My Jewellery Making Progress

Beaded Bookmarks

2011-03-31T15:41:00.000+01:00

The latest challenge has been the use of tiny seed beads and following a chart which produced these delightful bookmarks with a difference. The stitch is called brick stitch and there are numerous tutorials on the net to show how to do this stitch.

The three with the beads at the end are sold but I have put the two with tassels up on my website at www.cyndybjewelleryshop.co.uk

Alternatively if you are interested in purchasing a different colour please email me from the site.

Onward to my next project....

Feeling Confident

2011-02-27T23:55:00.000+01:00

Hooray the days are getting longer and I have seen signs of spring flowers peeking out of the ground. Once again it has been a while but I am back having worked on perfecting my jewellery making skills. I am finally feeling confident enough to try to sell some jewellery pieces online. So much so I have started to create a website for that purpose, the details of which are in the side bar. Here are a couple of samples:-

There is a full write up on these pieces on the website . Still trying to work out the best way to photograph my jewellery to try and show as much detail as possible so any advice would be appreciated.

I am also actively promoting a fantastic jazz band from Bradford, West Yorkshire so please take a listen to their music and if you like what you hear please become a fan. They are way too talented to go unnoticed.
My bed is calling so until next time stay safe.

Jazz Night

2010-11-16T00:47:00.002+01:00

Anyone in the Bradford, West Yorkshire or even further who likes jazz may like The hUigin Quintet a professional jazz quintet playing favorites from the Great American Songbook. Click on their link in the side bar for sample songs and details of their public gigs. If you like what you hear I hope you will consider becoming a fan.

Working on some jewellery so hoping to post something very soon. Thank you for looking.

Time to update

2010-08-11T19:37:00.000+01:00

Hello it has been a long time since I posted anything to the blog. Let's say real life tends to get in the way and finding the time to post has been a challenge. I have disbanded the knitting side of my crafts in order to concentrate of the jewellery making aspect mainly because I can make lots of pretty things in a fraction of the time.

Last Christmas was a good one with me as I was able to sell a few pieces so now I am going to start building that up again in the hope of being ready for this Christmas. I know it still sounds a long way off but I would like to be prepared.

Here are some of my efforts over the last few months.

I used some oval shaped frosted beads separated with small clear beads and diamante inset finished off with a toggle fastening and matching ear rings.

A closer look at the details.

I love the marble effect in this beads and the rings linking the bead to the ear wire is called a Byzantine Chain. You can find a tutorial on how to make this here . It wasn't easy to do at first as the rings are quite small and I kept dropping them but once I mastered I found that it was quite easy to do. The earrings are finished off with sterling silver ear wires which hopefully shouldn't tarnish for a long while.

I hope to be posting on a more regular basis so until next time happy beading :)

Share The Music

2009-02-09T16:19:00.003+01:00

Christmas and New Year well and truely over I should hopefully have more time to spend on
my knitting and jewellery making. In the meantime I have added a widget for my son's music
to try and spread the grooves. Hope some of you visiting the blog will share the widget.

Back soon.

Currently working on

2008-08-28T09:54:00.007+01:00

Hi I thought I would start up the knitting again because as you may
have noticed we're almost in September and the nights seem to be drawing in a little bit closer LOL. This latest item is a variation of the beige hoody which has come to be a bit of a best seller for me.

The colour is a light blue with darker blue speckles. I am making this in a size 20" chest.

The sun finally shone today

2008-07-13T20:38:00.007+01:00

It's a miracle we actually had some sun today so I set about cutting the grass. We have had nothing but rain for what seems like forever.

I've also been busy again with making some more pieces of jewellery and even better still I have my first order. A colleague of mine is going to a wedding in October and would like me to make something for her. I was really surprised when she asked because I'm a long way from being an expert so I hope I can do her outfit some justice!

Here are my latest efforts.
I knotted the leather thong to hold the beads in place and the white and gold beads I recycled from an old trinket I had. I think it worked out well.
Not sure how well you can see this because it was hard to photograph but I used two pieces of wire and placed the beads on each wire using crimp beads to hold them into place. It's quite delicate and I think I might make a matching bracelet for this one. Here is a close up.
Hopefully I will be brave enough to put some on my baby knitwear site so that mums to be can treat themselves to a little gift as well as buying for baby. Watch this space.

Where is this year going?

2008-07-01T20:03:00.007+01:00

I can't believe we're in July already, the time is just flying.

Now isn't really the time for knitwear so I'm continuing to try my hand at making jewellery and I am loving the challenge.
The earrings I made with jewellery wire and a crochet hook while I was sitting around watching TV one night. Kinda different. Would you wear them?

Next something a bit more challenging but quite easy to follow once I got into it. It's from a pattern by Robyn and you will find it HERE It's called Picot Delight necklace. I haven't finished it yet it needs a fastener and because I didn't know how much thread to use I had to join it in the middle to get the length I wanted so I need practice on finding a way of joining the threads without making a great big knot. If anyone can point me in the way of a tutorial for this let me know. I am going to invite Robyn to take a look and hopefully leave a comment.

Off to practice somemore. Maybe next time I will be brave enough to put some up for sale. Until next time.

Working on new ideas

2008-06-12T12:11:00.008+01:00

Hi I haven't been here for a while but I haven't been idle LOL. I was wandering around my local market the other day and came across a new stall selling beads for jewellery making and that got my creative juices flowing. Firstly I thought about combining beads with my knitting and these are two things I have come up with so far.

Obviously I would have to consider carefully knitting anything with beads for children because of the safety aspect. I know how easy it is for them to put things in their mouths.
I've also tried my hand at making some bracelets and these are my efforts so far. Firstly I used a piece of nylon type thread to thread the beads on and attached that to the fastening. This was quick and easy to make and CHEAP. It is a little big but i can remove some of the beads.

This one I used gold thread to sew the beads together using a half weave stitch (there are loads of tutorials on the web showing this technique. I didn't have a fastener but i am sure you get the idea.
Finally I made a sample of a necklace using craft wire, beads and a crochet hook! I know combining crochet and beads who would have thought. Anyway I am please with the way the sample turned out I just need to get the appropriate beads and more wire to make a full length necklace.
You've got to admit...I've been busy and hope to work on more soon. If you are in Bradford visit the Bradford Bead Shop, Unit 65-68, Kirkgate Market or visit
Bradford Bead Shop
Until next time.

Jazz Night Out

2008-04-25T01:52:00.002+01:00

I had a welcome diversion last night and went to listen to some live music. My partner is a saxophonist and his brother is a keyboard player in a jazz trio. Although my partner wasn't playing last night we went to see his brother play at The Swan, Liversedge, West Yorkshire. He has a residency there. Nice relaxed atmosphere with three very talented guest musicians putting in an appearance last night.

If you're ever down that way why not drop in. They play most Wednesday's starting at 9 pm. This is what the events listing says "Modern and mainstream Jazz from the Mike Hoggard Trio and guests. West Yorkshire's premier and longest running modern and mainstream jazz venue."

I'll definately go again.