Averilpam Design

Craft Fair - 'Post Mortem'

2011-11-25T14:19:00.001Z

I had a stall last Saturday at the Green Party's Christmas fair in Lancaster. I have done several and always do reasonably well. I don't ever sell my more expensive items but this year I had lots of older jewellery reduced to rock bottom prices and sold a lot of it. I was very pleased to do this though it would have been nice to sell a little more of my full price items.
However when I looked at two photos a friend took of the stall when I had just set it up I was horrified.
This is the result of setting up a jewellery stall when you are in a state of total fatigue and with very few functioning brain cells (That's me behind the stall trying not to be in the photo!):

It looks like a jumble sale! A huge redesign is needed for any future fairs I may do. Next year I'm planning to go to my daughter's in the USA in the spring instead of the autumn which means I won't be jetlagged and exhausted when I do this fair. I'm hoping to be better organised and get a couple of other fairs booked for next year too.

A Few Photos

2011-10-29T14:40:00.000+01:00

I promised I would keep blogging whilst here in the USA but I've not so far kept that promise. I've not really done much of the sort of thing that's interesting for people who don't actually know my family - mostly day to day stuff like laundry and shopping. We've been to one child's birthday party and hosted another, taken the dog for walks and I've been fishing with my granddaughter. Tonight we are going to a Halloween party with friends I've not seen since I was here last year so I'm looking forward to that and may have photos to share later.
I also have a jewellery party booked next Friday and hopefully a trip to some botanical gardens nearby. I hope the weather improves at the moment it's pouring with rain and snow is forecast... though 'they' say it will be sunny again next week.
So for now here are a few photos, mostly taken in the park behind the house.

Common Buckeye butterfly, wonderfully co-operative, it stayed on this flower long enough for me to get several photos

Vapour trails - we are fairly close to the airport. Some of the planes are low enough to see the logos on their tails!

Emily fishing in the lake. The autumn colours are really beautiful at the moment


Sunlight through a maple tree.

I realised when uploading these that most of my photos have been saved as tiffs which won't upload so I need to do jpeg versions of some more. Hopefully I'll manage another blog post before I go home.
Time is now speeding up alarmingly and I have just 12 days left here. As always I don't want to leave my lovely family though I do miss Monty and my friends at home.

Little Big Shot Close Up Camera Lens

2011-08-30T14:11:00.000+01:00

I recently bought an amazing little lens from an Artfire seller, David, called the Little Big Shot.
This is what arrived

I had told David which camera I have and the measurement of the lens area. Two lenses are in the case but the smaller one fits best onto my camera. It's very easy to set up, there are precise instructions via videos on David's blog.
The lens goes onto the camera using a piece of click lock tape (a bit like velcro but it snaps together rather than having hooks and loops). You get a good sized piece so if you need to replace it you have plenty.
I watched the videos on the blog and went out to try it out. The first attempt was a dismal failure. I couldn't get the camera to focus at all. I've no idea what I did wrong, I thought I'd made the alterations to my camera settings that are recommended but in the process I must have done something wrong.
I was feeling very unwell at the time (regular readers or FB likers will know I had a wisdom tooth removed) so decided to put it all away for a while and try again another day.

In the meantime a friend took me to Southport flower show (see the earlier blog entry) where all my photos came out with a dreadful red cast. I reset the white balance (don't remember setting it wrongly but I must have!) and my camera now functions normally again.

I duly watched the video with the operating instructions again. David recommends using the 'P' setting on the camera which I'm familiar with from my previous Canon camera. My Ricoh doesn't have this setting but on reading through the camera manual I found I can indeed change the ISO.
so having got the settings right - it's really simple, right, so how did I manage to mess up the white balance and render the camera unable to focus???
My problem now was purely physical. The camera needs to be held really steady, more so than in my usual macro mode, which is challenging for me. I don't have a tripod and it isn't always practical to use one to get to what I want to photograph anyway.
My next set of photos were all blurred.
Third time lucky, I have some rather fuzzy and some reasonably in focus shots so I've decided to share them.

Red lobelia, not perfectly focused but I like it, the colour is amazing and shows better in the next photo

This was the best of the lobelia photos, all the rest were very blurred, but as I had to hold the camera quite high (they are really tall) I'm pleased I got this one.

The first of the alchemilla (ladies mantle) photos. This is a very old scruffy leaf but the idea was to get the water droplets. I've had fairly good macro shots of alchemilla before but was hoping for something better.

Here I've got in closer using the zoom with the lens, a bit fuzzy though.

This is looking more like it but still not good enough, I'm still not holding the camera steadily enough to hold the point of focus as I click the shutter.

Finally this is the sort of shot I've been hoping for, getting the little hairs at the edge of the leaf and the reflections in the water droplets.

Well 'they' say practice makes perfect, so I know I've a lot of practicing to do, but I will enjoy it and am confident I'll get better. My wrists aren't going to get any stronger but I'll find ways to keep the camera steady and just keep clicking away until I get what I want. Fortunately plants don't move much if it isn't too windy, getting insects etc will be more challenging as they don't tend to keep still and pose for the camera!

Southport Flower Show

2011-08-26T12:16:00.000+01:00

Last weekend was the Southport Flower Show. I've never been before, in fact I've never been to any of the flower shows, so I was delighted when a friend asked me if I'd like to go along with her.
We started out by looking at all the gardens that had been made, some were just amazing.

The path to the cottage is made from potatoes!
I had a problem with the photos which all had a hideous red cast on them. I spent some time on Photoshop trying to correct it but they still aren't as good as I'd like. I later discovered that while playing with some of the camera settings earlier in the week I'd accidentally changed the white balance!
After looking round most of the gardens we went on to the various marquees to check out flower displays and lots of stands with amazing plants arranged. There were plenty of plants for sale too and I could have spent a fortune and filled my garden three times over but I managed to resist the temptation, coming home with two plants and some bulbs for my alpine rock garden in a sink. Some of the original plants have died and others have become rampant so I need to revitalise it.
I'm thinking next spring I will carefully remove all the plants and remake it completely.
We also found some amazing alpine displays using all sorts of containers.

Most of the time I was too enthralled by it all to take photos so this is all I have. My friend plans to try to replicate some of these lovely mini gardens, they are certainly inspiring.

Polymer Clay Lizard Earrings

2011-08-25T11:22:00.000+01:00

I bought a set of two little stamps recently, each has the same lizard but pointing in opposite directions. I made my first pair of earrings with them and am sending this pair to the shop in Leeds which is taking some earrings and brooches in November.
I love them so much that if I could wear earrings I'd keep them!

I've decided to make more of this design. I plan to do them in different colourways, with different beads, different wires etc, they are just too cute not to repeat!
They will cost £14 and will be put on sale in all my shops. If you would like a pair let me know and we can discuss the colours you'd like.

Polymer Clay - Finished Work

2011-08-20T09:53:00.000+01:00

Here are the two brooches and a ring, out of the oven and finished off.

This is my first attempt at a ring. I've just bought some filigree metal ring blanks from treasuresinmeasures so I'll be making some more soon.

These two brooches are probably going to a shop in Leeds in time for Christmas, they've asked me to send 6 brooches and 6 sets of earrings and I need to get them made before the end of September when I go to the USA.
The buttons, 3 sets, are available in my supplies shop AverilpamEtc on Folksy.

Polymer Clay - Into the Oven!

2011-08-04T15:43:00.001+01:00

Here's a quick pic of my latest oven batch. Three sets of matching buttons, 2 brooches and the top for a ring. I found a tutorial for making a simple ring base using rubber cord, and as I've never made one before decided to have a try. I don't know if I'll ever make them to sell, but Polyform (they make Premo polymer clay) have monthly 'make it your own' contests and August's is big rings. You can enter as often as you like so I may do some more. Textures and metallic/mica finishes are my fascination at the moment so I'm indulging myself and I've ordered a couple of new texture sheets.

The heart brooch needs some work, I put too much silver on it so the texture lost some definition but I can sand some of it off and bring out the black/purple base colours. Sorry the photo isn't brilliant but I only took one quick photo before they went into the oven. Once the jewellery is finished I'll post some better photos.

UFO or WIP?

2011-07-26T21:00:00.000+01:00

Does anyone else find these acronyms confusing - there are so many around these days my poor fuddled brain can't always cope!
In this case I'm talking about Work in Progress and UnFinished Object. I'm wondering when the former turns into the latter. How long does a work in progress need to sit around before it becomes an unfinished project that may never be picked up again.
I've quite a few sitting around. Firstly a half made scarf on the loom.

I got part way through and realised I didn't like it so folded the loom up and put it away and got on with other things. Now I'm thinking I may never weave again on that loom unless I decide to cut my losses and cut it off the loom. Such a waste of wool I think but actually a worse waste of a loom if I hide it away and don't use it! Part of me still thinks I should just get it finished...
Then there is the rug sitting in a carrier bag behind the couch. I've not done much but like the scarf I've 'gone off' the fabric I used for most of what I have done. I know I should throw it out and start again with fabric I like better. Part of the problem was that the fabric frayed so badly that every time I worked on the rug everything around including myself ended up covered in bits that clung stubbornly to my clothing, the couch and the carpet. At this point there should be a photo of said partly made rug but I can't find it!
There is a fair amount of jewellery that I made early on in my jewellery making enterprise and which needs taking apart and remaking - or just taking apart so the beads can be used for something else or sold on.
Then there are various little pots and bags with polymer clay projects that are either waiting to be finished off and made into jewellery or - well, just sitting around because they didn't come out quite as planned.

