Amy Surman - The Oxford Bead Shop

Valentines is approaching...

2012-01-21T02:02:00.000-08:00

We have an inspiring display of ideas and beads for Valentines Day. Come in and treat yourself or send in your Valentine and we'll point them in the right direction.

Manic Thursday

2012-01-19T14:23:00.001-08:00

What a day today...it has been non stop all day with workshops and private tuition. This is the first time I've been able to relax all day apart from this morning at 6.10am when I woke to prepare myself for the day!! I'm currently looking for a new member of staff to help me out with everything that's happening...it's all very exciting. Yesterday I sent out an advert for a part-time member of staff and within 2 hours I had 10 responses...looking promising!! Today Charlie, who's helping out at the moment, created a great Valentines display on our mantel piece. It's exploding with red, pink, sparkly beads and lots of ideas for the romantic day. Tomorrow she'll be working on a Steampunk display. We have some great packs of Steampunk parts, here's a little peek...

Tomorrow I have some private tuition using Precious Metal Clay then this weekend I'll be passing on my knowledge of Beads and Stringing and Copper Clay. I've been playing with some copper clay this week...seeing what processes can be applied to it once fired. I'll report back after the weekend if I don't find the time before.
Bye for now.

Location:Amy Surman - The Oxford Bead Shop

What a lovely weekend

2012-01-18T01:38:00.001-08:00

We had a lovely weekend in the shop. I ran two workshops...Saturday I did Intro to Beads and Wire and Sunday I did Beaded Daisy Pendants. Both workshops produced some lovely pieces. Here's the Daisy Pendants that we're made and an experiment that one of the girls did where she beaded a rivoli, added some loops ready to combine with some chainmaille she's been exploring. I made a beaded daisy that I'm going to make into a hair slide for my lovely niece lily...she's one at the end of the month - doesn't time fly!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Amy Surman - The Oxford Bead Shop

Silversmithing for Improvers...Thursday night.

2012-01-12T12:40:00.000-08:00

Everybody hard at work making silver jewellery and Harry chilling on my completed crochet blanket.

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-11T15:15:00.000-08:00

Hello in 2012...New Year and Christmas seem a long time ago now but I did had a fun and relaxing Festive break. I have returned to The Oxford Bead Shop feeling ready for a great year ahead. We have lots of new exciting events this year such as The Oxford Summer School, Birmingham School of Jewellery, Wilderness Festival, Denman College and not to mention all the new workshops happening at the shop. I am very excited and would like to thank everybody for their support.

2011 finished with lots of commissions, workshops and new stock. Its lovely to think that Amy Surman presents are being handed out around the world!! We had some very successful workshops last year - the results can be viewed on our Facebook Page but here's a few to tempt you.

Decorative Wire Cuff

Chain Making

Introduction to Lampwork Beads

As you can see Harry's still as handsome as ever...he's going to be five next month!! I can't believe how time flys by so quickly. He was soooooo happy to get back to work this morning...he was even scratching as the door to get in and greeted a lot more people than usual today. It is great to be back to work, seeing all my customers, students and being surrounded by sparkly things all day!!

As I've said I'm very much looking forward to 2012 and would like to wish everybody else a happy and exciting 2012.

Amy

New IPad App

2011-09-16T11:37:00.001-07:00

Just trying out my new app...Blogpress. Not sure how it all works so this is a little tester!
Picture? I discovered this while searching for images of flowers...a lovely blog flowersbyirene.blogspot.com

That was easy!!....now let's publish it.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:The Oxford Bead Shop

New Kits on the way...

2011-08-18T12:21:00.001-07:00

A little piccie to tempt the taste buds...new Christmas Kits!!

Summer School..

2011-08-16T12:20:00.001-07:00

For the past two days I've been teaching twelve 10-13yr old girls jewellery making for D'Overbroecks Summer School. It's been really good fun so far...they're all doing so well. I'm feeling tired already and I still have two days left!! At least Lucy's with me on Thursday. I'll post more at the weekend...

Kay Making a Fish...

2011-08-06T06:40:00.001-07:00

New Beads

2011-08-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

Look at these lovely new beads we have in stock. They are about 4-5cms in size and made of acrylic with silver foil running through them. We think they look like Quality Street sweets!!! Perfect for a knotting project with some 2mm cotton cord. The best thing is they're only 70p each!! We have eight different colours and they come in a round and oval shape.

August Sunshine

2011-08-01T05:26:00.000-07:00

Harry and I are having a lovely time in the garden. I'm sat reading books and rethreading some necklaces while listening to music and Harry's hiding from the sunshine under the chair. It really is beautiful today...fingers crossed it lasts for the whole of August!

Hen Party!!

2011-07-31T13:43:00.001-07:00

Had a lovely workshop today with eight ladies all celebrating Rachel's wedding. They all made beautiful necklaces and we all had scones, clotted cream, jam and strawberries. My little sister Lucy is back from Cuba and had her first day back in the shop too...What a lovely Sunday!

Oxford Summer School

2011-07-27T02:07:00.000-07:00

Mum and I are selling a variety of our goods at Oxford Summer School today. I have not stopped all morning since I got up at 6am!! We're currently in quiet time as all students are in class but break happens at 10.30 so we're getting prepared for the rush!!

The results...

2011-07-24T08:30:00.001-07:00

A lovely afternoon making button necklaces...

Harry new summer cut!!

2011-07-20T10:47:00.001-07:00

I know he hates having it done but he looks sssoooooo cute!!

My evening project...The Granny Blanket by Attic24

2011-07-19T11:33:00.000-07:00

Catch Up...

2011-07-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

We've had a lovely week at the shop this week and met lots of lovely people. On Thursday morning I taught a lovely group of girls from Bishopstone School nr Swindon. It was their leavers treat to make Charm bracelets with us then they were going Bowling and finishing the day with tea at The India Room at Blenhiem Palace. What a lovely surprise for them - they were a pleasure to teach and look what they all made - the teachers enjoyed it just as much too!!

Silver / Gold Plated Chain with Czech Glass beads and headpins

I've also been working on a lot of commissions this week some of which are finger print pieces. To make these we use Precious Metal Clay...such a special gift and so important to the receiver. I've got a pendant with Harry's paw print!!

I've got a busy busy weekend ahead...Beads & Wire on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we have a group of girls that are all meeting for a catch up in Oxford and have decided to come to a jewellery workshop with us - I'm looking forward to teaching them.

Tonight I've got the night off so I'm going to the cinema to watch Bridesmaids...a nice girly night.

Just Quickly...

2011-07-13T06:35:00.000-07:00

Look what I made! My own lampwork beads with Ivory Coral and Topaz glass, PMC water charms (I'll explain more later), handmade clasp..the only parts I didn't make were the crystals.

Technology Troubles!!!

2011-07-13T04:30:00.000-07:00

OMG...I have just been trying to organise my iphoto application on my Macbook because I haven't got any memory left on the computer and have lost 3500+ photo's!!! I suppose I've got the memory I need but I'm rather stressed at having lost my photo's. Anybody got any ideas?? Hopefully my Big Sis Kay can sort it out for me. I shouldn't be aloud to do these things on my own.

On a happier note my workshops at the weekend went really well. The Tiara workshop was a success with everybody starting some beautiful Tiara's. Some for weddings, just for fun and mother of the bride. My new Decorative cuff workshop went really well...we didn't finish the cuff in the three hours but I didn't think we would. I'll post all the images up on Facebook this afternoon.

Beautiful Tiara

Decorative Cuff

Mum and I also did a workshop last night for Botley WI...again it was a great success with 19 members participating and all making completely different pieces. Some restrung old pieces of jewellery that had broken, some made buttons necklaces, memory wire bracelets and others used pearls and our lovely bead mixes to created all different length necklaces.

Botley WI Working Hard

And the results

Right well I'm going to try and sort out my problem!!

We're still here!!

2011-07-06T04:08:00.000-07:00

Wow...this must be the longest break yet!! I've really got to get to grips with the whole blog writing thing and try to keep up to date. Ironically the reasons behind not writing is because I've been busy which means I have loads to tell you!! Anyhow, you could catch up through our Facebook page and see the workshops we've been running and all the gorgeous pretty things everyone's been making.

New Workshops...

I've been designing some new workshops for our new programme that now runs until Christmas (say that quietly so not to scare people). Our newest workshop is A Decorative Wire Cuff - I actually submitted this into the new Fine Silver Magazine and had a really good response so decided to offer it as a workshop. The first of them is this Sunday so I'll upload peoples creations on Facebook next week.

