New boards!!

From the left

From the right.

End of the month already, time really does fly when you are having fun.  The weekend just gone, the hubby and I headed up to Cumbria for the Rheged bead fair, as each bead fair happens my stall evolves and showing of the glassy goodness gets a little easier.  I still want to improve the pricing 'tickets' and do have a few ideas...obviously stolen from other beady sellers!  I am thinking of designing a card ticket with a nice picture rather than the sticky labels I currently use.  I first used a 'business' card that I printed with the pricing written on in pen, but it looked too busy and as my storage system wasn't brilliant I used to spend more and more time unravelling the mess of beads, strings and labels.  Now my storing system is much better I think I could go back to a more 'arty' way of pricing the goods.  I took a couple of photos of my new layout, from the weekend, hubby is very proud of his back boards and admired them all day, he was sooo pleased with himself when people commented on them, never mind my beads, all he saw was the boards!  I did get a little smug though, as he was helping me to pin the strings of beads up and constantly stabbed himself with the pins, eventually he had to be given another job before he bled all over the glass! 

Life before beads....

I have been awol from blogging for a long time..too long!  I have been doing a daily blog for a bead site as I have been artist for the month, and I have surprised myself at how much I have enjoyed it, so hopefully I can resurrect my own blog and continue.  During my monthly blog I have been telling all those reading (!) about my life before beads.  I used to draw.  I still do, very occasionally, beads take up so much time that there is not much left for drawing and by the evening I am usually to tired, thanks in part to D for Dog getting me up before 6am every day and the daily humming of family life with teenagers can be a drain on my energy.  But, before beads I drew.  I have lots of sketches and unfinished drawings but also some finished ones.  These ones are ACEO's - Art Card Edition Originals and measure 2.5 x 3.5 inches.  I have some prints of these, which I am getting round to putting in my Etsy shop, which will hopefully be today.  I am planning a good sort out today, after I have worn out the dogs down at the river!  Each print is professionally printed on stiff card and signed and numbered on the reverse.  These are a limited edition and the last remaining ones from my drawing days. 



This is of Izabel when she was a puppy.



My beautiful Ricky

The last two are close up drawings of eyes, I love to draw eyes, they are the windows of the soul.

Laney.

February already!

I can't believe that its February already. So much has happened in the last month. My son started his driving lessons, making me feel very old. My daughter has a boyfriend, making me feel even older! I have been busy in the studio shed making beads for my fairs which start this weekend, I have finally got round to listing the fair dates on my website, which since I first started has languished, unloved but not forgotten, I just need another 24 hours in every day to fit everything in! I visited Ray Skene at Model House in Llantrisant and had a lovely day watching him make hollow beads and came home and made a few of my own.



Hollow Chilli Pepper, in honour of my friend Lorna




Hollow Heart - currently on Ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lampwork-Glass-Hollow-Heart-Bead-SRA-/290527969541?pt=UK_Crafts_Beads_CA&hash=item43a4d10105



Hollow Rounds with reactive Silver glass - currently on Ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290527966498&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2F%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp4712.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D290527966498%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

I am looking forward to the Bead Fairs, be nice to get out and about meeting  beady people and hopefully meeting some new friends, as well as seeing the ones I made last year.  I am especially nervous but excited to be involved in the The Great British Craft Bazaar in March and to be demonstrating, it will be my first time demo-ing, so if you are about, come and watch :O)

I now have the task of sorting through my beads today and getting them ready for the weekend.  Hope to see you there!

Bead Fairs I am exhibiting at in 2011


Sunday February 6th 2011 - Kempton Park Bead Fair, Kempton Racecourse
Sunday February 20th 2011 - Beadword Fair, Lighthouse Arts Centre, Poole Dorset
Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th March 2011 - The Great British Craft Bazaar, Culcheth High School and Community Campus, Warrington, Cheshire - I am demonstrating at this event.
Sunday 3rd April 2011 - The Centennial Centre, Birmingham, West Midlands
Sunday 29th May 2011 - Spring Lakeland Bead Fair, Rheged
Sunday 26th June 2011 - Newbury Bead Fair, Newbury Racecourse
Sunday 3rd July 2011 - The Epic Centre, Lincolnshire Showground, Grange-de-Lings, Lincoln
Sunday 17th July 2011 - Hereford Leisure Centre, Hereford - This is my home town :O)
Sunday 7th August 2011 - Beadwork Fair, Plymouth Pavilions, Devon
Sunday 4th September 2011 - Kempton Park Bead Fair, Kempton Racecourse
Sunday 9th October 2011 - Lakeland Bead Fair, Rheged
Sunday 13th November 2011 - North West Bead Fair, Concorde Conference Centre, Manchester Runway Visitors Park

An Artistic Question...??

