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Showing posts from 2009

Stamford Dog Show - 13th September 2009

I have agreed to have a craft stall at the Stamford Dog Show being held on the Stamford Meadows on Sunday, 13 th September 2009. The Stamford Dog Show is organised by Trinity Methodist Church, Barn Hill, Stamford Lincs . This is the 5 th Annual Dog Show and Children's Pet show. It has always been a family Fun Day out and is very popular with animal lovers, young and old. And our Friends Tony and Sandra from Pets Korner Stamford are the Main Sponsor for the Dog & Pet Show. I will display my jewellery there (of course!) but we will also display a range of rough rocks and tumble stones. These are becoming increasingly popular as decorations and also for people who are into crystal healing. And of course my dear friend Amanda of Greensleaves Florist will be sharing the stand with me with her range of Fresh flower Bunches, Bouquets, Flower arrangements and Silk Flower displays. Amanda also makes greeting cards for all occasions. From previous experience at craft fairs and fami

Rutilated Quartz Cabochon Pendant

I've talked about the Cabochons I made in some of my earlier posts. Here is a Pendant I made from one of my cabs. What is special about this pendant is that I was responsible for every step involved in creating the Cabochon. First I cut the rough piece of Rutilated Quartz on the rock saw then shaped it on our Home Made Cabochon machine . Once the stone had been through the process of shaping it was put through various stages on the silicone carbide belts to smooth the surface and finally polished on the polishing wheel using cerium oxide polish. The cabochon I made was pretty special, if I may say so myself :-) No marks, fractures or rough bits and it took a mirror like polish. Woo Hoo! So the cabochon is ready. What next? Of course I had to get it wire-wrapped as quickly as I could, before Dave kidnapped it for one of his jewellery pieces (Ha Ha). I was not going to let him have this one! Yes I know he has done some very special work on his Labradorite cabochons and made specta

Greensleaves Florist…. All About Gorgeous Flowers!

It’s almost a year today since I first met Amanda Clarke who runs Greensleaves Florist in Stamford. And what a fantastic meeting that was! I made a friend. Amanda is an independent florist with years of experience about flowers and floristry. Her flower arrangements are just beautiful. What amazes me about Amanda is the passion she has for flowers and how much of her special touch she puts into each arrangement whether it’s a little posy or a big Wedding order. Amanda has a beautiful shop at the Stamford Garden Centre in Great Casterton and what a shop it is! You walk in and everything is so beautifully displayed, the shop just makes you feel so welcome. The fresh flower arrangements are really fresh and the silk displays so pretty. All created by Amanda. There is even a private little room where you can discuss your requirements of flowers for your Wedding Day, Birthday Party or that very sombre moment when you have to go in and discuss wreaths and tributes because a loved one

The Cabochons I made

Here is a picture of my first cabs :-) As I said before I am not 100% satisfied with them but it's a start. It's my first attempt and some of them have turned out all right. The others, well back to the grinding wheel again I guess. Here is a close up of the individual cabochons: These are the ones that definitely need more work! ------------------------------------------- These I am reasonably pleased with for a first attempt :-) They are a lot shinier than the pictures show ------------------------------------------- And this one was a bugger! Its a Porcelain Jasper with such beautiful patterns on it but try as I might it does not get an overall smooth finish. The different patterns all seem to have different properties and grind down differently. I'll think about this one a bit more. ------------------------------------------- And I am proud of this one!

Cabochons Made, no pictures yet :(

OK so I have made some cabochons now. Not 100% satisfied with them, but not too bad for a first attempt. I don't have pictures to show yet. I took some but the light wasn't too good and the focus was bad so they look like little coloured blobs. I am going to ask the expert - Dave - to take the photos for me and if he can do it today I will post them later this evening.

I Don't Like Dop Sticks

I have taken my first step towards making Cabochons :-) You have already seen some beautiful photos I posted of the Cabs Dave has made. Well I'm making them as well now. I have watched and learned from him and started. Yes that does mean I am now hogging the Cabochon making machine (see picture) :-) but it's a lot of fun. Ok so how it starts is that you cut the rough rock chunks into slabs, then shape them on the diamond wheel, then take it through the various phases of grinding down to a smooth finish. If done right you should end up with a perfectly polished piece with a mirror like shine. That's the general idea anyway. Right, so some rocks were slabbed on the Saw and then they were ready for working on. Let’s get on with it then…. But I wanted to do Rose Quartz and Sodalite and these were not part of the slabs we had cut. I have seen Dave spend hours on putting these slabs on Dop Sticks using wax. See picture of dop Sticks. He had a Rose Quartz and a Sodalite piece on

Fantastic!

