A thing of beauty...

And this time it's not a bead...

A few days ago a friend of mine mentioned on Facebook that she was thinking of treating herself to this book by Artist, Printmaker and Engraver Angie Lewin so I took a quick look... and I was bowled over by the artists work. I had not come across Angie Lewin before, though heaven knows why as her work is so up my street - stunning botanical prints in glorious saturated, but slightly muted colours. Anyway I ordered the book and it arrived this morning - OMG is it  thing of beauty! Fabulously presented and of a very high quality, I just felt I had to share.

In the preface to the book the Artist says that she is drawn to "insignificant plants" usually considered to be weeds, and concentrates on their unique characteristics rather than realistic representation and scale.

The impact of her subjects' environment on their ability to thrive however barren or desolate is also a major influence on her work. I just love the love the structural, almost architectural framework within her prints.

Now, I'm no art critic and my views are completely subjective but I just wanted to share a find that got me excited. It might be that I'm the last one in the know and you are all fully clued up on Angie Lewin already. Either way, I know this book will be something I pick up frequently just to revel in the contents but I'm also pretty sure It will become a source of reference and inspiration for my jewellery designs - for colour, for shape, for texture and for fun.

Oh, and can I just say a big thank you to Kaz Baildon for introducing me to this great artist - I'm so pleased you posted that link on Facebook.

You can see more of the book's content at Amazon co.uk and .com - enjoy!

Lesley

Catching up with myself...

Wow! - almost a week since I last posted anything here...where did that time go? It's a sure sign that autumn is here when time seems to speed up. I know there are the same number of hours in the day (never enough whatever season it is) but somehow time seems more languid during the long summer days - I guess we're naturally wired to cram everything into daylight hours and there are just less of them now.

Anyhow, just to reassure myself that I hadn't lost a few days somewhere along the way and had achieved something in this time I thought I'd show you what I've been up to...

I'm really pleased how these Ornamental Bronze Clay shells turned out. They came about when a friend saw the shell charms I have in my Etsy shop and asked if I could make her one as an ornament. I make silicone moulds from real shells and cast the clay from those. It sounds easy but I find thick pieces of bronze clay have a tendency to crack and the one on the right took several attempts to get it this good. The patina is achieved simply with a hand torch. I just love the Abalone shell - it's about 6cm wide and I keep looking at it thinking what a spectacular focal it would make...

I've also been honing my kiln enameling skills following the course I went on a couple of weeks ago - I'm really enjoying this and can happily lose myself in it for the day. I think I've just about got the kiln sussed for optimum temperature and it's great fun testing all the different colours. I only have opaques at the moment but I think I'll be ordering some transparent enamels soon...

I just love these, clear, bright pops of colour and simple shapes especially when teamed with single contrasting beads.

I've also been messing about with some Lampworking frit and glass strands to see what extra effects I can get - early days but onwards and upwards. You can see from the thicker black edges to some of these pieces that I've over-cooked them a bit. Truth be told, I did it once and I quite liked the effect so you can expect to see more - wrong or not!

I'm hoping that by the end of this month I can get a small range of enameled items into my Etsy shop. I'd like these to be fun, affordable items so it will probably be simple earrings and pendants to begin with and see where it goes from there.

I doubt I'll be doing much enameling this week though - the first part of it will be dedicated to starting work on my Bead Soup creation(s). I have a number of ideas in my head which I'll hopefully be able to translate to reality, but I'm sure there will be some twists and turns along the way. After that, I need to make a concerted effort to increase my shop inventory - busy, busy, busy!

In the meantime I'll leave you with some of the recent additions to my Etsy shop - August was a quiet month to say the least so here's to a better month ahead!

Have a great week all.

Lesley

Fashion or Favourites - what comes first...?

This weekend I managed to grab time to catch up on some much needed web browsing - one of my favourite stress antidotes and a chance to go through the bits and pieces I bookmark when I don't have time to relish them there and then. One thing that caught my eye was the Pantone colour forecast for this coming autumn.

Now, I'm not exactly what you'd call a fashion icon - I'm a 'know what I like and like what I know' kind of person...not very exciting but there you go. What's worse, if I'm at home working it's also quite likely to be frayed, stained or burnt, depending on what I'm doing! I do have a few of these forecast colours in my wardrobe but the brighter one's certainly only in little splashes and most likely summer clothes. I tend to be more adventurous with my accessories.

