Daisychain Designs

Rippling River

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:12:00 +0000

My project in Beads and Beyond this month is a long lampwork necklace. The links that I've used between the beads were inspired by a scrap piece of wire that was sitting in my 'just in case I find a use for it' pot on my desk for months. Now, that's not my scrap pot, even though silver does get pulled back out of there if it just happens to be the perfect length for head pins etc, but my pot of bits and pieces left over from previous experiments. They're too potentially good to put with the scrap but just didn't work out at the time. Anyway, this particular piece of wire had been hammered on both sides with my favourite hammer and been shaped. I found the perfect beads to go with it (beautiful lampwork beads from Caroline at Crafted Gems, and Rippling River was created! I usually find it hard to come up with names for magazine pieces, but this one just had to have a water based name!

There's a bonus project on the Beads and Beyond website too - the earrings above. They're made from one piece of wire and are much quicker and easier to make than they look - perfect for Christmas presents!

Tutorial Tuesday - frothy flower crochet pattern

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:15:00 +0000

There are an amazing number of fantastic tutorials out there on blogs. I've got dozens of them saved and I've even found the time to make a few of them, but not nearly as many as I would like. Anyway, I thought it was about time that I linked to more of them on my blog .... so .... welcome to my first Tutorial Tuesday!

The idea is that that every Tuesday (obviously) I'll link to a tutorial or two that has caught my eye, and hopefully show you what I've made using it too. I'll include more tutorials of my own as well as - some showing you jewellery making techniques and some for projects that haven't made their way into magazine articles. The first tutorial is for a gorgeous crochet flower by Ali of Craft Matters - and this is one tutorial that I've actually found time for! I'd actually been looking for something to spice up my plain brown winter coat, and I think that this will work perfectly. I think I'll be making a few more too to decorate presents as inspired by Bugs and Fishes - look at that! Two tutorials for the price of one!

Itchy fingers!

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:01:00 +0000

You know that feeling when you've got work to do that you actually do enjoy doing and find very satisfactory but your fingers are itching to do something else instead? Well, my fingers are itching and twitching right now! I've got half a dozen or so orders that I need put the finishing touches to so I can take them up to the post office this afternoon, but I what I really want to go is make a start on at least one of the designs that I sketched out late last night. I will be good and get the orders done first, but hopefully I'll have something else to show you either tonight or tomorrow as well!

Old friends

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:31:00 +0000

Well, not friends who are old, but you know what I mean!

We had visitors on Saturday, friends who I went to university with and their two girls, the eldest of whom is now B's new best friend. They seemed to spend most of the day in fits of giggles! They'd met half a dozen or so times before, but this was the first time that they'd spent the whole day together since they were toddlers, and it was lovely to see them playing so beautifully together. Of course, Jo and I had the usual conversation that all old friends do, the one that revolves around how amazed we are that time has flown so quickly, surely it was only a couple of years ago and not 1996 that we were sharing a house and trying to find any distraction (even cleaning the bathroom) from studying for our finals, and how on earth did we get old enough to be married with children and mortgages?! Oh, and we must, really must, meet up more often. Jo's going to come over and spend the day with me playing in the shed in the New Year, so that's a start!

Finished projects

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:29:00 +0000

I'm feeling rather pleased with myself as I managed to finish two projects last weekend while we were driving up to Suffolk for Grandma's birthday. I finished knitting and crocheting them both a couple of weeks ago, but as usual it's taken me a while to sew them up!

I made the elephant for my friend's new baby girl. We called into see them for lunch and a lazy afternoon on Saturday before continuing onto my Aunt's for the birthday celebrations. I had lots of lovely cuddles with baby Emma and was rewarded with a little bit of sick and lots of smiles! The pattern for the elephant came from this blog, and B and Emma's big brother have put orders in for their own!

And this is the waistcoat I made for Grandma's birthday that I was keeping a secret. I'm really pleased with it - it's not my taste but it's definitely Grandma's, and her favourite colour too. I made it longer than the pattern suggests as Grandma likes her tops to cover her back well. I found the pattern listed on Ravelry (a site that I'm spending more and more time on). The cover of the book it's in nearly put me off as it looks so dated, but I think it turned out rather well.

Cuteable

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:00:00 +0000

I had a lovely surprise this morning - my Golden Lovebird is featured on the Cuteable blog! This is one of the blogs that I check out regularly as there are always so many lovely things featured, so I'm really pleased that one of my pieces has been included!