Not a lot to say about this really, it's a picture we just took as a Spitfire, a Lancaster and a Hurricane flew over Stamford. Loved it. Don't know what the Birds were thinking though!

Stamford Endowed Schools Foundation

I have recently signed up to be a Foundation Partner for The new Stamford Endowed Schools’ Foundation Privilege Card. A little bit about the Foundation - The Foundation is a charitable body and aims to raise funds in order to support the Stamford Endowed Schools and their pupils. The funds raised through the foundation will be used for the benefit of children from the local community. And that makes this a very special project for me. The Bursaries are there to provide opportunities for young people from less affluent backgrounds to fulfil their potential in sports, music, science, languages and in the arts. The new Stamford Endowed Schools’ Foundation Privilege Card has been set up to raise funds for the Foundation. Some of the best retail outlets and restaurants in Stamford have lent their support to the Foundation Privilege Card and by joining in this very worthwhile programme that supports the valuable work of the Foundation, you

Stamford Arts and Crafts Market - 26 July 2009

Just sent my cheque off for the next Stamford Arts and Crafts Market to be held on 26 th July. I did the May market and it was OK, but it wasn't the nicest of days - cold, windy and wet. Plus I booked for the Art Centre which is slightly out of the way of the High Street. But I prefer to be indoors so its the Art Centre again for the next one. I did make a few sales and some good contacts. I am hoping some of us jewellery designers can get together and do an exclusive Jewellery show. We all make different types of jewellery and I think it could be quite good! I'll keep you posted as things progress....

Drowning In Labradorite....

All right so I have only "borrowed" these images from Dave's webpage http://www.roughrocks.co.uk/ but they are too nice not to share!

Labradorite! Lots of it!

Its been a while since I posted here.... been a busy few months with motorhome enquiries picking up. But even more important - the weather has improved and I am spending more and more time in our little workshop having fun with Rocks. At the moment the two hot favourites are Flin t and Labradorite. I'll talk about the Flint later..... Labradorite - one word - WOW! This is the most beautiful Semi Precious stone I have ever seen! I love Rose Quartz and Carnelian but Labradorite is a whole different world. I could spend hours and hours just looking at it from different angles to try and find the flashes (known as Labradorescence) of Blue, Gold and Green that show up when the stone is held at a certain angle and the light is right. In fact I have spent so much time admiring the stone that I have not made any jewellery from it yet! Dave has made some beautiful Labradorite Cabochons: And he wrapped a couple of them in Sterling Silver Wire and made these beautiful Pendants. I th

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

Its Mother's Day on 22nd March. Have you thought of a special present for Mum? How about one of these lovely Pendants? Carnelian and 14/20 Gold Filled Pendant Citrine and Gold Filled Wire Pendant A really special Shell Cameo Pendant - SOLD! Its the time to pamper and spoil that very very special lady and indulge her with something really nice ....

Salmon Pink Pearl Bracelet

This is an absolutely beautiful coil Bracelet using Freshwater Pearls in a delightful shade of Salmon Pink. I really am not able to say too much more, just have a look at the picture :-) Materials used: Freshwater Dyed Pearls, Tibetan Silver Beads and Memory Wire. This Bracelet is available for sale and listed on my Misi Shop And a BIG Thank you to Dave for the photo.

Twitter is great for business

I am really warming to Twitter. The amount of information I am getting from the links and titbits posted by the people I am following is amazing. And I have noticed a significant increase in visitors to my website and my ebid stores. I think some of my recent sales are thanks to Twitter so all I can say is I am so glad I joined it. The banter is great as well! :-)

Busy Day!

Its been a busy day and I am knackered now! Spent the whole day at my desk uploading pictures to MISI, Edirectory and Bid and of course Twittering :-) I have to thank Dave for taking all the photos, he's got a lot done! of course I couldn't possible keep up with uploading and listing all he photographed today, but now I know they are there and I will upload as and when I can. So here's what I did: MISI: Update @ 22.11 - Amethyst Earrings SOLD TODAY! That was quick, I only listed them at 3.15 this afternoon! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ebid: Update: 18 Feb 2009 - Both these delightful Turquoise items now SOLD on Ebid.