I will probably finish most of these off someday but I'm not sure about the pink beads, basically I don't really like them so I'll leave them sitting for now.

Works in Progress

2011-06-28T15:44:00.001+01:00

I bought a lovely new book recently - Patterns in Polymer by Julie Picarello. I had pre ordered it from Amazon some time ago and was delighted when it arrived last weekend. It was really inspiring and helped to kick start my ailing creativity.
She shows some really interesting techniques as well as really good tips on mixing colours.
I made up four colours, a deep red, lighter pink, pale blue and buttery cream. They look good together and had enough contrast for Makume Gane which is a technique which works best with plenty of contrast.

The large piece is made using the mokume gane I made, I wasn't very happy with most of the slices and ended up using it to make the beads which I think will make a necklace. The left over stack of colours I sliced with a wavy blade which gives a nice zig zag pattern. I used leftovers to make what Julie calls a lizard tail which I flattened out and used for the bottom piece in the photo. I haven't decided yet what to do with these.
I made some earrings with the zig zag patterned clay:

Squirrel Antics

2011-06-14T11:51:00.000+01:00

One of the squirrels came back to my garden yesterday. Well I choose to believe it's one of the same squirrels but it may not be!
He climbed up the narrow metal pole with no trouble and first of all made for the fat filled half-coconut shell. I was on the phone to a friend at the time and was describing the scene to her. She told me to put the phone down and get photos for her, which I did. By this time he had given up on the fat and was raiding the sunflower seeds quite successfully by hanging upside down.

Unfortunately I will have to disappoint him if he returns as I usually have a plastic lid taped halfway up the pole to stop rats climbing up.
The plastic lid recently fell off, due to pigeons standing on it to feed on the seed that drops onto it from the niger and sunflower seed feeders. The only way I've found to attach it is with brown parcel tape, not very pretty and far from permanent, but effective!
A squirrel has, in the past, jumped onto the top of the pole from the slate slab which stands upright nearby, so I may not have spoiled his fun.

Keyrings, a New Line for Averilpam

2011-06-09T13:43:00.000+01:00

I'm trying a new line in my Folksy shop, I've listed one so far and have 2 more to go in soon. The first is made with a gorgeous agate slab. It's dyed purple, which shows up round the edges. In the centre you can see lovely golden brown markings, the photo unfortunately doesn't do it justice. The other two use slices from polymer clay canes with metal charms.

June Bugs Listing Club

2011-06-06T15:57:00.000+01:00

This month the Folksy listing club is the June Bugs so I've been trying to list an item a day. I have opened a second Folksy shop, AverilpamEtc selling off some of my excess stock of beads etc. I'm selling them very cheaply as it is stock sitting around that I'm very unlikely to use since my jewellery making style has changed radically since I started using polymer clay. So I've not managed to list much in my Averilpam shop, but am getting a fair few beads listed, and I'm glad to say they are selling quite well.
Here are some of the listings from the June bugs today, click on the titles below each picture to go to the shops.

This lovely ring is from Chicita Gimme That Thing. I like the mix of metals.

This beautifully painted aceo is from Wellydog Gallery, I love the colours.

This is a great nautical cushion from Ticketty Boo. Don't you love that anchor motif?

This is a really pretty flower brooch from Juniper Spools (what a brilliant shop name!)
I hope you like these as much as I do, or maybe you'll find something else you like in one of these Folksy shops.

Squirrels on the Bird Table!

2011-05-26T12:25:00.000+01:00

I know lots of people consider grey squirrels to be pests but I love them. I rarely see any in my garden, so I was surprised a couple of days ago, hearing a clattering and thumping sound, to find a squirrel in the garden. The noise was presumably from it hurling itself from the roof onto the greenhouse roof and from there via a small table to my doorstep. The table is Monty's favourite place to sit and watch the birds, it's a bit rickety so rattles when he jumps up. I'm just waiting for it to collapse one day, along with the greenhouse - Monty likes to snooze on the roof!
Today the squirrel was back, with a friend, to investigate the bird table. There wasn't much food up there and they didn't seem interested in the sultanas that the birds relish, so they didn't stay long.

New Bag Designs - Disappointed!

2011-05-14T10:44:00.000+01:00

I blogged recently about my new bag design - I've been brewing it for ages but only recently got around to making the prototype. I wasn't entirely happy with the shape and made another but I'm still not happy with it. They are lightly padded and machine embroidered and have small pockets inside. The felt is made with my embellisher using merino wool and some raw silk, then machine embroidered. Each has a hidden magnetic catch at the top of the bag just beneath the handles.
Here is the original prototype

I decided that this one was too long and narrow, and the felt handles were too soft, so here is number two

I like this one better but it still isn't how I visualised it originally. I feel the handles are too big in proportion to the bag. I have also decided I would prefer the bag wider than it is high. I'm planning to try a different, curved shape, with curved shaped handles.
In the meantime I can't decide whether or not to put these up for sale. I love the fabrics, linen with lovely silk fabrics for the linings and I'm quite happy with the felt I made. They just aren't quite what I planned. I'd appreciate some honest feedback.

Charm Bracelet

2011-04-15T17:40:00.000+01:00

Look what turned up in the mail this week! I won a giveaway (yes again, aren't I the lucky one). This came from Putting On The Charms who had a giveaway on her blog.
This gorgeous charm bracelet is what I won. She had several to choose from and it was really difficult as they are all beautiful.

I love it, and it fits me perfectly!

Scrubbitty Scrub, Pink Blue and Green

2011-04-08T17:11:00.000+01:00

One of the features I like about Blogger is the bloglist which shows you the blogs you follow, in order of the most recently updated. You get to see just enough of the post to decide if you want to visit the blog and read it all. I'd love to read them all but there are just too many of them!
Browsing the other day, I suddenly spotted my name - Averilpam - what a surprise, I'd won a giveaway prize!
It was on The Hookery. My prize was a set of three Scrubbitty cloths. These are crocheted in lovely soft but strong cotton and can be used for anything you like.
Mine are pink, blue and green and I've decided to use them as facecloths, they are too nice to use for washing up! You can find them on Folksy at Scrubbitty . Claire has another shop, Eidelweiss, which sells a great assortment of crochet items - scarves, blankets and cushions; toys, bags and decorations.

Thank you Claire!

New Bag

2011-04-04T11:17:00.000+01:00

I've had an idea for a new bag design for quite a long time. I made a larger bag from felted mohair fabric and had an idea for incorporating the handles into the bag but when I made it I went disastrously wrong and the holes for the handles are uneven. I kept the bag as I really like it despite the wonky handles and it has been much admired when I have been out and about.
I decided I would make more of them but find a way to do the handles properly. One way to do this is to make the handles separately, which I have chosen to do with the bag I am currently making.
This bag is much smaller than the mohair bag, and I'm making it with linen and with a silk lining. I have made some felt for the handles and my first attempt to sew them together looked really messy but fortunately they were also too big so I've cut them down and am hopefully going to get this bag finished today.

Here are the pieces of bag I am working on. I've used a magnetic closure that is sewn into the lining so it can't be seen.
While I've been writing this Monty the cat has taken up residence in his favourite chair - which just happens to be the chair at the desk where I sew.

I don't think I have the heart to move him just yet! I'll have a cup of tea and decide what to do next.

Needle Felting - Mermaid Hospital, finale!

2011-03-22T15:32:00.000Z

She's finished! This is the final installment in the saga of the little mermaid.

My next task was to embroider her face. I've kept it simple because I'm not too hot on embroidery!
Then I gave her some hair. This is raw mohair fleece which is naturally curly.

I've given her two layers of mohair locks and needlefelted some lovely blue/green wool with white silk on top to make a little cap for her.

I've finished embroidering her tail. I've used two rows of simple chain stitch in green shades with a straight stitched row in brown in between them.

I've given her a lovely necklace made from freshwater pearls which seem appropriate for a mermaid.
She also has a belt made from tiny pearly seed beads, and I've sewn more of those beads onto her tail and around her cap.

So here she is in all her glory! I'm delighted with her and she will be going home to my friend very soon.

Needle Felting - Mermaid Hospital, part 2

2011-03-16T15:01:00.000Z

Yesterday I got back to work on the mermaid, but forgot to take any photos while I was making the green felt, cutting it and applying it to her tail. I've taken some photos of the beginning of the process for my next piece of felt to show you the machine and give you an idea of how it works.

The machine, which looks like a sewing machine, has a circle of very sharp barbed needles which work exactly the same way as using a hand held felting needle but of course much more quickly.

There are 5 needles on this machine (A Pfaff Hobby 350p) which thankfully can be changed one at a time. I say thankfully because I broke 3 in the first few days of using the machine.
The clear plastic you can see in front of the needles is a necessary guard which can be raised or lowered a little to accommodate different thicknesses of felt or fabric. However it can't be raised far enough to get your fingers underneath.