The items in this particular blog post were chosen by Belinda from Shop Handmade UK, and if you wander over to the Shop Handmade UK blog you'll find a nice discount code waiting for you! Thank you Belinda!

Guaranteed Delivery

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:32:00 +0000

I've decided to sign up with a courier due to the Royal Mail strikes. I usually use Special Delivery, and while I haven't had any problems with this service during the strikes as Royal Mail have been making them a priority, I don't want to risk any problems as the strikes continue.

So....at no extra cost to you, my dear customers, all UK parcels will be sent by the courier myHermes who will call back twice more if you are out the first time. The parcels are trackable, and I'll include the tracking number in the order dispatch details.

And what's more, they will come and collect the parcels from me so that I don't have to wait in the post office queue - how cool is that!

P.S. On a serious note, I am steadily growing more angry about these strikes - don't they realise the damage that they are doing to everyone, and that most people who have switched to using couriers won't switch back afterwards? I really want to support my local post office and send my parcels through them, but I feel as though my hand has been forced. I'm going to leave my comments on this whole stupid affair at that, as if I go any further this will turn into a long rant!

Look what the postie brought me today!

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:06:00 +0000

Look look!! I actually got some post today!

Now, don't worry, this isn't going to be a Royal Mail strike moaning blog post - but I'm certain that I'll write one soon.... I'm excited because the beads for the next Designer Challenge for Beads and Beyond arrived this morning and they are gorgeous! They're from Precious Sparkle beads, who I tend to buy quite a few beads from, and I've already planned out what I'm going to make with them.

I can't spoil the surprise, but if you're very good you can have a look at the packaging - aren't I generous?! If you look closely you may even be able to see a few of the colours contained in that plain looking bag.

Out of hibernation

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:26:00 +0000

It's taken me much longer than I expected to get back into the habit of blogging after coming back from holiday, mainly as it's taken me a while to get used to my new routine of B at preschool three mornings a week and at his childminder's one and a half days a week, and of teaching two evenings a week. The second evening class, a beginner's jewellery class at our local secondary school on Wednesday evenings, started the day after we came back from holiday and it's going well, lots of fun to teach and everyone's very enthusiastic. I've also been really busy with orders from a couple of galleries for their Christmas stock, and with orders from notonthehighstreet.com and my website. It seems as though the Christmas shopping season has arrived!

I have been planning blog posts as I've been sitting working in the shed though, so I thought that rather than write one long post of what we've been up to I'd actually write up the ones I'd planned in my head, so if you want to catch up with everything and see what commissions and projects I've been working on have a read of the posts below!

Right then, back to work - I've got a magazine project to finish!

Halfterm glow stick fun

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:13:00 +0000

It's amazing how much fun you can get out of a tube of glow sticks from the local £1 store!

A couple of repairs

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:45:00 +0000

I don't often take on repair work. I've only once needed to repair a piece of jewellery that I've made, and that was because I'd sold the bracelet to a friend of mine who has a habit of catching bracelets on door handles and breaking them. I don't really like repairing jewellery made by other people as a) I can never be completely certain exactly what materials have been used to make the piece, b) repairs can be time consuming and so take time away from the work I really want to do and c) to be blunt it's rarely worth my time doing the work as people generally do not want to pay very much for the work at all and although the repairs rarely require much in the way of new materials they do take a lot of time and my time is money! So I don't advertise that fact that I can repair jewellery, but every now and then I'll repair something that a customer has brought in to a gallery I supply work to or that a friend or colleague needs mending.

T brought the ring in these pictures home from work one day, with a note from a colleague of his asking if I could mend it. As you can hopefully see the 'before' photos the band of the ring had completely snapped. Soldering it back into place and cleaning up the new soldering wasn't actually going to be that big a job, but the first thing that I had to do was remove the turquoise as that would be damaged by the heat from the torch, and that was where the problems started!

The bezel setting was very rough and quite sharp in places, but it wasn't too hard to gently pull open. However, what looked like quite a big stone actually turned out to be a thinner cabochon with some kind of packing behind it (an unfortunately common trick to make stones appear bigger and therefore more expensive) that had just crumbled away to leave a right old mess. So, after repairing the band of the ring I had to clean up the inside of the bezel setting and then file and sand the bezel down so that it fitted the stone properly. The bezel actually ended up looking a lot better than it had originally!

