Pink and perky

SOLD

See I promised you more jewellery ;0) Laura Sparlings beautiful beads with Karen Hill Tribe Silver. This bracelet is more a bangle as its threaded on Sterling Silver wire but its sits beautifully on the wrist - truly a timeless classic!



Elli is off for another party- she has a way better social life than me! Bouncy castle by the looks of things when I dropped her off!



I''m halfway through Harry Potter now and thoroughly enjoying this book- the last book I read of JKRowlings was in hospital - its two years ago since the last book was out and nearly two years ago since I spent the summer in and out of hospital - it seems in some ways like a few months ago yet at the same time like forever ago! FUnny though although Elli was only 4 at the time she remembers it well and often talks abut drs removing something from your tummy! (For those of you not in the know I had an absess growing on my ovary - after a HSG (we were trying for another baby) it pushed the poison around my body - the absess was thought to be a endometrium cyst not an absess so I was left in severe pain and feeling like death warmed up - it was only found when the dr after 3 weeks of (3 different kinds) antibiotics checked me over and found a hot spot!! )





Right I'm off to sort out earrings to match this little beauty and photograph my latest bracelet..

A huge GET WELL SOON to my friend Caroline who has got Chicken pox!

© Gemheaven 2007

Helm/parallel chain

This is the name of this chainmail weave I just conquered today. It's not a difficult one to do, but it's not the easiest either. And you need to have the exact size of rings for this (two sizes actually) for it to work.
We had an electricity blackout today so since I couldn't get to my pc to learn something else new, I made also a pair of earrings. The little beads on the earrings are some bone of some kinds, not sur what. Ordered them online from a bead shop in Australia.
The actual rings are bright aluminum, one of the favorite types of metal for working with chains. It's so light on my wrist, I can hardly feel it.

Yawn!

No piccies today - sorry but I am working on some pieces so maybe tomorrow if you are lucky!

We slept in our new caravan last night - well slept isn't really the right word for me - I lay in the caravan last night. Charlie the cat )pic of which is shown on another post) decided it was party time - normally he is shut in the lounge where his cat flap goes into the garage then out into the back garden so he can roam free but of course Elli wanted him in with us. :(

To begin with he sort of settled on me - but Charlie isn't like any normal cat - Charlie has to be cuddled but of course then he "nests" you know that thing they do with their claws - in, out, in ,out!!! Arghhhh I kept moving him and he crawls back up to my neck!! Eventually I put him out and he disappeared for a while - I may have slept ! Then he meowed to come back in - I thought (silly!) that he may be ready to sleep but oh no! a moth followed him into the van so he was bouncing around trying to catch it! SO again I popped him back outside so he decided to jump onto the caravan roof and it sounded like he was bouncing up and down on it - the a paw was being poked through the vent in the roof with miaow's here and there - this woke Elli up!

Opening the door he's trying to get in from the roof - until he was hanging from the door I managed to get him in on Elli's bunk and tried to settle him back down - but oh no up down up down - finally at 7.30 this morning Charlie decided it was sleep time!

Yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn I could sleep for a week!!

My first pair of silver earrings

I think it's time I upgraded some of my materials from cheap wire to silver. So in honour of that, I made now my first pair of earrings. Bali caps and ear wire from Ebay and the silver core is wire from here. Thank god I found a distributor of silver wire here, so I don't have to pay outrageous shipping prices for the wire at least!
Even hubby noticed how different this pair is from whatever I did until now. I guess the silver really shines through!

For any enquiries about this pair, please send me an email or leave me a comment with your email addy to contact you.


Here is another pair I just finished now. Ran out of silver wire, must buy more on Monday, grrrr.

As Simple As

Sometimes I need to make something and before I know it something else has been created! Today was one of those days, I was making a bracelet when I came up my stairs to my sanctuary (to me its my sanctuary - to my family, its a messy room filled with beads, tools, and wire lol!) but when I got in here I made up a pair of earrings (see below) and somehow started on this necklace!

I love Black Onyx and Crystal Quart together - its just a very simple, yet classy, combination. Today I sold another classic necklace from my website and I suppose without thinking I decided to replace it -as it to was black as well. (Kelly hope you enjoy wearing her!)

After my mammoth torching session on Wednesday my torch appears to be broken :( Luckily my lovely dh bought me another so guess what I'll be doing later ;0)

SOLD

© Gemheaven 2007

Hellas

Another exercise in wire. This time I used coils at the end of the elements, which I find it gives the bracelet a sort of Greek flair. Thus I've named it Hellas :)
This one has larger coils and it's chunkier than the previous wire tattoo bracelet. I quite like shaping the wire and it's interesting working without beads, for a change.
It was fun to make this different clasp from the regular clasps I've been doing to end the bracelets.

Beneath the Sea

I think I've fallen in love with this bracelet - I only finished her last night, a burnt finger and thumb later! The colours on Isabelles lampwork beads are magical - like a rainbow as you move your arm. The twirly bits (Or ding dongs as my friend Deedee calls them!) are made from fine silver and that was how I burnt myself - should have gathered it was hot lol!