As you can see the needles compress the fleece into the base fabric forming felt. The base fabric I am using is a 'prefelt' which is very soft partly felted wool fleece which can be bought by the yard/metre. It is possible to make felt directly from fleece without a base fabric but I find it easier to work with prefelt. You can use any fabric as a base and any mix of raw fibre, yarn, lace, fabric etc to embellish.

Here are some progress photos of the little mermaid. She now has her scales and her tail and I've started to embroider the tail. The needle you can see in the sponge is one of the needles used for hand needle felting. They are actually the needles used in commercial felt making machines, which are huge flat beds with thousands of needles.

As you can see I've reinforced her bra, and I've given her a top made from white organza fabric. I also gave her a belt made from red wool, purple silk fabric and some recycled sari silk.

The next stage will be to finish embroidering her tail, embroider her face and give her some hair and some jewellery.

The final installment, part 3, will be the final one and she will be finished and ready to go back home.

Needle Felting - Mermaid Hospital, part 1

2011-03-04T20:38:00.000Z

A few years ago I made a needle felted mermaid for a good friend who loves mermaids. Here she is -

I was rather proud of her and my friend loved her, she held pride of place in her living room. Unfortunately my friend's house was invaded - by moths. They were the little brown/grey moths that lay their eggs in anything made of wool - clothes, carpets... and mermaids. Poor little mermaid got rather damaged and I gave her a revamp.
Recently my friend informed me that little mermaid was rather motheaten again and maybe beyond hope. I decided to give her a radical remake!
The first thing I did was to wash her and get rid of the sandy residue that is left behind after a moth invsion.
After beginning the renovation process on the mermaid's head I decided to blog about the process so started taking photos.

Next I pulled off all the scales and removed her silk belt and her necklace. They will all be replaced. I will have to make a flat piece of green felt - using several shades of green. This will be cut into strips of scales and they will be attached to her body later.
I will pull out my felting/embellishing machine to make the green felt. I have some white pre-felt, which is very soft partially made wool felt, I can use green tops and roving to add a green top layer and firm up the felt to make the scales. I will take photos of this process when I do it. I made the mermaid before I had the machine and made the green felt by hand, cutting out single scales and attaching them. The first time I renovated the mermaid I used the machine to make the felt and again cut out single scales. this time I plan to cut them in strips to make it easier to attach them.

As you can see from the last three photos I have started to add new wool to the mermaid's body. I removed the tail completely as the embroidery had come adrift and the tail was coming apart. I have started a new tail and since the last photo I've changed the shape and elongated the tail.
More photos to come! I will also need to give her a new face and hair, and decide on her jewellery and embellishment. She won't be quite the same little mermaid that you see in the first photo but I hope my friend will be happy with her.
Stay tuned for Mermaid Hospital, part 2!

March Hares!

2011-03-02T21:16:00.000Z

For the last year a bunch of Folksy sellers have had monthly listing clubs. The idea is to commit to list an item every day. Not everyone managed every day, though some made up for it with multiple listings on other days. Not everyone kept it up every month, but it seems they mostly found it challenging, encouraging and fairly successful from a sales point of view.
I've finally decided to join in this month, though I don't know if I'll manage every day.
Here are my first two listings for March, and a few of my fellow March Hare's offerings. Click on their shop names to go and see their shops.

This lovely purse is from Pants and Paper.

A very sweet Aceo from Lilipopo at Glass Mountain (don't you just love that name!)

Mug cosies from Tickled Pink Sheep - I posted recently on Facebook that I keep leaving cups of tea to go cold!

And one of Dottie's Designs lovely albums.
I'm happy to say I sold some earrings today, a very good start to March for me at Folksy, and I sold some earrings on Artfire just the other day. I think I had better get busy making more earrings!
I'll keep you posted on how I get on with the March Hares.

Monthly Make - February

2011-02-17T18:50:00.000Z

I've just made a batch of brooches and earrings and had a terrible time getting halfway decent photos. I've used Perfect Pearls which is a powder containing a resin which when brushed onto polymer clay, when baked gives a beautiful pearlised/metallic effect. Some have photographed better than others. Part of the problem is the textures I've used. The deeper textures have been the hardest to photograph. I've listed some of them on Artfire and will list some on Folksy.

The Winner!

2011-02-14T15:20:00.000Z

I've done the draw for my giveaway using random.org. There were 21 entries and the winner was number 12.
This is Michelle, congratulations! I have sent you a message via Folksy as there is no way to contact you on your Blogger profile. Let me have your mailing address and I'll post it to you this week.
Thanks to everyone for your kind birthday greetings :)

I've Been Knitting!

2011-02-13T14:22:00.000Z

I've not done any knitting for years - I've never been good at finishing knitting projects but I saw a lovely knitted teddy bear on a website and on a whim I found the pattern and bought it. It uses self patterning sock yarn. I've never made socks and never knitted with such fine yarn but was determined to finish this as the wool was rather expensive.

I decided not to buy a separate ball of wool for the snout and made the entire bear from the same wool.

So far so good - I love the way the wool makes the pattern but because it's a small bear the stripes of solid colour are quite wide. I'm not using the same brand of wool as the pattern as I couldn't find it from a UK supplier and didn't want to pay yet more postage than I already had.

One leg down, second leg, body and head, arms ears and snout to go! After knitting the second leg you pick up the stitches from this leg and continue the body and head in one piece. The arms, ears and snout are very small and quick to do and I finished it in a few evenings.

Here she is, I think I could have sewn her together more neatly but I like her.

I haven't thought of a name for her yet - any suggestions? I'm not sure if I'll keep her or give her away.
I've used less than half the wool so I could either make another or use the wool for something else. I don't trust my renewed enthusiasm for knitting to last very long but I'll let you know if I mange to make anything else.

Birthday Giveaway

2011-01-30T16:48:00.001Z

I announced a while back that I would be doing a new year giveaway. I decided to start it today, as it's my birthday!
Most of the responses I got from my initial post about what to give away (here) preferred the first heart so that is the one I'm giving away.

The heart is made from dark red polymer clay, partly overlaid with pink and silver polymer clay. I've made this by laying metal leaf onto pink clay and rolling it to crack the metal surface.
It's strung on a rubber cord necklace approx 17inches long with a 1.5inch extender chain.
I will announce the winner on Valentine's day - seems appropriate - 14th Feb, in two weeks.
All you need to do is comment here on this blog post. Make sure I can contact you if you win. The latest time to enter will be 8am on the 14th. (UK time)
I'll choose the winner using a random number generator.

A Monthly Make - January, part two

2011-01-29T17:35:00.000Z

I've got the canes and beads made, and have just baked them. It will take me a day or two to get them tumbled - sanded and buffed, so I won't get anything made with them until sometime next week.
So I've decided to use the beads as my January make. I won't use the jewellery as February's make, I'll do something else from scratch. I have photos of some of the canes and the beads before they were baked and I will blog again when I make them up into jewellery. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph all the canes before I made them up into more complex canes. I made a series of simple jellyroll canes using various combinations of the colour palette, then combined them into several bigger canes.

I've used up most of the canes making these and have saved the leftovers for possible future use. I managed not to produce a great deal of scrap clay - I must be getting better at this!

A Monthly Make 2011 - January, part one.

2011-01-28T20:36:00.000Z

If you look down the right side of this blog you will see a badge that says A Monthly Make 2011. It's being organised by The Felt Fairy.
I only found out about this a week or so ago and it's nearly the end of January, so I need to get a move on!
I made a start today, and mixed some colours of polymer clay. I plan to make a set of different canes with the colours, and use them to make some jewellery. I make jewellery anyway so it feels like a bit of a cheat to use it for my monthly make, but I haven't had time to think of anything different. I will try to make something that isn't jewellery some months though!
If you scroll down you will see my post about colour. I still haven't found a way to print out my colour swatches from the Kuler website but I based my colours on one of them, taken from a photo of a coneflower/echinacea.

Over the weekend I'll post a photo of the beads I make, I don't know if I'll have the jewellery made before the end of the month but I'll try.

Tumbling Polymer Clay Beads

2011-01-22T11:52:00.000Z

I've been thinking for some time about getting a tumbler to sand and polish my polymer clay beads. I've done some sanding by hand but soon realised that the amount of work involved to get good results is just too much for me. So I've been varnishing beads without much, if any, sanding and I'm not entirely happy with the results. The beads still look good but I know they could be better.
I did some research, and started a thread on the Folksy forum. No one who answered me had a tumbler but it definitely confirmed that there is nothing better than thorough sanding to get a good finish.
I had a good look on the internet, some sites I already had bookmarked and some that were recommended by Folksy polyclayers.
I then searched for UK suppliers for tumblers. There are several sites that sell tumblers for rock polishing, and a couple that sell them with a view to polishing and hardening metal jewellery. I decided that the Lortane which was recommended by polymer clay users, though more expensive than others, was the best for my use.
I found one on Palmer Metals. It's tricky to find as putting 'tumbler' into their search function doesn't bring it up. You have to look in their precious metal clay tools section.

It is designed to hold up to 3lbs weight. It's certainly big enough for me. If you use it for tumbling silver or copper jewellery components (which I intend to at some point) you use it with stainless steel shot which is quite heavy. I've bought 500g, which sounds like a lot but it's heavy so isn't very much! It's expensive though so I didn't want to buy 1kg. I'll only be tumbling small amounts of metal so I hope the 500g will be plenty.
The barrel is made of thick rubber which will muffle the noise when it's tumbling metal. The motor is pretty quiet but I wouldn't want it in the room with me, it would get annoying. I used it in my hallway and with the living room door shut I couldn't hear it.