Today, walking Izabel up at the woods, watching Spring trying really hard to be noticed, with the first buds on the trees, I wondered.  Is it really necessary to have a 'signature' bead or piece of art? 

While I was drawing and painting, I loved to use my coloured pencils to 'portrait' the animals around me, mainly dogs and cats, but, I also liked to be more abstract which eventually led to a more 'impressionistic' approach to large scale paintings of the woods.  Trees and flowers being a favourite, with seascapes coming in a close third.  When I found glass, I experimented with all kinds of styles of beads settling on encased flowers and, albeit, still very much still in the 'experimenting' stage, my worlds in glass.  Swirling layers of glass, giving a paperweight effect.  But.  I also have a love of whimsy.  When I was little I had a very special set of dogs, Snoopy style, in clear acrylic (probably plastic of some kind) with lilac ears, joined together with a cheap (probably plastic) gold coloured chain.  I loved them and I often think of them whilst making the whimsy creature out of glass.  The two styles of beads are so different.

Sammy Seagull

Lovesick Hound

A world in glass

Collection of Sculptural Roses and Hummingbirds

So, while today I am planning a 'whimsy fest' day at the torch, I will ponder this question whilst singing along (badly!!) to old classics on the radio and generally having fun. 

Art is supposed to make you smile....right?

New Year, New Plan!

Happy New Year to one and all!  I hope everyone had a fab time over Christmas and New Year.  We had a great time here, lots of food, too much drinking (but it was lovely ;O) ), good company and lots and lots of laughs.

My daughter turned 15 three days before Christmas and my son turned 17 on New Years Eve, so we celebrate lots here. 

Izabel had a lovely walk with her cousins up at the wood over Christmas.  It is so much fun when one of your cousins is a puppy!! 



from L-R, Izabel, Ellie (my neice and Izzy's favourite friend in the whole world, they do get into some trouble together!!), Nina and Jasper (the puppy Akita).

Now that I have a new website of my very own, and have re-opened my shop on Artfire, as well as my shop on Etsy, I am planning a big beady year.  I have lots of shows pre-booked throughout the year and am really looking forward to being productive.

Laney x

Its a Winter Wonderland....

...out there!!  So I haven't been in my studio shed as its so cold. Instead I have been listing on Etsy and my now upgraded Artfire store.

  Just click on the link! 

Hubby and I had a lovely walk with Izabel and Nina. (Iz's choccy lab cousin whom is stopping with us whilst my daughter is stopping with sister in law looking after her cousin.)  The weather is so snowy and the roads are so bad that even though our houses are only a 10 minute drive apart, its too much of a risk to swop back...not that I am complaining, a beautiful chocolate labrador for a teenage daughter is a good swop!!  We walked down to the river which is at least a third frozen over, I couldn't take any lovely photos though as my hubby had managed to put the camera 'card' in an old camera that was broken and threw it out for the rubbish, so this afternoon I had to empty out the bin and find it! 

I am looking forward to tomorrow as my daughter turns 15!!  Its unlikely she will be here on her birthday, so I am dragging out our old wooden sledge and trekking across town to surprise her, with camera card now retrieved I will be able to take some photos!!

My new website

I am so excited.  Thanks to Debbie from Silver-Artz, I have got myself signed up to Getting British Business Online and got my new website http://www.izzy-beads.co.uk/.  It is still very much underconstruction, but I have big plans!! 



I have been busy in my studio shed this last week, making new beads and trying out new techniques.  Thanks to the snow and ice we have had over the last few weeks, I have spent as much time as possible, huddled over my torch keeping warm.  Here are some of my beads from last week.







Large Flower Focal with spacer beads





Tiger Beads (pair of)



Little Galaxies

Under the Sea - where the Jelly Fish are!

I hope you like them :O)

Next week the snow and icy conditions is due to return and its the last week of term for both my daughter at High School and my son at College, so next week is the last week I can play undisturbed, before Christmas in the Studio Shed, just hoping the kiln and torch keep me warm enough..brr...I hate the cold.  

 I hope that everyone manages to keep warm and safe.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas and fabulous New Year, hopefully see you soon x

Laney x