Cornish Dragon

Book Binding Tutorial

2012-01-25T13:22:00.001Z

As you may have read on an earlier post I mentioned my new craft Book Binding. I made this fabric covered book as a gift for a friend.

I was trying to find a tutorial for it but I couldn't really find anything close to how I made this one, so I have written my own. This is my first Tutorial so I hope I cover everything clearly.

Materials:

A5 thick card i.e. grey board / mount board, I used Tim Holtz grunge board.

Fabric, if the fabric is thin I would interface it, and ensure you have about a cm all round to glue inside for neat edges.

Ribbon

Paper

Inside cover paper or card

Thread, ordinary thread is fine just check you can pull it without it snapping or if wrapped round a finger it will cut of the blood supply, which means it will be strong enough.

Glue, Fabric & PVA.

Ruler

Pencil & Eraser

Sharp Knife

Bone / Paper folder

Needle

Awl

How to make the book.

First you will need to cut the spine and the covers from the A5 thick card. The spine I cut measured 2.5 cm wide x 12.5 cm tall, measure this onto the card with a pencil and then cut with the sharp knife. You can then cut the rest of the card in half for the covers or measure and cut. My covers when cut measured 9 cm wide x 12.5 cm tall.

Next spread fabric glue onto the card and place onto the fabric I left a small gap of a few mm between the spine card and covers. If the fabric is thin the glue may come through the fabric it can be gently sponged off when dry but interfacing the fabric may prevent this and also give some strength to the cover. Spread glue on the inside edges of the card and fold the fabric onto the inside, you could cut the corners at a diagonal to get neat corners or glue in on the diagonal first. Turn over to ensure the cover of the book is smooth, if not turn back over and lift up the glued fabric and pull to smooth out the front. Leave to dry.

While the cover is drying it is time to cut the inside cover paper and the paper for the individual booklets. To get the measurement needed I measured the width of the book and the whole length, I then adjusted this to show the fabric around the edges.

Cut the paper for the inside cover, mine measured 12 wide/ tall x 20 cm in length.

Next get the paper for the booklets and decided how many pages you will need and how many booklets. I cut 10 sheets for each booklet so when folded that would give 20 sheets per booklet and had a total of 6 booklets.

Measure out on the paper the width / height of the booklet, I kept the same as the inside cover which was 12 cm, and cut out.

After cutting all the sheets you need for each booklet fold then in half using the bone / paper folder to give a sharp fold.

Now you will need to cut the booklets to fit in the cover, I leave this until they have been folded so that all the edges are the same length. Mine measured 8.5 cm.

Now you need to attach the ribbon to the cover, measure how far down and in you would like the ribbon, and make a mark. Measure the width of the ribbon and draw a pencil line on the mark the width of the ribbon. Now cut the mark with the sharp knife through the card, turn the card over and neaten the cut through the fabric. Push the ribbon through the hole, it might need a push through, and attach it to the inside with glue, I also use some tape to cover the ribbon to be more secure. Cut the ribbon to the length you require.

Now cover the inside cover paper with glue and place on the card, to complete the cover and leave to dry.

Nearly there. You will need to measure the holes for sewing in the booklets, I made about 4 holes, you can make more or less. Mark this on the spine and them mark holes for all you booklets. Use an off cut of paper the size of your booklets and mark on to this the hole marks. Then use this as a template to mark the holes in the centre pages of the booklets.

Use the awl and make holes in the spine, and through the booklets.

Thread the needle with an length of thread and sew through the booklet and spine (leave a tail of thread for knotting later). Sew through as may times as you want, I did it twice. Knot the thread together, I used a surgeons knot and cut the thread neat. If you can hide the knot in the holes. Sew in the other booklets in the same way.

If you find the corners of the cover have curled a bit but the completed book under a heavy weight if needed.

And there you have a completed book.

Blogs and Goals

2012-01-04T11:09:00.001Z

I have been meaning to recommend a blog to you all, it is written by a local lady who is a writer.
muddy lobster I love it.