It took a while, but I was actually quite pleased with myself when I had finished and oxidised everything so that it had the same finish as before and I'd reset the stone. I still prefer making my own designs though!

Grinning from ear to ear!

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:25:00 +0000

My copy of the latest issue of Beads and Beyond arrived through the door today - and I'm feeling rather happy! Not only have I got a Masterclass article in there (this time on how to make your own ear wires in various styles, with a bonus web project showing you how to make the earrings below) but there's also a review of my silversmithing tuition!

Becky (assistant editor of the magazine) came down to spend a day making beautiful jewellery in my workshed at the beginning of September. We had a great day, a really fun day, and Becky made a couple of beautiful pieces - a bangle and a gorgeous pendant in the shape of a swallow that she cut from silver sheet. It was a really complicated shape, especially for a beginner, but she did a fantastic job. Apparently the necklace was going to be a birthday present for a friend, but Becky couldn't bring herself to give it away!

I'm going to try and get hold of a photo of what she made, but in the meantime, go and buy a copy so you can see it for yourself - oh yes, and learn how to make your own ear wires too!

Holiday projects

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:32:00 +0000

I didn't take any jewellery projects away with me on holiday this year, as I thought that as much as I love making and designing jewellery a complete break would probably do me a lot of good. That didn't stop me from drafting out three new magazine projects on the flight on the way home though - or maybe my mind was fresh enough to come up with those ideas precisely because I'd have a break?

There was no way on earth that I was going to go on holiday without craft projects though - and you wouldn't really expect me to, would you?! I took three balls of yarn for each of two crochet projects, the Victorian cardigan/wrap for me that I've shown you pictures of before and a waistcoat for my Grandma. I got a fair bit done on each and should have taken at least one extra ball for each project! I nearly finished the back of the waistcoat, but I'm not going to show you that one as Mum comes on here sometimes (hello Mum!) and I want the waistcoat to be a surprise for the family until Grandma's birthday at the end of October. It's proving to me a quick project.

I've made a good start on the Victorian wrap, but that's going to be a longer project. It's crocheted all in one piece, starting at the bottom of the back, going up the back and increasing for the sleeves and down the front, dividing for the wrap's fronts. The lacy cuffs and bottom of the wrap are then crocheted on. I've got as far as the sleeves, and something tells me that I'll still be working on it in the New Year!

Sunshine and floods

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:26:00 +0000

We're back! We've had a lovely break, very relaxing, but with very mixed weather! We spent most of the first half of the week at the beach, and that stretch of the Spanish coast has mile after mile of beautiful sandy beaches. B had his first proper swim in the sea (well, with arm bands and help from Daddy) and loved it - it took a lot of persausion to get him back out again! The second half of the week wasn't exactly beach weather, but we did go for a short walk on the beach in the wind and rain anyway! Rather then bore you with a blow by blow account of the holiday, I thought I'd share a few pictures instead......

Being chased by the waves!

Decisions, decisions

The biggest ice cream in the world!

Isn't it supposed to be sunny on holiday?

We're going to the beach, no matter what the weather!

The rain in Spain - this is a road!

Having a lovely time

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:39:00 +0000

A quick postcard from (not so) sunny Spain! Well, it was beautifully sunny at the beginning of the week, but the rain has definitely set in now - not that it's stopped us from going to the beach as you can see! We'll be back later this week. Bye for now!

News from the Daisychain Garden

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:58:00 +0000

This year was the first year that we tried growing vegetables. We've still got a massive amount to learn, but at least we didn't kill the plants! Neither T or I are the most enthusiastic gardeners. I love the idea of have a productive, well laid out garden that I can potter about in, dead heading and pruning and digging up our own veggies, but I don't really have the time needed to set everything up to get it organised and productive. This autumn, though, I am determined to dig up some raised beds. There's a perfect sunny spot under my workshed window, and the earth is already piled up there from when we levelled the garden to lay the new lawn.

So what has made me so determined to dig a raised bed? Let me introduce Mr Carrot (name chosen by B). Our carrots have been lovely and sweet and tasty but, well, let's just say that we now realise the importance of planting carrot seedlings in deeper soil!

P.S. The stick-on eyes were T's idea. Honest.
P.P.S We have dozens of green tomatoes but no ripe ones yet! I'm trying a few tricks I looking up on the internet to get them to ripen, but I think I may be making a few jars of green tomato chutney!