Here is the barrel filled with my beads and chopped up pieces of sandpaper. I only had 3 grades prepared, 600, 800 and 1000 grade. The lower the number the coarser the grade. I have now got some 400 grade as well which I'll use next time.
I had to glue sheets of wet and dry sandpaper back to back then when dry cut it into small pieces. I'm not sure if the size matters, I'll have to go back to my research and check what was recommended! I'm also not sure if I had enough sandpaper in there. To sand, you add water and a drop of washing up liquid and tumble starting with the coarser grade, working up to the very fine grade. I tumbled for about 3 hours with each grade but I think it needs as long as 6 or more hours for each grade to get a really good surface. I will be less impatient in future! I was thinking of adding a sandpaper liner to the barrel as well but when I opened the barrel, most of the sandpaper was stuck round the edges of the barrel, so it maybe isn't worth bothering with that. It's a very long winded process so would take a couple of days for me to get beads properly sanded but should be worth it. I was pretty happy with the results. Here is one of the tutorials that I found really helpful - http://www.desiredcreations.com/howTo_TLTumbleSandPaper.htm

So the next phase is buffing. Many people recommend buffing with a dremel or similar power tool, using a special buffing wheel made with fabric (I think calico or muslin is generally used). I don't have a dremel, and people did admit it's fiddly and can result sometimes in beads shooting across the room! It does however give stunning results.
I decided to try one method recommended for the tumbler which is using chamois leather. I bought a chamois from Wilco for about 99p and cut it up into pieces to go into the barrel with the beads. The other recommended material is denim and I saw on one website that someone had made a liner for the barrel from denim (they used white denim so as not to risk dye getting onto the beads) I made a liner with the chamois, sewing it to some polyester wadding to give it body. It was easy to make, a strip sewn into a cylinder, and two circles for top and bottom.
I tumbled the beads all day and I'm pretty pleased with the results. I plan to get some denim (maybe some old jeans from the charity shop) and try using that as well, to see if the results are any different.)
I've finished the beads off with a light coating of Renaissance wax to seal them and here they are. Sorry the photos aren't better quality, they are a little blurry!

Now to decide what to do with the beads! The top beads will make a necklace and hopefully there will be enough to do a bracelet and/or earrings too.
The bottom beads were made to be spacers and I need to make some focals/pendants to go with them.
I'm glad I made the investment in the tumbler, though very time consuming it only takes a minute or two to set up and the tumbler is designed to work non stop so I can run it overnight, or while I'm out.

Colours - but no pictures, sorry.

2011-01-19T16:34:00.005Z

I've been thinking a lot about colours. I've read several blog posts by others and there have been forum topics on both Folksy and Artfire, about colour and trends.
Apparently the 'in' colour for 2011 is honeysuckle. This provoked an interesting discussion on Artfire as many people, myself included, thought of honeysuckle as a yellow colour. Someone, however, posted links and photos of gorgeous pink honeysuckle, and the colour described as honeysuckle is a very attractive pink.

Some time ago I discovered a website, part of Adobe, http://kuler.adobe.com This website helps you to create colour combinations either by picking the colours yourself or from photos/pictures you can upload, or fetch from sites like Flickr. You can also search and view other peoples' swatches.
I had forgotten all about it until I read another blog post about colour, which included a link to a site that made colour swatches from your uploaded photos. I tried but failed to get it to upload any photos and was giving up in despair and about to try Google to see if there was an alternative when I remembered Kuler.
So this afternoon I whiled away a happy hour playing with it and saved some swatches from various photos on my computer.
I've just spent another fruitless half hour trying to find a way to reproduce these swatches. I was able to save them as files onto my computer, and I have tried every programme I have to open them, however they are 'Adobe Swatch Exchange Files' and nothing will open them. I assumed that I could open them in Adobe programmes eg Illustrator but I can't!

So here is a link to my Kuler page if you are interested in seeing my swatches. I will continue to search for a way to print out my swatches, and maybe I will see if there is another similar programme somewhere that will let me do this and save the results in a format I can print from.
For now I will have to keep the computer open beside me as I play with clay to see if I can reproduce the colours... watch this space...

Help Me Choose a Giveaway Prize!

2011-01-07T14:26:00.000Z

Around Christmas time I announced on Facebook that I'd do another giveaway after new year. I've been making Valentine's hearts and have now finished some of them.
I can't decide which one to give away so I'd like some help.
They are all hung on rubber cord necklaces, approx 18inches long, using a pewter bail and each heart is between one and two inches long.

Please leave a comment saying which you would prefer and in a week or two I'll count up and see which is the most popular. I've no idea what I'll do if no one votes, or if they all get the same number of votes - I'll cross that bridge if I come to it! I'm aiming to hold the giveaway around my birthday at the end of January.

New Year - New Work

2011-01-03T11:28:00.000Z

Happy New Year! I don't make new year resolutions, I don't want to set myself up for disappointment and feel like I've let myself down.
This year I just want to enjoy life and keep working. The last two months of 2010 were something of a low point for me, I was ill a lot of the time and did almost no work. I don't feel too bad about that, I've reached a point now that I accept 'down time' as something I must get through and not let it turn into a spiral of depression and misery. So I've had a lazy couple of months and am now feeling much better.
I had a mixed start to the new year, I got started on some hearts for Valentine's day and some matching beads but then had a horrendous migraine so had to stop work yesterday. A reminder to take it slowly!
Here is a (not very good, sorry) photo of the latest work waiting to be baked. I'm going to make some more and fill up the trays before I bake so it will probably be next week before any of these become finished items to list on Artfire and Folksy.

I conditioned a thin sheet of clay and covered it with silver metal leaf (not real silver). Then I placed a sheet of cling film over it and rolled it through the pasta machine at a thinner setting. This cracks the silver leaf and presses it into the clay. This can then be cut and applied over clay heart and bead shapes. I still have some of the silvered clay so will make some more hearts and beads. When the craft shop opens I must buy some more metal leaf, in copper and maybe gold colours. I really like the effect and it is similar to the technique for doing faux dichroic.

Polymer Clay Smooshers

2010-12-12T17:09:00.000Z

Here is my latest collection from the Polymer Clay Smooshers Artfire Guild.

Clay Creations

Curated By: averilpam

ArtFire.com

Vintage Fashion

Christmas Gifts Collection

2010-12-05T21:05:00.000Z

I've made a collection on Artfire with some suggestions for Christmas gifts. Just click on it to go and see it if you'd like to visit any of the studios.

Perfect Christmas Gifts

Curated By: averilpam

ArtFire.com

Fine Art Photography

Folksy Friday - Christmas Cards

2010-11-26T10:22:00.000Z

This is my first Folksy Friday for some time! There are lots of talented cardmakers on Folksy. Here are samples from just a few.
This is from Folk Art Papercuts. I love The Twelve Days of Christmas!

These bright Christmas stockings are from Sprinkles. I love the sparkly glitter touches.

This brilliant Santa with a robin is from Little Blue Bird.

These wonderful penguins are from a pack of four designs by Christmas Kooki.

Linoking Cards makes beautiful cards using embossed texture and printing.

This beautiful print is from a set of 4 from Pink Shoes Art.

This clever pop up card is lovely, it's from Pop-Up Zoo.

Last but certainly not least is this lovely robin from Rhiannon Thomas.
There are loads more lovely Christmas cards on Folksy, just search handmade to find them :)

Holiday Scavenger Hunt - Fab Prizes!

2010-11-16T12:24:00.002Z

The Polymer Clay Smooshers are running a brilliant competition, a scavenger hunt.
You need to go to the Smooshers Blog to get the details. It's very simple - there is an image in the studios of some of the Smooshers and the more you find the more likely you are to win a prize, and there are several lovely prizes.
You will need to visit the Artfire studios of the Smoosher members, there are links to them all on the left side of the blog. Then make a note of the shops where you find them, and email your list to the Smooshers.
Have fun and maybe have a look round the studios while you are there :)

My First Artfire Collection

2010-11-08T16:22:00.002Z

I've just made my first Artfire collection! I have used items chosen from the studios of fellow Polymer Clay Smooshers. Artfire has Guilds, groups we can join who support one another, chat on forums and promote one another. There is also a blog, Polymer Clay Smooshers.
Here is my collection. You can go and view the collection on Artfire, where you can rate it and/or add comments, and from there you can click on any of the items to go and see the artist's studio.

These Are a Few of my Favourite Things

Curated By: averilpam

ArtFire.com

Unique Gifts

Eek - Too Many Blogs?