I've also secured some day and residential workshops for Denman College in Marcham Nr Abingdon. Denman College is the WI's (Women's Institute's) centre for learning. The workshop titles are:

Beading for Beginners - Day School
Precious Metal Clay - An Introduction Day School
Beaded Jewellery with Handmade Findings - Two Day Residential
Silver Beaded Jewellery from Scratch - Three Day Residential

I very excited to be teaching for Denman. The facilities and environment are just amazing and the fact that its on my doorstep is perfect. To find out more about these courses and everything else they offer visit www.theWI.org.uk.

Last week I taught at The Birmingham School of Jewellery for a day. I delivered a Precious Metal Clay Beads workshop. This is the first time I had taught this session and I found it went really well. Everybody got to explore all the different types of clay and make a variety of beads you can see all the images on our Facebook page. The class were lovely and the staff and Birmingham were amazing especially Alan and Mike who couldn't be more helpful so thanks a million to them.

Hard at work

Wood Clay Beads

Well, that's all for now...I'm going to do my best to keep up to date(ish).

Amy.x

P.S. Harry's still as beautiful as ever!!

Last workshops for 2010.

2010-12-14T23:49:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I had my final workshops for 2010. Saturday I had a very small class of two learning Beads & Stringing. The class size was very small compared to what we're used to but I took the opportunity to make myself a new bracelet.

Katie's Feather Necklace - Carnelian, Goldstone and Mother of Pearl

We went out with a bang and had 8 people learning how to work with Precious Metal Clay on Sunday.

It was a very busy day as you can imagine. Everybody made a wonderful collection of pieces. All of which can be seen on our Facebook page. This week I'm hard at work completing all the commissions that have come in. I'm hoping the snow stays away for the weekend so shopping isn't affected but its not looking good! I still need to get some presents too.

Christmas is Coming!!

2010-12-08T22:43:00.000-08:00

Wow, I feel that my little size 3's have not touched the ground. With Christmas fast approaching we have definitely got into the spirit and have been encouraging others by offering our Christmas decoration workshops. Lucy and I also visited the German Market which is running at The Oxford Castle site. We went a couple of Fridays ago when it opened and when the Oxford lights were turned on. There was a lot happening all over the city centre. I think the lights this year look great...

With the chandelier theme they remind me of Oxford Street in London when the lights were based on the film Enchanted.

Our Christmas workshops have been received very well again this year. We have delivered Christmas decorations with Beads & Wire and Beaded Christmas Baubles. All of our workshops were full and everybody very pleased with what they made. All the baubles look great together.

Last weekend we had an Introduction to Beads & Wire - again a great day. Mum did this workshop because she wanted to finish off a necklace she designed in my Introduction to Precious Metal Clay Workshop. This is what she made...

She had already made the butterfly in the PMC workshop then wanted to add chain and beads to create the tails. She's used swarovski crystals with cultured pearls and a small belcher chain along with some wiring techniques then for the string around the neck a stringing technique with crimps and a hoop and bar clasp. She's very proud of her work!

We have also been working on projects to go into two magazines Fine Silver and Creative Beads and Jewellery. For the Fine Silver magazine I have made a pair of cufflinks out of PMC which I have enamelled with cobalt blue and turquoise - they have been sent off to the photographer so I'll show you when they return. The second project is a beading project based on our Beaded Daisy. We use rivolis, delicas, size 15's and dagger beads to create these pretty pendants. I'v been wanting to start providing projects for some of the jewellery making magazines so this is great start for me.

We've been quite lucky here in Oxford not to get too much snow...so far!! Its still very cold though- even Harry's feeling chilly so we've been putting him in his little jumper.

I Love Teaching

2010-11-19T10:07:00.000-08:00

I've had a really lovely day today teaching the first day on a Precious Metal Clay Certification Module 3 Workshop. Today we made a syringe pedant and a section of chain - tomorrow we'll make a semi-precious stone set ring and a pendant combining the use of a photopolymer plate (that we'll make) and Keum boo. Keum boo is a Korean technique where you apply gold foil to the surface of fine silver, it looks beautiful. I shall tell you all about it once we've finished on Sunday.

Everybody working hard - look at my snowflakes in the window!

Autumn Colours

2010-11-16T00:02:00.000-08:00

How beautiful...

Weekend Workshops

2010-11-15T00:24:00.000-08:00

What a busy weekend. Saturday I went over to Banbury to teach an adult learning class Beads & Wire. I had ten beginners in the class - the day went really well and everybody achieved some great pieces of jewellery. The 10-3pm session covered using memory wire, using headpins, making headpins, creating loops, spiral headpins, how to use different findings to finish, how to use cord and chain within your designs. A jam packed session!!

When I returned back to the shop Kay, Mum and Fiona had completely decorated for christmas. Kay got a bit carried away with the tinsel!! It looks great..snowflakes, tinsel, button wreaths and icicle lights. Sunday we had a Chain Making workshop. I had 6 people on the workshop and we were using the new studio. The space worked really well and was comfortable to work in. The chains that were made looked amazing. Everybody designed their own piece using sterling silver wire and traditional silversmithing techniques and tools.

Becky had her last week working for us too. She bought me these beautiful flowers - they smell amazing. When I was putting them into a vase I found a hazelnut hidden in them. I looked up the meaning on good old google and it said that the hazelnut tree can help with creativity - Perfect. I made my little hazelnut into a pendant ready to call on should I have a creative block!!

For more images from all our workshops visit our Facebook Page.

A Bead called Harry

2010-11-11T23:22:00.001-08:00

I've been playing in the studio this week exploring glass colour combinations and making doggy beads. This is my handsome Schnauzer Harry...

...and this is my Harry bead!! I've also made a paw print charm out of PMC to hang with my bead and engraved his name on the back. Its always best to write into PMC when its dry - write into it very lightly and build up the depth so you avoid taking a chunk out of the clay.

I've also made a Gladys bead and body - Gladys is my sister Kay's Pug dog. I can't put up the image though what with Christmas around the corner!!

Catching Up

2010-11-06T00:38:00.000-07:00

Well things here at The Oxford Bead Shop have really moved on. We now have a Lampwork Studio...Yay!! I am sssoooo pleased with it. Here it is...

So, as you can see we have lampworking benches on one side and silversmithing benches on the other. The lampworking stations are set up to accomodate 3 people and the silversmithing 4. I can't wait to start tecahing in there. My first lampworking class in on January 22nd and its already full..my second is on 6th March and that's full too!!! I'm going to look at the diary today and try and fix a date in February. We launched the Studio at our workshop taster evening on Friday 29th October. The night went fantastically well, we had about 50-60 people attend and we raised £56.00 for Breast Cancer Research. Lucy and I were demonstrating how to make Lampwork beads, I also did a Button Necklace and PMC Demo, Fiona ran a beads and wire workshop to make a bookmark, Becky did a beads and knotting workshop to make a bracelet and Bella did a textured silver pendant. Mum was demonstrating and answering questions on our beads and stitching workshops, Kay was holding fort on the till and Mary was making sure everybody had a drink. We were all very busy - I'm not sure what the neighbourhood thought was happening...as the night went on the windows became fogged up and we were full to the brim!!

Pete (Lucy's Boyf) was called upon to take photos for the night - he did fabulously well. All our photos can be seen on our Facebook page. We also launched our 2011 workshop programme that can be viewed on our website.

With Christmas just around the corner we have been preparing some new kits that are perfect little stocking fillers. This week we made a Memory Wire Bracelet Kit and a Charm Bracelet Kit - I'm really pleased with them. We have a few Craft Fairs coming up before Christmas so I thought these would work nicely. Our Bauble kits are flying of the shelves - they are so pretty and easy to make.

We have the first of our Christmas workshops today - Christmas Decorations with beads and wire. I'm feeling very Christmassy - is that wrong??

PMC and Fine Silver Wire

2010-09-21T14:57:00.001-07:00

Doesn't time Fly...

2010-09-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

Since my last blog the studio has come on beautifully. The decorating is complete, the silversmithing benches are in and the electrician will be here next week to put all the lights and sockets in. I have a working kitchen, a secure and working fire door - we're nearly there!! Time is flying by. We're already getting ourselves stocked for Christmas - early I know but our christmas shoppers will start earlier. I've been doing some really interesting experiments with PMC over the last week. Firing it at a much higher temperature 899 c and for longer at 2 hours - this is a firing taken from the book Sculptural Metal Clay by Kate McKinnon. Everything came out of the firing a combination of white and silver and very hard. This temperature takes the PMC to almost fusing temperature and means the silver becomes hard enough to hammer and work as you can sterling silver - it was rather amazing!! I'll up load an image I've taken on my iphone...

