New Bits & Bobs

Been busy experimenting this week. Made a few new canes and a tutorial for my etsy shop. I was really pleased with how my stripey
beads turned out, edible or what! Cocked up a little though because my favourite set I forgot to add holes to before I baked them so they're kinda wasted now :(

I've now had a total of 4 sales since I opened my little Etsy shop and a lot of activity, so very pleased with that...It's so nice to know that some people out there actually like the stuff I'm making. It's given me a little boost in confidence that I think I needed to start putting myself out there.

Had an off Etsy sale yesterday when a friend of mine commissioned a bracelet for his girlfriend in greys and cream...I added a little K initial charm made from polymer clay and made the bracelet from silver, three handmade lampwork beads from a UK artist called Poppy, labradorite, mother of pearl , czech glass, toho seed and a few other bits and bobs, she really liked it from the picture, so that was a relief.

Today I experimented with mixing clay colours. I'm in the midst of planning my ABS May piece and so used the colour palette from the painting to make up my beads. They're pictured but are in the pre sanding stage so not too pretty at the moment. The clay colours came out pretty well though. I made some copper bead caps which I plan to use with some of the beads for my piece, hopefully it will turn out as I envisage.

I also had some fun with patina's today. I got my torch out and gave it a dusting off as it's been a while since I have worked with metal. I had a lot of pure copper beads that I wanted to add some patina and colour too. I mixed a load of custom patina colours to try out, each little bead in the pics is a different colour. They've been sanded and sealed with lacquer and renaissance wax and I will either put them in my shop or use them in a piece of jewellery.

I also made a few connector rings from copper and added some patina to them too...white on the smaller rings and peach on the larger ones. Not sure what I'm doing with those either. I'm running out of room to store things, my living room is overflowing with beady goodness :D