Technology Troubles!!!

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!!

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!!

Christmas is Coming!!

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.

Weekend Workshops

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.

The Summer is here...

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.

Happy 2010....

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

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.

Summer Holidays

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