It's Folksy Friday time again!

Two weeks running and I've managed to get a Folksy Friday post done - how long will this continue? Your guess is as good as mine! Once again, no theme here, just things I've favourited recently on Folksy that I think deserve a blog shout out for their fabulousness.

1.) A cute wee highland cow card by Aileen Clarke Crafts - aside from it's total adorableness, I love how the felt texture has transferred so well as a print

2.) A heart necklace by Alison Moore designs - I think the silver and copper look fantastic against one another in this piece

3.) A mini yarn skein necklace by Max's World - a great gift for a knitter, a teeny weeny little skein of yarn pendant

4.) A resin bird ring by Cassiopi - I love the the 'brushed' effect of the blue colour in this ring, which makes the little flying birds really pop

5.) A cat necklace by Jings Things - A cute and fun little kitty necklace in acrylic, with the sweet little addition of a bow around it's neck

6.) A pair of cufflinks by Fortune Favours The Brave - these Scottish themed cufflinks made me smile with their 'aye pod' slogan - and who doesn't love a man in a kilt, right?

Hope you like my picks for this week. As ever, click on the photo to be taken to the Folksy makers' shop. I am off for a Bank Holiday weekend back in Essex with my family, so my Etsy and Folksy shops are now closed and will be re-opened on Monday. Hope you have a nice holiday, however you choose to spend it!

Nicole

xoxo

Success for Flora Metallica in the London Jewellery School Student Competition!

I attended the London Jewellery School last year to take one of their evening classes in silver jewellery (fab little studio, a fantastic, inspiring tutor (Michael Milloy) and I came away with two pieces of jewellery which had tested and educated me in several techniques) and was thus eligible to enter their competition for current and present students. 

I was extremely excited to be nominated in the final five, packaged up my entry, my 'Flora Metallica' beadwork necklace, and awaited news of the results, which were to be decided by a judging panel made up of tutors from the London Jewellery School.

The result? Flora Metallica was awarded 2nd place! 

I am so proud of this necklace - it is my first really big piece of beadwork and challenged me in new ways whilst I came up with a way of beading the necklace I had imagined and sketched out. Winning a prize for Flora is the icing on the cake! 

My 2nd place prize is a gift voucher for the London Jewellery School - so I will have to look through their website and try and decide what course I want to take next (they have so many to choose from!) I am also looking forward to having Flora back...I have missed having her sparkliness sat on my chest of draws as a reminder of what I can achieve in terms of my beading.

My congratulations also go to the other winners and finalists in the competition; you can see the full results page here. There were some fantastic pieces, and all very different from each other.

I'll try and remember to blog and let you know what workshop I decide to take and how I get on - I think my choice is between wax carving and enamelling at the moment!

Nicole

xoxo

Folksy Friday...yet, yet more favourites!

Apologies once more for the lack of blogging - a wee holiday and PhD woes have kept me from keeping on top of things. I will try and be a good blogger (but don't throw stuff if I fall off the wagon again, please?)

 So here's a Folksy Friday for you; no theme really, just things I have favourited recently.

1.) I love the mood and subtle colours of this illustrated locket necklace by Bonbi Forest; there are a range of different designs too, making it hard for me to choose a favourite!

2.) Two of my favourite colours in one lovely floral hair pin from Wychbury - perfect for summer hair (if we get anymore sunshine!)

3.) A beautiful set of silver butterflies featuring gorgeous etching and patina in this fab necklace by Artigiana Jewellery.

4.) A fun, vibrant necklace created from vintage fabric by Gemma Nemer - there are lots more fantastic florals to choose from in her shop too.

5.) I love the use of stained glass to make a 'scene' with these lovely dragonflies flitting in amongst the bullrushes created by Raven's Stained Glass.

6.) A beautiful bridal bag embroidered in seed beads and crystals by Rococo & Co - so much work has clearly gone into this piece.

That's my Folksy Friday picks for you, hope you enjoyed!

Nicole

xoxo

Not Done One of These For Ages...Folksy Friday Returns!

