Trying to get back in the Beady Saddle!!

 Well who knows where this year has gone already!!  The studio is almost finished but the house is very definately not fully unpacked!!  Why do these things take so long?  It is all those little DIY jobs that drag on and on!  This and the fact that I have a boisterous Lakeland Terrier who needs a good long walk everyday or she will cause chaos!!

So to start the news and the blog I wanted to first take a moment and say how touched I have been by all my customers old, and newer who have kept in touch during my bead drought, I have been suprised by the number of people who have made contact and asked how things are going.  To those of you a HUGE thank you x

 So what is the grand plan I hear you cry!   Well, once we have finished sorting out the unpacking, recycling etc.  I am going to have a 'Beady Party' and invited all those local customers to an open evening or indeed anyone who would like to come.  You can have a browse around the studio where I am setting up a couple of cabinets of beads and jewellery for sale and of course nibbles and drinks!  You can't have a bead party without those!!  By Easter I should be fully up and running and will be selling from the 'studio shop' to anyone who wants to drop by!

 Although there are still some things to do in the Studio the ventilation, kiln, torch, propane and oxcycon are all in so what is girl to do!!  Well not the ironing that is for sure!!

 I found myself nervous at lighting the torch, apart from a class with the wonderful Astrid Reidel back in October I have not been on the torch at all since August of last year, an age away.  I found myself having one of those moments....spent ages cleaning my glass tiding the work surface infact doing anything to avoid the inevitable even though I was SO excited to get started.  Like sharpening your pencils then having that moment of panic when you have to start a clean sheet of paper.  I decided that the only way to get back in the beady saddle was to start with beads that were simple and organic, no clever stuff just layering dots and spots and bumps to get myself back in the swing. But of course the temptation of all that silver glass winking at me from its storage meant it wasn't long before I was incorporating the wonderful Double Helix glass into the mix with its lovely reflective qualities.  

The hours soon slipped away and I started on some stripes too!  My encasing skills seem to have been forgotton but I wasn't unhappy with this little collection.  It is just practice and what better than to be practicing something you really enjoy!

So what next....well stick a tungsten pick in it!! 

Then why not combine everything and see what happens!  

I still feel like I have a ways to go before I feel confident again but I do feel like I have rounded the corner and am on my way!

Have a good week everyone, I will be blogging on a more regular basis now that I am almost straight so I can let you know when the website shop is open again. I have put a few items on sale from last years stock in my Etsy Shop and I will be adding stock as and when I get a minute over the next week.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/RASPBERRYRINGS  Here is the link so do pop over if you like and have a look!

And now for anyone who regularly reads my blogs...when I am blogging that is!!   The picture of Milly for this week is one of her and her friend Patrick today at Grey Sands Beach in Appledore were they had a mammoth run and totally exhausted each other.....Hurray!!