Moogin Beads

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Here are some of the photos of new designs that I've been promising you. Well, these are a different version of a design that I've used before, but it's a design that compliments Mindy's beautiful Moogin beads so well! I really love Mindy's focal beads. The amount of colour and detail that she puts into them is amazing - just look at all the detail in the colourful Flower Garden necklace in particular!

Both of the necklaces are on the website now!

Flutterby

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:15:00 +0000

My copy of the October issue of Beads and Beyond popped through the letter box this morning. It's full of dragonflies and butterflies this month, made from shrink plastic and ribbon as well as wire. I've got a four-page project in there this month - a jewellery set that has the butterfly and freshwater pearl necklace below as it's main piece. Following a suggestion from the magazine I'm selling the soldered butterfly frame needed for the centre piece of the necklace on my website so that you can make one for yourself even if you don't fancy a go at the soldering. They are £7 each, including p&p, and you can get them here!

By the way, the magazine is running a fantastic jewellery design competition at the moment. There are several different catagories including chainmaille, wirework and seed beads. The prize for the metal clay section if particularly appealing - shame I'm not allowed to enter!

New term, Fresh start

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:18:00 +0000

You know how I said that there must be a rule that states that the longer you leave it between blog post, the more difficult it is to get back into the habit again? Hmmmm....

The last month has been a bit of a blur to be honest, most of it good, but some of it I could have done without. I disappeared into a bit of a black hole for a while, a result really of the problem that landed me in hospital in May. It left me with some issues that I had to work through, and I seem to be getting myself sorted now. Being busy has helped! I've been busy with orders, with doing some preparation for Christmas (sorry! I always hated it when I was teaching and I saw the Christmas signs up in shops almost as soon as the new academic year started, but now my Christmas preparations start in the summer!), and with magazine projects. I love the fact that three years and seven days after I officially started my business I have enough work to fill all my working days and far more!

I've been feeling really productive and organised this week. I do love this time of year and the feeling of a fresh start that it brings, and I like being organised and having a routine. The sunny weather that we often get in at the beginning of September obviously helps too! The school year is still far more of an influence on my life than the calendar year is, which I guess is only to be expected after being at school/college/university for most of my life as either a student or a teacher. B started back at preschool yesterday morning. He's now one of the big boys there and I'm really pleased that he's kept the same teacher as last year. She's great. He's really happy about going as he's there at the same time as his best friend from across the road. Hopefully he'll continue being happy about it for most of the year, and we'll see how long my resolution of making his lunch the night before lasts!! A combination of preschool and childminder is giving me two mornings and two whole days working time (and I guess that I'd better do some housework in that time too!), and I'm really pleased with how much I've been able to get done in the day and a half that I've had so far this week - and the best thing is that I've got another day and a half left this week! I am so lucky to have work that I love and get excited about doing!

Anyway, this is only a quick post for now, but I'll be back again tomorrow with some photos of new designs and also some magazine news - yes, I know I said I had some new photos last month, but this time I really mean it!

Last day!

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:33:00 +0000

Just a quick post before I take B to the farm to feed the cows and goats and bounce on the trampolines....

Today is the last day of the 10% off sale on my website - it ends at midnight tonight, so if you were planning on getting your Christmas present shopping started early, you know where to go!

I'll be back later with some photos. Have a good day in the sunshine!

Time to go to the newsagents again!

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:02:00 +0000

The September issue of Beads and Beyond is out this Thursday, although if you're a subscriber then you should have received your copy by now. I've got a 4 page article in there this time, 'Fossil Finds', that uses wirework coils and flower agates to create a bracelet, a couple of pendants, a necklace and a pair of earrings. I forgot to take a photo of any of them before I sent them off, though, so you'll have to wait until a) you get a copy of the magazine or b) I get them back and post a photo to see them! I forgot to photograph the set that I've got in the October issue too, but I've made a note to take photos of the current submission I'm working on!

The beautiful flower necklace on the front cover, by the way, is by Eve who I had the pleasure of meeting when she flew down from Edinburgh for the day for silversmithing tuition in May. I was so flattered that she flew all that way for a day with me!! Congratulations for a gorgeous project Eve, and for being on the front page. You can see some more wirework in one of the pictures at the top - some lovely leaves by Rebecca, who's also based in Scotland.