I'm going to try and be a good blogger. Last weekend, I relocated from North London, to Cambridge, to move in with my boyfriend (yup, I now have to live with a boy!) and so now all the pre-move organising/packing/panicking etc is over and most of the boxes have been unpacked at the new flat, I hope I can keep a more up to date blog.

To kick things off, we have a Folksy Friday - no particular theme, just things that have caught my eye whilst browsing around the Folksy listings and forums. Hope you like my picks :)

1.) Rose Drop Earrings by Nicola Reed Jewellery - I love the elegance of these earrings and there's something a little bit Rennie Mackintosh about them too

2.) Axolotl Earrings by Squishy Arts - Seriously, how cute are these polymer clay sculpted earrings? I want a pet axolotl now!

3.) Love Birds Print by CowBag - if axolotls aren't your thing, then how about this gorgeous lovebird print...I adore the expression on the face of the one on the right

4.) Rainbow Butterfly Necklace by Carols Crafts - these vibrant butterflies have all been hand created from polymer clay...this would be a fab piece to wear to a summer festival 

5.) Lily Border Bracelet by Lynwoodcrafts - what beautiful embroidery work has gone into this bracelet...the orange lillies remind me of the ones my parents grow in their garden

6.) Great Crested Grebe Ring by Sally Ayling Jewellery - I really like the simplicity of this silhouette ring and the use of oxidisation to complete the effect...there are several other versions of this ring, each with a different kind of bird on it too

Thanks for reading

N

xoxo

London Jewellery Week...My Visit to Treasure 2011

The blog has been a bit neglected of late...my excuse? Well, in less than 2 weeks I shall be moving in with my lovely boyfriend and we are heading away from London and off to a cosy flat in Cambridge, so I have been spending my evenings/free weekend time having a big clearout of all the clutter I have magically accumulated over the past year. But on with the real subject of this blog post, my visit to the Treasure exhibition, which was part of London Jewellery Week.

After going along last year (with my bf in tow, who also enjoyed it) I was very keen to make the trip to Victoria House again to see what would be on display in 2011, despite it being a horribly wet drizzly day. We had been very kindly offered tickets to the exhibition by Chris and Joy of CJ Poupazis and we had a nice chat with Chris over at their stand. Chris was particularly pleased with this ring which he had created after getting the opportunity to use CAD. He was aiming to create something that was very organic and natural looking, despite being designed with computer technology and I think this gorgeous ring definitely achieved that goal.

Again, this year, we saw a huge variety of work using many different techniques and materials, so here are a few of my favorite designers from the visit. If you click on the images you will be taken to the designers website for more of their work to drool over!

Daphne Krinos' large, bold flowers really stood out on her stand - I love the subtle graduation in colour on these.

Atelier Michael Berger's kinetic rings had everyone who visited his stand enthralled and wondering 'how do they work?' Very cleverly designed...the tops look like they might slip off at any moment as they spin smoothly on their ring base, but they are attached (and not magnetic as my bf and I initially guessed).

I also loved Alexandra Raphael's stunning cloissone enamel work - combining beautiful dream-like enamelled pendants with semi-precious gemstones.

And, last, but certainly not least, was Milena Kovanovic's fantastically named 'Superman Rocks' collection - I was very interested as she explained how she had wanted to feature gemstones in their natural, uncut state...she had so many gorgeous rings with different stones 'growing' out of the ring band. 

 There were so many more wonderful pieces of jewellery on show, but I haven't the time or space here to mention them all. If you enjoyed this post then I definitely recommend a visit to Treasure 2012!

That's all for now...if you don't hear from me for a while then I may have got lost amongst all the boxes during my packing!

N 

xoxo

Beadwork To Be Proud Of

For the past few weeks I have been quietly beavering away on my biggest beadweaving project to date. At a rough estimate, at the very least 20hrs of beading went into this necklace...probably more as I haven't accurately recorded all the time I spent in the evenings after work and on weekends when I had time to spare. Add to that 1000s of seed beads, over 200 Swarovski crystals (including 3 gorgeously sparkly crystal rivolis, to which I am now hopelessly addicted!) and a whole lot of patience.

