True Blonde

I got my hair done at the weekend... I was feeling a little bored of the auld brunette thang, so I've got a bit of blonde in my hair now! And I'm loving the new series of True Blood that started last week... Sookie is mine!!!!

I've not been doing a whole lot of jewellery making of late. I'm not quite sure why. Work just has me a little exhausted, which is quite annoying but that's a whole other discussion, and it has nothing to do with beads! I've been having a real Incubus moment lately too, they've a new album out next week which I'm MEGA EXCITED about... Guess that's what's getting me going these days!

I've started making a necklace, it's a work in progress, I want it to be a striking, heavy multi-strand kinda job, but at the moment there's just two chains done.

I'm thinking of keeping the colour palate in the greens and browns arena...

The trouble with some of the stuff I make is that I tend to make for myself. I use bits and colours that I really adore, and that means I end up wanting to keep the jewellery a lot of the time, and that's not a whole lot of good to me when I want to sell some stuff at a huge profit! I think I just don't have enough supplies... I reckon that if I start to buy my lovely bits in bulk I can make something that I really like, and then duplicate it... I think that's the way to go. I hope. Cos it's the only plan I've got!

So last night I was in the mood for a session with my pliers. I decided to use some shining beads that I purchased a few weekends ago on a trip to Cork. My friend Maura brought me to a terrific shop called Vibes and Scribes, and they had a lovely collection of sparkly bits and pieces, along with gorgeous wools, and more books than my head could handle! 

I started off with a silvery metal tassel that I got in a big bag of broken bits from Kate way back in February for my birthday. I decided that I wanted a rich colour like red to go with it. I also wanted the tassel to be the focus, so I made it the right size to be able to slip on and off my hand without needing a clasp. 

Good, huh??

There. Used some of the first lot of beads I got in Cork. But I couldn't not use the other ones! They'd feel ever so left out. So I rummaged through my bags of bits, found some really cool bronze coloured beads with a sort of Aztec pattern on them, and I incorporated them into another wee bracelet.

I'm not sure which I prefer. 

Here's a small close up, just to try to show off the pretty beads I was using!!

Close-up, modeled on our cats-paw oak table... Cute, huh? 

I feel like I'm at a bit of a loss for words this evening. The rain and work of the day has kinda zapped my energy. I got Cosmo (August issue) yesterday, kind of just because it had a cool aqua-blue nail varnish free with it... That's about the only thing pepping me up right now! I've lots to do as regards housework at the moment, along with trying to come up with new and exciting things for us to have for dinner!

My new nails with my new bracelets. 

I feel like a very boring blogger after this! I haven't written in almost a month and this is possibly one of my skimpiest posts to date! I will say now, I have decided to dedicate this entry to my wee little scarf model Radley who sadly didn't survive the being-silly-and-eating-plastic incident. The house seems really quiet without her. She was one of the good ones...

I'm going to stop blogging now, before this becomes a cat-astrophe! 

Back to basics

It's been a very long time since my last blog post, and for that, I'm sorry! It was a hectic few months with exams and such, but all of that is in the past now! At least until the results come out next week... Oye.

I've been unpacking all my belongings from Dublin for the last two weeks. Turns out I have a lot of stuff. And I've hoarded SO much over the years. What was I thinking? I've been holding on to utter rubbish! No more of that sentimental fluff, minimalism all the way... For the most part. I still want my room to feel a little cosy. Shouldn't be too hard. It's fricking tiny! But despite how brutal I'm being at the moment, one of the things I still refuse to throw away is old jewellery... It's the best! I dismantled many pieces this evening, both stuff I'd bought, and stuff I'd made yonks ago that was, quite frankly, awful.

I've been watching episodes of The Office end-to-end... I secretly wish my office was like that, but it really isn't. At all. To scare away the boredom, I decided to make myself a super simple bracelet, something dainty and understated that I can still wear when typing at a computer all day! Seeing as it's Summer (according to the calendar), I decided to go for a nice bright yellow.

