Just stopping by with some new jewellery....

Another flying visit to share some new work with you, most of it sold, which I appreciate wholeheartedly. Favorit and Meadow Sweet will be heading to Etsy shortly. 

Favorit

 Ocean Fire

 Burgeoning

Tidal Circles

Meadow Sweet

{horribly awkward to photograph and show its true prettiness, hence the wee collage here!}

See you all soon. Hopefully I will have more to say and the time to say it next post!

Coming my way...

I placed a couple of orders this weekend. I'm trying extra hard to shop 'local' (the UK) at the moment, since both US postal prices went up, AND our customs charges threshold was lowered. Now, buying from outside Europe, you are only allowed to spend a total of 15 measly ££s, including postage.....ouch. Not a lot you will get for that money! So, whilst I'm sure I'll still splash out on the odd BIG splurge (to soak up the evil customs handling charge you understand ;-)), I'm looking closer to home for my handmade beads for the moment. 

I've got my staple UK makers who I shop with often - Bo Hulley, Joanne Tinley and Lesley Watt to name just a few - but this has given me an excuse to search a little harder for my art beads. Here are some of the lovelies coming my way.

Supernova Bronzy Tips from Scorched Earth on Etsy

(thanks Claire Lockwood for the tip)

Arrow Droppers from Scorched Earth on Etsy

Rustic Turquoise Birds from Beady Eyed Bunny

Rustic Rabbit from Beady Eyed Bunny 

(of course, I simply couldn't resist this one, could I?!)

and a couple of other things from the Uk that have arrived these past few weeks:

Bo Hulley

Soul Silver

Pips Jewellery

What's hitting/has hit your door mat recently? 

New work

...in the shop....

Quietude

Brave

what the weatherman says

A Spot of Tea

Dawn Flight

Mod

Tropical Tones

Two Little Birds

Out to Sea

Happiness

Present for Me :-)

....sometimes they're the best kind, aren't they? 

I recently made a few purchases from my friend and fellow-designer, Heidi Post of Ex Post Facto Jewelry. At least one of my three items of beautiful jewellery that arrived is a gift for my sister, and another piece I am toying with giving away....but the third, I have been eying up for a good while and it is staying with ME ;-)

Pretty sweet, eh? :-)

A commission

I had a commission before Christmas, to make a bracelet for my friend Andrew's sister. She had looked at my jewellery and nothing quite fit the bill exactly - she liked elements of lots of things, but there wasn't one individual piece that was quite her. So Andrew asked me to make a bracelet for her.

She especially liked this necklace:

Nesting - still available, by the way!

but wanted a softer colour palette - natural tones; delicate peaches and pinks with golden overtones. Not a colour palette I work in often, not because I dislike it, I am just so drawn to vibrant shades the more natural ones often get overlooked. 

It's taken a while for the clasp to arrive from America - January has been a slow month for the post for some reason - but it arrived at the end of last week, and I set to soon afterwards. Here's what I came up with:

I know it's a little uncouth to enthuse too much about one's own work, but I must say, I am thrilled with how this one turned out! I have only recently begun shopping with SwoonDimples (where the clasp from the bracelet and the pendant from the necklace are from) but I am just thrilled with the quality beauty of Heather Millican's work. Sometimes it can be intimidating working with higher priced components, but when you get it right, it's so worth it! I also love the cheeky wee bird I included - handmade by a women's co-operative in South Africa. I bought a set of five in the summer, at the Edinburgh Craft and Design Fair. I love it when you get a commission that pushes you in an unexpected direction, and you fall in love with something new. I will be returning to these delicate tones. 

Just stopping by....

....to share a few new pieces with you. The jewellery gods and goddesses were kind to me this morning, and I snapped a few pieces I created in January, along with a VERY overdue project's photos, which made me pretty happy. Another project to tick off my to-do list tomorrow, but the one completed today gave me a good sense of achievement. All these pieces are currently for sale on my Facebook page....hope over if you're interested - I've got a free postage promotion running! I also have a rather exciting competition, with the chance to win not just one, but one of FIVE prizes. If you're on Facebook, do take a minute to check it out. 

 Buttercup

I Know You.... 

 I flew by, but you were gone

 Rosewood

 Mrs Jolly's Brolly

Tree House

Reader Appreciation Offer - Art Bead Scene January Challenge....better 4 days too late than never!

As one of Art Bead Scene's contributors (I've been part of this fab team for over a year now, can you believe?), I wanted to try to create a piece for each one of the monthly challenges this year. I don't think I managed any of them officially last year - very poor show! The art work selected is always so inspiring, it's not that I don't have the inspiration or even that I don't have the inclination, it just seemed that last year, every month ran away with me and before I knew it, the deadline had passed and I had nothing to show for it. Not so this year, I told myself when January 2013 dawned. So when Heather Humblebead's gorgeous peacock pendant popped through my letterbox a little over a week ago, I got to straight away and made this necklace quite quickly! 

I recently bought a few of Amanda Davie's gorgeous glass and copper clasps, and this one seemed to tone perfectly, along with some vivid yet rustic ceramic beads from SlateStudiosSupply. I even customised the clasp, wrapping tiny seed beads onto the hook; a very pretty effect and one of my favourites. 'Well done Rebecca' I thought (foolishly) to myself, 'quite a few days in advance too. You're well on your well to starting off the year on a good foot!'. Ahem. Famous last words (thoughts!). Of course, I wanted to get some really good pictures. So I kept putting off photographing as I was never free to go outside on a morning when it wasn't raining, and then of course, the deadline came and went....with no Songbead entry to the competition. Epic fail on my part....

However, tonight I absolutely had to take some shots of another piece that had a strict deadline. My only choice was to get out my lightbox and photography lights and snap away. So I pulled out the peacock necklace and decided to snap away.

Now, I can get some fairly decent results in this way. I have a nice old chipped door that I shove in there, with the end sticking out and balancing on my knee. I can also get some really duff results, and I cannot figure out why. Now, I know that not every photo is going to be great, and there will be some variation. But I cannot figure out why sometimes the backdrop looks positively yellow (it's not) and sometimes very close to white. It's definitely a slightly creamy white in reality, but still - I'd describe it as off-white rather than cream. Sometimes I'll take a few pics, load them onto the computer, and then when I come back to the set up minutes later, the next batch will be yellow, and sometimes even a little fuzzy! Despite everything seemingly being in exactly the same place, lighting conditions being the same etc....I must be doing something different - I realise that - but what; I'm not sure.

Anyway, I won't bore you too much with my photography woes! I seem to be doing that rather a lot lately. I am glad to share this piece with you, despite it's lateness. The photos for this particular necklace turned out nicely I think.

 It will be available in my Etsy shop on Monday, but I am offering it at a discounted price for you my blog readers, if you snaffle it up before it hits the virtual shelves of Etsy. It should be £60, but I have knocked 20% off until Monday, so grab it for £48 with flat-rate shipping of £3.50 through the weekend. My reader appreciation offer to you!

Sold, with thanks.

Have a lovely weekend, wherever you might be spending it :-)