I have learnt a lot in developing this design from an original rough sketch into the finished article - and if I make another I will certainly do a few things differently (namely to attach my linking loops BEFORE adding any embellishment - this took me hours just to add a few loops on to each flower because it was so difficult to stitch back into the beadwork with the magatamas and crystals included). I am hoping I can make a few slightly less labour intensive pieces based on this work, so if nothing else, it has been a big challenge and learning experience for me as a beader.

I hereby present, Flora Metallica.

However, this piece is also a competition entry. E-beads, is hosting the competition in conjunction with Swarovski, and the task was to create a piece featuring Swarovski crystallised elements which embodied the theme 'Urban Beautiful.' My necklace features beadwoven flower motifs with an urban edge. My colour palette of dark metallic gunmetal grey and metallic purple was chosen to reflect a city landscape. And of course, the sparkle of the Swarovski crystals was intended to help with the 'beautiful' side of the theme.

If you like my work and would like to vote to help it progress to the judging stage, the link to the entries gallery is here. You may have to flick through a few pages to find Flora Metallica depending on how many entries have been added since this post was published (it was at the top of page 2 last time I checked). There are 3 voting buttons, 'good effort,' 'like,' and 'love.' Each button gives a different number of rating points - good effort = 1 point, like = 2 points and love = 3 points. Obviously I would love it if you'd click 'love' for my entry...but feel free to peruse the rest of the work and vote for some of the other very impressive pieces on show. Your support will be very much appreciated!

Laura McCabe Locket Necklace Workshop

I've been beadweaving for about 3 years or so now (I think!) but up until last week I had never attended a class on the subject. I've been to workshops on silversmithing, art clay silver and other crafty subject, but everything I know about beadweaving I've learnt from books and magazines. So, when I saw that the fabulously talented Laura McCabe was going to be doing some classes at Stitchncraft, I knew I had to book myself a chance to learn from someone who's skill I admire greatly.

It was a bit hit and miss as to whether I would make it to the workshop at all, after being struck down with a horrid cold the weekend before and being sat in my PJs feeling rotten, hoping it would have gone away enough by Wednesday. Fortunately, despite having to get up at 5:45am (shudder) in order to make my 7:10am train down to Dorset from London Waterloo, I felt a lot better and enjoyed a nice train journey to Gillingham, where I then got a taxi with a very helpful lady driver to the Stitchncraft bead shop. Stitchncraft is a lovely shop and venue (if only it was closer to London!) and I was welcomed in and given a much needed cup of tea as I sat down ready for the class to begin. Laura had kits for sale for the necklace project we were going to be working on in two gorgeous different jewel tone colourways, but since my student bank balance couldn't stretch to that, I'd come up with enough beads from my own stash to work in my own silver and blue colourway.

Apologies for the lack of photos on the day - I was just too engrossed in beading! I have included some quick snaps of my finished locket though, and rest assured there will be pics of the finished project too.

Laura is a really great teacher and we were soon all beading away following her printed instructions with her on hand to help if we got stuck anywhere. We were all hoping we would get to finish at least one locket component in the workshop time so we'd have all the knowledge to work on finishing a whole necklace in our own time. The locket construction is very clever and mixes stitches in a way I'd never have come up with myself. It also features Laura's trademark bezelling of a crystal rivoli, which I'd done before from her fantastic crystal jewellery book.

Time went way too quickly and it was soon time to have some lunch and a stretch. I took the opportunity to have a look around the shop (though I was very restrained not to buy any more beads!) and to admire the lovely beadwork which was on display on the walls in the workshop room as well as the stunning finished pieces that Laura had brought with her. Lunch over it was then time to cram in another couple of hours beading to get the locket embellished and with its pearl and loop closure on before it was time to go home.

With the sun shining it was time to say goodbye (and get a big hug from Laura!) and start my return journey home. I got back to my flat at 8pm tired and hungry, but happy and extremely glad I'd had the opportunity to go on this course. Now all I have to is find the time to make 8 more lockets to create a whole necklace!