So New Year Resolutions do you make them and then end up breaking them, I used to so I don't make them any more. What I do instead is set myself goals for the year, most of those I set last year I achieved, there are a couple I didn't complete but I made progress on them. I heard someone mention on the radio yesterday about one resolution to loose weight, you expect to loose that weight straight away and you get fed up and then you've broken that resolution. That is a good example where a goal is more attainable. My children have to make resolutions at school and they we struggling so I made up one for them, "No more resolutions to break, but goals that I can make" I expect they won't use it at school but it did make them think.
I haven't set my goals for the year yet but I will do soon, right of to get some mood / inspiration boards up for well inspiration.

New Year and another new craft

2012-01-04T10:50:00.000Z

eek I have been so busy I haven't updated the blogs oops. So hello 2012 and from the title you may have guessed I'm enjoying another craft. I do hope this one will actually save me money, well sort of lol. I'm hopelessly addicted to stationery, notebooks in particular, my hubby got me some books on book binding and making your own books for Christmas. I was hoping to find the time over the holidays and have a go, but I was having great fun with my children. They went back to school yesterday so I now have the time.

So I made these books in the past couple of days.

The good thing was they didn't take too long to make. The black book is fabric covered, I chose the fabric because of the paper inside the cover, as you can see in this picture.

I found this paper in the box of all my paper and card from when I made cards, It has a lovely red embossed Chinese style pattern with a gold sheen. I then remembered I had some scrap fabric that would go very well. I really enjoyed making them and I will certainly make more, well I have lots of ideas for them so I will need a notebook to write those ideas down.

Oct Jewellery Maker Prize Challenge

2011-10-07T10:09:00.003+01:00

So here is the second posting today. As I mentioned in the previous blog post, I set Inspiration challenges for the Jewellery Maker Forum. The October one has been set and as it is October it just had to be Halloween. And as usual I had great fun making up the mood board.

So with this challenge there will be a prize, I can't tell you what the prize will be as even I don't know myself yet. But I can guarantee it will be nice. So do you make Jewellery and want to have a go, well you need to go to the Jewellery Maker Forum (the link will take you straight to the October Challenge) and become a member and at least post 5 times, so come on over and join the fun. My entry has already been made I just need to take some photos.

ETSY and Inspiration challenges

2011-10-07T09:55:00.003+01:00

I haven't blogged for over a month, so you'll get two posts today sorry.

So where to start, ah yes ETSY. If you are a crafter you will know what ETSY is, and if you don't well its and online marketplace. I'm on Folksy but to be honest the elves need a wider audience, so I thought its worth a try and ETSY is cheaper than Folksy.

You may have noticed the widget for the shop over there on the right with some of my new style elves and a few sets. I have a couple of halloween elves that I must get to photograph and list soon, plus some Yule elves.

So now on to Inspiration Challenges, for September I set a challenge of ART on the Jewellery Maker Forum. I made a inspiration / mood board, which to be honest I enjoy making as much as thinking up a piece of jewellery.

I narrowed down my art inspiration to Mackintosh, Erte and Klimt and the medium I was going to use was polymer clay. For some reason I changed my mind as I had some of my lampwork beads that just fitted with Klimt so out came some Rose Quartz, Copper wire and a lovely ribbon. So I was spiraling and wrapping with copper wire and made this necklace inspired by Gustav Klimt's "Tree of Life".

The necklace "Phoenix" is now on my website and I will tell you about the lampwork beads on the Storm Glass Bead Blog.

The making of a ring

2011-08-15T11:40:00.001+01:00

Well yesterday I made two silver rings, and as promised I have taken photos of the process, yes including something that went wrong.

The first thing to do was marking out the shape on the silver sheet, which I then cut with the piercing saw.

Next I used one of my needle files to smooth the rough edges left by the saw. And as you can see from the picture I made a mark with my centre punch, this is where I want to drill the hole for the silver tube.

I then textured the silver on my block using a hammer.

Using my drill I made a small pilot hole before the next stage.

Time to shape the rings, first I used ring bending pliers, then it was on to the ring mandrel and hammering it a bit more to finish the shape.

Now its time to get the pilot hole made bigger so the tube would fit. I slowly increased the hole size by drilling with a slightly bigger drill bit each time, until I got to the right size.

While the tube was in the hole I added the bead and measured the amount of tube needed and cut it to length.

On the second ring I found it easier to flare the tube first add the bead add the ring and then measure and cut.

I flared out the tube on the back of the ring and threaded on the bead, and tried to flare the front. It was going okay and then ping, one of the points of the star cracked, all was not lost as I had another bead.