TOday we've been to Dairyland (a fun park including farm animals and tractors!) Elli had a friends party and its too far to go and drop her there - so two coffees later and it was still raining - luckily there is an indoor soft play area where we all went - it was so busy and I felt really sorry for all the holiday makers trying hard to find something in the dry because of the horrendous weather we've been having :(

© Gemheaven 2007

Don't judge a book by its cover

I was cleaning out my shelf of older books to bring them on Saturday to St. Pauls church charity bookshop. These were long on my TBR pile and I knew that I wouldn't read them soon.
One of the books I intended to just give away without reading is Replay by Ken Grimwood. The book is a hardcover, tattered and battered, with dust jacket torn in places, the pages rather wavy, nothing appealing about it.

I checked on Bookmooch for the title, and I noticed that it was a highly wishlisted book. I got intrigued by that, of course, and decided to flip through it afterall.

Started reading it during the evening and finished it the next evening afer work. It was THAT good! And thinking that I wanted to just donate it without reading because the book was not in pristine condition (and quite old, from the late 80's).
It turned out to be one of the best books that I've ever read!! (and I've read a couple of thousand books by now).

The story is one that appeals to fans of time-travel, of questions like 'what if I can live again, would I do it in a different way next time'?
Jeff Winston dies at his desk at work while talking on the phone with his wife. He then wakes up a full-fledged 18 back in college, with the mind of a 40 years old, since he retained all the memories of his past life...
I won't disclose more as to avoid spoilers, but if the subject intrigues you just a tiny bit, read it! It might be difficult to find, as it's an older book, but it's worth searching! I added it to Bookmooch.com and it was requested soon after.

So even though the physical appearances of a book might not be what one calls 'in pristine condition', even though you just want to throw it away as it looks that bad, don't judge a book by its cover. You might throw away a gem!

Wire tattoo

I was playing this afternoon with wire, from a book by Linda Jones (Creating Wire and Beaded Jewelry), and made this little eyelet chain. It's so small and fun on my wrist, it looks like a tattoo :) It's good exercise with wire, in getting more used to it, how it can bend, what one can do with it.

Russian Royalty

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I bet your wondering why I named this post "Russian Royalty" apart from the name of my latest piece!!! Well I think my muse has been at work again - I made this necklace last night - on eof those times when you are in the middle of changing a piece to fit a client and something all together different is born (If you are a reading this JO - your dizzy jewellery designer has finished it!!! ) Princess Tatiana is a compliation of Isabelle Anderson's beautiful lampwork and coral with amethyst and Karen Hill Tribe Silver.

Elegantly cool, I still don't know where the name came from - I read up on Princess Tatiana and am none the wiser so if anyone knows why my muse wanted this name can you let me know :0P

Anastasia of course a Russian Princess most people have heard of - the story of Anna Anderson intrigues me so much - read about it HERE.

© Gemheaven 2007

Fire and Water

Amazonite is a pretty stone (not just found around the Amazon but also in Russia and the United States). When it is a solid soft blue-green as it is in the bracelets above, it is truly beautiful although I like it when it has interesting inclusions as well. The top bracelet I mixed with peridot and with a rose quartz tulip bead to match one of James Derrick Reeves' pretty lampwork beads. The second bracelet again features Reeves' beads this time complemented by faceted black onyx. The colours of Reeves' lampwork beads and his patterns are really amazing.

Below I started working with some fire agate I 'd gotten in the last few weeks. The bangle bracelet below has a large oval with my favourite mixtures of translucency, cream, red, and orange. The rondelles are also fire agate. The carnelian necklace has fire agate ovals alternated with chunky faceted carnelian nuggets. A 14 karat gold filled chain holds a carnelian turtle, carnelian fish, vermeil disk, and fire agate smooth teardrop.






Finally, a wonderful aquamarine bracelet with a great swirling dichroic bead by Paula Radke at its center. The aquamarine stones on this bracelet are especially pretty, both smooth and faceted. Some sterling and a dichroic bead are all that's needed.

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Hearing Voices

Now before everyone tell me to take my meds its my own voice I can hear - I was wondering whether anyone else writes their blogs in their heads as they are performing everyday tasks - like cleaning the toilet???? YOu should hear me sometimes I don't half go on - yet I can applaud myself for great wording etc but then sadly (or not!) I forget my great writings before I even have thought about typing/writing them out so sadly you are all missing out on my words of wisdom!! (which I'm sure they aren't really before anyone becomes sad and depressed at my lack of organisation in writing everything down as I'm thinking) . Funny thing is I never forget a flash of inspiration when it comes to my jewellery - I had this conversation yesterday about keeping a book by the side of my bed when those flashes come - but so far (touch wood) I haven't needed one - all my designs seem to stick in a little drawer in my head like a huge filing cabinet! ;0)

Pentreath my latest pebble piece is named after Pentreath beach nr Penzance (Of course I have to name them after Cornish beaches!!) Isabelles Sectacular beads complimented by silver (Lots of!!) I feel like a framer when I recieve beautiful lampwork beads - I have to show them off to their very best and it can be nerve racking at times. Hopefully I did these beautiful pebbles justice.