I'm still alive!

I had to fight my way through the cobwebs to get in here. I haven't posted on this blog for three whole months! Naughty girl.

I have been working on a brand new and very posh blog on WordPress. As per usual, these things take so much more time than you think they will. It's not finished yet. Perhaps I'm being too much the perfectionist. I'll let you know when it's viewable.

I spent the whole of April in the UK and France. Long, long journey and it took me most of May to recover.

I have made some more things since I was here last.

African Turquoise Bracelet

Teal Blue Stick Pearl Earrings

Wildflowers Earrings

Magenta Pearl Bracelet

Still can't get those pics to line up!






You can probably imagine the trouble I'm having with WordPress!







I have made a few changes to my Bluetina website. I'm still beavering away on Etsy, even though they have made a few changes to their website!

Now I'm getting ready to go back to the UK yet again! I will try to post something while I'm there.

I understand that Google Reader is heading for oblivion tomorrow. I'll find out when my RSS feed goes blank, won't I? Does that mean this blog will now be invisible?

What would you call this?

Remember this?

Well, after a few weeks of Mercury in Retrograde stuff, it finally turned into this:

The only thing still there from the original idea is the colour scheme. And the fact that it's a bracelet! The beads are amethyst, garnet, angelite and pink rubies, all hand wired to a sterling silver chain. The chain is attached to the end of two feet of silk ribbon, hand dyed by my friend Diane in France. Here are some more shots:

The ribbon gets wrapped around the wrist and the chain ends up laying across the top and trailing away to the side. The sterling silver hook can be put through any of the chain links to make it fit snugly and the ribbon length is adjustable also. 

My main problem is this. I don't know what to call this style of bracelet. It is some sort of wrap, obviously but that term conjures up different pictures in my head. I haven't seen its like anywhere else. 

What would you call this, so it can be found by search engines? More shots to help you decide:

I look forward to hearing from you, as they say! Get your thinking caps on because I want to list it on the website and in my Etsy shop soon!

Mercury in Retrograde.....

According to my friend Peggy, it is. In retrograde - Mercury, the planet. Which means that nothing will come together properly until after the 18th of March. This explains a lot.

I have been trying to design a bracelet for the last two weeks and it's not going well.

I chose the colours and arranged some beads on my tatty old bead board. Must get round to buying a new one of those. 

I chose the chain I wanted to use and rearranged the beads several times, taking some away and then putting them back again. 

I changed my mind about the chain at least twice. I even got as far as making the toggle clasp!

Well, you can forget all that. It's not going to happen. I had envisaged a classic charm bracelet with garnet, amethyst, angelite and pink rubies clustered along its length and hanging down on either side of the silver hand made toggle clasp. But this bracelet will not stay still! It keeps changing shape in my head. The latest, barely formed vision is a bit asymmetrical and doesn't involve a toggle at all. The only thing remaining constant is the colours. It might not even turn out to be a bracelet by the time I've finished. 

I must now wait until after the 18th, when my Muse may have returned from her holidays, refreshed and ready to go. Where has my Muse taken herself off to, do you think? Somewhere warm, I hope. The planet Mercury is not the only thing in retrograde round here. The stuff in my patio thermometer is also flowing in the wrong direction. It's a bit chilly here!

Charity Auction!

This Saturday, 26th January, there is an online auction on Facebook in aid of Galgos Del Sol, an organization  set up to help abandoned dogs in Spain. Here is the link to their Facebook page.

Many people have donated items to be auctioned, myself among them. I have donated this necklace:

I hope it raises a few euros! If you want to see more of my jewellery, have a look at my Bluetina website.

Here are some examples of the sort of thing I make:

Oxidized Copper & MOP necklace

Blue Goldstone & Oxidized Copper Bracelet

Sterling Double Spiral Earrings

Black Friday, Cyber Monday Weekend Deal

Just popping in to give you the heads up. I have set up free shipping on all items in my Etsy Shop until the end of Monday, 26th November. Well, Tuesday morning on my end of things!

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are a very American institution, stemming as they do from the US Thanksgiving Celebrations. However, when in Rome....or when on Etsy, in this case....do as the Etsians do!

Cascade Earrings Pink Pearl

Evidently, an awful lot of on line shopping is done on Cyber Monday, hence the name. Perhaps some of it will get done in Bluetina's shop! Here are some of the over eighty items you can buy and have shipped anywhere in the world for free:

Mixed Metal Bracelet Silver & Copper

Kyanite Necklace with Sterling Silver Spikes

There's lots more where they came from and, if you order now, they should be with you in plenty of time for Christmas!

A complication of rings....

Today's blog post features my Etsy team mate, Lehane.

Lehane does very complicated things with jump rings. Anybody who can do that chainmaille stuff has my utmost respect and admiration. I tried it once. Nearly went blind and threw my pliers down in disgust.

Aquamarine Amethyst Chainmaille Bracelet

Let alone doing it in a straight line, she can do it in circles, too!

Holiday Chainmaille Ornament

Lehane is also into using those amazing dichroic glass pendants in her jewellery:

Pink and Black Necklace

An eye for colour is also evident in Lehane's designs:

Amethyst Rivoli Crystal Pendant

Go have a look at her shop, it's packed full of more lovely pieces like these!

Daringly Different!

