Bits and Bobs

Some more wee bits and pieces I wanted to share with you...

...my amazingly awesome poppy beads from Moogin...

...a beautiful polymer pendant from Menagerie Studio that's been on my bead table for a while...

....gorgeous Liberty print bias binding...

....and a bracelet I made using it....

....and last but certainly not least, some awesome resin charms I won from Lady Noble Designs. Aren't they stunning? Look at that cute wee owl! I can't wait to create something using them. 

What's on your bead table this weekend?

Bead Table Wednesday

So, I am actually going to post some pics this week! I am meant to be at my drama class right now at college but I've been burning the candle at both ends for weeks now (sadly, both ends of my candle are work and, well...work...) and I have to sing at a masterclass tomorrow and a competition on Monday and I've done no practice and so....here I am blogging. Of course! It's 8pm here in the UK and I think if I'm honest I'm going to blog, do a little more practice and then go to bed. Sounds pretty great to me! What an old lady, seriously. Well, I am thirty in two weeks.....

Anyway, on with my bead table! I thought I would share with you some of the goodies that have come in the post this week. It's Christmas every week in my house ;-)

Some *a*mazing beads from Mindy Moogin....mmmhhhh....she is amazing!! I also got some gorgeous poppy nuggets (think Klimt) but I'm saving them for another post. 

And today came a very exciting package....labelled LeVart....yes, I know many of you know what I'm talking about, MissFickleMedia. How I love getting a fat little packet from her! Loads of links in various patinas, some pastel beads and some beautiful Easter Sunday flowers that she threw in as a thank-you. Thank YOU Shannon! I love them! 

And can you see what else I bought?? Yes, an underwater dish. It's MFM's Water and Wood colours and they are just my fave. Brown and aqua - you just can't beat it. I'm aware that it really doesn't go with my lampwork beads but I was just too excited to shoot some beads on it!

So, what's on your BTW??

A couple of new bracelets...

Hello there! It's so nice to have internet....driving me a bit wild at the new place that we haven't got in installed yet but then, I haven't actually rung Virgin to tell them we're moving...so I have no one to blame but my own self! I had to wait in for a delivery from John Lewis this morning so I did a little bit of beading....got some gorgeous sari silk from the lovely Miss Fickle Media the other day so decided to put some of it to good use, along with lampwork beads from Diane of Sowzere and Mindy of Moogin. What do you think then?

Arabian Nights

Poppy Fields

What do you think? I just love my lampworks, as you know!

Tomorrow is back to (secondary) school day for me - I was in my primary yesterday, singing away with the wee ones - and of course, I am just now after being well all summer getting a stinking cold. Boo! I hate colds. And just before I start my Vocal Studies course at college too. Hopefully it'll be a quick one; I'll try and be good and get lots of sleep and have lots of fluids...best not wine though ;-)

Just one last thing before I go...loads of folk (Lorelei, Malin, Gaea, Jane Lock) have been blogging about copying later and I just wanted to throw my tuppence into the ring. These ladies have all written great posts about the subject and I absolutely agree with all of them! Obviously, copying someone else's design to sell without their permission is a BAD thing. That goes without saying! It's unethical and very unfair. But, I really feel I must say something about copying other folk's designs not always being a bad thing (as Gaea pointed out, it's one of the ways in which we learn the best). When I teach beading classes which I am lucky enough to do on about a fortnightly basis, whilst the colours I leave up to the students, I am teaching them something I have designed. I want them to copy me! I celebrate it - it's great! When I am lucky enough to be published in a beading mag, I am very happy for readers to copy my designs, bead for bead if they so wish - when you buy a beading magazine or a beading book, you are positively invited to copy the designs that the author/designer has come up with! It's a great thing to share with others. For some, learning a technique or a stitch is a great spring board into new territories where they can transform the technique into something entirely new. For others, they are happy creating other folks designs. This is NOT a bad thing! It doesn't make them less creative to my mind, just of a different sort. I don't think people should be made to feel bad for not being able to or wanting to design things themselves! It's fantastic to share something you love with others in this way, so they can make jewellery for themselves or to give as gifts to friends and family. Not to sell! But to share. Sharing is lovely.

So, those are my thoughts! I am interested to know everyone elses. Hope you are all having great weeks and not coming down with the lurgi like me!

Beach Bride

Woo-hoo! The new Beads and Beyond is out now and is filled with lots of delicious projects and stunning photographs. I am such a big fan of this magazine! As you can see from my sidebar, I've been lucky enough to have had quite a few projects published by them over the past year and in my opinion the quality of this mag goes from strength to strength. The photography has always been really top notch but they recently had a mini makeover and now the pictures are more stunning than ever! It really is such a privilege to have my jewellery presented in such a beautiful way.

Here is my project from this month - Beach Bride. I had originally named it Something Blue but there was already a beautiful Blue Topaz ring by Jane Kharade called Something Blue so they went for Beach Bride instead which I think suits it perfectly - somehow the stick pearls do look quite beachy! I completed the legal bit of getting married on Saturday (wedding itself not until August but the humanist civil partnership we are having is not recognised by law so we had a legal trial run!) and I in fact wore the necklace on the day which was lovely. I had actually bought some jewellery from Eve Smith to wear but annoyingly the neckline of my dress didn't work with the beautiful necklace I had bought. Another time! I did manage to wear the bracelet however, which came complete with some Moogin beads! The whole day was lovely beautiful and amazing. It was also my Mum's 60th birthday so we had a double celebration - it was so great of Mum to share her big day with us!

Moogin

I've already told you about my slight obsession with lampwork beads so I thought I might start a new regular (not quite sure how regular as yet!) blog posting about my favourite lampwork artists and beads. If nothing else it will keep me entertained.

So, to kick it off, I'll begin with my all time favourite lampwork artiste extraordinaire - Mindy MacGregor, otherwise known as Moogin. You may have seen her profiled in Beads and Beyond recently (can't remember which issue off the top of my head) or perhaps at the Scottish Bead Fair where she regularly has a stand or perhaps you've also bought some of her amazing artwork. I first 'discovered' her in Perth at the SBF last summer. Wow! Before that, I was all about the organic, botanical lampworks. No more! Mindy really does create miniature glass paintings, I can see Miro, Klimt, Kandinsky there in the background behind her tiny masterpieces (three of my favourite artists anyway) to mention but a few;


but beyond this, she does things with glass I've never seen elsewhere. She has recently taken a move towards folk art which I never thought would be my cup of tea but, surprise surprise, it is!


Her love of colour is always evident whatever style she is working in and this is one of my favourite aspects of her work. There's so much more I could (ineloquently I'm sure!) say about Mindy's work but for now I'll let the beads speak for themselves.

My all time favourite Moogin bead - so far!