Success with the second bead, this time I took care with flaring out the tube, I used my centre punch to help flare out. Now I had a spare ring base with no bead. I had a quick look in my orphan jar and found a nice bead to use. As I said above this time I flared the tube, added the bead, measured and cut, then added to the ring and flared the tube at the back.

So to the final stage polishing, I like polishing, even if it can be a bit messy at times.

The beads were still a bit wobbly at this stage so I added a Jump ring to the top rivet, which stopped the wobble.

So there we are all finished, I learnt a lot from the process and have some tips for the tube riveting. Make sure the tube is fully annealed, and use dapping / doming punches to flare out the tube.

The rings look lovely on my hand and the beads spin on the base too, I am very tempted to keep them. If I do decided to sell them I will get them Hallmarked first, but thats my next blog post.

The Start of Something New

2011-08-12T13:19:00.000+01:00

Well this month has brought new things for my lamp working it has been some new buttons & beads. For the Cornish Dragon it has brought a new Forum, I do like my Jewellery forums with Craft Pimp being a favorite, but there's a newcomer on the block, populated by a lot of lovely people I know and some new ones as well. Its called Jewellery Maker and I will put the link on the side along with the Craft Pimp link.

So to the other thing, If you read my Storm Glass blog you will se I have made a star bead I want to make into a ring. Well I thought I would photograph and share with you all the stages that will go into making this ring, yes even the bad. So far I have the bead and yesterday the silver arrived, before I ordered the silver I drew a quick design (not in my usual design book) I cut out one on the design in paper to see if it would go round my finger and if the bead would look right on the top.

I made sure I ordered enough silver sheet and tube to turn the other star into a ring as well. Hopefully I will be able to get some time in the shed and make a start, I had better remember to take my camera with me.

Forums

2011-07-08T11:21:00.000+01:00

The internet has really been a good thing for me, with easy access to buying my supplies for my jewellery and forums. It took me a while to join one now I'm on two, I joined Making Jewellery magazine forum a few years ago. It has been a good place to visit with the odd competition, general fun, asking / answering questions and opinions on jewellery making and of course posting pictures and drooling over the beautiful creations of the other members.

Well as much as I love that forum I have other craft interests as well and I can't remember how I found this other Forum, but I'm glad I did.

There is lots of different crafts on this lovely forum and of course the most important thing is they are a very friendly bunch. I still haven't been on all the different craft sections of the

forum but I will do soon.

Well on this Forum a couple of the members started a swap and the theme was Stars and Ithought why not I'll join in. So what to make, I got out the wee folk and made an Elf called
Star of course. She's been posted now off to her new home and I have some lovely polymer buttons coming.
If you've never been on the Craft Pimp Forum just click on the Boss link on the right hand
side and have a look.

June here already

2011-06-09T10:49:00.000+01:00

June is probably one of my busier months not for jewellery and making more busy with the other things that get in the way. I have book club, a dog show, Patronal Festival, school trips and then at the start of July it will be my son's birthday. On top of all that I have a jewellery party between the dog show and Patronal festival. I have been trying to get some extra bags and jewellery made and I'm wanting to get back with playing with metal I have the urge to make a Owl.

The Patronal Festival the whole week there is something on and on Festival day the school is a big part of the whole day. The festival does have an Art exhibition and I'm tempted this year to put in a piece of jewellery, I had ideas of a lampwork necklace but I couldn't get the right shape. In the end I made a piece for an Inspiration challenge on a jewellery forum, The inspiration was "by the Seaside" and I came up with this necklace.

Now I was also thinking of putting this in the art exhibition, but then unfortunately it won't be available for the jewellery party. I was tempted to take a photo of the necklace to the jewellery party, but I'm now thinking it really needs to be at the party. so maybe I will make something for next year.