If the title mystifies you, it is the phrase that Pam from epicetera uses to describe her jewellery!

Pam has a definite style which I admire immensely. Look at this bold necklace!

Turquoise Calsilica Jasper Necklace

Pam can do chunky with panache but also uses delicate pearls to great effect:

Natural Keshi Pearl Necklace

As well as a penchant for the dramatic, Pam also demonstrates a sense of whimsy!

Colorful Stretch Skull Bracelet

Most of all, colour is manipulated with style in Pam's designs. I love these long random necklaces of hers!

48 inch random necklace, mixed pearls

Have a peek at Pam's "About" page to find out more about how she got started!

Wire Wrapping Heaven!

I'm going to start with a big picture here, so you can see what it is that I am in awe of!

Aqua Blue Wire Wrapped Necklace

This wonderful piece was created by my friend Joy. She has a shop on Etsy called Catinalife Creations where you will find all sorts of beautiful and intricate jewellery!

Look at the precision work in this bracelet:

Gold colour wire woven cuff

I don't think I'd have the patience although I would love to attempt it some day!

Joy also makes chainmaille jewellery:

Niobium Rainbow Rings Bracelet

Talk about complicated! I wouldn't know where to start!

If you want to see more (and who wouldn't?) go visit her shop on Etsy. 

Oh, and Joy also loves cats, as if you hadn't guessed! That makes her a top person in my book!

Want some beads?

Silly question! Of course you do. My friend Cindy has a lovely shop on Etsy where she sells all sorts of delicious beads and findings. It's called Beacon Beads. Here are just a few samples to whet your appetite!

Red Coral Petal Shape Beads

Tibetan Metal Beads

These are pretty!

Tubular Lampwork Beads

Silver Plated Fluted Bead Cap

Cindy also makes lovely jewellery and sells it in her other Etsy shop, CCTexan 3.

I think she used some of those coral petals for this bracelet:

Coral Petals Bracelet

This is beautiful and bold!

Turquoise Magnesite Necklace

And this - wow!

Gold Vintage Chains Necklace

Go over for a visit! There's plenty more where they came from.

                 

Featuring 3 Cedars Jewelry!

I belong to a lovely team of ladies (and gents!) on Etsy and we call ourselves "The Tarts". Don't ask - if I told you I'd have to kill you.

We are all very supportive of each other and regularly promote each others shops on Facebook, Pinterest, Wanelo and Twitter. Every week we concentrate specifically on just one of our members so I thought a feature each week would help keep my blog from shrivelling up from disuse and help somebody else into the bargain! This week it's the turn of the lovely Lyn from 3 Cedars Jewelry.

Lyn is a bit like me in the fact that she displays many different styles of jewellery in her Etsy shop.  She has managed to build up an awe inspiring inventory of 153 items so I have plenty to choose from!

This is one of my favourites:

Natural Agate Hearts Bracelet

Lyn is also into wire wrapping:

Grey Agate & Quartz Pendant

I think this bracelet is beautiful, and it has matching earrings!

Turquoise & Sterling Silver Bracelet & Earrings

Lyn also makes a mean pair of earrings! I love these:

Purple Ruby Sterling Silver Earrings

I hope you enjoyed that little meander through Lyn's Etsy shop. Next week, I'll be featuring someone else - I wonder who it will be?

I'm all over the place....

literally. I've been so busy the last few weeks leaving back links to the Bluetina website all over the net that I have sadly neglected (yet again!) my poor old blog!

I was given a long, long list of places to advertise my wares.  I have spent many hours wading through it, leaving my links in some and hurriedly backing out of some others to run CCleaner in a blind panic. That's the internet equivalent of washing your hands with carbolic soap. No viruses so far, thank God.

Will all this effort produce any results? Who knows?

Anyway, rule number one is "Every blog post must have an accompanying photograph" and here it is:

I have managed to add a few things to the new website and this Sapphire and Sterling Silver Bangle Bracelet is one of them.

Something a bit more interesting and coherent for a blog post next time, I think. I'm working on it, honest.

Saga with a twist - update

Necklace delivered today and approved! I related some of the "saga" and made Ingeborg laugh!

On a serendipitous note, I thought I had made the necklace slightly too long but it turns out that Ingeborg was going to ask me to do just that and forgot to phone me!

In other news, I sold this necklace and bracelet to a neighbour of ours, out here on holiday.

I made the bracelet specially to go with the necklace for her. I also made this bracelet:

to go with this necklace:

but the lady liked the silver and purple ones best. I'm not sure whether to list these in my Etsy shop or the new Bluetina website. Both places urgently need more inventory but the new website has not been fully indexed by Google yet, so I'm not getting a lot of hits there. I'll think about it!

Painting the Forth Bridge....

I think I might have used that title before. How apt. This blog post is all about having to do things again and again and again. Like photography.

As you may know, I have recently launched my own website!  I have been adding pieces to it when they fall off the end of Etsy after four months. It's amazing how many photographs there are that I loved to bits four months ago and now I feel I have to pick them up wearing latex gloves, figuratively speaking.

So then, another round with the ancient digital camera and even more ancient version of Photoshop. I don't think these have turned out too bad. Who knows - I might even still like them in four months time?

Copper Hoops Silver Flowers

Sodalite & Olive Jade Necklace

Seafoam & Silver Bracelet