I must be mad...

Snow, ice and temperatures of -5, and what am I doing? Sitting in a shed in the garden with the door open, melting glass! Everyone else is indoors in front of the fire, drinking hot chocolate and toasting marshmallows or whatever it is people are supposed to do when it snows, and I'm outside freezing my bits off.

In my defence, I don't get a lot of time to make beads, what with the day job and reminding Chris every now and then that he has a wife, so I like to get out to the shed every opportunity I get. Even if that means wearing a thermal vest, jumper, fleece, padded gilet, tights, thermal socks, legwarmers, jeans, furry boots, gloves, silly hat and hot water bottle.

Anyway, I think it's worth it and the weather has given me some great inspiration, so here are some of the latest beads, all on Ebay now...

Well, I'm back online at last after a house move...not the most enjoyable of experiences, but hey ho, we're all settled in now. My new 'studio' (shed) is still in pieces in the garden - just waiting for some lovely person to volunteer to put it together for me, for the price of a pint of beer! Or, failing that, Chris and I may just have to put it together ourselves. I don't like that option, though...

Anyway, here are some beads I made a while ago, before I was uprooted from my lovely caravan workshop. 'Pink Granite' was actually one of those happy accidents. I was initially disappointed when I saw how it had turned out, but I looked again and decided I really liked it! 'Bonfire' was, unsurprisingly, inspired by the oranges and yellows of the flames of a bonfire. Very seasonal. Last but not least, 'Chocolate Pebbles', another of my organic pebble sets. I've said it before, but I love 'Tamarind', by Cim. Such a lovely (yummy), rich brown.

All of these beads and more are now for sale on Ebay.

Brown is not boring...

Whenever any new glass colours come out, I think it's only polite to try them out! CiM, an American company have just brought out some gorgeous and very seasonal browns and greens, so I just had to have a play. 'Caramel' is quite delicious! Even the glass names are all food based - maple, tamarind and ginger. This is a very tactile bead and it just demands to be stroked.

'Autumn' is not the most imaginative of names, but it couldn't really be called anything else, with those rich browns and sepia, with lots of pure gold leaf. Sadly, it has a small crack in it, so I can't sell it, but you will find 'Caramel' on ebay right now!













And now for my next inspiration...

Beads beads beads

I've been playing around with some more new ideas for this mini set and I'm pleased with the result! I'll be making some more of these in different colours. I called the set 'Silks', because the soft swirls remind me of dyed silk scarves.

Another new style for me is this beach bead. I've made a couple of these now and I'm enjoying making lots of different beaches...this one is called Hope Cove, which is a gorgeous sandy beach here in Devon.
I really, really love this set. I made a twisty with light and dark blue, turquoise and purple and then encased it in clear. The result is these stripes and zig zags, which are magnified by the clear. I'm very tempted to keep them...!
I will be listing these beads and more on ebay later on today.

Autumn...

...not that we've actually had a summer yet. Ho hum. I'll still be making bright, summery beads all the way through winter, got to brighten up those short, dark days somehow!

I'm a great believer in the way colours can affect mood, so I love the fact that I can almost create my own mood when I make beads and jewellery. For my 'day job' I work with clothes, so I'm very aware all the time of what's 'in' for each season...there is lots of purple, hot pink, teal and blue at the moment, which pleases me as these are my favourite colours. However, the trend for acid yellow and murky mustard seems to be persisting, sadly, as I hate them! You'll never see me making a bead in these colours. Yes, that is just my personal taste and I probably should make the odd wasabi/uranium/ghee coloured bead for those of you who love these colours, but I just can't bring myself to make something I don't like myself.

So, using colours I do like, here are some on-trend purple pebbles and another spacey bead with gorgeous blue, mauve and green dots. I have resisted the temptation to keep this little beauty for myself and both are now on ebay!