Edinburgh Beaders

Hello again! So little time, so many blog entries - I don't know what's going on! I have decided to do an entry enthusing about some of my friends' beady goodness. Top picture is the VERY talented Emma Baird's wonderful lampwork beads. Emma (based at The Little Bead Shop in Edinburgh) came 2nd in the British Bead Awards - 2 Edinburgh winners, yay! - with her lovely piece, Shield of Light - but also had these beads short-listed and displayed at the Big Bead Show last month. I think they are absolutely breath-taking and can't believe they didn't come top of the show! I want them for my very own...


Next up is ANOTHER Edinburgh beader - Jane Lock - based at the other Edinburgh bead shop over on the other side of town. It's very near my Mum's house so I popped in when I was back home-home at the weekend and she showed me not only her gorgeous Laura McCabe Geo Floral Beaded Bead but this STUNNING bracelet of hers which is her own original design. It looks pretty cool in this picture I've pinched from her blog but honestly, you have to see the thing in real life! It's awesome! I've never seen anything quite like it - gorgeous!

Little Bead Shop

So, I'm just back from my fabulous home town - Edinburgh! I was there on a flying visit to do a day's teaching at the rather wonderful Little Bead Shop in Bruntsfield. I had a small but very sweet class doing my absolute favourite thing in the whole world (apart from singing Handel...Bach...Rossini..Mahler...oh, Ok - I have lots of favourite things to do!) BEAD EMBROIDERY. Everyone (including my lovely Mum!) did a really good job getting started on a beaded cuff (like the one above), I only work with a few stitches as the beads really do the rest for you, and everyone left having made a really good start to their project. Below are two of my own beaded collars for your perusal.

I had a great day and I hope everyone else did too! Gil Baird, Little Bead Shop proprietress, has a fantastic shop with a really unique range of beads and I thoroughly recommend if you are visiting Edinburgh (something I recommend in itself!!) you pay it a wee visit. Everyone who works there is always super helpful and lovely and if you're lucky, there may be some of the very talented Emma Baird's BEAUTIFUL lampworked beads...She's also very good at photography as you can see from the three pictures in this blog entry! It's a great place to visit and you can be sure of a cheerful welcome. I have a few more classes scheduled in November and December and I'm really looking forward to them already.