Busy Times

2011-05-19T14:32:00.000+01:00

I seem to have been more busy with the office side of things at the moment. I set up two Folksy shops one for Cornish Dragon and the other for Storm Glass beads, I have also set up a new website for the beads at last. Today it has been a lovely warm day, and I have been stuck inside with housework and uploading photos, it all takes up crafting time. I'm also about on twitter more and I love twitter I think I actually prefer it to facebook. I have also found a lovely new Forum, I love it there is lots of different creative bits going on, some stunning jewellery, beads, ceramics, paper crafts, oh loads, if you are a crafter and haven't checked it out do so you'll see the link on the side column.
So what have I created not a huge amount admittedly, but I have made some of my Charm style bracelets. I had a sort out of the beads stash which made me determined to use up some of the old stock. Trouble is I'm now low on findings, can I buy the findings without getting any beads as well, What do you think?... maybe not. I also have some lovely material which I want to make some bags with oh and some coin purses, well I need to make myself a purse really, I had better get some zips.

Bags n Stuff

2011-04-25T18:12:00.000+01:00

The month has seemed to have flown by.

So to my new make, well if you're following me via my facebook page, you will know about the Bags. so far I have only made a few but have sold one and kept one.

The Skull pleat bag and the Rose Tote are both available in my Folksy Shop, I will put the link up to it soon but if you search for CornishDragon you should find them, along with a couple of pieces of jewellery and some of my punk elves. Talking of the Punk Elves, one got Folksy Friday'd this week you will find it on this blog by Little Day Dreamers .

I haven't made as much jewellery as I have been busy making beads, but I did make these using some of my beads of course.

What's in a Name?

2011-03-11T12:06:00.000Z

apologies for not blogging for a bit I seemed to have been busy with other things, hopefully I'll keep things updated bit more regularly.

Sometimes you get asked how did you get or decided on your design / business name. Well lots of people decide to use their own name, initials or even places they live etc.

So how did I come up with Cornish Dragon and Storm Glass Beads. Well when I was making cards I used the name of Cornish Fairies as I was mainly making faerie & fantasy cards so the name stuck for a little while and worked well with the elves etc. But it didn't seem to work right for when I really got started with the jewellery so Cornish Dragon came into being. Cornish well I live in cornwall and it is a good selling point. Dragon well now that was fun I have a love of dragons and of course a dragons hoard is made of precious gems, metals etc so it seemed fitting to use this. Storm Glass beads was a little more difficult as I wanted to keep the two parts separate as one is a sort of raw material and the other is a ready made product. I could have used Cornish Beads etc but it didn't feel right, Spy Glass beads nearly happened along, but I settled on Storm Glass beads. Naturally the "glass beads speaks" for itself but Storm, now that is inspired by where I live in North Cornwall. I live about a mile away from the cliffs, and sometimes you can here the waves crashing on the cliffs or at a local beach called Duckpool, this is louder when we have a storm. Atlantic storms can be fierce but exhilarating I love it when the wind blows and I can here the wave pounding in, so Storm was chosen.

I'm starting a new project soon that will be the start of a new product line, now I have thought about using a different name for that line, so far this sound fun "Not All Girls Love Pink" but I have decided it will be easier just to stick with Cornish Dragon a lot easier really.

A couple of Photos of jewellery I've been busy making, and I have been bitten by the Chain Maille bug and I will post about that at a latter date.

Too Cold

2011-01-31T11:26:00.000Z

It really is a little bit too cold for me to go in my workshop / shed at the moment even though I have a little fan heater. But I did manages to get in there last weekend, well I did need to finish an order and I ended up making some necklaces and bracelets with some old beads and some of my Storm Glass beads.

I got some hand-dyed silk ribbons and strings which look lovely with the beads, I was going to use them for the copper jewellery but they look better with the beads. I've also sourced some sterling sliver findings that will go well with the beads, including some really nice earring hooks.

Hopefully I can get back into the shed when it warms up soon and then I'm going to start on my mens range, so far Bronze and leather is going to be the main materials I'm hoping to use, and I've been inspired by the film "300" so expect some Spartan inspired mens jewellery.

The New Year

2011-01-17T11:39:00.000Z

is creeping by and I can't believe that half of this month has gone already. If you've read my bead blog you will know I've been busy over the holidays in the shed playing with glass and my Hot Head torch. I've made some really nice sets and have a few single beads that I want to make pendants out of. The mushrooms and an Urchin bead are two I will start with and a lovely set I made this weekend that will look fantastic made into one of my Charm style bracelets.

I have recently purchased some hand dyed silk ribbons from Sowerze Designs, they are the most lovely colours. I have bought from them before but haven't used them I always felt that they were too nice to use, I am the same with some beads I buy. But the strings and ribbons will look lovely with my own Lampwork beads.

