one for a sparkly vampire lover

Bella's Charm Bronze version

My latest beading project began with the lovely vintage photograph shown here. I don't know who the person is, I picked her out of a box of old photographs in a junk shop.
I loved the detailing on what was probably her 'best' outfit and the fact that she's wearing both a brooch and a pendant necklace, her favourite treasures maybe.
I am intrigued by treasures and trinkets with secret compartments,
talismans, and the way our personal treasures have layers of meaning. 
Like a touchstone, our treasure can anchor us to a loved one, a moment in time, or an ambition achieved. Simple lockets with photographs and curls of hair, or gifts given to celebrate graduation, childbirth, marriage, coming of age, symbols to protect the traveller and on it goes.
I also like the way these treasures travel with us through our lives and witness our best and worst.

Bella's charm is a pendant with a secret compartment, just big enough to hold a slip of parchment with a wish, hope, dream, prayer, spell or incantation written on it. Embellished with sparkling chatons and gleaming pearls it is worked in a mixture of stitches. I made the first one in the lovely warm shades of sepia photographs, bronze and gold. Then I thought I'd take a look and see how it worked out in a lighter mix of silver and aqua... which became my instant fave... until I tried blood red and pewter, the perfect gothic mix!
The pattern, materials pack and full kit are on the website if you'd like a Bella's Charm of your own.

Sunset bronze, Midnight pewter or Moonrise silver

wax on... wax off....

If your first thought was of a certain scene in the Karate Kid movie... I know how old you are! me too!
Are you sitting comfortably? then I shall begin...
When I started beading I was curious about the various thread conditioners you could buy. I still have my little blue box of Thread Heaven, and a chunk of 'Crystal Wax', a fluffy old piece of beeswax and a candle stub left over from my embroidery days. As a beginner I also had the vague notion that one or all of these, liberally applied, would aid my beading no end.
Having tried them all, been a fan of each for a while, I came to the conclusion that non are essential, but each very useful for certain tasks.
I also found that I was in want of something in between, not as heavy as beeswax, not as hard as crystal wax, for those times when I want to condition my thread to have a little 'resistance'.
So this is why, one sunny frosty January morning I head off deep into the Somerset countryside to my friend's cottage. Yes, gasp in envy at the idyllic setting, the gorgeous garden, the orchard beyond the wiggly stone wall. Dash past the curious goose, chat with the comfortingly fussy hens, and into the big stone floored kitchen which smells of warm baking and where the kettle is already singing on the range. I'm here to collect some beeswax.

Beader's Blend

My Beader's blend thread conditioner is the result of a lot of experiments mixing together different types of wax. One of the essential ingredients is beeswax. It already has a long tradition of use with stitching and embroidery, to stiffen and protect threads and prevent them knotting; we are talking sensible seam sewing here (think patchwork quilting rather than embroidery floss and fine silks). It is also used in Goldwork to help thread glide more smoothly, the same reasons we like it for beading threads. The beeswax I'm using is very pure as it comes straight from my friend's hives. Some years it is dark and golden, other years a paler yellow. Back home and in my own kitchen there is a lovely smell of honey and beeswax and the first batch of Beader's Blend is gently cooling.

Beader's Blend cooling in the kitchen

In my recipe I include a blend of two kinds of crystal wax along with the beeswax, and serve up the results in little foil wrappers topped with a pressed flower from my garden. Each summer I harvest forget-me-not flowers and pop them into the flower press with the hope that there will be enough to keep up with demand until next year's flowers appear.
Use Beader's Blend to lightly condition threads where you need a bit of extra grip, or if your thread tension could do with a bit of help. Just lightly pull your thread across the cake, then run the thread through your fingers several times, this will warm the wax and give a very fine coating. Customers tell me it works well for their embroidery projects too.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year


May you have
Walls for the wind
And a roof for the rain,
And drinks bedside the fire
Laughter to cheer you
And those you love near you,
And all that your heart may desire
- Celtic Blessing


And may you make only New Year resolutions that will be a joy to uphold!

I guess I do

I was thinking about missing sitting and doing the embroidery I talked about in my last post...
then the latest issue of Make Jewellery Magazine arrived and reminded me that I still do a lot, just with beads on the thread.
Find my latest project in the current issue.

I'm loving the beautiful model and the fact that the necklace fits her so well. I used one of those pre-made brass collars from Robins Beads, and now I've seen the end results I'll be going back for more and some of those gorgeous brass cuffs too.
I used semi precious stones, Turquoise and Jasper along with the seed beads, the cabs are quite small, but have lovely markings in them and are really well cut. I got them from Silvermoon Crystals, don't be put off by the eclectic mix on the homepage, their cabochons and semi precious stone beads are lush! another place I will be visiting again when I need to stock up.

matching earrings

collar detail

I also have quite a few brooches which I've bezelled onto a backing fabric so that I can add a bit more embroidery, I've been following the 'polo neck or not?' fashionista discussions and confess, mostly not, except when it's deeply cold, but I do admit to having a natty line in little knitted scarves which look fab with a beaded brooch on.

Simple cabochon embroidery

I have been known to treat myself to a really great cabochon from the team at Designer Cabochons whenever I see them at a bead show. Each stone is hand cut in their studio, and they travel the world to source truly beautiful slices of magical rock.

A quick check in the 'stones I have fallen in love with and will bead around one day when I have the time to play' box, reveals that I have no less than five beautiful stones languishing in the dark.
Bad lady!!!!
Anyhoo... this is a pic of one I did do and wear a lot. I used some home made copper leaves and my fave mix of turquoise and olive bead colours.
It jingles in a tinkly way when I move too.

Here's one I made earlier...

If you are in need of a sewing, stitching or knitting project, try the Making Spot...

visit when you need to stitch!

Created by magazine publisher Future Publishing. Here is where much loved projects and articles come alive again, downloadable for modest sums.
They have a cute blog too, I've added it to my blog listing so you can go see.
Or click here to visit the pattern site.

well you can never have
too many lavender sachets

It's a bit like a walk in the past for me as I discovered no less than 32 designs I'd created over the years for various magazines like Simply Knitting, Needlecraft and CrossStitcher.
My favourites are the embroidery projects, it's something I just rarely have time to do these days.

Like all crafts it takes time, not just time but that special time which is yours alone to use up how you please, bit of a rare thing in my hectic schedule. The spare time I have is usually filled with 'trying to get ahead' on commissions and workshops already looming in the diary.
So now I can look at the pictures of my favourite projects, take a deep breath and remember when time seemed to last longer... Such a lovely thought!

My much loved Auricula quilt

Now I guess it's back to the festive countdown...
If I was organised I would be putting my feet up just about now with the fairy lights twinkling, presents wrapped, groceries stored and 'to do' lists all done and fresh logs cracking on the open fire.
Bahaha!!!

What I actually have is a bare tree, a tangle of lights, a heap of carrier bags, the contents of which I hope equate to the number of presents required, no idea what groceries are needed, a house in need of a darn good clean up and a slightly unsettling feeling that I have failed some kind of seasonal exam yet again...