Kay's Beautiful Pug Gladys

2010-09-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

I had to post this image...I think its beautiful.

Weekend Workshops

2010-09-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

We're still decorating here but having to fill in around our workshops. It's nice getting back to normal although I have a lot of boxes that need to find a home!!

I've got a few weeks left until I start my Adult Learning teaching again but this year I have reduce my hours from three to two evenings a week. Hopefully when the new studio is finished I can begin teaching my own programme of evening classes and go back up to three evenings - that's the plan. Anyway, due to starting soon I have been trying to make use of my evenings off and have been doing some small projects. This is one of them. I love green so decided to use one of my PMC beads with a selection of crystal, fire-polished, glass, and pearl beads to create this 26 inch (ish) necklace. This type of design is great to wear with a plan t-shirt.

Precious Metal Clay Bead and Textured Crystal/Glass Chain

This weekend I delivered two big workshops. Saturday we did an Introduction to Precious Metal Clay - we had six people on the workshop. The group were wonderful a great buzz of enthusiasm and inspiration. There were some fabulous pieces made during the session. For more images visit our Facebook page.

Precious Metal Clay Pendant using one of our New Mats we sell in store for £4.00 and lump PMC

A Silver Leaf made using PMC Paste

Sunday we had an Introduction to Beads & Stringing. I have taught this workshop lots of times and have never seen the same necklace made twice. Its great to see how everybody uses colour and how they bring their own personalities and preferences into their designs. Again a great day with great people.

A Beaded Lariat - 45 inch with no clasp

For more images visit our Facebook page.

Progress

2010-09-03T22:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I think that promising to blog daily was a lot to ask of myself considering we were working 12-14 hour days on the new studio. The bank holiday weekend work went really well, we got everything done we were hoping to. We now have a fire door, new walls, new kitchen (not up and running but installed), a new floor, and a completely white room. It's amazing the amount of work involved in creating a good blank canvas to work in. The amount of rubbish we have removed has filled two skips!!

Day One: After the kitchen wall had been removed - a very dirty, noisy and hard job. Kay was frightening with the sledge hammer!!

Day One: Room completely cleared, batons fixed to the wall ready for the foil backed plaster board. Me treating the walls for damp. (Got to remove all the ivy that has built up on the outside at some point)

Day Two: Plaster board up, polyfiller in holes.

Day Three: Floor down

Day Three: Kitchen started to being installed, decorating started.

Throughout the whole time Harry looking in on us!!

Day Four: Kitchen Installed, Door finished.

While the three of us were working (Kay, Jon and I) my little sister Lucy was away on holiday. Lucy got back on Monday and since then we have continued with the decorating. Got a little more to do but we're almost finished. I've had to try and get things in the shop back to normal this week so have been teaching workshops, private tuition and organising the shop. Today I have an Introduction to Precious Metal Clay to teach. Lucy is going to finish the painting then she has a childrens workshop to teach. Another busy day for us all!

New Workshop - Stage Two

2010-08-25T22:53:00.000-07:00

Well, thanks to Mr McAllister (my neighbour and builder) we now have a hole in the wall ready to take a fire door...there's no going back now!! (not that I want to). Yesterday was a bit noisy and quite dusty but the hole is there ready for the carpenter who is coming to do his bit this afternoon. Kay and Gladys are on their way here ready to take down a wall and remove the old (quite awful) kitchen. I'm getting very excited now! I'll update with pictures later...

The transformation begins...

2010-08-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

I've talking about it for ages and been wanting to do it for even longer but the time is here and the transformation of my stockroom into a Lampworking and Silversmithing workshop has begun!! We're at the very early stages but its all going to happen very quickly. Today and the past few weeks (on and off) Kay and I have been sorting, throwing out and clearing the stock/junk room. Here's how it looks now...

Workshop Stage One

Stuff to sort out

Its actually a little more cleared than the photo shows. I am too ashamed to show how it looked before the clear out began!! But here's some of the stuff that was in it. I have thrown away a skip load of old bits and bobs...I knew I was a hoarder but didn't realise quite how bad!! I have been taking the Kay attitude 'Just get rid of it!'.

So the plan is..

Wednesday - Hole for fire door by Mr McAllister

Thursday - Interior stud wall half taken out - Fire Door in by Carpenter

Friday - Plaster board up

Saturday - Painting / Floor

Sunday - New Kitchen

Monday - Painting

The team is: Kay (my sister), Jon (Kay's Boyf), and Me. Julie (Mum) will be looking after the shop.

Its going to look great!!

I'll shall be keeping a daily blog to keep you up to date so keep in touch

A Teaching Marathon...

2010-08-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to say that I have just finished a teaching marathon. From last Friday until Thursday I have taught a full day, everyday and each day was a new experience. Friday I began by starting a Precious Metal Clay Certification course - Module One Naturals. I had six ladies in the group and we covered 7 projects designed to teach how to make a textured pendant, simple stone setting, combine PMC with glass, making a ring, use organic materials, make a clasp, a dry construction piece and the use of wood clay. It was a lot to fit in over the three days but everybody managed to finish their projects and pass the course. I also had my first full graduate who has completed and passed all three modules!! For more images visit our Facebook page.

After finishing the certification module on Sunday I then started teaching on Monday a four day Summer School Jewellery course for 10-14 year olds at D'overbroecks Leckford Place. We had 10 girls in the group. I spent the first two days on my own then Lucy joined me for day three and four. This is something completely new to me. I am familiar with and trained to teach post 16 education so teaching 10-14 year olds was quite a challenge. A challenge that I feel I rose to and was very happy with the results. It was very interesting for me to see the difference in teaching a different age group, how they interact with each other and me and how they take on the projects set. We covered an awful lot throughout the four days such as Beads & Wire, Beads & Stringing, Beads & Knotting, Polymer Clay and PMC. On the final day we had an exhibition of their work and a mini fashion show for all parents, family and staff to enjoy. For more images visit our Facebook page.

A collection of work

Polymer Clay Beads

Polymer Clay Pendants

I've been completely inspired by Polymer Clay (Fimo) and we are now stocking a wide variety of colours and finishes in The Oxford Bead Shop. I'm going to have lots of fun playing and designing some new workshops for 2011!!

Fimo Soft and Fimo Effect

2010-08-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 3rd August
Although this blog is being posted today I'm actually writing it on Tuesday 3rd August half way through my holiday on the Isle of Wight. Stuart, Harry and I have come to the Isle of Wight for a week and are staying in Stuart's Mum's caravan on a campsite in Brighstone right near the beach. Every other year we have a Harry holiday so that's why we're not laid on a beach in an exotic location!!

Harry loving the sanding beach

So far the sun has been shining and we're spending our days wandering around the beautiful villages and towns, ending up in a pub for lunch, more wandering then coming back to the campsite for a BBQ and drinks.

A fabulous field of seeds - I loved the texture

Before we came away I bought a Doggy Trailer from Ebay so we could do some cycling while on the Island and still take Harry with us. Sunday we cycled along one of the longer routes from Newport to Sandown...it said the route was 9 miles - it felt more like 12!!! Pulling Harry in the trailer was a lot of extra weight and by the time we reached Sandown my hip was very painful....hasn't been the same since!!

Yesterday we had a lovely day in Ventnor and visited the Isle of Wight Glass. It was fascinating watching them work with glass. This is a picture of one of the guys making canes or what I would know as stringers - thin pieces of glass used for decorating. There was also another guy making a vase using the canes, millefiori and gold foil.

Heating the glass in the furnace

Walking with molten glass to create the cane

I also managed to visit a bead shop in Ventnor - Purple Moon Beads. The shop was quite small and had a nice selection of czech beads, plated and precious metal findings, tools, cord, books and examples of projects. What inspired me though was the aluminium links and rubber o-rings used for chain mail. I have recently bought a book called Link It by Susan C. Thomas so was very excited to see I could buy all the materials I needed. I will definitely be getting all the materials into The Oxford Bead Shop and through the use of my iPhone have already sourced a supplier!! As the hip is still playing up we are going to have a rest day and chill out around the campsite...I'm going to pop back to the bead shop, buy some more materials and make some samples from the link it book. I'm also going to get my shopping list together for the rubber o-rings and aluminium links.

This is what I made the Up and Down Motif Bracelet project from the Link It book. I found the project very easy to do and think that this technique would make a great workshop.