This got me thinking about the beads I buy to make my jewellery with. I've never in my life consciously bought a bead because it was a fashionable colour/shape/size although their availability may be influenced by this of course. So I wondered, did I have anything in my collection that was going to be on trend this season or, were all my designs going to look like museum pieces? 

I decided to put it to the test - a little nervously I might add, by matching my lampwork beads to see if any of them had anything like a 'fashion icon' prospect - and I was quite pleasantly surprised...

 

Emberglow and Honeysuckle - check

Phlox and Cedar - check

Deep Teal and Coffee Liqueur - check

Coffee Liqueur, Nougat and Orchid Hush - check

Nougat, Orchid Hush and Quarry - check

Bamboo and Quarry - check

So there you are, it seems that even if my wardrobe is sadly lacking in the cutting edge fashion stakes at least I can say some of my beads make the cut. Obviously, I'm ignoring the fact that this is just a small part of my collection and the rest...well, they are there because I love them whether they are the next big thing or not and that, is exactly how I will continue to choose my beads. And anyway, I like museums!

What about you - will you be setting any trends this season? I'd love to hear...

The puzzle is solved.....

Now that the puzzle of the parcel tracking is over and Julie has received her beads soup ingredients, I can how you how the picture puzzle was solved...

This is the soup mix I sent built around some Bronzclay pieces that I made specifically for this event. I think it's a fun collection and Julie says she loves it all so I hope she has loads of fun turning it into something spectacular. Julie has taken some pictures that show the items much more clearly too so check out what she had to say on her Blog.

Hopefully everyone now has or is close to getting their parcels so , let creativity commence!

Lesley

Never a dull moment in Bead Soup Land...

Well now I'm just a confused bunny...

As per my last post,  according to the Royal Mail tracking system the package I sent to my Bead Soup partner Julie is still sitting in the sorting office in Northern Ireland having been returned from the USA. Which is more than a little strange since Julie has just taken delivery of it at her home in Minnesota!

I have no idea what's in Northern Ireland and whether it's coming my way but I think someone, somewhere has had a very bad day at the office. I'm just so relieved that Julie has got her beads and what's more important, she loves them.

So now we can both concentrate on the important task in hand - designing beautiful jewellery - Yay to that!

Lesley

Beads soup mix has gone...and come back again!!!

What a difference a day makes...

The happy bouncing bunny of yesterday has found an alter ego and is now a frustrated, hopping mad bunny! And why? Because I've been tracking the Bead Soup pack I sent to my partner Julie and for the past 4 days it's been in the US postal system with the status 'awaiting delivery'. This morning however, the status had changed and the package had been delivered... to a sorting office in Northern Ireland!!!

I have absolutely no idea what this poor little package did to be ejected so cruelly...and neither do the Royal Mail until it has been 'processed' and sent packing on it's way back to me. Thankfully Julie is not stressed by this and I have just put together a second package to send off to her asap. 

Fingers crossed!

Lesley

Soup's arrived...and am I happy...?

See that picture above...that's me that is - one very happy bunny bouncing around the house this morning after the postie delivered the bead soup sent by my partner Julie Nordine.

I knew that whatever Julie sent me would be a pleasure to work with - with the fabulous beads she makes and her background in interior design how could it be anything else. But I still gasped when I saw the contents of Julie's parcel. She's been incredibly generous, sending me several focal pieces and a beautiful clasp as well as a whole heap of goodies to go with them and, I can honestly say there is not one piece in this mix that I don't love. How spoilt am I ?!!!

I guess you want to see what I got now don't you? Well brace yourself here it comes...

How Stunning is that not so little collection...?

I just adore Julie's signature acorns and that etched copper leaf is to die for. As well as those I have lots of  Vintaj to play with, gorgeous turquoise nuggets, crystals, pearls, pretty silver beads and to top it all off that sumptuous silk ribbon.

Can you tell how happy I am by any chance? There are already a number of ideas sparking up in my head but I think I will just sit and look at my treasure for a day or so while they settle into something coherent.

Julie - thank you so, so much - you've made my day and this party very special. I really hope I can do justice to your beautiful beads. Again - thank you.

Good luck to you all with your own beautiful soups too - this is gonna be one helluva reveal!

Lesley