I was going to make some Jewellery this weekend and have some ideas in mind like the above pendants but I haven't really felt motivated. This time of year isn't the best for me motivation wise so I do have a tendency not to make much jewellery this time of year. But I'm thinking of a Jewellery party in either Feb or March so I will need to start creating again. But with the weather as it is at the moment, Its either raining or Misty so most days are grey, Isn't exactly inspiring. So I'm contenting myself with reading books, playing Wii games with my kids. The Mojo will return and then they may have to drag me out of my shed.

Yuletide Greetings

2010-12-24T16:29:00.000Z

Well the winter solstice crept up on me fast this year, I've been busier that I thought more with family but I have been playing with the glass and making more beads. I've created a couple of my popular charm style bracelets with some of my own beads.

The snow we had at the start of the week is still hanging about in fact the top of our road is still a bit slippery. But with having a puppy we need to go out and walk so I have been bursting with inspiration wether colours for beads or even an image from a film that has inspired thoughts of a range for men in bronze. Now will I get time to create something in my very cold shed I wonder.

Have a great Christmas.

Victoria

BRRR........

2010-11-29T11:30:00.000Z

Yes its quite cold here in North Cornwall we had a dusting of Snow on friday but it melted much to my children's disgust. Unfortunately it does mean I don't wan t to go out in the shed and get cold while working, but the call of making glass beads is strong so no doubt I will be making jewellery out of the beads I hope to create.
I have been catching up on the orders from a Jewellery party, plus I'm busy getting costumes and other bits and bobs sorted for my children's school play and Fayre and there is the christmas shopping as well. I'm coming up to what I call my shut down time I sort of have a bit of a break from mid December to early Feb. I try not to create anything and review what has sold well and what hasn't etc. sometimes I even break up pieces of jewellery that haven't sold for a while, this helps keep my stock fresh and also it's not wasted as more often it is all reused.

Now I'm off to sort out some Cake Baking for Christmas and the School fayre...

Christmas is coming............

2010-10-18T12:54:00.000+01:00

The shops have started putting out their christmas stock since early September in fact before their halloween stock. I nearly had kittens when I saw a cream egg in a supermarket but I looked closer and it was a Scream egg. I would be nice that the christmas stock etc wouldn't come out until early November, I think the fact it is out too early does ruin the enjoyment a bit it isn't so much fun when you've had christmas in you face for a third of the year. Halloween in a couple of weeks is a favorite time and I've only just made a Halloween Elf called Boo.....

So I wait until this time of year to make my Yule stock, I just make a few pieces usually cards, Elves etc.. This year I'm having a bit of a change no elves or cards. So what to make well as you can see from the pictures below I've made some Angels, Snowmen and Penguins. They won't go on my website until mid november.

What is your favourite colour?

2010-10-01T12:39:00.000+01:00

My children ask me this question all the time and I struggle to answer it. Colour is and a important part of what I do; always has been even when I was a Florist. Part of my floristry training included the colour wheel and the theory of primary, tertiary, complimentary etc. Even then when picking flowers for floral displays it was the customers preference, you may have made a lovely tonal bouquet and the customer doesn't like it they love clashing colours.

Colours can lift moods and evoke memories, Red and Green - I bet you're thinking Christmas, Yellow and Blue - for me the beach, oranges and reds - Autumn leaves. Take these bracelets I made a few weeks ago.

The Red bracelet reminded me of the orient and it was inspired by Hong Kong, the Yellow bracelet with the green reminded me of Sherbet Lemons and the Blue bracelet with the gold also reminded me of things Oriental. To me every colour has possibility and can be combined with other to evoke many things. So I tell my children I like all colours I have no particular favourite.

So what is your favourite colour?

Light Side Collection

2010-09-13T11:31:00.000+01:00

Well the kids are back at school now and I've been able to get back into my groove. To start with the old MOJO was missing in action but it resurfaced enough for me to make up a few pieces of jewellery for the Light Side Collection. I did the Dark Side collection a month ago and always had plans to make a Light Side to compliment it.

As with the Dark Side Collection I have made two necklaces and two bracelets. That wasn't the only thing I've made last week. I quickly made up a couple of bag charms for my daughter and her BF and another of my favorite makes a charm style bracelet with pumpkins and witches just in time for Halloween.

