Tis the season for craft fairs.  I will be at Abney public Hall on Sat 1st Dec and Sun 2nd Dec.  Please do pop by and see me.

A bracelet from my shop is in the Storque showcase on ETSY.

Please pop in and have a look, i'd love to hear your feedback.

If you've never taken a look at ETSY before its an amazing site - all items are handmade and of the highest standard.  There are some absolutely beautiful items for sale there, and I'll definitely be stocking up for Crimbo pressies.

I'm way behind on my FSOJ postings and will try and catch up over the next few weeks.

Some time ago a friend asked me if it was possible to make him a chain using viking weave but making it very narrow.

As i had an order for a necklace and bracelet, i decided to experiment with the piece that was left over.  After lots of initial struggling, I manged to get it going and eventually pretty tightly meshed.  I like the out come, it looks like a very fluid piece of rope. 

I used rose quartz to turn it into a bracelet simply because it was too short for anything else.

For a commission piece, I think i would solder my own endcaps onto the ends as the wire wrap looks messy,  but for myself it sits comfortably on my wrist with my larger viking weave bracelet.

This is one of my alltime favourites of her designs, and one that she allowed me to use previously many years ago for a tattoo.

I used pnp to transfer the design onto silver for the etch, and then slighty domed the pendant before adding a tube bail onto the back.  To finish, the piece has been oxidised and barrell polished to bring out the design, and it hasn't left my neck since.

Julie

I recently bought Beaded treasures by Robin Atkins - which is based on finger weaving and knew that this would work perfectly for my bracelet. 

I had my monthly beadgroup last Saturday and it was the ideal time to make the bracelet.  A whole day of nothing but beading, show and tells and lunch with friends - bliss.

Am really pleased with the results.  I mixed in a few swarovski crystals and finished the end toggle with some tiny thai silver beads.  Just need to chop off the ends and its finished.

Julie

I'm back in the CWJ's Four Seasons of Jewellery after a few weeks out of the last season.

I made a pendant similar to this earlier on in the FSOJ and my friend Jean had admired it whenever she saw me wearing it.  I made this for her a few weeks ago,  but decided to save it for her birthday which was on Monday, so its now safe for me to post it up. 

Its two pieces of sterling silver that have been stamped and domed before soldering together and then adding translucent enamel to the centre dome, I like using translucents as the stamping still shows and gives it more texture. The back has a tube soldered to the back for the chain.

Julie

I made this pendant for my cousin's birthday present.  It's a little late because her birthday was in February and i've only just finished it!!!  I wanted to do something that was very personal and would mean something just to her, so I researched Chinese words until I found the just the right thing.

The pendant is sterling silver and the front has been acid etched with the name of her daughter Jasmine.  The back has been etched with the name of her husband Joe. 

Once etched, I shaped and soldered the two pieces together.

On the front - I wanted the symbols to be raised so painted on the acid resist in the shape of the symbols.  On the back I painted the whole piece with resist and then scratched out Joes name so that this would be recessed. 

I prefer the front to the back but that was because the acid was too strong - it only took ten minutes to etch both pieces so I didn't dare leave them in any longer.

The recessed areas have been oxidised, and then the whole piece was polished up to a high shine.  On both sides you can see a reflection of a shopping bag which is in a box near the light tent.

The Earth Bazaar had a massive sale of freshwater pearls a couple of weeks ago, so i stocked up on lots of different colours of coin pearls.

This is another design from the spring step-by step wire.  This time its by Jodi Bombardier.  I originally made the bracelet in the two shades of green.  It was so simple I decided to make another in the yellow and gold.

The yellow pearls are really garish and the gold really tones them down perfectly - this is my favourite of the two.

I bought these Lampwork beads a few weeks ago from Linda Rase when i met her at a craft show we were both selling at.

I bought quite a few beads (i know - its the usual of spending more than you are earning - but i couldn't resist) but this was my favourite set.  I loved the organic feel of them.  They remind me of the beach and the sea, and I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures  but some of the blue is translucent adding greater depth to the beads.

I wanted a simple design to make sure the beads were the highlight of any design.  The spring edition of step-by-step wire had a lovely simple bangle by Kerry Bogert which i thought was just perfect for the beads.