Ch ch ch changes......?

It's been more than a month since I made my last, slightly depressed, blog post so I thought I ought to do a quick catch up.

I've been making some necklaces recently......  one of them sold within minutes of me putting the pics up on Facebook and another one sold the next day at an event I was at so yay!

This is one that sold......

this is still available.....

so is this one......

and so is this headdress......

I have more headdresses to make and I've made two more necklaces tonight but I can't get pics cos my camera battery is dead - I'm such a numpty. 

But my biggest news is about a real life job.  Now.  I know.  You're scratching your head and wondering why on earth I might be seeking out a real life job when I could just carry on being a starving artist.  Guess what?  I hate being a starving artist, I have me and two kids to look after and some weeks it's just too stressful.

So I need a real life job.  I'll not bore you with the ins and outs of life as a single parent (trust me, I never ever imagined I would be a parent let alone a single parent at age 46) but my life would be made a little easier if I could find a part-time job that I could do alongside my part-time self employed hours.  

This week I had an interview for a job that I'm pretty sure I could do well.  Fingers crossed eh?  

Jewellery Display Ideas

This morning has seen me coming up with some new ways to use some of the items I already have and make them even more useful in terms of displaying my handmade jewellery.  I've set myself a task this year and have booked myself into a craft fair each month for the rest of the year.  So I wanted to make sure that I could get everything set up as quickly as possible and have it look good too without having to spend any extra money.

First of all I took out my print tray and considered screwing in some little eyes so that I could hang earrings but then I had an idea......why not use some of my card-stock and make cards that could slot into the sections.  Each card has two holes and then the earrings (and a few other things) are hung on the cards.  Customers can then take out the card and even buy the earrings with them still attached to the card should they wish to.

Positioning is important and I need to play around with where things are but overall I'm happy with this - and the tray fits on my easel so I can have it standing on the table or lie it down flat and the cards make sure that the jewellery gets seen.  I've also added a little price sticker onto the top right corner of every card so the earrings are not marred by having a price label directly on them.

Here's the tray propped up against my dolly/body:

Next up was a way to display and house all of my handmade bracelets.  I have a cute little case and again was going to screw in some hooks but that idea was thwarted by my inability to actually screw the things in once I had drilled a little hole.  How pathetic.  Never mind, necessity being the mother of invention I remembered I had a couple of metal coat-hangers left so I cut one up and using my pliers and the strength I do have, I fashioned a wire hanger that sits on the top edge of the opened case and onto which I have hung some bracelets.  The rest of my handmade bangles can sit in the bottom of the case.

I used another length of hanger wire to make a similar hanger for a similar sized box that can stand on one end and have a few necklaces draped across it.

Also in my possession is an ornate tray that has a slight verdigris on it and although I didn't have enough length of wire to make another hanger, I did have enough to fashion some hooks that slide on and then they can have jewellery hung on them inside the tray.  The pic doesn't do this set up justice and the beauty of the separate hooks is that I can use them on either the long or the short side of the box making it more versatile.

So now all I have to do when I get to a fair is position these various devices on my table and then artfully arrange my necklaces on the dolly body and some of my vintage and vintage looking frames so that they can be easily seen.  Although I will confess that I do love how they look when they are all piled around dolly body's neck:

Now that the kitchen is clear I shall make another cup of tea and see what everyone has been up to over at the 100th Handmade Monday blog hop.

Sneak Peek

So it's night time and the lights are on and the kids are in bed but moaning about wanting to stay up and so I'm taking (bad) photos....

Take a look if you will......none of it is pretty - it's all for the adventurous soul.......

Afganistan stampings, eletra (bug wings) and tribal fringe bits on Noibium ear-wires (I LOVE Noibium ear-wires - after my second child was born I couldn't wear any of my earrings but Noibium has changed all of that) - and I'll warn you now, I shall be using  lot of my tribal belly dance bits and bobs in the upcoming jewellery selection......

Afghanistan stampings, light metal circles, kyanite shards and steel wire - all very light-weight and all on noibium wires - from now on all earrings are on noibium wires and if they're on sterling silver wires I'll tell ya....

Brass stampings, hammered out, brass wires (sorry - forgot about these ones) and tribal bits and bobs, turquoise stones and quartz crystals held in brass bell bead caps.....

I love these ones most - twisty vintage pearls, inside light-weight brass rings, decorated with brass religious medals and belly dance bits, super small antique keys and faceted vintage beads.....noibium wires like I said before....

I adore this necklace - it has a massive inverted rhinestone crescent, held with antique patinated tin, accented with a vintage thingy (ok, I have no other word for it!) and a large amethyst point wound in annealed steel wire.  It is held as a necklace by vintage lace, wound with more steel and an extender chain finished with a carnelian bead.  

I have a whole heap of these coming up - amulet necklaces - little pouches of vintage fabric where you can secrete something precious to you and only you.....this one is made of vintage sari fabric and is embellished with a blue oyster shard, a tribal belly dance doo dad, kyanite teeth and golden and pink sari decos.  All held with plaited blue silk, antique brass chain and a French religious medal.....

All metal has been oxidised - Indian metal work, altered agates, kyanite shards, metal bits, religious medals and niobium ear-wires......

I love this one - vintage tin outer, silver and amber earring as a rivet, vintage book pages, agate beads, brass chain and silk length wrapped with glistening thread.  Turquoise and tribal bits for deco on the bottom...... absolutely one of a kind......

Gypsy Tribal bangle stacks (tutorial courtesy of Fanciful Devices) and the above ones are in white....

These ones are in pink.......

These are in green......

Apparently I made water-melon tourmaline bangles and so I am happy.

Give me 48 hours and all of this and more will be up in my Etsy shop.....if you want anything before then be quick and we can negotiate a price.....xx

Setting The Handmade Table

A couple of weeks ago I attended a craft fair at my daughter's school, the express purpose being trying out some ideas for show-casing and displaying my items.  I kind of got the look I was aiming for, a bit shabby chic, a bit bohemian in style and although there's room for tweaking I was pleased with how it all looked.

Most of the display items were things I have at home anyway, like the cage, the platters and dishes and the head is the one I currently use to photograph my headdresses.  I had shabby chic'ed the frames a little while ago and they've been really useful too, either as display items at events or as props when I'm photographing.

  

The doilies were a quick addition as I wanted a way to show of the bracelets that made them easy to handle - they're all different and very tactile, and the cage is something that I've had in my bedroom for years.  Once it was stuffed with a scarf it was a good way to show off some of my vintage necklaces.

I've a long way to go before I'm entirely happy with everything when it's set up like this, but I'm getting there.  And now on this gloriously sunny day I'm going to hand you over to everyone at Handmade Monday.  Enjoy!