Wednesday 4th August - Freshwater

A beautiful mosaic tucked away in a bus stop - it was a set of three

Thursday 5th August - Morning
Coming to the end of the holiday now - looking forward to getting home and getting on with all the things I want to do this summer. Going today to have my holiday cream tea then we have our ferry to catch at 2pm.

Thursday 5th August -Afternoon
For our cream tea we went to Chessell Pottery Barns Decorate your own Pottery Home of the Ultimate Island Cream Tea. It was such a wonderful place. When you walked in their were the biggest scones I'd ever seen in all different types, HUGH slices of cake and lots of Emma Bridgewater and other fabulous pottery.

It looked like the pottery studio and tea room was once barns that had now been converted. The space was really big and perfect for that type of business. I would love to have a space like that. I could have various workshops happening at the same time, a beautiful tea room for people to meet for tea and coffee and cake or maybe lunch then a large bead shop with all the other jewellery making products we sell too. It's good to dream.....

Had to photograph this lorry - not often you see ....& Daughter.

Lots of PMC and Beautiful Giraffes

2010-07-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

My week has been filled full of PMC! Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I spent with Deidre and Honey who were visiting from Ireland to learn some beading and PMC techniques. We didn't actually get to the beading as the very ambitious PMC projects took over. The pieces that were made were very beautiful.

This was Honey's syringe heart pendant. The pendant is approximately 10cm tall. I had never fired a syringe project this big before so was a little unsure as to how it would fire. During firing some areas of the pendant collapsed so Honey needed to build up the areas and then we fired again. When working with syringe its very important to build a good structure with the lines of PMC and also to make sure the lines are a full thickness.

Dierdre's necklace and earrings set was made using some poppy heads that I picked from my garden a year ago. Its important that the poppy heads are dry. She used PMC paste to cover the poppy...let it dry...coated again and kept repeating this until a thick enough layer was achieved. Pearls were then attached using some beads & wire and stringing techniques.

Saturday I ran a PMC Rings workshop. I had a really lovely group. Most of the group made two rings using lump PMC, stones, textures, cutters and syringe. We did have some problems with a couple of the rings breaking during filing, before firing. When this happens it can be very difficult to stop the piece from cracking at the same point even if it has been filled with paste. I find it best to fire the ring then finish the piece, maybe add more paste and fire again.

This ring is a good example of how liver of sulphur can react. This piece was submerged in LoS after it had cooled for 10 minutes. As you can see the silver has been oxidised an almost gold colour. I think this looks beautiful with the green stone. Liver of Sulphur is fairly unpredictable and many factors, such as heat of water, strength of liquid, type of water, will effect the colour you get. You can see more images of the workshops on our Facebook page.

After my busy week I had an unusual day off on Sunday so we went to Cotswold Wildlife Park. We probably go once or twice a year, its always a great day out and Harry can come too. The park has had lots of improvements made....and they've now got three male Giraffes!!

After lots of walking, lots of food and the sun we were all looking forward to relaxing on the sofa. Harry got cosy in the car!!

The Summer is here...

2010-07-19T00:15:00.000-07:00

As much as I love my adult learning classes I am pleased to say that I have finished teaching for the summer and will now have ALL my evenings to do with as I please. I do have a few Friday night workshops planned but the rest of the time I am planning to continue organising the shop, making lampwork beads, and getting the new workshop project under way. Kay and I have been really busy sorting out the shop by moving it around and creating more space, throwing out lots of old catalogues, magazines and unneeded paperwork....its amazing how much is collected. I even have an office - only I can fit it in but its an office all the same!!

New Shop Layout

This weekend we visited Art in Action. We had a really lovely day (we being Mum, Kay, Lucy, Harry, Gladys and Me). This year they had invited some new artist to join the show so we were able to see some fresh ideas. Sarah Hornik a lampwork artist was there this year. It was great to see her make a bead. The combination of colour she uses in her work is beautiful. Take a look at her website. When ever we visit Art in Action we always come away feeling very inspired so Kay and I decided to come back to the shop and have a play on our torches. We both made a few beads each but said we need to be doing more. This is my plan....at least once a week if I can (in an ideal world!!).
I have been doing lots of workshops too...beads & wire, button necklaces, PMC. You can see all the images on our Facebook page.

2010-06-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm back!!! I have finished the PGCE, am now a fully qualified post 16 teacher and can start to concentrate on all the things I had to put on hold to get through it. I have also treated myself for my achievement and bought myself an iPad....more on that later!! It's been a long hard slog but I have now completed and passed all assignments for my Post Graduate Certificate in Education. I knew that it was taking a lot of time but didn't realise quite how much until I finished. Unfortunately while doing this The Oxford Bead Shop's ambitions have been put on hold....but....now it's full steam ahead!!!! We're starting things off with our popular workshop taster evening this Friday 2nd July 7-9pm. We've got lots of new stock, new kits, new jewellery and the British Silver week exhibition by Current UK PMC artists being displayed.

Since my last entry....a long time ago...I've meet and taught some lovely people. You can see images of the jewellery that's been made on our Facebook Page but here's some of the highlights...

Introduction to Beads & Knotting
This beautiful lariat was made using griffin silk, glass beads, semi precious beads, ceramic buttons and bundles of fabric flowers.

Making a Tiara
Our Tiara making workshop is always a very 'girly' experience. Lots of sparkle!!

Making a Silver Ring
A lovely use of 2mm sterling silver wire and 0.7mm flat sheet.

I've also been lucky enough to spend the day with Pauline Holt (aka Jazzy Lilly) lampwork bead making for the day. I really love working with glass, the colour, movement and effects are so different to any of the traditional materials I'm used to. I was able to work on areas of beading making I had been having problems with such as stringer work....creating lines and patterns with thinner rods of glass. It was really good for me to be on the other side of teaching, it reminded me of how my learners feel and how in a first session of learning something new it's very difficult to take in the technique when your faced with new tools, new materials, new terms, positions and environments. I love my iPad!! It's Apple's newest invention. It's basically like a big iPhone but is capable of so much more. I can read books, write emails, surf the Internet, draw, play games and lots more. Not sure what my favourites app is at the moment....I'll get back to you.

New workshops

2010-02-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

I've had another busy week teaching for Oxfordshire Adult Learning and at The Oxford Bead Shop. Last Saturday I delivered my first More Beads and Wire workshop at Cheney School. I have taught this before but at my shop. We started the session by using oddments of memory wire to create chandelier type earrings then we moved onto making our own chunky jumprings, charms, coils, beads and more using mandrels, hammers and a 'Spiralling Gizmo'. I introduced the class to some new weights of wire and some coloured wires that are available. Within this bracelet design Helen made every part of it. She coiled the coloured sections using 0.5mm enamel coated copper, made the beads, clasp and base using 1mm silver plated wire then chose some beads to complement the design and create a focal point.

Sunday I taught More Beads & Stringing at the shop. This workshop, like More Beads & Wire, builds on techniques and designs previously covered in the intro workshop. We looked at using some of the coloured beadalon wires but rather then completely covering the wire with beads using this as part of the design and having sections showing. For lots more pictures and ideas visit The Oxford Bead Shop's Facebook page...

While I was teaching at Cheney School Lucy and Fiona were running a children's birthday workshop...I leave them the best jobs!!! This is one of the pieces that was made...obviously an experience wire worker!! We have an ever increasing number of young girls who are getting into making jewellery. They've all been attending a jewellery club set up at school by a teacher who had previously been on a workshop with me. Its great to see how keen they are to explore their new hobby. One girl who has been making memory wire bracelets has been selling them to friends and family and has almost saved up enough money to buy a Nintendo DS!!!

This week we also had a special birthday in the family....Harry turned 3 or in doggy years 21!!! We celebrated by having sausages...what more could a dog want!! He's getting a bit over grown so we're going to book him in at the groomers to get his hair cut soon - maybe after this week as snow is due again. We get him cut about every 10-14 weeks depending on the time of year. In the summer its nice to keep him short so he doesn't over heat but in the winter the extra coat is much needed. I've also started brushing his teeth, something I wish I'd have started when we first got him at 13 weeks. He doesn't seem to mind it and I think quite likes the poultry flavoured toothpaste!!

Precious Metal Clay Certification

2010-02-03T03:01:00.001-08:00

This weekend I taught my first Precious Metal Clay Certification Module!! Since the beginning of the year Amy Surman - The Oxford Beadshop has been an Accredited Training Centre for the PMC Certification Programme. The programme is split into three modules...

