Bead Swap

Sorry for the lack of an update recently - I've been busy :) Actually, I've been organising (yes, again!). Organising my workroom/studio (not an easy task, let me tell ya), organising a rather large custom order I have at the moment (ordering supplies from all over) and organising a Bead Swap.

I organised a Bead Swap last year as well and 4 of us participated. This year, I floated the idea on the TradeMe message board, and lo and behold, everyone was super-keen! So, after a flurry of emails, 10 of us were signed up and the draw was done. Each person was allocated a "Bead Swap Buddy" and the object is to send your buddy a group of beads (can be anything) for them to make a bracelet with. The only rules were that you had to try to use ALL the beads you were sent, and that you could add as many findings etc as you liked but try not to add any more beads if you can help it (not really "rules" as such....more "guidelines").

We were supposed to get our beads out within a week (I think pretty much everyone got them out way sooner!) and then we had 2 weeks to complete the challenge. We did it in 9 days :)

We were to take a pic of the beads we received, then a pic of the finished bracelet. The final participant submitted her pics today, so now we all get to view each other's creations.

CLICK HERE if you want to see what 10 independant, crafty-minded jewellery designers can do with a set of beads! Contact details are below each photo so feel free to either leave a comment or contact the designer direct :)

I had soooo much fun - I'm organising another one! I know, as if I haven't got enough to do...but I actually enjoyed it THAT much!

Well, I'm in the middle of downloading some new stuff (example below, using another bamboo tile that I've decoupaged and glazed) so I better go...hope you had a good August! September 1 denotes the official start of spring here in the Southern Hemisphere - and boy, has it been one looooong, wet, drawn-out winter.

Roll on summer!



~A

Pump up the volume...

My cousin, Steve Judd, is drummer in up and coming Australian alternative rock band Karnivool. They toured the US recently and are currently working on their second album. Their first release, "Themata" is awesome! Here's a link to their Myspace page so you can check them out for yourselves.

Another band worth checking out is Five Day Hemingway from Edinburgh (Scotland, to those of you who are geographically challenged!). Bass player Scott is the son of a good friend of ours, which is how we found out about them. Unfortunately, they recently disbanded ('scuse the pun) but do check them out anyway - 'specially their "homemade in our living room" music vid on their Myspace page - way cool!

Rock on dudes...

~A

Earrings Sale/Giveaway/New Pendants

That's right - all earrings are on sale from 1-15th August so CLICK HERE to grab a bargain - 25% off every pair of earrings on the site - yipppeeeeeee!

I've been busy with pendants and custom orders this weekend. I've had some bamboo tiles sitting around for a couple of months now, so I decided to finally make a couple of pendants with them - here's an example:

And I've been playing with glass again :) This time making pendants and rings by decoupaging pictures to the bottom of glass pendants and attaching bails. Some have been soldered too, giving them an awesome look! Here's an example of one of each kind - here's an unsoldered one:

Here's a soldered one:
And, not to be forgotten, the July giveaway winner was T. Hanrion of Washington, USA - well done!! Your gorgeous brooch will be winging it's way to you this week!

The giveaway for August is shown below - one of my new bamboo pendants, all ready to hang on your favourite chain, ribbon or leather necklet - good luck everyone!

Right, back to the custom orders... :)

~A