2010-11-06T13:54:00.001Z

I've just got back from my trip to the USA to visit my daughter and family. My body isn't back on UK time yet and I haven't ventured out of the house. The garden desperately needs tidying but as my living room floor is still cluttered with the contents of my suitcases I guess it will have to wait! I'm very fatigued so I'm not pushing myself to do very much.
This morning a friend sent me a link to an interesting new website. I decided to save it into my bloglist but when I tried to do this I was told I can only save 300 blogs and I already had that many on my list!
So I set about deleting some. I've worked my way through the list (with a couple of teabreaks) and stopped following any that haven't been updated in 4 months or longer. There were quite a lot of them. There are quite a few more that haven't been updated for 3 months but I've left them for next time in case they get updated in the meantime.
I know I follow more blogs than people follow me (I don't have 300 followers!) but if by chance you own one of the blogs I've unfollowed, I'm sorry!
It's certainly a lesson to me to keep my blog updated. Now I'm home I'll try hard to blog more often and hopefully be interesting enough to keep my followers... and thank you to everyone who visits, I really appreciate you.

Artfire Collection

2010-10-23T01:35:00.001+01:00

I have managed to get a few more items listed in my new Artfire shop. You can shop right here on my blog! One of the features of Artfire is the collections. They are a little like the treasuries on Etsy for those who know Etsy. Unfortunately Folksy doesn't have that facility (maybe in the future...)
I have been very fortunate in the short time that I've had my Artfire studio to have had items featured in several lovely collections.
This is the most recent, it's full of gorgeous blue items and my polymer clay pendant necklace is included. I'm very grateful to the curators of this and the other collections I've been included in. (You may have seen them posted on my Facebook page)

The Many Hues of Blues

Curated By: BewitchingDre...

ArtFire.com

Unique Gifts

jigsaw Puzzle Cutters

2010-10-12T22:05:00.000+01:00

For some time now I have wanted to make polymer clay pendants and earrings in the shape of jigsaw puzzle pieces. I have tried in vain to find cutters and I knew I could not do them freehand.
By chance I read a question on an Artfire forum from someone looking for the Artfire studio that sold cookie cutters.
I found Cookie Cutter Guy - a brilliant shop that makes custom cookie cutters. I emailed Sandy who made me 2 cutters, a small one and a really small one! They are perfect, I'm so pleased with them, and here are photos of my first attempts. I couldn't wait to share the results. These aren't perfect and I want to define the texture with inks - but first I have to buy some inks. Once I perfect the technique you will see them listed in my Artfire and Folksy shops.

My new shop

2010-10-01T14:39:00.002+01:00

Well first of all, if you are on Facebook you may have seen that I'm in the USA right now! I'm visiting my daughter, son in law and gorgeous grandchildren. I'll be here for 5 weeks, which will fly by I know but I intend to enjoy every last second. I'll be posting from time to time to let you know how I'm getting on. I'll be taking lots of photos of course so watch this space, also my Facebook page.
Some of you may also have seen the buzz around Facebook and on Etsy about the deal on Artfire to get a pro shop over there for just $5.95 (that's less than £4) per month. I decided it was worth a try so I signed up and it's just been activated.
I started by transferring a few items over from my Folksy shop (which is in holiday mode while I'm away. I plan to get busy making beads and some jewellery in a day or two when I've recovered from the journey to get here.
The basic free Artfire account allows you to list unlimited items, you get a shop with a banner but can't rearrange your shop, have featured items or categories. Once you go pro you get a lot of tools to help you sell. I'm excited to get categories which we are waiting for on Folksy. I can also set up a shopfront on Facebook (again eagerly anticipated soon on Folksy) which I will do soon.
For now I've put a small shop front on this blog which you can see just to the right of this post! You can shop directly from here!

Folksy Friday Shop Feature

2010-09-24T10:09:00.000+01:00

I haven't done a Folksy Friday blog post for a reeeeally long time! I have decided to feature one shop that I have recently discovered and love.
It's Kilo Lemur Lampwork . Kaye makes lovely lampwork beads, and sells them at a very reasonable price. I have bought some that I plan to use to make myself something beautiful but plan to buy lots more in the future to make jewellery for my shop.
I've loved the idea of making lampwork glass beads ever since I first saw some a few years ago, but me and a very hot flame is not a good combination at all!
Here are some of the beads she has on sale at the moment - I want them all but can't buy any more just yet :(

Opus Terra beads, only £18 for all these beads!

Three cute skulls,

Bijou Crystal Beads The colours on these are gorgeous!

Aunt Dotty Bead Set Pretty spotty beads.

There are more, go and see for yourself, if you make jewellery I defy you not to buy any!
If you don't make jewellery yourself, Kaye also makes jewellery as Triple Moonstar, so I'm sure she would make you something with the beads of your choice.

Some new beads

2010-09-08T18:12:00.000+01:00

Here as promised on Facebook, are some photos of my latest project. I'm really pleased with it. I've made a necklace and earring set for the winter exhibition at Arteria's Gallery 23 in Lancaster. I'm working hard to make a decent amount of jewellery to leave with them before I go away at the end of September. The exhibition runs from 26th October until 8th January. I'll be back early November and hopefully I'll have made some more jewellery while I'm away in case they want any more.

I've rolled out a sheet of black clay and covered it with slices from assorted canes. I've used a variation on a technique I found on a great website, How to make beads from polymer clay .
I used her technique for some pillow beads I made, and some beads Amanda from Chicita Gimme That Thing has used for some of her lovely wire wrapped rings.

I'm sorry the photo of the necklace isn't too good. I was lazy and just took one photo since I'm not listing them on Folksy. I will have to take a better photo of it, the light tent I ordered has just arrived so I'll try that out later.

Giveaway Winner

2010-09-06T08:12:00.001+01:00

The winner, picked out using a random number generator at random.org, is number 13 - Lemonade and Lamingtons.
Congratulations Lisa! There isn't an email address on your Blogger profile so I'll contact you via Folksy and Facebook to get your mailing address. Well, so much for unlucky 13, which I've never been superstitious about anyway!
To everyone else, thank you so much for entering and if you would like to purchase any of my handmade polymer clay jewellery there is some in my Folksy shop, or you can order something custom made.

Polymer Clay Disaster!

2010-08-31T10:20:00.000+01:00

Over the weekend I made a lovely set of beads, I was really pleased with them. I left them to harden up a bit overnight before I made holes and baked them.
So what did I do? I baked them without even making small guide holes for the drill (a small hand drill). I've done that before and managed to make the holes afterwards, but it is always easier if I at least do guide holes. When there are no guide holes you have to be careful to drill in from both sides or when the drill comes out the other side it can break off a chunk of clay.
I started with the largest bead and thought I was doing fine till the drill came out the other side and... yes broke off a chunk of clay. I was so cross. It was only a small piece and I thought if I use a spacer at each side it won't show. The middle size round beads drilled fine. Then I started on the small beads and after the first three broke up completely when I started drilling I gave up! I don't quite know why this happened but I have to just put it down to experience.

The photo isn't very good - the background of the beads is pale green. I'm hoping I can make some more but the pale green was mixed from white and a bit of left over leaf green so I don't expect I'll be able to match it exactly. Of course I should be really organised and record proportions and keep samples of mixed colours but I've never been that organised...
Oh well, onward and upward... well onward anyway!

I'm doing a Giveaway!

2010-08-25T14:17:00.001+01:00

I have won several lovely prizes from blog giveaways, so I've decided it's time I did one myself. There are no conditions, nothing you need to do other than comment on this post. You don't have to be a follower of this blog (unless you want to of course!). Do feel free to tell your friends, followers, Facebook fans etc so they can come and join in. If you don't have a Blogger account make sure you leave an email address so I can contact you if you win.
The giveaway will run from now until midnight on Sunday 5th Sept. I'll pick the winner on Monday morning, 6th Sept and announce it on this blog and on my Facebook page.
This is what you will win. A necklace with matching earrings featuring beads made by myself from polymer clay.
The other beads are rose quartz, rhodonite and japanese glass miyuki cubes. The necklace clasp and earwires are sterling silver and the beads are linked with silver plated copper wire. I'm sorry the photo of the earrings isn't very good, but you can see the pattern on the beads better in the photos of the necklace.

I Won!

2010-08-20T11:35:00.000+01:00

I had a lovely surprise email today - I won a blog giveaway. Look at what I won...

Aren't they just gorgeous, lucky me! They come from Anne at Gardanne Beads. She makes amazing glass beads and sells them in her Etsy shop - Gardanne Beads. She also sells Jewellery at Gardanne Artisan Jewelry. Here is her blog.

Kaleidoscope and Flower Canes

2010-07-28T12:30:00.000+01:00

Here, as promised are some more experiments with kaleidoscope canes. I've also made more flower canes, and made some beads I'm rather pleased with - and some I'm not so pleased with!

I thought I'd start with one I think came out rather well. A few tiny air holes but I should be able to deal with them when I use the cane though I'm not sure yet what I'll use it for - it's quite small and I don't want to reduce it much or all the detail will go.

Ok, you can laugh - I did. I'm not sure what exactly I did wrong here but kaleidoscope it ain't!! That one went into the scrap clay bag. Scrap clay is useful, I've made a lot of lentil swirl beads from bits of scrap, and it makes a good base for the pillow beads I've made using various cane slices.

These haven't been varnished or polished yet and I'm not sure of the quality. I've sanded them lots but they just aren't very smooth so I've yet to decide what to do with them.
The first beads I made with this method were better but I messed up drilling holes and some of them cracked - so I'm keeping this necklace:

The previous beads were a larger version of these and the small beads I made to go with them are fine so they can be used with something else.

Flower canes, here is one before reduction, with its various components,

and here it is reduced to several different sizes, I'm pleased with this one.

