Naming Beads

Well the part arrived for the kiln and it's been full steam ahead since and I have been making sets of beads. For some reason my latest set made me think of carnivals and that got me thinking about finally coming up with names for all the particular styles of beads that I make. I decided to call the latest set Carnival Capers in the end - you can see them below.

I also make lots of beads like the ones below in various colour combinations:

Sometimes I use transparent glass as the base and sometimes an opaque but it's always a solid colour with no coloured core or inclusions. The decoration is all on the surface of the bead and always an opaque glass. Basically I just doodle on the beads to my hearts content and generally the doodles are dots, so this style of bead sets are going to be called Dotty Doodles.

I have another 10 days of manic bead making before the Crafts 4 Crafter's show - just need all the marketing stuff I've ordered to arrive now! I did force myself to "step away from the laptop" when I found I was hovering the mouse over the "add to basket" button to purchase a t'shirt I could stick a picture of my beads on ;)

Waiting!

I'm sat here waiting.............

The animals are fed.

The house is clean.

The Studio is spotless.

Even the ironing is done :o

What am I waiting for?

Let me tell you.
Some time before Christmas I decided I would push myself into doing larger fairs concentrating on selling beads rather than jewellery as this is how I would prefer to obtain my income. I chose along with a friend, Sarah from  The Tartan Trout , to sign up to Craft 4 Crafters. It's a 3 day show at a large exhibition centre just outside of Exeter.
After much deliberating we decided that it would be good for this particular event to sell beads individually allowing the customer to choose how many beads they would like in a set and be able to mix and match etc. Let me tell you, filling little trays with beads is taking FOREVER!! What looks like a reasonable amount when tied in sets looks a pittance sat in a little tray. I made all my "bead" stock into "jewellery" stock in the run up to Christmas and was exceedingly busy which was fantastic and very much appreciated but left me with no beads to sell. Me being me thought to myself that I had plenty of time after the Christmas festivities to sit quietly making beads day after day. WRONG!!! Firstly I had to spend the first 2 weeks of the new school term rescuing my lad from his rather poor excuse for a motorbike breaking down. Leaving him with no other way (buses are non existed in rural Devon) except buttering up yours truly, to get to school therefore interupting good bead making time. Then to top it all, yesterday..........my kiln died and so I can't make beads!!!!! So that is why despite having a mountain of beads to make, I am sat here utilising my poor neglected blog. The guys that make the kiln have been really good though and it's not them that have kept me waiting.

For the show I have had a couple of photo's printed onto large canvas and this one is my favourite

Lets hope after all this that it proves to be a profitable show for both Sarah and me :)