The Weekends are always a creative time for me and I managed to get out the glass and Hot Head and made some beads check out my Storm Glass Bead Blog to see what I've been up to.

Creative Bank Holiday

2010-09-02T11:31:00.000+01:00

My weekends have been busy and this bank holiday I was determined to get out in my shed and make some jewellery. I had made a second batch of beads a couple of days before so it was jewellery time, it has seemed like ages even though I made a brooch the other weekend. One thing I need to insist on is that if I'm in my shed working the kids need to ask their Dad questions not me I just want to get on, the tinkers. So I made some of my favorite type of bracelets the charm style, and a charm style necklace, and a few little thongs.

And now the kids are back to school today so my week is free so I can make more jewellery, I can't wait.

Autumn is here?

2010-08-25T10:17:00.000+01:00

I know it's still the summer holidays but it feels like autumn, today the weather is forecast for rain all day and it's dark like a winter day. Not pleasant for the kids on the last full week of their holidays, they are back to school next week.

I have finally found time to make my first beads you can read all about it in my Storm Glass Bead Blog, the link is on the right.

This is my entry for the monthly competition on the Making Jewellery Forum, the comp was for a brooch and I don't do brooches. I was going to go for a polymer brooch but I thought about wire leaves, so I had a go. My fingers were a little on the sore side afterwards and I did do six leaves but I removed one as it looked better with five. of course as it was leaves in brown wire it had to have some autumnal colour beads in it. I'm pleased with the result I wonder what we have to make next month.

New Hobby on the way

2010-08-09T13:56:00.000+01:00

I seem to collect hobbies like some people collect stamps. during the collecting I've learned Encaustic painting, Fairy drawing & painting, paper crafts and much more. Some of them I have stuck with and still do for pleasure and work.

So my new Hobby, well it is something I have always wanted to do for a few years, I even bought a book on the subject that has been sat on my bookshelf gathering dust. Well it's my birthday soon, so encouraged by my friends the hobby I've always wanted to do I can now do so as my lovely Hubby will be getting me a Kit. So what is this new Hobby, well I'm going to get a Hothead kit and I will be trying my hand at making my own beads.

What put me off years back was the fact to sell the beads they need to be annealed in a kiln, so they don't break or crack. Kilns are not cheap and this fact was the sticking point so to speak. But doing some research on forums etc I can batch anneal at a later date. Which gives me time to have fun making beads, practicing techniques while saving for a kiln, or sweet talking hubby to help out. I will be setting up another blog which I will add those first beads how ever bad they turn out. I'm still thinking of names for it so far the winner is Storm Glass or Spy Glass but I can decide on that soon enough.

Oh despite it being the Summer Holidays and having the sprogs at home I have managed to make some jewellery. Beribboned beaded necklace and a vampire inspired necklace.

Customizing or Remaking?

2010-07-30T12:03:00.000+01:00

So remaking or Customizing something old or new is fun. I bought this watch while I was buying some clothes. It was a bit plain and well it was just begging to have more added to it.

So out I went to my shed this week and hmm what can I add to it, well it needed to be perhaps slightly on the dark side without losing some sparkly glam and it needed to be removable. So I added some hearts, crystals, black and dusky colours all very sparkly, then some lucite roses, and of course some charms. Well here is the result.

I love my Vamps

2010-07-19T13:52:00.001+01:00

I'm really loving exploring my darker side with some Gothic "Wee Folk". I decided to make some Vampires ones to start with to see how they go. On the Left is "I Love Vampires" and on the right is "Bite Me" . I think I may try to see if I can make a fang charm or similar to go with some Jewellery though I may need to hide anything Vamp from my daughter she loved watching the Twilight DvDS and I treated her to a fab Team Edward Bag I nearly kept it myself.

I'm also busy replacing stock I sold and have made a nautical themed charm bracelet. I made it in red white and blue but wonder if I should have done it in black and white. It nearly got called Captain Jack Sparrow but I decided on "A Pirates Life For Me". Along with the nautical theme I'm also doing a Driftwood collection with bits of driftwood found at my local beach. I've done one so far called Seashore and have plans for a few more.