This one seemed really promising, but went a bit wonkely when I reduced it!

I think It is worth keeping though. I may reduce some of it even more and use it in a kaleidoscope cane.
I'm really enjoying myself trying out all these new skills and techniques. I'm finding inspiration in books and tutorials and hope over time to produce better and better work. I hope soon I'll get some jewellery into my Folksy shop. So far most of the jewellery I have produced has gone into the Arteria exhibition but when that closes what hasn't sold can go into the Folksy shop.

Family Departure - and Claying Again

2010-07-14T12:35:00.001+01:00

Well I've had a wonderful time with my family. My daughter, son-in-law and 2 gorgeous grandchildren were here for too short a time. My son-in-law was only here a few days but we packed them with outings! The children slept here, parents at a local B&B. We saw family and friends and did a little sightseeing too. A wonderful day out with family in Hebden Bridge included a lovely fire in the garden.

The children had a blast running round finding twigs and dead leaves to throw on the fire!
They left on Monday and the house feels very empty now.
I'll be staying home for a while recovering my energy, and plan to get some more polymer clay beads done.
I managed to do a little before the family arrived, so here's a little preview of some of my experiments.

A few canes used towards a kaleidoscope cane,

Not too bad for a first attempt I think!

I used this for some beads that didn't turn out too well. Once reduced the colour difference wasn't very clear unfortunately. I think I baked them too long and they went rather dark.

These were more successful. I'm quite pleased with the flower cane I made. I did a purple flower cane too, but didn't outline the petals so it wasn't so good.

I'm quite pleased with these, made up from various leftovers. I plan to do a pair of earrings and a necklace of some sort to match. Note the cat hairs in the photo - Monty, my neighbour's cat, insisted on 'helping' me. (I use my neighbour's garden table to take photos).

I used some of the previous cane to make this brooch but I'm not too happy with it - too much glitter! I'm pleased with the leaf cane though. I did make a brooch I like and that will go into my Folksy shop soon.

And here's Monty. He gave up helping and decided to have a snooze.

My Prize Print

2010-06-17T14:42:00.000+01:00

Recently I won a giveaway by Alison at A Deegan. The prize was a lovely spiral rabbit lino print in the colour of my choice, here is a photo of it framed and on my wall. It's a lovely teal colour and I love it, thanks Alison :)

This evening is the private view for the exhibition at Arteria's Gallery 23 in Lancaster. I've sent in my jewellery and am quite excited to see it in situ. I think the exhibition started on Tuesday but I've not had a chance to go and see it yet. I'll update this blog soon and let you know how it went.

Copying - or Taking Inspiration?

2010-06-01T13:10:00.000+01:00

There has been a lot of discussion about copying over the last few months on the forums at Folksy. This has been an ongoing problem for artists/makers and some examples have been highlighted in the press, where large companies have copied the artwork of independent designers and sold the copies all over the world.
I'm sure we all love to see the work of other artists and take inspiration from it. A while back I went to a gallery with a friend and my first instinct when starting to look around was 'I should just give up now, I can never make work this good'. I managed to squash this and realise I can take inspiration from other people's beautiful work - it's not about competing and it doesn't mean you want to copy them either.
I found a wonderful blog post about this subject today. I get a daily email from Polymer Clay Daily. This is a lovely website, run by Cynthia Tinapple, herself a great polymer clay artist. Today she directed us to Luann Udell's website. Her post, entitled 'What is the story only you can tell?' says it all in a way I never could articulate. Please take the time to go and read this. Read all the comments too, they are very interesting.
You don't have to work with polymer clay to relate to this, it is true for any artist/craftsperson/artisan/maker or what ever you like to call yourself.
We can all help one another by sharing skills and techniques but ultimately we need to develop our own styles, find our own stories.

Scrummy Beads Prize Draw

2010-05-25T16:37:00.000+01:00

Laura of Beads By Laura is running a prize draw on her blog, for these gorgeous lampwork glass beads.

Aren't they amazing, I'd love to win them! If you pop over to her blog, here, and leave a comment then she'll enter you into the draw. You can see more of her beads on her website.

Folksy Friday - Lizards

2010-05-21T12:46:00.001+01:00

It's been too long since I've blogged, so I decided to do a Folksy Friday this week. I'm going away for the weekend to visit some lovely friends, one of whom draws the most amazing lizards, so i decided to see what Folksy had to offer.
First up is this lovely cuff bracelet made from pewter, from the Owl and the Pussycat. The pewter is lead free which is good.

My next item is from Box of Delights, and is this lovely rainbow Lizard card. It's a really lovely chameleon, I love the delicate colours.

This is the most beautiful, colourful lizard painted on driftwood, I just love it, and it comes from Nicola Potts Art.

My last choice today is this amazing curled lizard brooch, cut from sheet brass and textured. It comes from Hollowbourne. Her jewellery is gorgeous.

That's it for today, I hope you all like these beautiful things as much as I do.

On another note, I've finished the jewellery for my Arteria collection, and just have some gift bags to sew, so maybe I'll manage to make something for my Folksy shop soon. I've an idea for bags, so I think it's time to get the sewing machine out. Maybe I'll get the bathroom curtains finished too!
I am nearly halfway round my living room/kitchen. Next is to move the fridge out and paint behind there. I'll need some help for that! The trouble with having several different things to do that all seem to have a similar priority is that it just brings me to a halt and I do nothing. When I get back from my weekend away I must galvanise myself into action. Hmm, that sounds far too energetic for me, but we will see.............

Folksy Finds has featured me!

2010-05-11T12:07:00.000+01:00

My living room is in disarray as I'm having vinyl laid where part of my floor had to be replaced. So I thought I'll have a browse on Folksy forums while the fitter gets the job done.
I found a message telling me to check out a blog - Folksy Finds - which I did, and there was a whole feature on Averilpam Designs, with four items from my shop.
What a lovely surprise. It's always exciting to be featured on a blog, and very encouraging. Someone likes what I make! I've also just had a request for a possible commission which is equally exciting, and a friend wants to take some of my jewellery to show to her work colleagues.
So I'm officially in a good mood today!
The fitter has started to spray toxic glue on the floor so I'm now hiding out in the bedroom, but I refuse to let that spoil my cheerfulness - so long as it doesn't trigger a migraine.........
Now where was I - oh yes Folksy Finds blog. They seem to be featuring one Folksy seller each day so I'm in good company, check it out.

Big Blog Card Swap

2010-05-09T13:42:00.000+01:00

I recently took part in the Big Blog Card Swap. I no longer make cards to sell, but I still make them to send to family and friends so I decided I'd make a card for the swap. I forgot to take a photograph of the card I sent, if you'd like to see it it's here,
Here is a photo of the beautiful card I received. There is a label on the back to say it's made with recycled card, sheep poo paper and old catalogues. That's what I call recycling - brilliant!
It came from the lovely Sarah, aka Dottydaisies. Click here to see her Folksy shop.

The swap was organised by Sarah and Naomi. So a big thank you to them both. I think swaps are such a good idea and have taken part in a few.
The very first craft swap I did was many years ago (before blogs!) on a website called Cybergrrls. It was an online community for women/girls. There were lots of interesting forums including arts and crafts and someone organised a swap. I can't remember what I sent, (probably some cards) but I remember receiving some lovely earrings with little handmade glass discs. I just went to take a look to see if Cybergrrls still exists and it is apparently under reconstruction. It's an offshoot of Webgrrls International - something I didn't know about at the time. Briefly this is what they say about their mission. "Webgrrls' mission is to help women succeed in an increasingly technical workplace and world through networking, exchanging job and business leads, and teaching new skills."

Lovely Giveaway Prizes

2010-05-09T12:43:00.002+01:00

Lucky me, I won a giveaway from Sue at Blue Box Studio. I've entered a few blog giveaways and this is my first win, so I was really pleased.
I missed the postman, so the following day I went to the post office to pick it up, and here's what was inside.

There is a pretty lavender bag, a little bag of different coloured sea glass and a gift card, along with all these little packages wrapped in blue tissue.So here is what was inside those neat little packages.

There is a key ring, a pocket mirror with really pretty hand dyed silk covering the back (the photo doesn't do it justice). A bag or purse tag with a pretty glass bead, the sea glass and a lovely pendant also made from sea glass. It's a lovely aqua colour with a silver plated bail and I have a nice silver chain I can use with it.
There was one other lovely item which is not in this picture. This is because it is going to be a present for someone whose birthday is in July but who will probably be reading this!
Anyone else who wants to see it can go to Blue Box Studio Blog, and look at her post on May 1st

Gallery - episode two.