I'm back to using my trusty bead board for modelling stuff, my desk has been dismantled in recent weeks.

So, that was me sorted anyway. This brightened up my day no end. Which was awesome, because my day was pretty dull! Turns out I miss the auld engineering job I had for the last few summers. If nothing else, I kind of had my own office... Although it was referred to as The Creche. Now I'm back to hopping desks on a daily basis. It's cool though. Keeps things fresh. Also means that I get to sit opposite loads of different people, and maybe take a few ideas with me!

One of the ladies in my office is turning 60 tomorrow. She's one of the super nice ones, always makes a fuss of everyone. She even bought me stuff and decorated my desk for my 21st. So I figured the least I could do is to make her a present that hopefully won't break before I finish this job again in September. That would be embarrassing. So far I've only heard of one piece of jewellery I made biting the dust. And I'm sure Gordonka wasn't being as careful with it as she was leading me to believe... Quite the little imp so she is! Replacing that red number from a few months ago is definitely top of my to-do list this summer anyway.

Back to the birthday present though. This lady tends to wear really bright colours, and she always coordinates her jewellery to her outfit. Again, I'm trying to make pieces simple so I can keep colours strong. 

www.blogger.com is being a bit of a pain this evening and keeps rotating this image. Truth is, I'm a little too tired and disinterested to be bothered figuring out how to make it not do this. 

Apologies.

Right. So, I'd made two pieces and I was feeling good. I get a bit lost in all the pretty colours after a while, and time sort of flies by, but at some point this evening, not quite sure when, I decided to fulfill a promise I made to one of my friends at work that I'd make her something. I asked her what colours she liked, because as you well know, I have a list. Must take a picture of it sometime, but not tonight Josephine. Anyway, she said I was to surprise her. Initially I put aside some sea-blue and turquoise beads, but I think I'll save those for another day. Instead, I stuck to rounded shiny beads. With the exception of my earlier lemon creation, I'm feeling the tendency to steer clear of seed-beads. Instead I'm opting for chunkier, and again, stronger colour palettes. Based on what she tends to wear on a daily basis I came up with another multi-strand bracelet (I'm really feeling the bracelets this week, I hope you'll forgive me. I've got earring plans in the works, I swear, and I've already found myself an ear model.) that I think will work quite well with her other wrist-wear. 

Wahey. This website has redeemed itself. 

I hope I'm not boring everyone with this post. I'm trying to ease myself back in to the jewellery game. I know I'm kind of playing it safe, but I find, when looking through the pieces I wear most, that simple is best. I used to love fancy, sparkly stuff, but now I find I prefer to wear classic, unadorned things. Less patterns, more colour blocking. But, for my last piece this evening, I decided to go nuts. Sort of. I had these beads, they're a bit mad looking, and I found they were far too heavy to thread onto the standard nylon that I tend to use, plus the clasps were getting lost in them! So, I salvaged a hoop of wire from an old item, and bundled them on to that. Despite the mad, fussy colours, I think I might wear it. For one of those days when I'm feeling a little wild. Which, in Kerry, should be any day now. 

Unfortunately the colours haven't come up as vividly as they could have... I might try to take a fresh picture in day light one of these days. If those grey clouds ever clear...

This has been about the extent of my creativity of late. Although, there is one exception. All my Facebook buds will have seen this already, but I'll throw it up just in case any strangers happen to stumble across this some day. I got a canvas as part of a watercolour set (I think!) yonks ago. I painted lots of girlie swirls and patterns on it a few years ago, and the 'rents liked it so they hung it up in my room while I was away at college. I was looking at it when I came home, and my new, simpler tastes, required something a little different. So I channeled Mr. Rothko himself, and threw a load of slightly shimmery acrylics down... 

Don't forget about Prize Bonds... The risk-free money investment! Stay frosty guys.