Module 1 - Naturals The 7 projects in this module are designed to teach you how to make a textured pendant, simple stone setting, combine PMC with glass, make a ring, use organic materials, make a clasp, dry construction and the use of wood clay.

Module 2 - High Finish This module focuses on achieving a professional finish. The 6 projects also teach you how to use Japanese enamels, achieve a high shine, set a natural stone, use PMC 22K gold and combine PMC with fired ceramics and bisque.

Module 3 - Innovative design Create your own designs whilst learning techniques such as Keum Boo (24K gold foil), syringe design, chain making, ring with natural stone setting, combining PMC and Sterling Silver and liver of sulphur.

The modules can be taken in any order and this weekend we completed Module 2. We had a great three days - everybody worked really hard to complete their projects. You can see how hard from the table mess!!!!

This module really did concentrate on achieving a high professional finish - this takes time so the three days were jam packed with technique and focus.

A Collection of all 6 Projects

One of the things I like about this module is the way it combines PMC and traditional jewellery making techniques. For example...enameling, rubover setting and high shine. These techniques are more commonly seen combined with traditional jewellery making but they work so well with PMC. Enameling is perfect for PMC work as it is fine silver so there is no need for depletion guilding and no risk of oxidisation to the surface.

Rubover Set Ring with Blue Goldstone

Out of the six projects we covered I think this is the most difficult - The Bezel Set Ring. Firstly rings are not the easiest project to make with PMC due to the shrinkage, sizing and the join can sometimes be problematic. Within this project you also have to make a bezel (the bit that sits around the stone) out of fine silver and set this into the PMC - again you have to be careful with the shrinkage so the setting doesn't go out of shape or splits the ring completely!! I was very pleased that this project went well for all of us!!

Enamel of Precious Metal Clay

There's lots more images on our Facebook page...Later on in the year I will be delivering the Module 1 & 3 alongside all our other workshops...busy..busy!!
Last week we also had our first Beading Group meeting - last Tuesday of the month. It went really well although I was doing some private tuition that I said to myself I wouldn't!! The next one is at the end of February - I going to take part this time. Everybody bought along their own projects, tools, we provided the cake and tea and we all made a £2.00 contribution to Breast Cancer Research. It was great to see lots of different projects and ideas around the table.

Sparkle, Sparkle!!

2010-01-30T10:37:00.001-08:00

I've been meaning to post this for ages...remember last year I was
making some jewellery for a friends wedding but vowed to myself to
keep things secret until the big day?? Well this is the tiara I
made...I was very pleased with it and more important - Lucy the bride
was. The focal point is a brooch that Lucy found in an antique shop. I
then used silver plated wire, swarovski crystals, glass pearls and
silver-lined delicas to create the panels. Lucy & Duncan's wedding is
currently being featured in Cotswold Life Magazine....so Lucy!!!

Gladys my Little Niece

2010-01-29T12:19:00.001-08:00

Those of you that have been in the shop over the past few months will
have probably met Gladys. She is the newest edition to the family and
is my sister Kay's little Pug. Had to share this fabulous picture with
you...Gladys on Kay's crocheted blanket! I can't actually crochet but
would love to learn...when I've got time I'm going to get Kay to teach
me so I can make a beautiful cozy blanket too.

Happy 2010....

2010-01-27T08:57:00.001-08:00

What a start to the year!! I've been suffering with arthritis in my right hand since before Christmas...think it may have something to do with the cold weather. Apart from that and the downfall of snow the year has started very well. I must say that although I got completely fed up with not being able to go about my everyday business, due to my car refusing to work and the icy road conditions, I did enjoy the snow. Harry loves it...he got Stuart and I up VERY early the first morning it had settled and was so excited. The only trouble is it all gets stuck to his legs and just keeps collecting throughout the walk...by the end of it he's walking very strangely due to the weight and shape of his legs!!

In my garden and around the shop, I noticed these fabulous icicles. This picture is taken on the passion flower - due to the shape of the leaves the icicles formed in a cascade...it looked amazing! Some of the icicles got so big we had to break them down just in case they fell onto Harry while he was sniffing around.

We are well into the 2010 workshop programme now. So far we've had Intro to Beads & Knotting, Intro to Beads & Wire, Intro to Beads & Stringing, Wire Rings and this weekend we've got our first Certification course in Precious Metal Clay. I'm very excited about delivering the new course. Throughout the three days we will be covering high shine, enamelling, bezel settings, using 24ct gold PMC, bisque beads and lots more. Its going to be a busy few days but full of exciting techniques and lots of creativity.

Introduction to Beads & Knotting

Introduction to Beads & Wire

Look at my birthday present from Kay (my big sister)...she makes the most beautiful crocheted bears (amongst loads of other beautiful things). I saw this one when I went to visit her one day and said how much I liked it. She made him into a picture hanging for me with this fab sparkly pink paper behind him....I Love it!!

Weddings & Workshops

2009-10-04T23:36:00.000-07:00

I've been working hard getting some commission pieces ready for a friends wedding next weekend. I'm very pleased with the result but keeping everything a secret until the special day....I'll release photos after Saturday!

This weekend I delivered an Introduction to Beads & Stringing workshop - we had nine attendees. The workshop had a great feel. We had sisters and family together, somebody making their wedding jewellery and others who jut wanted to add to their list of techniques. Some great pieces were made...

Judy made this piece using the some beads from a broken necklace she was given by a family member - she decided to add a few beads from the shop floor to enhance what she already had.

Heather bought in some beads she had bought from a charity shop - a very long string for £3.00!! She made a necklace, bracelet and still had more left. I think they have a wonderful colour to them - they almost glow.

Within this piece Christina used the clasp area as the focal point within the necklace and wired some beads to the hoop of the toggle. She also added some lengths of beads to build the focal point that will then sit at the front.

This piece is not yet quite finished. Ann bought in lots of pearls she had bought from antique shops and had been given. One of the strings had this beautiful clasp attached - to complement the clasp she added some Amethyst crystals...I can't wait to see it finished!

Wendy, Jayne & Denise all made a lariat - I long row of beads without a clasp. These are very popular at the moment. They can be worn in so many different ways and are perfect for using up a variety of oddments. I think the colours used within these pieces are gorgeous.

Lou is getting married in December so bought in some crystals that were her Grans and she is planning to wear on the special day. She had to give them a good clean, increase the length a little using some chain, and wired in a blue crystal to sit at the back of the neck - she's going to sparkle all day!

Janet has been coming along to a whole range of our workshops and its great to see how she is pulling all the techniques together. Here she's used the stringing and wire technique to create his beautiful bracelet. To add an area for the charms to hang she inserted a jumpring along the strung section. She eventually wants to use PMC to create the charms.

Work, work, work..

2009-10-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

Well, the term has truly started. I'm back with full force into the adult learning evenings and very much enjoying my classes. I always love meeting new people especially because they all have an interest in making jewellery. I know this term is going to go so fast....Autumn term seems to flyby - before we know it, it'll be Christmas!! I've also been delivering some classes at the shop - Introduction to Beads and Knotting and Introduction to PMC 2 Day. As always some wonderful pieces made.

Beads and Knotting

Tracey made this piece using some silk cord, lampwork beads she bought from ebay and some of our glass beads. As the focal bead she used one of our new silver-plated hearts - I love the black, white, crystal an silver combination.

Introduction to Precious metal Clay Two Day

I really enjoy the two day workshop. Everyone can really get their teeth into the processes and techniques, and have time for reflection between day 1 and 2.

So you can see all the photo's taken from my workshops I've actually set up a Facebook page for Amy Surman - The Oxford Beadshop. Here you can see images of everything made on the workshops, make comments, add reviews and connect with other creative people...take a look.

Summer Holidays

2009-09-19T23:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I hope you all had a lovely summer. I visited America - Orlando & Miami for my holidays. We stayed in the most amazing hotel in Orlando, The Animal Kingdom Lodge - part of the Walt Disney World empire. The Animal Kingdom Lodge is based on an African Lodge surrounded by savannahs and exotic pools/spas. This is an image of the lobby...a very grand entrance!

Throughout the hotel everything had been thought about and placed with the finest of detail. Look at the railings...hidden amongst the uprights and turns of the metalwork you can see a giraffe and on others zebras, buffalo, birds and more - All of which could be viewed within the savannahs.

The most amazing sight we saw at the hotel was one afternoon when the giraffes were feeding. There were three giraffes - all female and one was only 9 months old. It was such a beautiful site...they were only about 25 foot away from us!! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera and we didn't have same encounter again.