2010-05-03T11:19:00.000+01:00

I've just done a count and I have 9 necklaces made for the summer exhibition at Arteria. So just one more to go. I've done either a bracelet or earrings to go with all of them so far. Unfortunately I haven't always had enough matching beads to do both.
I had really hoped to use a lot more handmade polymer clay beads, but I've only been able to use them in two sets. I'm still waiting for the pasta machine to arrive. The first time I checked up at the website it said they were due in on April 16th. On April 17th I checked back and it said they were due May 20th. Then I realised that the UK was closed to air traffic so of course they wouldn't get their shipment on time! I'm just hoping that now planes are flying again they will get their shipment earlier than the 20th. It will probably be too late to make anything for Arteria - even if it arrived tomorrow I can't be sure I could make good enough beads to include. In the meantime I've been making copper and silver components - links and clasps - for some of the jewellery I've made. I've wasted so much copper wire! Fortunately it isn't expensive, although I've been really nervous using sterling silver wire as that is very expensive.
Now I've just remembered I need to make gift bags for most of them. I've about six large and two small made but I've run out of the lovely gold fabric so I'll have to hunt through the boxes and find something else suitable then get sewing! I have lots of the amazing gold brocade that I used to make gift bags that I'm offering for sale in my Folksy shop, (here) so I may decide to use that.
Here is another photo from my Arteria collection.

Diomo Glass Panel

2010-04-27T11:34:00.002+01:00

Readers from Folksy may already know that Susan from Diomo Glass made a beautiful small glass window panel for a giveaway on her Facebook page. I loved it so much I said that if I didn't win it I would have to commission one.
I didn't win, so true to my word I asked her to make one for me. The original had a lovely deep red rose which I loved. However I am decorating my house (I think I may have mentioned that before once or thrice) and the living room is going to be white with one dark wall painted 'dusted damson'. I got the inspiration from a lovely purple fleece throw a friend gave me for my birthday. I've bought a rug that matches and the curtains are white with pink and purple poppies.
So my panel has a purple rose. Susan did a rose and a poppy for me to choose from and though I liked the poppy I just loved the petal arrangement on the rose so much that I chose that one.
Here it is hanging in my window. The light shines through it perfectly and the colour goes perfectly with the poppies on the curtains.

Folksy Friday - a few favourites

2010-04-23T13:11:00.000+01:00

I had no inspiration for a theme for my Folksy Friday feature this week, so decided to trawl through the 10 pages of favourite shops and pick out a few things.
Of course I'd like to include something from all the shops on the list but that isn't really practical so here are just a few for now.
I decided I should try not to include too much jewellery in my Folksy Fridays which is difficult for me but I've kept it down to two items, here is one of them, an amazing bracelet made using just machine embroidery and embellished with beads. I've been planning to try this technique since buying my new sewing machine but I think it will take a whole lot of practice before I can make anything to come near this quality. It's from Nadine Arbuthnot Adornment and she makes lovely brooches and necklaces too.

My next item is from Sophie Martin Illustration, a lovely card with gossiping ducks. It was hard to pick an item from this shop, she does a wonderful assortment of farm animals as well as cats dogs and bunnies.

There has been a great fun topic on the Folksy forum this week about knitted items after someone was asked what was the use of a knitted cake. I've found these felt yummy goodies from Woolly Duck. These cakes look good enough to eat, and she has a bag of licorice allsorts too, which would make a good pincushion - I'm very tempted!

Okay here is my second jewellery piece and I think it's quite amazing. It's from Tanglefrost, and is made from leather, silk and copper. She makes amazing orchids too.

This next item is such good fun. I have absolutely no interest in golf but I couldn't resist including this knitted golf kit! It's from The Hunny Bunny Company. As you might expect from the shop name you can find bunnies here as well as cats, dogs, dolls and the cutest little mice, one of them knitting a scarf.

Last but definitely not least, here is a beautiful bowl from Julia Smith Ceramics. I have just bought one of her bowls and it's just gorgeous. I'm seriously tempted by this one too. Oh dear I'm just treating myself to so many goodies from Folksy lately, and searching through all these lovely shops for my Folksy Friday blog features doesn't help!

I hope you like these goodies as much as I do and will go and take a look around the shops, maybe be tempted to buy something. I can't surely be the only person on Folksy who ends up spending more than she takes in sales.......

I Love Bumblebees

2010-04-21T15:55:00.001+01:00

I'm finally managing to do a little gardening, my back is much better - as long as I don't do too much. So I'm alternating doing super short sessions of gardening, painting (still on the bathroom!) and crafting.
One of my favourite flowers is a pretty anemone pulsatilla, and I am so pleased it survived the hard winter and is flowering again.
while I was out transplanting sweet pea seedlings a large bumblebee buzzed around my head, determined that I was a flower - and eventually found the anemone.
I got a few photos before it buzzed on its way, so here they are.

Folksy Friday - Polymer Clay

2010-04-16T11:20:00.014+01:00

I spent about an hour last night finding items for this post, had them all lined up ready to go then absent mindedly clicked in the wrong place and closed the window losing all the tabs! So I started again this morning and found most of the items I wanted, so here they are!

I've started to experiment with polymer clay so I've chosen it as my theme for today. Now if I've managed to do it correctly this week, you should be able to click on the photo to go to the shop. No, I've followed all the instructions from the lovely Haptree but it still won't work so click on the name!

I'm starting with this lovely heart pendant from Poly Beads,

My next choice is this gorgeous colourful bracelet from Lou Lou's Luxuries,

I love these faux coral polymer clay beads from Susmi handmade jewellery,

My next item is this beautiful pendant from La Tienda Pequena,

Maxine Veronica has made these lapiz type polymer clay beads, threaded on ribbon with other beads,

And just to prove that polymer clay is endlessly versatile, here is the cutest little mole from Quernus Crafts,

Success.....

2010-04-13T10:13:00.000+01:00

I've spent about half an hour faffing about and finally have my blog feed showing on my Averilpam Facebook fan page. I went round in circles for ages before finding the menu I needed. So it's all set up now. All I have to do is keep it updated..................
time for a well earned cup of tea I think. No more chocolate hobnobs though!

Facebook etc...

2010-04-12T18:59:00.000+01:00

I've been on Facebook for a while, though I don't do much there, but today on a whim I created a fan page for Averilpam Design.
So now what? Good question ....... haven't the foggiest. I dare say I'll figure it out eventually. I went to the Networked Blogs app. and registered this blog, and lo and behold a page came up with the feed from this blog.
Wonderful but then as soon as I clicked on 'home' it disappeared back into the ether and I have no idea where it is, how to access it or what to do with it.
The intention was to have the feed from this blog link with the new page but I've no idea how to do that - so if anyone can enlighten me as to what I should do I will be very grateful! I've installed a badge so you can get there from here, so that bit worked!
I'm delighted that the weather finally feels like spring and I've been looking out happily on my garden which is starting to sprout and show some colour.
I'm frustrated though, because just in time for the nice weather my lower back muscles went into spasm and I can barely move without a lot of pain. I feel like Mrs Overall (or more accurately the ancient waitress in the Victoria Wood sketch with the 'two soups sir') as every time I stand up I'm bent almost double and have to slowly and painfully stretch my back to get upright! So I can only garden standing up which is a little limiting to say the least. I guess I can plant some seeds into seed trays but most of the flower seeds I plan to sow directly into the troughs they will grow in so that will have to wait until I can move around a bit better.
This also means I can't get on with the decorating either - I think that was what set it off.
So I'm being fairly lazy and self indulgent and have eaten a whole packet of Chocolate Hobnobs since Saturday.
I have however managed to do a little jewellery making. I need to have 10 necklaces, with bracelets and/or earrings to match ready for the 4th June for Arteria, the gallery I blogged about a while back. I've made two bracelets and a neckace and a pair of earrings in the last couple of weeks but I need to get a move on and do the rest of them soon. I'd love to get some stock made for my Folksy shop too but it will have to wait until I finish doing the gallery stock.
Here is a photo of the latest necklace I made

I'm rather pleased with it. The large beads are called dragonskin agate, and the round ones are snowflake obsidian. I made the copper swirly pieces, (but not the clasp) with copper wire which I've hammered flat. I've made earrings to match but I've not used the agate beads as they are so big and I didn't like how they looked.

Folksy Friday - Purple

2010-04-09T09:08:00.003+01:00

I've just started decorating my house, and I'm using a purply colour as the main accent colour in my living room. So I've decided to do purple for my Folksy Friday theme this week.
I also want to thank poppy sparkles for including my heart necklace in her Folksy Friday feature. I've just discovered I'm in Oddsox's Folksy Friday too, how lovely, thanks!

This pretty scarflette is from Hooked Yarn, I love these colours together.

I love this wire ring from Ravenwolf Design and it's adjustable, so it would fit me!

The only problem with doing these Folksy Friday features is that I want to buy everything, this pendant from Dottery Pottery is just lovely.

I like this purple notebook from Rara Avis, I'm discovering some great shops I've not seen before!

This cushion comes from Handmade by Louisa, and she does some lovely bags too.

And last but definitely not least, this necklace with yummy handmade polymer clay beads from Flower Power. I've just started making polymer clay beads and Jayne (Jaykay) makes some absolutely gorgeous beads and jewellery.

Spinning

2010-04-07T19:14:00.001+01:00

As promised, here is my first spinning session with my new e-spinner.
Here it is, just got started

and here you can see the alpaca on the bobbin.

Once you have spun two bobbins of yarn, it is usually plied, which is twisting two lots of 'singles' yarn together. This is done by spinning in the opposite direction. Usually the singles yarn is spun clockwise, then plied anti-clockwise.
The two bobbins of singles yarn are put on a lazy kate, and plied together onto a single bobbin on the spinner.

Once that is done, you wind the yarn off onto a Niddy Noddy.