Fascinating

2010-07-06T12:10:00.000+01:00

Well the jewellery party went very well, I could have sold one bracelet many times over. I'm now busy getting some orders made up well I will when the stock arrives. I'm not sure which I prefer Jewellery Parties or Craft Stalls? with a party there is less of an overhead and you do have a captive audience but everyone wants the same piece and you may not be able to make another one. With a fair you have more variety of customers but you may not sell anything. I think I like both, but I don't want to be doing Parties every month so I've made a choice to only do one every season and I may do an extra at Christmas, we will see how it goes.

My friends and customers are great as they give me lots of new ideas. A very good friend was discussing why no one wears hats to weddings anymore, this led to a discussion on Fascinators. This set off a train of thought for me could I make them, well I had a look round and they are not much different from a tiara, so well I think I'll have a go and see if local customers will purchase them, and the advantage is you can't get anything like that in our area.

Party Party

2010-07-01T13:22:00.000+01:00

I've got my first Jewellery Party tonight, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to have a little demo making some Silver Earrings and I will raffle them and the host will give the money to a charity of her choice. The host has also asked if I bring along some Elves so I have a nice selection along with some Kokeshi and my new Fairies. The "Cool Britannia" punk elves get their first public showing tonight, and I'm already planning my next limited edition ones I've got lots of ideas.

I've been busy in the shed again making more bits and bobs for the party, If you've been on the Cornish Dragon facebook page you will have spotted them.

Inspiration

2010-06-13T17:42:00.009+01:00

I remember being in the shower once and having a bright idea and then having to go and make something on that idea. Now I have lots of notebooks along with pencils scattered around the house and even one in the car. This has now given me a habit of buying gorgeous looking notebooks even if I need them or not the same with pencil cases and pencils though that isn't as bad as the notebook collection that is growing and growing.

Everything can inspire me and I'm hoping that we will have more outings like Saturday to Boscastle.

We were sat happy with Cornish Pasty in hand with drinks enjoying the sunshine and being slightly pestered by a Herring Gull, luckily this was a North Cornish Gull and hasn't learnt to take the pasty from your hand as in some parts. We gave the Witchcraft Museum a miss this time as we will come back later in the year for our annual visit. Later it was a lovely walk back to the car with Ice-cream in hand and spotting the odd fish. I wonder where we will go next Tintagel would be nice but the Hurlers is another favorite place to visit.

The inspiration on the Making Jewellery Forum June competition was a picture and it really got my mind fizzing with ideas. At first I thought of a copper pendant a bit like a brick wall with ivy and tendrils but in the end I just made some Silver Ivy Leaves soldered onto silver wire with some freshwater pearls. I enjoyed the soldering more this time, maybe I'm getting the hang of it.

Elf Stop or Wee Folk?

2010-06-01T14:21:00.004+01:00

Was the question I was asking my kids yesterday, I was trying to work out a name for the gifts I make mainly the Elves. Wee Folk won so I've been busy re arranging the old website to make room for them. I haven't done it all yet but I'll get there, I just have to work out the prices for them all.

I also decided to make some limited edition Elves and made these three "Cool Britannia" Punk Elves are the first ones. The mohican was a bit on the difficult side I tried cutting up a spiky rubber bead but it just wouldn't stick so it was back to my original thought felt. I'm pleased with the result but I have to hide them from my daughter as she wants them.

Thats me!

2010-05-17T12:14:00.003+01:00

Yep I've decided to put my mug on the blog, so yes thats me. Thank goodness I had my hair cut at the weekend. My hairdresser Charlotte is a genius she does a very good job.

Steamed Leaves?

2010-05-17T11:52:00.008+01:00

Oh where did the month go to. I've been busy with bits and bobs including jewellery.

I've tried my hand at Steampunk, well its not true steampunk but more inspired by the genre. I think mine would be Vintage with a Steam twist. The inspiration for it was the Cottingley Fairies & Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I've been bashing the metal again and was trying to form a large copper leaf for a necklace. The idea was that I would use the edge of my bench block and form the leaf so it had a nice crease down the centre. Hmm it didn't really work out the copper was old thick pipe it even had Yorkshire Imperial stamped on it. I tried to anneal it so it would be easier to work with, well my little torch wasn't man enough, so I tried 2 torches with little success. I did get the leaf into a pleasing shape in the end but it has made me realize I do need to get a decent torch.