The Zebra Walk

In the lobby there were numerous cases spread around with interesting African articles from jewellery and beads to bowls and working tools...there really was so much to see. As we were in Orlando we visited some of the parks - my favourite is Seaworld. Here we saw the killer whales, dolphins, manatees, stingrays, sharks and lots lots more. We fed the dolphins and stingrays too!

After a 6 night stay in Orlando we drove (I did the driving) down to Miami for a beach holiday. It was a lovely stay although due to the hurricane season by the afternoon the clouds started to roll in and we had to leave the beach in case we were struck by lightning!!

Sunny Isles Beach, Miami

Now I'm back in the UK and back to work....I've been delivering new workshops - Beads & Wire improvers, private tuition, children's workshops, private workshops. We've also got some new products in store and I've started my PGCE (Post graduate certificate in education) course yr 2 - it's great to be back!!!

Beads & Wire improver project

2009-08-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

Look what Vikki made....isn't it beautiful. Vikki is one of our regulars at the shop and she has been working on a project for quite a few months now. She kept coming in buying pretty sparkly beads and this week bought in the results!! I think the necklace is gorgeous and a fabulous example of what can be made from a variety of different beads...some of the beads I haven't had for 2 years!! The project is based on one from Bead Magazine...Flower Garden - (I'll find out the issue number). I really appreciate it when customers bring their projects in for us to see......it's great to see what creativity is happening out there and how our products are being used. More welcome....

Our Jersey Trip and Weddings...

2009-08-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

We returned from Jersey on Monday....it was so lovely seeing Harry (and Lucy of course!!). When we arrived in Jersey on the Thursday they had the Battle of Flowers just starting...I took lots of photo's but here's some of my Favourites...

Can you believe these are all made from flowers.....yes every little bit!!!

I managed to get these photos before the parade started. We also managed to speak to some of the people that put them together. They said that they had been working on the floats since February then started to put the flowers on from Sunday and finished Thursday morning at about 3am(ish)!! It was totally amazing - unbelievable!! We were so lucky to arrive when we did.

On the Thursday afternoon Stuart and I hired bikes then got ready for a long bike ride starting Friday morning. Jersey is so beautiful and hiring bikes was the perfect way to see the island. You can pick the bikes up from a number of hire companies on the island - we used Zebra in St Helier. Cycle route maps are available from the tourism office and most hotels/ B&Bs. We cycled up to some beautiful beaches..

...some very long steep hills that we then had the pleasure gliding down....

...and collected some souvenirs along the way.

On the Saturday we went to Carl & Rachel's wedding - the purpose of the visit. The day was very magical and the weather was perfect. Due to some of us being more hungover than others I spent Sunday morning on my own. I first visited The Shell Garden. This was pretty cool - started in 1957 and still being added to today. The guy on the gate was the third generation. Reminded of a great book I have called Fantasy Worlds - a Tashen book. I then went to a wonderful gallery filled with beautiful things and inspiring objects in St Aubin - I think St Aubin was my favourite place for its nice resturants, bars, galleries, views and interesting buildings.

On Tuesday it was back to work. Lucy, Mum and Kay did a great job holding fort. On Tuesday I had a wedding ring workshop. Jeff and Pauline came in to make their own wedding rings - it was a lovely four hours and they finished in perfect time with perfect rings - Congratulations.X

Hard at Work

The finished Rings

Decoupage Elephants and bubbly kits...

2009-08-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

Look at my elephants....a couple of weeks ago I ran a children's birthday workshop for Storm. During the session Storm and her Mum mentioned they were going to make some elephants out of a very common item that we all discard every week.....any ideas??? First person to get it right wins a prize!!!!!!!

Kay has also put together some new kits using the pearl mixes we have in store.....aren't they great. I think they'd make a fab necklace....you could actually fit a clasp that would enable you to use it as both a bracelet and necklace (not at the same time!). Obviously you'd need an extra section for the necklace that you could clip in- it would look wonderful!!

Pearl Bubble Bracelet Kit

Tomorrow we're off to Jersey for Carl & Rachel's wedding....I'm really looking forward to it. When we arrive on the Thursday they have an event called Battle of Flowers...take a look at the website. As far as I can tell its a big event based around floats and a procession dripping with flowers!! I'll take lots of photos...hope the weather's nice...fingers crossed!!

Making a Silver Ring

2009-08-10T01:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday we did a Silver Ring workshop. The pieces made on the 10-4pm workshop were fantastic and a great achievement in the time. Helen made a bangle as she doesn't really wear rings. All the techniques used in this workshop are your silversmithing basic - this is why I use this project for my first on the Adult Learning classes.

Sterling Silver Rings made by complete beginners

Sunday Lucy and I went to The PMC Symposium in Bristol. We had a table there selling some of our products along with The PMC Studio. It was very interesting and a great opportunity to see pretty much everyone I know in The PMC world. I was also very impressed with Bristol. There seemed to be a lot going on and lots to see. We might have to make a visit in the future...maybe a weekend away.

Birmingham School of Jewellery

2009-08-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Stuart and I drove up to Birmingham to get ready for my three course I was delivering for the jewellery school. I've never driven to Birmingham before...well the centre anyway...only ever the NEC. It was surprisingly easy if I didn't take much notice of multimap...I'm sure I confuse myself too with it!! We drove straight to The SAS Raddison Hotel on Holloway Circus. The hotel was perfect for our stay...18 floors high with private apartments above for ???? floors - a very tall building!! On the 18th floor was a gym that I went and tried out on the sunday...felt a bit scary - I thought my cross trainer might jump forward and I'd end up out the window!!

SAS Raddison

The rooms were very comfortable..everything you could wish for. The beds were EXTREMELY comfortable - just what you need after a long days work!! The hotel was 5 mins from the Mailbox and Bullring so would be perfect for a weekend of shopping and relaxing if you had the time.

Our home for four days.

The Mailbox is a very 'trendy' area filled with nice shops, restaurants, galleries and a relaxed vibe. Stu and I had Tapas for dinner at Estillos on the Sunday night....the Paella was amazing!!! After a good nights sleep and a massive buffet breakfast I was ready to start my 3 day course. I took literally my whole workshop so got to the jewellery school early so I could get set up - Stu helped. We were greeted by one of the most friendliest security guards and caretakers I've met..they made us feel very welcome. Each day ran from 9.30-5pm with breaks if you wanted them. I had a group of 6 ladies from various areas around Birmingham and one from Belfast. The group were great and were all keen to learn what PMC is all about and how to work with it. What made the group so interesting is that each person had different reasons to be there and levels of jewellery making.

The Birmingham School of Jewellery

Throughout the 3 days we covered using:

paste to create a silver leaf
paste to create a hollow bead
lump to create a dry construction pendant
lump and torch firing to make a pair of earrings
soldering techniques on PMC to create a pair of stud earrings
dichroic glass and lump to create a pendant or ring
syringe to reate pattern and texture
cubic zirconias
and more.......

Hard at Work

The PMCers Bench

The Final Pieces

While we were gone Harry stayed with his Aunties.....as much as he loves them he was pleased to see us!!!

Introduction to Precious Metal Clay

2009-08-01T11:39:00.001-07:00

We had a great workshop today....Intro to PMC. Everyone achieved some great pieces - we made Silver leaves, Pendants and Earrings with multiple layers, cubic zirconias and more. I think all we sleep well tonight!!!

Hard at Work

Silver Leaves - Fresh from the Garden this morning!!!!

Silver Pendants - Dry constructions, Cubic Zirconias, Syringe work..

Dichoric Glass Cabochons

2009-07-31T23:30:00.000-07:00

Look what I've just taken out of the kiln......some lovely dichoric glass cabochons!! These are lots of fun to make. I'm going to practice with the technique - maybe order in some new types of glass to play with and hopefully build this into a workshop for next year. Tomorrow I'm off to Birmingham to teach 3 days of PMC....that's the reason for making the cabochons actually. As one of the projects Im going to be doing a pendant project with them as they can be fired with PMC. Have a full day today of PMC to - Intro to PMC at the shop......I'm going to be all PMCed out by Wednesday night!!!!!!!!

Witney Day Centre

2009-07-30T10:57:00.000-07:00

Today I've been teaching over at Witney Hospital for the Day Care Centre. This is my second visit. I love going over to see them all - they're all such a lovely enthusiastic group and I get to teach some men!!!!! We had an hours session together and made a bracelet and earrings set. I think these types of workshops work well in within a day care environment because it means everybody acheives something and has been given the opportunity to be creative.....you could see they all enjoyed it!!!