You then tie it in several places to hold the skein together, take it off and wash it
Here is the skein straight off the niddy noddy,

and here it is washed, lovely and soft and fluffy.

I don't knit and I'm not very hot on measuring and gauging my wool so I don't know exactly what thickness it is. I'd guess around double knitting, but it's not very even. I'm really not a perfectionist and I like that homespun can be a bit rough and uneven. It weaves well and alpaca makes gorgeous warm scarves.
Here is one of my alpaca scarves, on sale in my Folksy shop. This scarf was made with lovely white and natural brown alpaca, and I used some pink and green wool as a colour accent.

Folksy Friday - Gardens

2010-04-02T11:24:00.000+01:00

I love these ceramic plant labels from Gimme That Thing, I tried wooden ones but as soon as it rained they went soggy and the writing disappeared!

These gorgeous flower earrings come from Pour L'Amour

What a good idea, you can list the flowers you are drying in this flower press from A Farmer's Daughter.

How gorgeous is this felt flower from Tamsyn Amber, really summery.

Look What Arrived Today!

2010-04-01T19:42:00.000+01:00

I got a lovely package today, my new e-spinner!
I've been so fed up the last few months as I can't seem to manage more than a few minutes spinning with my lovely wheel without my back and/or legs aching, so I just haven't been doing any at all.
I eventually decided to buy an e-spinner, ie an electric spinner, and here it is

At this point I hadn't put it together, but it didn't take long and I plan to get started later. I'll post more pics when I've done some spinning with it.
The next thing was what to do with all the lovely white paper that came packed around it. Of course it was all scrunched up so could only be reused as packaging.
Thrifty hoarder Pam smoothed out every sheet and wanted to keep it all. However new decluttering Pam knew it was silly - this is the box full of packaging, jiffys, plastic bags, paper carriers etc that sits in the corner of my room

Yes it's full to bursting! And on the floor beside it is a carrier full of bubble wrap and similar packaging. There is also a small carrier full of small jiffys, and I think there may be a bag in the bottom of the airing cupboard with more bubble wrap................ oh and another with brown paper......
The nicely flattened white paper has gone into the recycling bin.

Gallery!

2010-03-31T16:28:00.000+01:00

This is a quick update on my last post. I took my jewellery in to Arteria, a local shop/gallery, and they loved it!!
They loved my two favourites, the one with my pink polymer clay beads, and the magnesite and copper one. They are going to put my jewellery into their summer exhibition, which starts in June and runs till the middle of August. They want about 10 necklaces, including those two, and earrings/bracelets to match if possible. They like some of the necklaces in my Folksy shop so I'll make some in a similar style for them.
I'm very excited, this gives me plenty of time to make more items and I'm hoping I can manage to make some more clay beads to include.

Jewellery and other musings

2010-03-30T10:54:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post as a few people asked to see the necklace I was making. Also I've been making some jewellery to take into a local giftshop to see if they would like to sell it. So I thought I'd post a few photos. If they aren't interested there is also a gallery here that I like so I may try there. And if they don't like it then I'll just cry.

This is made with my polymer clay beads - the pink ones, the others are ruby in fuchsite, they are quite rough beads but I love them. It's wired with silver plated wire, and has a sterling silver clasp.

This is made with magnesite most of which has been dyed to look like turquoise, the donut is chalk turquoise, and it's linked with copper.

This is amazonite, with little crystal rondelles, and a sterling silver clasp.

And matching earrings with sterling silver earwires.

I'm not going to think about what I'll do next if the shop or gallery won't take any of them as it will be really discouraging.

I'm going to set to work now to make some little gift bags to go with them. Ok I'll get dressed first. And maybe have a cuppa. And put some food out on the birdtable. And I really have to get on with decorating the bathroom..... then the bedroom...... the hall...... and the living room/kitchen. I have till July to get it all done and I'm dreading having to move furniture so I can get to most of the walls in the living room and bedroom. First things first, try to get the bathroom finished !

Klimt Cane - Polymer Clay

2010-03-29T10:40:00.000+01:00

I set out to make a Klimt cane, using the instructions in a lovely book I bought by Donna Kato.

The first step was to condition the clay using a pasta machine (you can of course do it by hand but it takes much much longer) and then make logs with however many colours you want. I've used pearlised clay made by Cernit, in metallic silver and copper, brown and aqua. Disaster struck while rolling the second colour, my machine seized up completely and the rollers won't move at all. Fortunately the clay I was rolling was just about out of the machine so I didn't lose any.
So I conditioned the other two logs by hand, which took much longer and left my hands really sore.
On to the next stage, making a multicoloured log.

This stage was straightforward. Slice up logs and join slices together randomly. Then soften the resulting log and roll it to size so it will fit into the extruder.

The extruder is fitted with a large square plate. Extruding was hard work. I think maybe I didn't soften the log enough, but I did try to soften up the clay for subsequent extrusions and it was still very hard to do. My hands are very weak so it probably wouldn't matter how soft the clay was. My left hand, gripping the barrel while I turned the extruder screw, kept cramping up, so it took me a long time to do all the clay.
The next stage was to cut the extruded clay into sections and join together into a square or rectangle. I forgot to take a photo during this process, I cut a slice while it was a square but then I cut the cane and doubled it to make a rectangle.

I took the square I cut, and made a base for it from scrap clay and made a hole so it can be a pendent.
Then I used some of the cane to cover a lentil shaped bead made from scrap clay.

I made 2 more beads for earrings, I'll photograph them when they are finished.

As for the pasta machine........
well it is just so much scrap metal, and I decided to get myself a Makins machine, which is made specifically for clay rather than pasta, and has teflon coated rollers. It's rather expensive but would have been better value if I'd got that one in the first place instead of the cheapest I could find - I really should know better!
Sadly it comes from the USA and I could only find one UK stockist. And they are out of stock so I have to wait 2 - 4 weeks for it. (That's if they receive their shipment when they hope to)
I could order it direct from the States but with taxes and shipping I think it would be more expensive so I'll just wait.
In the meantime if I have to condition and roll by hand I'll stick to small projects. Of course there are all sorts of things I need to do - including decorating my house - but that can wait for another day.

Migraines!

2010-03-27T10:16:00.000Z

I was hoping to do a Folksy Friday yesterday for the first time, but had a bad migraine and couldn't do it.

I get migraines fairly regularly and have done for over 15 years. When I was working they were severe and frequent and it was several years until I was given any useful drug therapy for them. I tried acupuncture and homoeopathy, both of which have helped me enormously for other problems, but neither helped with the migraines.
I now take beta blockers every day and Imigran at the first signs of the headache. It usually works, in that it gets rid of the headache, but I'm often left with some of the other symptoms which vary.

So it's a fairly common occurrence to more or less lose a day to a migraine. They can last up to 3 days, during which the headache returns and occasionally the Imigran doesn't touch it. Other than that, usually I have moderate to severe brain fog, and can feel extremely sleepy, can't keep my eyes open for long, and doze on and off all day on the couch. Other than that I can get very clumsy, light and sound sensitive, and it usually triggers off fatigue.
Yesterday I didn't get the sleepyness (sometimes I get a few hours of feeling sleepy as a forerunner to a migraine) but I went out to do some shopping and go to the post office and felt really lousy and fatigued the whole time and by the time I dragged myself home the headache was starting and the Imigran didn't really get rid of it.

This last week I feel like I paid for having had 2 whole weeks without a single migraine. I had one every day though most of them went off fairly quickly. I was fatigued all week but didn't want to give into it and managed to get some stuff done, had a play with polymer clay, and even made a start decorating my bathroom.
I probably did a lot more than I should have and the paint smell won't have helped so I shouldn't have been at all surprised to feel so bad yesterday.
So this weekend I'm going to stay put, and potter. I do want to have another go with the polymer clay, and maybe spend a little time in the garden. I can usually get quite a bit done in the garden if I'm sensible and don't work more than 10 minutes at a time in between rests.
Maybe I should explain, so as not to seem very lazy, that I have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, so I have to pace myself to avoid pain flare ups, and fatigue which leaves me unable to function.
Well that's enough of a rant about the state of my health which I promise won't become a regular feature of this blog - boring!

New Ideas

2010-03-25T18:10:00.000Z

At the moment I'm experimenting with some new techniques in jewellery making - notably polymer clay. It's great fun and easier than it looks to achieve beautiful effects. It's also easy to make a muddy mess! I'm sure I'll find a use for all the scrap clay.
This was my first effort

These beads were made with a jellyroll cane. It's very simple, made by layering 2 colours of thinly rolled clay, and rolling it up, then cutting it up. I made some of it into a triangle shape, and used up the leftover bits by making a few bicone beads (at the front of the photo)
As you can see, I had some trouble varnishing them - I did it eventually by making another cardboard stand with narrower spaces so the pins stayed put.
I realise now, from Maxine Veronica, that I need to get cocktail sticks or toothpicks, and use some of that scrap clay for a stand to hold up the sticks.
I've also since discovered some rather clever wax polish that buffs them nicely and is a good alternative to varnish.
I've posted this batch of beads off to my 9yr old granddaughter who also likes to make jewellery.
My next attempt wound up looking nothing like the picture in the book but ended up looking really nice so I've made those up into a necklace. I'll post a picture of it later, and will keep you up to date with my efforts.