Silver Essex Necklace

This has been one of my favourite projects! Silver “Essex” name necklace, custom designed with the triple sword logo from the Essex flag incorporated.

So, I think it turned out really well and I was really happy with it. It’s always difficult to let the shiny things go after spending so many hours with them, especially this one, but sadly I had to wave goodbye. Can I please move to Essex so I can make one for me...?

Anyway, here is the finished shiny thing:

And a detail shot of the tiny swords:

I messed around with some different setups for the photography this time, using blue/green acrylic stars as props. I like the effect, but I’m not sure whether it makes the picture look too busy...?

I also found a new and exciting icon in Lightroom, which seems to allow you to drag a gradient of different colour or exposure across the picture. I’m not really sure what I’m doing with it, or it’s proper purpose, but I’ve been playing with it anyway :)

Oh, and I also got another commission for a name necklace, which I was working on at the same time. This font was an absolute arse to cut out, but it ended up being really pretty, so I forgave it.

There are still unfinished shiny things on my workbench, so I'll try and get some pictures of them before they leave me for their new owners...

Tea at the Ritz!

Poor little neglected blog. I have been ludicrously busy over the past few weeks and have sadly not had time to write about stuff.

So, what have I been doing? Well, firstly I must tell you about the rather marvellous time the boy and I had at the Ritz a couple of Fridays ago. We had been given an afternoon tea there as a lovely Christmas gift from the boy’s mum and finally found a date to book it. Friday afternoons off work are always nice, but for this one I got to wear a posh frock, potter down to Green Park and enter another world.

The decor is amazing, completly my style with lots of gilt baroque swirly things (interior design terms not my strong point I’m afraid...), beautifully upholstered chairs and sofas and more chandeliers than you can shake a stick at. Check it out:

Now, on to the important bit... the cake obviously! I love cake. I may have mentioned this previously. Anyway, they give you this fab three tiered cake stand thingy, with adorable little sandwiches (crusts cut off, obvs) on the bottom and little confectionery works of art on the top. Oh, and there were cucumber sandwiches! I can now say I have eaten cucumber sandwiches at the Ritz :)

Then, to fill the middle layer, you are presented with warm scones and a pot of jam and fresh clotted cream. Now usually, I am a bit “meh, whatever” about scones, but these were a revelation! The ones I make you could break windows with, but these were all light and fluffy and marvellous.

So, all in all it was a super-fun Friday afternoon. We took a walk up Bond Street afterwards and looked at all the amazing sparkly things in the posh jewellers. I did want to take some pictures, but the giant black clad bodyguards with the earpieces didn’t look like they’d be overly impressed. So I didn’t. But, I did manage to get a picture of this little fellow as we passed a window, as he amused me:

What is it? Silver chicken/dragon hybrid? I have no idea what it’s for but it’s kind of cool in a disturbing kind of way.

Anyway, must dash (again) but with promises of new shiny things very soon.

Shiny Things! ...Work in Progress

As my boyfriend abandoned me this weekend for a lads day/night, then subsequent hangover, I actually got to be super-constructive! More lads nights please guys :) So, I spent pretty much all weekend making jewellery (save for a break to watch X-Factor, obvs...).

I had a lovely time with tiny saw blades and hitting things with hammers and didn’t want to come back to work this morning. I wish making jewellery was my real job...

Anyway, I thought I’d share a couple of pictures of my work in progress.

First, a very cool Essex name necklace in silver for one of my favourite Essex girls from LRG:

I was really excited to do this one, as I love the font she chose, and also, I really wanted to be able to work a triple sword logo charm from the Essex flag into it somehow.

I think it’s going to look awesome when it’s finished and will be a good portfolio piece for my (eventual) website if I can get some good shots of it. Sadly, my fabulous new camera is currently still at coveting stage, as renovating a bathroom and moving house is kind of expensive. Booooooo.

Anyway, my second project of the weekend was a name necklace commissioned as an Xmas pressie. I really like this font too, even though it was a bit of an arse to cut out, as it’s so fiddly. It’s looking good so far though, just needs a polish and chain added.

So, that's mainly what I've been doing. Design stuff is going pretty well too, just need some time to actually make it now...

Spooky Goings On...

Just for a change, I’ve had a mental busy week. Had a rather fab Halloween, which involved going to my lovely friend Amy’s wedding reception, then off to Torture Garden, which was pretty fun. Totally amazing decoration, including one room that had been turned into a massive forest in the middle of the club, complete with twinkling stars overhead, leaves underfoot and even a proper foresty smell. Awesome! I want to dress as a vampire every day please.

In jewellery news, I also started work on a couple of name necklaces, which are looking really good, and have done a ton of designs for new earrings. So much to do in the next few weeks though, eek!

Halloween Cocktail Hats and Fascinators

Right, back to making stuff now...

I've been so busy with work and other randomness, shiny things have rather fallen by the wayside. However, a thing on my do-to list was to learn how to make fabric roses and, inspired by Halloween, I made some little hats as kind of an experiment. As experiments go, they turned out pretty good :)

First one was a little white satin and spiderweb lace creation, with some black and white feathers and black satin roses...



The fabric roses took a bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it, they're pretty easy. I made a red one too, thought I'd get a bit fancy, and covered the roses with the spiderweb lace too...


I also randomly purchased a little hot glue gun from John Lewis whilst I was buying sewing needles, which is possibly the best thing ever! It made attaching the feathers and roses sooooo much quicker than stitching them all by hand, and seeing as I stitch the rest of the hats by hand, I think I'm allowed a little time saving every now and again ;)

Happy (Very Belated...) Birthday to Me!

I have been super-busy, hence not much posting recently, but I took a couple of well-needed days of work and pottered off back to my little island at the beginning of this month for my birthday. It was lovely, actually, as I can never normally be bothered to do anything for my birthday. This year, however, I got a perfect day of walking by the sea in the sunshine, going to the zoo (meerkats and fruitbats... squeal!!!!), then lovely mum-cooked roast dinner and some awesome cupcakes that mum bought me. I did take a picture, but only after we'd scoffed most of them :)


I also got to meet mum's gorgeous new cat, Pudding, who is like a big fluffy teddybear. She also turned out to be somewhat camera-shy and refused to show me her cute little face. Booooo. But here she is...

I WANT A CAT!!!!!!!

Lori Earley - New Art Crush

Obsessed as I currently am with all things baroque, I accidentally stumbled across an artist by the name of Lori Earley yesterday. She paints beautiful and strange portraits and, excitingly, has an exhibition opening on October 16th at Opera Gallery in London, so I can go and look at the art close up, yay!

Check out more of her work here, as she is awesome:

http://www.loriearley.com/gallery/