This is what everybody made

Here's the group

I've spent the rest of the day organising.....try to get a better system in place. With the small scale products we deal with it can be really difficult...we're getting there!!!!

Its been a long time.....

2009-07-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hello!!!! Yes I'm still here. Apologise for not blogging in earlier - I need to keep on top of this! I've been involved in soooo many lovely things I've been dying to get it all online - so here it is.

Back in June I started to attend The Oxford Castle Market on a Friday. I really loved attending, met some great people and experienced being part of a nice event. Unfortunately I've now stopped, for various reason but mainly because I found it a big commitment what with everything going on at the my shop. Here's an image of my little stall....I was very happy with how it was all set out and it gave me lots of opportunity to make jewellery and promote my workshops.

As always we've been running lots of workshops with some great pieces being made. Back in June we ran a Make your own Tiara workshop - Kirsty made this beautiful piece for Ascot. She used a combination of Delica beads, Swarovski crystal and 0.4mm silver-plated wire to create her tiara.

Our Introduction to Beads & Wire workshop is one of the most popular we do and most people that come along to it are complete beginners so this is their first jewellery making experience. The jewellery made is always full of fresh ideas and new combinations of colour. These pieces are very much influence by the summer season (Does anyone know where its gone?).

Memory Wire Bracelet with Czech Glass Beads

Silver Plated Chain and Wire with Glass Beads

With the summer holidays upon us we have started to take lots of children workshop bookings. Last week we did a workshop for Storm and her friends. They all made a cluster ring using a wire ring base, glass beads and headpins and a bag charm using a bag clip, glass beads and headpins. The technique I taught the group was simply making loops above the beads after making over 20 loops they all went away knowing how to do it!!!

We had a briliant Enamelling workshop this month. Everybody on the session really thought about what jewellery they were going to make their pieces into and had some fantastic results. We explored the use of decals, stencils, wire, stringers, Millefiori chips and more....

Butterfly made using a stenciling technique and Millefiori

Our most recent workshop has been Recycle Silver. I must say one of my more high maintenance workshops but I do love it. The results are always amazing. This time we looked a little more at pushing objects into the cuttlefish to cast them. You can see here Debbie used a shell that I picked up years ago in Florida to cast. The results aren't perfect but they give you a really nice quality.

At the beginning of July we went to see Take That!!!! It was amazing. I've never seen such a spectacular show. There was so much to see I couldn't take it all in and am eagerly awaiting the DVD to be released. They had an elephant which they all came in on...Tricycles, clowns, acrobats, lots of balloons, unbrellas, gymnasts, fire, ringmasters and so much more. Here's a couple of pictures.....

This image it a picture of a floor at High Road house in Chiswick....isn't it great. We went there when we stayed up at Kay's for Stuart's B'day. We had a lovely breakfast then did some shopping and in the evening went to see Oasis at Wembley - again a great show but nowhere near as fab as Take That!!

Harry's doing well apart from a case of Kennel Cough. It s not very nice for him but he's getting over it with the help of some antibiotics. Fortunately its not passed to humans at all so he can still come to work with me and socialise with all his friend at the shop.

This coming week I'm getting ready to teach at The Birmingham School of Jewellery. I'll be teaching an Introduction to Precious Metal Clay for 3 days on Aug 3rd, 4th & 5th. I'm really looking forward to it and excited to work for a new establishment. I'm also going to be working at The PMC Symposium on Aug 9th for The PMC Studio. We've got a table in the market place where we will be selling a variety of tools and equipment and introducing people to our workshop programme. If your attending I'll see you there!!

Artweeks, Finger Prints and workshops....

2009-05-22T14:20:00.000-07:00

Wow! Doesn't time fly when your busy!! I've had the most fabulous few weeks. Artweeks went really well this year. We got the exhibition up and running in time for our private view on Friday 8th May - Thank you to everyone that came along. I think at our peek we must have had about 30 people watching demos, browsing our range of materials and tools and enjoying the exhibition. I was pleased with how it all looked - I took a gardening theme that worked really well. I bought some artificial lawn to use as the background - the silver and lampwork beads looked great against it.

Harry before the mayhem of organising Artweeks Private View

Ohh thats nice.....

Kay was demonstrating on how to make lampwork beads

Lucy was demonstrating Precious Metal Clay

We had a great response to the possibility of Lampworking classes. I can't wait to get my stock room sorted out to accomodate the class!!

I've been asked to do a few commissions recently using the finger printing technique on Precious Metal Clay. This is a pair of cufflinks that Lucy asked me to do with her thumb print on.....she gave them to her now husband on their wedding day!! As you can see the date has been inscribed on the back. I've used liver of sulpur to oxidise the print then buff back to highlight the print.

I also did a bracelet for David to give to his wife who gave birth to little Oscar. The finger print is Davids but when baby is old enough and his finger print defined enough we're going to do his too. To make the bracelet even more 'charmy' I added a few baby charms. I've called it Mummy's Baby Bracelet.

Though you might like to see some jewellery made on a Beads & Wire workshop I ran for Adult Learning in Chipping Norton. These were all complete beginners - we had a lovely day and fabulous results.

Last but not least I'd like you to meet my new neice.....Gladys Parthenope Flittersnoop!! Isn't she adorable. She's an 8 week old Pug puppy getting bigger my the day. Tomorrow Harry and Gladys will meet - I'll be sure to take lots of photo's and post the best ones for you.

Peyote Beads and......We have a Winner!!!!!!

2009-05-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show you what we've been making today on a workshop that Kay's been running.......Peyote Beads!!! Aren't they beautiful. I'd like to make more and make a fabulously long necklace....trouble is they take a little while to make although the results are so beautiful. We used delicas, crystals, fireline and patience to create this little gems.

We also have a winner for the lucky blog follower........Kez! Kez or Kerry as she's also known is currently on one of my courses so I will be delivering this to you next week - well done Kerry!!!!!! You've won one of our new Beaded bead kits.....hope you enjoy it!!!

Working my little socks off!!!!

2009-04-30T23:18:00.001-07:00

Wow....its been ages since I last wrote in. I have been working my little socks off!! Getting ready for Artweeks has been really good fun but added a big work load to the already full schedule!! I've also started back all my evening classes - I've really missed them while I've been off although it was nice having a couple of evenings to make a few beading things. I've been playing with the bead mixes we have in store....Kay and I found them at a trade show in Feb and since I've had them in the shop they've sold really well. I always say to people who come along to my beginner workshops "If you go into a beadshop and aren't to sure what beads to choose always look at their bead mixes...these are a great place to start as they can give you ideas on colour schemes, textures, beads types etc" I think the summer being on the way is inspiring these necklace and bracelet sets - all I've used in the set below is one of the Tiny Gold Bead Mixes £1.50 and a selection of semi-precious and glass beads to match. The necklace is approx 30 inches long with a toggle clasp so you can wear it long or doubled up. The bracelet is simply on memory wire - we've got some new silver plated stuff in the shop by Beadalon...much easier to work with then the previous one we had.

This necklace is one that Rosamund started on the Beads & Knotting workshop the other week. She'd finished it at home and bought it into the shop for us to see. I love it when customers do this!! Its always great to see what you've been upto!! Rosamund used the Planet bead mix for this necklace along with some blue No18. Nylon - she's used simple knotting and macrame techniques to create the complicated looking piece. She came into buy some Square Calottes to finish the ends - these are clamped on so a clasp can be fitted.

Last week we also had Little Lucy's birthday....29years!! We started back our evening classes on her birthday so as usual on a Thursday she had dinner with Stu, Harry and me then we went into class. To celebrate with Kay we all went for dinner at The Mole Inn at Toot Baldon. Our Dad grew up in The Baldons and was actually born in the house opposite The Mole so it was a lovely blast from our past!! We used to go to what was then The Crown for the best chip buttys. The Mole is very nice...not cheap but really worth the money. If you want somewhere special for the evening I'd highly recommend it although booking can be a bit of a hassle!!!

Lampworking, New Kits and Yummy Cake!!

2009-04-21T12:27:00.001-07:00

Having fun!!!!

Last Wednesday Dawn, another lampwork artist, came over to the shop to have a play on the torches with Me and Kay...Lucy joined us later. We had a lovely day passing tips to each other, showing each other demonstrations and colour ways we liked. Dawn taught us how to make a hollow bead......great fun....we showed Dawn how to make a gravity bead and a solid fish. Dawn currently sells her work on ebay and from her website www.dawnbydesign.com.

Yummy carrot cake

Kay made a lovely carrot cake for us to eat.....she cut the hugest slices!!

