Saturday 27 October 2012

A new venture

Worry not readers, this is not another wedding post!

I have been a bit manic this week as I have been indulging my other hobby, amateur dramatics. So, no jewellery made, except for a sweetie style bracelet for George who saw my "Woodland Wonder" bracelet and wanted an autumnal coloured one. I will take a decent photo of it and put it up on here...

Other than that I've been contemplating a new venture. A friend asked me if I do jewellery parties...I've never done one, but I am up for a challenge, and a different marketing strategy! So I've been developing kits for a children's party in November and possibly making kits for adults too. 

If you were attending a jewellery party, what would you want to make? If you have kids, what sort of thing would they want to bring away from a party? Have you been to a party like this, or have you run one? Please let me know!

Saturday 20 October 2012

Da Doo Ron Ron

Last post about wedding jewellery for  a while, I promise! 

Yesterday was Becky and Arron's "vintage" themed wedding. Sadly I was only able to be there in the evening as I had to work during the day (*damn you, day job!) but it was a pleasure to be part of a fabulous evening of music, dancing, doughnuts and divas! I have shared some photos of the bridesmaid's hair accessories, as made by moi, on Facebook. If I get permission, I'll post them on here too. There isn't a close up photo of the hair comb I made for Becky's bridesmaid Emma, but I posted a photo of it here and a photo of the hair band here when they were first made. 

Below is a picture of the hair clips of doom as they began to be known as! I had a few issues getting the beads to stay where I needed them at first, so I helped them along with some glue. I then made the fateful error of storing them in a resealable bag, like I do with all the jewellery I make... The glue had a reaction in the bag and the clips were ruined! So I started again, this time careful not to store them erroneously...Then I accidentally wired one of the clips shut! But they were eventually finished and actually looked gorgeous in real life. They are made with a vintage clip base, pink tear-drop shaped glass pearls and hot pink seed beads.



Becky looked stunning in her vintage style dress. I am a bit useless at knowing the styles from different eras, but I'd say 40's-50s? Becky was in a beautiful white (well duh!) dress with an amazing tulle skirt, and the most awesome shoes ever and the bridesmaids were pretty in pink. As Becky is a musician, there was an element of performance to the wedding. Arron had had a few singing lessons on the quiet and sang a Lionel Ritchie song for Becky, and then later on Becky returned the favour by singing "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" later on in the evening. I have heard Becky sing before but this was something else. It made me cry, it was so beautiful - and I don't cry at weddings! (I don't know why because I cry at everything else!)

Anyway, as I said, last wedding post for a while. I have a new venture in the pipeline and also am getting into Christmas commission season! If you're in the Romsey area, I am hopefully doing a stall in November at Academy Studios. More details to follow!

Thursday 4 October 2012

Beautiful Brides

I know all of my recent posts have been about weddings... I have been a bit consumed by wedding related jewellery recently - with Rachel's wedding in August, Becky's coming up in October and my best friend's wedding in March, I am tiara-a-go-go. I have a vested interest in the jewellery for Anna's wedding in March as I am a bridesmaid!

Rach has kindly shared some photos of her wedding to show off the jewellery I made for her. I saw her and her husband (eeep!) at a wedding of a mutual friend this past weekend (more on that later) and Paul told me that the jewellery I had made was beautiful which made me really really happy. All I can do is try to make what I think will work and suit the bride. To be told I have made something beautiful is lovely.

Here are some photos of the gorgeous Rachel (and Paul) on their special day...

Are those not the happiest two people EVER? I love the look of sheer joy on Rachel's face in the first one. You can see the earrings in both shots and the bracelet in the second. Awww!

Anyway, on to the other wedding. Hannah married the lovely Michael last Saturday in Great Bookham in Surrey. Han, me and Rach have known each other since secondary school, and whilst we lost touch a bit, the magic of Facebook has kept us up to speed with each other's lives. Han was at Rachel's wedding and Rach advertised my wares so well that Hannah asked me to make her some earrings for her wedding. Of course, I agreed - and was able to make something that fitted her exact specifications! But, life is never simple... 

I made the earrings, and also two bracelets using semi precious fluorite and freshwater pearls beads for the mother of the bride and mother of the groom. These I packaged up and posted of to Hannah with at least 6 days before the wedding... The Friday before I enquired if they had arrived safely, safe in the knowledge that I had posted them first class. No, said Hannah's lovely mum Cecilia, but not to worry the postie hadn't been yet... Later that day I had another message from Cecilia. Still no package. Panic stations! I decided to make another set and try to get the earrings to Hannah before she walked down the aisle... A wedding relay if you will. I managed (just!) to scrape together enough beads for two more bracelets as I was running low on the fluorite beads at this stage... I took them with me to the wedding on Saturday, hoping it would all work out. Thankfully I got a message from Cecilia as I was waiting at the church - the package had arrived earlier in the week but she'd forgotten about it! :) Phew!

These are the earrings I made for Hannah (a photo of the bracelets to follow when I have better light to take a photo of the "copies"! These are freshwater pearls with Swarovski crystals on sterling silver ear wires. Very simple but they suited Hannah's outfit and colour scheme perfectly!

All in all, it's been a busy few weeks beading. And now the Christmas rush begins!! I will update again soon!