Jewellery By Shalini

Twice as Nice Holiday in July Challenge « Jewellery By Shalini I have signed up for another Non-Blogger/Blogger Challenge - “Twice as Nice Holiday in July” These are the challenge pictures and I am thinking of making two pieces in the same style just to see how different colours and materials can make each piece unique and have its own individual personality. 

The chef is a lazy sod but I do hope the servings have been worth waiting for? For a while it was Will she, Won't she, Can She?  Yes she can! :-) I didn't get to use any fancy tools like the torch, saw, drill or add ingredients like solder but I did what I could with the lovely ingredients and I think they did not need any extra embellishments to be honest! The fantastic Bead soup from my partner  Susan McClelland  had enough ingredients in it to just add a bit of wire, a few findings to create this! The main piece! Sari Silk Ribbon, Ceramic Pendant Focal, Hand etched Copper Clasp, handmade glazed ceramic beads and plenty of copper wire. All joined together with my trademark spiral links. YES Fabric! Not really my friend! But it was too beautiful not to use! Thanks for the challenge Susan, I quite enjoyed playing with the sari silk to make it part of the pendant. Tools: My hands, Flat and round nose pliers and dodgy eyes....

Beadsoup Blog Party Reveal Date has been postponed by one week to 10 May . Our hostess Lori has been very unwell and its more important that she gets herself better first! Not the kind of photos you normally expect to see shared on this blog but this is what I have been  working with since November instead of pliers, beads, wire and gemstones... Personally this postponement suits me. As you know I have not been able to work for almost 3 months due to the stupid Iritis! There have been several ups and downs on that saga since I last blogged about it including a visit to A&E due to acute eye pain and very high eye pressure! The good news is that the Iritis inflammation has finally gone and eye pressure is back to normal. The bad news is that the medication has to continue until 13 May so vision will stay slightly blurred until then. But I was able to get back to doing some work. Nothing fancy, just basic wire work and some fights with cords and ribbons. Susan a...

Actually it is  Delicious! Just have a look at what my Beadsoup partner Susan has sent me! M is the word... MAGNIFICENT! It is an amazing selection of beads, ribbons & cords and not one, not two but FOUR different Focal pieces to play with. The hand-etched copper clasp is just amazing. And her generosity in the amount of beads she has sent is quite humbling. I don't think I sent her enough! But she says she likes it and I am eagerly looking forward to seeing what she creates from it. Just look at what I have to play with, so many different colours and media! Read what Susan thinks of my soup. And now I can reveal the soup I sent too! It includes: - A selection of pearl and shell beads in Yellow, Orange, Green and Red. - A small selection of Felt beads that I made using the technique felt artisan Eve Marshall taught me. - A selection of pewter and Tibetan Silver beads - Yellow Organza ribbon. - Kumihimo braid made with Chinese silk cord. - Tibetan Si...

So my beadsoup is on its way and this is what it looks like! I am impatient and this is driving me Mad. Hurry Up Mail! Introducing my Bead Soup Partner Susan from Ottawa. Susan makes jewellery for fun, to wear herself or give as gifts. She likes working with copper, fibre and artisan beads. She also makes all kind of  lovely crafty things  in lots of different media and she can sew & knit! RESPECT! My "difficult" relationship with fabric, yarn and thread is no secret! I can just about manage fluff and felt! We have been chatting on email and Susan is lovely. Plus she has a dog so we are definitely going to be friends :-) Susan also has a 12 year old boy, hence M is the word ! Susan makes beautiful jewellery. One of Susan's pieces from last year's party made from beads her partner Marina sent her.  And this necklace that she made for another blogging challenge is AWESOME!  I am really looking forward to seeing what Susan creates from the sou...

There was a delay due to my eyes being very very sick with Iritis but my Bead Soup is finally on its way to Canada today :-) I will tell you all about my partner Susan McClelland in another blog post very soon. We are in touch via email and getting to know each other better. She has posted my soup too and I am really really excited!

... well as normal as it can possibly be with 3 lots of steroid eye drops, plus a gooey ointment in both eyes daily and some of the blurriness that is a result of it... This picture is a fair indication of what my vision has been like at times in recent weeks!  Had a little tidy-up of the work bench over the week-end and I made some beads for my beadsoup partner yesterday. Hopefully they will be dry today and then I can match up a few more ingredients and get this in the post this week to Ottawa, Canada where my new BSBP partner Susan lives. The Focal piece and matching beads were ready a while ago but I decided to add something different to the mix too. And NO I am not telling you what beads I made just yet! :-P More about Susan in the next blog post... And I have started playing with some beautiful beach glass a client gave me sometime ago. + The new lot of St Helena Rock + A Wire and Felt Peacock project I am working on with my friend Eve. + Don't get me starte...

Not long till partners are announced for Lori Anderson's 8th Bead Soup Blog Party  and I am getting very excited :-) At the moment Lori is doing all the hard work as she pairs jewellery artists to be Bead Soup Partners. Our work and the fun really starts once we know who our partner will be. Hurry up 28th Feb! Last year's BSBP (which was my first party) introduced me to Sarah Goode from Pookledo who has now become a good friend and we talk quite often on facebook and twitter even though she does like to wind me up sometimes with talk of this thing called "Holiday" She sent me a challenge  which was totally out of my comfort zone! After MUCH head scratching to start with I had Fun! LOTS of Fun! And did this: 7th Bead Soup Party: Shalini's Sparkly Serving Revealed! http://jewellerybyshalini.co.uk/spring-necklace-in-yellow-orange-green/ http://jewellerybyshalini.co.uk/pretty-in-pink-pearl-bracelet/ http://jewellerybyshalini.co.uk/clearance-s...

While going through my hoarded stash of beads, wire and all kinds of jewellery making bits for the Bead Hoarders Blog hop I came across a big bag of beads, mostly wooden but a few glass ones thrown in as well! My friend Carol gave me these beads. I don’t know if they were just beads she had bought or if they have been in a necklace before but she said she was sure I would find some use for them. This was many months ago! Anyway... I have finally made something with the recycled beads. They have been thoroughly cleaned and washed and I think they look nice on adjustable waxed cotton cord. I also used wire which was left over from previous projects where possible. Some extra components I made, or occasionally when it got bent out of shape or scratched and I just put it aside instead of repairing it. Hoarder that I am I rarely throw things away! :-) These necklaces are available to buy in my on-line shop . If you have old beads from a broken necklace, or a necklace you are bored...

So its time to reveal what I have been hoarding. Well this does not even touch the surface of things I have stashed away but its a start! Let me begin by introducing fellow Stamford Artisans Guild member DL Designs of Rutland . Diz makes the most amazing jewellery, charms and lanyards in different types of cords and threads and I admire her work a lot. So about two years ago I bought a handmade hemp macramé cording knot necklace from DL Designs. And then I promptly put it in safe keeping because I wanted to make something special with it. And I have been hoarding it all this time. I also had a beautiful Labradorite Cabochon cut and polished in house in our Lapidary workshop . This beautiful stone has a magnificent Labradorescence and I have had it on my board for almost 6 months! Because of the angle its been cut at it needed a special wrap on it for the colours to be seen in full glory. I have wrapped it a couple of times and then taken the wire off because the Labradorescence w...