Time for a Ring

2010-04-19T11:04:00.003+01:00

I've finally pierced out the copper and have used the leaf I etched on a ring. Well this would be my first attempt at a ring. I used some Sterling Silver wire, the copper and I got to use my ring mandrel for the first time.

I soldered the copper leaf to part of the silver wire I had flattened slightly, the solder didn't take so I pickled the pieces and started again, I had the same result so I cleaned off the borax cone and dish, and remembered to heat the whole of the wire not just where I was soldering and success this time. Then it was shaping the ring it seemed to go well and I soldered it in position and popped it in the pickle and then had to dash to get it out, I had left some binding wire on the ring and now the ring was all copper coloured OOOPPS. But it was saved with sanding down and polishing.

I wear the ring all the time and feel pleased with my first attempt.

Holiday Time

2010-04-10T15:22:00.007+01:00

Yes the sproglets are off school for a couple of weeks so I haven't had so much time to create. Mind you the weather the past few days has been lovely & sunny so the sprogs have been out, either terrorizing our chickens (the wee lad) or out all day on a bike (the girlie).
Luckily in between the egg hunts I was able to get out and have a play at etching Copper with a salt water solution and a battery.

I used some black electricians tape to cover the copper and a waterproof pen for the design. As you can see the pen wasn't really up to the job and the etching was a bit blurry. I think I will certainly use this method again and try nail polish or even beeswax for the image. It certainly beats using an acid.

While waiting for the copper to etch I used up some old beads and made four bracelets, I like making things that don't take too long to make.

They will go on the website soon as I'm going to have a bit of a revamp on there.

Expensive Weekend

2010-03-22T14:07:00.003Z

Arghh I had to make an expensive purchase at the weekend, I noticed that on my digital compact camera something weird was happening with some of the images. Well I've had the camera for 6 years now and I thought I would find out the cost of repair and look at a replacement.

I spent most of Friday evening looking at and comparing Digital cameras, I got very confused and ended up with a big headache. So Saturday was spent in our nearest big town looking at the camera shops.

If you heard a big thunk that was my jaw dropping on the floor it would cost from £175 to repair my camera. The whimpering later was me paying out for a new camera Ouch. I shouldn't begrudge it really as it is handy with work as I do need to take photos of my finished jewellery to put on my website and brochures.

The rest of the weekend was spent in my shed making a necklace and a few beaded hearts.

Lowen St Piran's dydh

2010-03-05T10:26:00.004Z

or happy St Piran's day, yes it's a day all the Cornish celebrate the patron saint of miners.
The story of St Piran is interesting he was an Irish saint and the Irish King was not happy that he was more popular than himself. So he had Piran thrown in the sea with a mill stone round his neck. the millstone floated and Piran was washed up on the beach at Perranporth. He was also credited with discovering tin in Cornwall so became the patron of Tin Miners.
The Cornish miners moved to place all over the world like Australia, Canada etc that is why some countries have Cornish town names. The miners even went to Mexico and helped mine the Silver there and apparently even now in certain parts of Mexico they make a version of the Cornish Pasty.

Well I decided to have a go at making some mini charms out of polymer clay to celebrate the day and came up with mini Cornish Pasties and Mini St Piran (Cornish) flags. And later tonight I shall raise a glass of Cornish Mead.

Lowen st piran's dydh.

Brrrrrrr!

2010-02-12T11:08:00.000Z

Crikey it has been very chilly here it has put me off going out to my shed and I need to finish off a copper bangle. But I have put my time to good use as I have done some watercolour Dark Faeries which I will turn into cards later on.

Raven , Anya & Lyssa

I have so many ideas brimming in my head, I have lots of jewellery ideas as well as some ideas for the Elves I make. I'm definitely looking at my dark side as Punk Elves seem to be something I would like to try out, tartan hats and lots of safety pins etc.

Well Here I am.

2010-02-12T10:59:00.000Z

I never thought I would ever get round to writing a blog but here I am starting one.

This will be where I will put my pics and inspiration of my Jewellery and a lot more besides.

Last week I was busy making this bracelet out of reycled copper pipe. I love using copper it has a nice colour which patinas lovely with age. the only thing I hated about making this was drilling the holes in the copper, but I feel it was worth it.