Kay & Dawn on the torch

Kay has also been busyputting together some new kits for the shop. We've got three new necklace kits and a beaded bead kit all using seedbeads, glass beads and semi precious stones. I'm really pleased with the kits - they make fabuolous presents. Those of you that have signed up to be a 'follower' of this blog will be in for a chance of winning one of the Beaded Bead kits - the winner will be drawn at the end of April.

Multi-Strand Necklace Kit

On Friday we (Kay, Lucy & I) visited a show in Towcester called Flame Off. The show was all about lampwork beading. We spent lots of money, saw a demonstration by Sarah Hornik and saw some other artists work. The show wasn't as big as we'd expected - originally we'd booked two days to go but only actually visited for one. It was a great opportunity to see products and glass colours we needed.

Tester tester 1...2...3

2009-04-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

This is a test to see if I can send images and text via email from my
iPhone!!!! Has it worked???

Camping on The Isle of Wight

2009-04-14T11:13:00.000-07:00

Well, we survived the dreary weather over the Easter break while camping in The Isle of Wight. Mum bought us the break for Christmas.....she hired us Camper vans from the Isle of Wight Camper Van Holidays. Even though the weather wasn't great we did have a lovely time. Sometimes its just nice to get away and have a break. The Campers were great....completely kitted out with everything you need although a heater would of been great! We had a little hamper on arrival that included a fabulous cake, apple juice, tea, coffee, sugar and local bacon. Here's ours....Oliver - a red retro van. Lucy had one called Primrose - a primrose yellow retro camper. We spent the four days cooking local produce on the BBQ - Lobster, Crad cakes, Sausages, Lamb Burgers, Ribs....yes...a meat over load!!!

Oliver

We did go out and about but opted to do this on foot as the vans weren't the easiest things to drive. We had a really nice walk to Bembridge that took us past the Bembridge Windmill, where Harry made a friend and then picked up some free range eggs from a local farm.

Harry & a new friend

Bembridge has got some beautiful little shops, antiques, delis, bakery, grocers, fish mongers, butchers.....we did a bit of shopping (window & food) then Lucy and I went to explore an antiques fair while the boys went to the pub.

Yummy cakes!!

Although we had a lovely time I am pleased to be home - Harry and Stuart are too. You appreciate the luxuries of your home when you've been 'roughing it'!!

Urban Fox

2009-04-09T14:41:00.001-07:00

Look what a beautiful site I had from my back window on Tuesday.....in the middle of Cowley Oxford!!! An urban fox!!! Isn't she beautiful - I'm not completely sure she's a she but that what I seem to be labeling her. She was laying in the sun amongst the ivy at the end of our flat roof. I read that they sun themselves sometimes in the day then have there dens with their cubs under places such as sheds in town gardens. I must say that Harry keeps wanting to go outside and smell around much more since I saw her.

This week I made this bracelet for a commission. The bangle is sterling silver and the leaf is made using PMC paste. We teach people how to make these leaves on our Intro to PMC workshop.

Tomorrow we're all (Me, Stu - Boyf, Harry, Lucy - Sister & Pete - Sister's boyf) off to The Isle of Wight for our holiday that Mum gave us for Xmas. We're going over in our cars then picking up VW Campers when we get there!!!! Really looking forward to it.

Have a lovely Easter to all.XX

Easters on the Way....

2009-04-05T06:22:00.000-07:00

Well...my first big news today is that I've now finished my evening classes for Easter. As much as I love it I do look forward to a break. My last night was Thursday - we had a couple of bags of Mini Eggs to celebrate!!! I've taken a photo of the workshop we work in. We're very lucky to have such a good space to work in and so many tools available - Stakes, hammers of all kinds, etching, fly press, rolling mills and more..

Friday afternoon I ran a childrens birthday workshop for Ellie....here's what they made. It was Ellies 11th birthday, she had four of her friends, her little brother and mum and dad join in. Everyone had a great time and as you can see really made some wonderful necklaces and bag/phone charms.

Yesterday we had a Hen party in!!! It went really well....haven't got any pictures...we were too busy!!!! They made some beautiful pieces. One of the girls made a bracelet with five rows of all different pearls that all sat at different lengths - it worked really well. She crimped all ends onto one jump ring at either side and used a caribiner to fasten.

Harry's foot is getting better. We took him to the vets and he was very good. We've been given some capsules that help with allergies...look very similar to cod liver oil and a cream to put on his paw. The trouble is he licks the stuff of so we've resorted to selotaping a sock to his foot for now!!!!

Oxfordshire Adult Learning

2009-04-02T00:49:00.000-07:00

Tuesday - Thursday evenings I teach for Oxfordshire Adult Learning. I teach Tuesday in Thame, Wednesday in Eynsham and Thursday at Oxford & Cherwell College. I really enjoy it and always have a fabulous class to work with. All the classes are mixed ability so I have some complete beginners to more advanced learners.....some of which have been with me for 4 years!! We have three terms a year that run the same time as school term and for 10 weeks. It always amazes me how much can be made on a 10 week/ 20 hour course.

This term we explored the idea of lost wax casting. Sarah Pulvertaft another adult learning tutor uses this technique and came over to my shop last year to participate in a casting evening with me for our classes. We found out details of casters, materials and tools we needed and had a go. (I didn't unfortunately because I didn't have the time - but I will at some point!!!)

There were all sorts of things made....rings, pendants, lizards, beads, doves and more. Here's some of them in there unfinished state.

There's all sorts of other techniques being used too such as fusing - this bracelets been made using the fusing technique. Fusing is when you take your scrap of new pieces of metal, place it together and heat it until it begins to melt. This then joins the metal toghther without the need for soldering.

These bracelets have been made using the etching technique. Etching is when you use a dilute nitric acid solution to eat away the surface of silver. To create the pattern on these bracelets Sarah used stickers, then coated the whole piece in nail varnish, let it dry then removed the stickers. The nail varnish acts as a stop out and prevents the acid from eating away the metal in those specific areas - very effective.

These bracelets have been made using the etching technique. Etching is when you use a dilute nitric acid solution to eat away the surface of silver. To create the pattern on these bracelets Sarah used stickers, then coated the whole piece in nail varnish, let it dry then removed the stickers. The nail varnish acts as a stop out and prevents the acid from eating away the metal in those specific areas - very effective.

Beads & Knotting

2009-03-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend in the shop.....Saturday we ran a Beads & Knotting workshop. There were five people in the session (a good number) and they all made some fabulous pieces using griffin silk cord, nylon cords, stretch magic and glass / semi precious beads. Here's some clips of the day...

I'm getting on well with making my beads. My plan is too hold out on showing everything to you until my exhibition. I've now started thinking about the jewellery I'll make from some pieces....might give you a little preview later on in the week. I've got loads of piccies from my evening class groups too....I had my last wednesday night last week, my last Tuesday today and Thursday this week - I'm looking forward to a few evenings off....probably make more beads!!!!!

I'm loving......

2009-03-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

.....Lots of things!!!
Firstly this new blog site - its so much easier to use than my last one and I prefer the layout / design of the site.
Also, lampwork beading.....I AM HOOKED!!!! I've spent the day today making new beads and fishes!!! Lucy (my little sis) and I have been making all day. I'm getting ready for Oxfordshire Artweeks in May. There not out of the kiln yet....its going to take about 6hrs before I can take them out. I get very inpatient!!!!
Also Harry - our dog is looking very cute at the moment. He's always cute but especially now as he's just had his hair cut...
This is Harry with Logan - my best friend's little boy. I think Harry gets a bit stressed when Logan's chasing him around the shop!!! They're good friends though. For those of you that haven't met Harry he's a Mini Schnauzer - beautiful dog to have in the family if your thinking of getting one. Poor little thing has got a sore paw at the moment - we're bathing it for him and are going to see how he is after the weekend. He my have to visit the vets....which he hates!!!

Tomorrow I've got a Intro to Beads & Knotting Class - I love the knotting technique. It can be acheived with minimal tools and there are so many pretty cords available. I take some photo's for you to see.

I've moved from amysurman.blog.com

2009-03-27T00:59:00.000-07:00

Hello All.....I've moved my blog page - for various reasons really:

it seemed that you all couldn't follow my blog.com one very easily having to sign up etc
this one is much more user friendly
other artist in my area are all using this service so its more fitting to my needs

So, if you want to catch up so far visit amysurman.blog.com to fill yourself in then sign up to this site for all the new explorations and journeys that I will be taking - hopefully you'll enjoy what you read and take something positive away from the experience.

Happy to have you on board!!
Amy.x