listed this week...


I would like to make more sawn out pieces like my bird and the Silhouette pendant I sold. I like solid silver pieces that can go with anything you want to wear.
I have had a couple of lovely messages to my Etsy Inbox about my work...it's nice to know people can see the love and effort that goes into it.

There are a couple of pieces on my bench right now. One I'm almost finished with and another I'm half way through. I can't wait till I can afford some new stones. I'm bored with what I have (not all...but quite a few). I bought them hastily when I was new to cabochons and got carried away and bought stuff I know I will never use.
Not sure what I will do with them...maybe I will give them away.

That's all I have to write about for now...thanks to everyone who replied to the question I asked in my last post. Sometimes, if someone compliments me on my jewellery I will tell them 'thank you' and 'I made it myself'. Sometimes I end up having big long convo's about jewellery making with that person...sometimes I end up feeling like a total tool having said I made them myself...I am not sure if people believe me or what?! Other times I just thank them and go about my business. I figure that you only have one life and so you may as well get your work out there anyway you can when the opportunity presents itself and sometimes that has to be through self promotion I guess.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

My posts lately seem to be all about the Summer weather and how much I hate it. Unfortunately this post will be much the same.
It's now Autumn and has been for 3 days...but you wouldn't know it from the weather we are still having. It's as hot as an oven. Well maybe not quite that hot....but sometimes it's all I can think of to liken it too.

Right now I am hiding away in our bedroom, with the air conditioning on and a fan and I am on my laptop, whilst chatting to my mum on msn. I really really want to get to my bench to make stuff, but it's not going to happen. Oh and I stuffed my torch up already. I am going to clean it out and change the head and see what comes of it.....it's my own fault too. I just hope I can fix it, seeing as I have hardly used it.

I sold my 'Flowers in Her Hair' silhouette pendant to a lady in France. I was so excited!! I have only sent to USA and within Australia thus far, so it was nice to know a piece was going somewhere different. I can't wait till she gets it. And I hope she leaves me feedback, cuz no one else is...

I have a few pieces in the works at the moment...as I said before it's just too hot to create..so they will have to stay in their half done state for a bit longer. Though tomorrow supposedly, we are going to have heavy rain all day long. So maybe I will get to finish them sooner than I think?? I can only hope.

A question for you......
When someone compliments you on your jewellery (if you wear pieces you've made yourself as I do) do you tell them that you made them yourself?? Or do you just thank them for their compliment and leave it as that??