I also took part in the Designer Challenge again. I really enjoy these challenges - four of us get sent the same beads (and who wouldn't love getting a lovely parcel of beads and get paid for using and writing about them?!) and we have to come up with projects using them. It's great to see all the different ideas everyone comes up with, and I love the way that having beads sent to me that I haven't chosen makes me think outside of my comfort zone and come up with something different from my usual style. Two of the designs I came up with, a necklace and a pair of earrings (shown above), are bonus projects on the Beads and Beyond website, so even if you can't get hold of the magazine itself, have a look here and get the instructions for some free projects!

A great day out!

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:52:00 +0000

The Bathtub race at Arundel was a fantastic day out yesterday - a great atmosphere, great company, great sales, great weather and some hilarious bath tubs on the River Arun!! If you're in the area next year it's definitely worth a day out. The Black Rabbit pub (the hosts) is a lovely venue and they laid on lots of entertainment. B loved the bouncy castle, and was fascinated by the owls that were perched next to my stall!

Daisychain Jewellery stall

Going with the tide - the easy bit once you've got your bathtub to float!

The team from the Beresford Pub didn't get very far!

A river full of floating bath tubs

Coming back against the tide didn't look quite so easy!

Dave the Barn Owl

The photo of the Beresford Pub team was taken from the Arundel Bathtub website - if you fancy seeing more, have a look here!

Bangles, birds and bath tub races!

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:32:00 +0000

What a week! I've been a very busy (and happy) bee with all the orders I've had through both the sale on my site and that on notonthehighstreet. As well as the lovebirds I showed you on Wednesday, I've been busy making bangles of various designs and quite a few of my new 24k gold and silver pendants too. Add to that a couple of commissions and a magazine article to finish, and you can see why I had to ask my Mum to come over and help entertain B for a few hours on Friday! It's something that I know Mum is happy to do but not something that I like to ask very often as a) B is my responsibility (well, and T's too of course!) not my parents and they should be spending time enjoying their retirement and b) I like to spend the days that B isn't at preschool or his childminder spending time with him, not working. However, this week had to be different as B couldn't go to his childminder on Thursday as he was, very unusually for him, ill there on the Wednesday. Of course, he was absolutely fine an hour after I brought him home - isn't that always the way?!

Anyway, why have I got a picture of people dressed up and paddling strange boats on the river? Next Saturday 8th August is the annual Arundel Bathtub Race at Arundel (of course!) in West Sussex. If you haven't been to that part of the South Coast before then it's well worth a visit. It's only a small town but it's got a castle, a cathedral, a river, lovely pubs and things for the children to do too. The Bathtub Race starts at the Black Rabbit pub which is along the River Arun from the Castle. There's parking at the Castle, and a free minibus the rest of the way to the pub.

I'm having a stall in the grounds of the pub for the day, so if you're in the area come and say hello and see my new designs in person! There'll be lots of other events too, including a bouncy castle, face painting, vintage cars and birds of prey. The day starts at 11am and the race itself starts at about 2.30pm. The whole day is to raise money for Chestnut Tree House, a local chidren's hospice, and I will be donating 10% of my sales to them too. If you'd like to come along, you can find more details by following this link.

I'm in love....

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:49:00 +0000

....with my new earrings! I don't usually show you a picture of new earring designs being worn, but I've decided to keep these ones for myself for once, so what do you think?

I love the soft sheen of the gold, and they are really comfortable to wear. I'm already planning stud earrings, a couple of pendants and a pair of cufflinks along the same line! Can you tell that I still really love doing keum boo?

If you fancy a pair for yourself, have a look here. They are included in the sale on my website which ends on 14th August.

P.S. If you like the look of the keum boo technique too then you may like to know that I will be offering keum boo tuition days as from the autumn. Watch this space for more details!

And the winner is.....

info@daisychainjewellery.co.uk (Jo) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:33:00 +0000

Kathryn Abrahams (aka Lazy Daisy Glass) - congratulations Kathryn! I'm not sure whether it was your blog comment entry or your newsletter entry that won, but I'll be in touch later today to get your address and your goodies will be with you soon! Thank you everyone for your lovely comments, and I'm sure I'll be doing another couple of giveaways before Christmas!

I set the photo studio up this morning in the hope that there would be a break in the clouds - and not only did the sun shine but I managed to get the shots before the sun went in again! I'll try and edit the photos this evening and post them as I'm really pleased with these earrings!