24 Dec 2008
Bob is great
The problem was that if you looked at the details of an item, say a ring, and then wanted to go back to the main list of items, e.g. rings, it always went back to the beginning of the list. NOT where you already were on the list. This made looking through the items somewhat annoying.
It turned out to be a rather tricky issue to fix - not least because it required Javascript tweaking, and I don't really know Javascript, I know HTML. Anyway....just so you can be impressed at Bob, here's a piece of the code that sorted it in the end:
if (page > 0) {
var previousPage = currentPage - 1;
document.getElementById("previous").innerHTML = '';
} else {
document.getElementById("previous").innerHTML = '';
}
var nextPage = currentPage + 1;
if (totalPics > nextPage * picsPerPage) {
document.getElementById("next").innerHTML = '';
} else {
document.getElementById("next").innerHTML = '';
}
Oh YES, read it and be impressed!! or confused, whichever. Keeping in mind that Bob's main thing is not Javascript, that's just one of his many nerd hobbies! (He also has non-nerd hobbies!)
So, anyone out there who wants to offer Bob a job paying loads, please contact me!
End result: browsing my website just got a lot easier!!!!!!!!!!! :-)
23 Dec 2008
christmas tree
22 Dec 2008
holidays....
I did a ring for someone, better not say whom just in case, and it's one I have on my website, but a bit wider and hopefully more masculine looking. Here's a photo:
I was going to have photos of a new necklace, but I sold it on Friday, so I will have to make another one and then make some photos. I'm working on another new necklace which hopefully I'll finish today. I'm not sure yet how it will turn out, so I'm hoping to figure out how to do one of those polls on this blog so you guys can let me know what you think. Ok, I better go work on it!
18 Dec 2008
dark at 4pm
I've been putting up loads of new items on Etsy, Folksy and Dawanda...check it out :-)
Finished a ring for a friend today and have been working on two new necklaces...photos soon to see what people think of them...
hope everyone's having a good winding-down-to-Christmas week!!! Nearly the holiday....
17 Dec 2008
yawn
16 Dec 2008
for Bea
15 Dec 2008
mince pies
8oz (225g) Bramley apples, cored and chopped small (no need to peel them)
4 oz (110 g) shredded suet
6oz (175 g) raisins
4oz (110 g) sultanas
4oz (110 g) currants
4oz (110 g) whole mixed candied peel, finely chopped
6oz (175 g) soft dark brown sugar
grated zest and juice 1 orange
grated zest and juice 1 lemon
1 oz (25 g) whole almonds, cut into slivers
2 level teaspoons mixed ground spice
¼ level teaspoon ground cinnamon
good pinch freshly grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons brandy
I just looked that up because I wondered what all was in mincemeat.
Anyway...in other news, the craft fair was a complete dud. Oh well. That'll happen. Happily online sales are going well, so there's that. Now only 10 days until Christmas!! We tried to get a little xmas tree yesterday, but the shop was completely sold out of trees. Sigh. I think we'll go again later this week and see if there are some more.
12 Dec 2008
13 days til Christmas
I suspect I'm going to be rather on the tired side after this last craft fair so the plan for Sunday is fun - sort out some holiday things. We're going to go find a Christmas tree and make lists of what we need to have in the house so we actually have food when the shops are closed. So that's pretty relaxed. Over the holiday I've promised myself to make time to make two things - one is the ring with a big pearl that is going to be my gran's 90th birthday present - I think it's safe to say that because I don't think she reads my blog, ha! The other is a gold ring that I've been meaning to make for myself as a replacement-of-sorts for the ring that was stolen at the beginning of the year. I've been meaning to get around to it, but because it's for me there has always been something more important to work on! So it will get done this holiday!!!
11 Dec 2008
random stuff and only 2 weeks til Christmas
10 Dec 2008
9 Dec 2008
Music and stuff
Here's a photo of me on the cold, cold beach:
5 Dec 2008
update
I've been making good progress on a new collection...just need to do the fiddly bit of polishing on the buffer to get most of the items finished. I also want to make a bangle to go with this collection, but I haven't finished that yet. Should all be done next week and then I can post some photos.
It's nearly the weekend!! yay!
4 Dec 2008
still freezing cold
Short of going to their office in London, I'm not sure how to proceed.....
3 Dec 2008
cold!!
Anyway...another busy week...I'm applying for next year's craft fairs with all that that entails. More photos, application forms, updated CV, etc. I'm looking forward to it all already, seeing as the craft fairs went very well this year! I'm hoping to do more and be in more galleries as well.
An item sold in the Yorkshire gallery (Projeto) and on DaWanda, so things are looking good! Also sold some more small earrings and have plans to make more for the 13th December Rising Sun Art Market.
I'm also excited about the christmas holidays in general - some time off to eat nice things (xmas lunch is already planned - nut roast, roasted parsnips, garlicky salad, date pudding for dessert!) and to go into London and see some exhibits. I'm interested in seeing the exhibit which I believe is on at the Hayward Gallery of the South African artist who does chalk drawings and photographs them. Oh drat, I just found it on the Hayward site, it's Robin Rhode, but that exhibit's only on til 7 Dec. sigh. Hm. Oh well, there is a big Rothko exhibit at the Tate Modern. I do like Rothko and I've seen lots of his work in Houston, where he made a special chapel with huge black paintings. Well, they were black. He used cheaper paint, so it's kinda purpley now!
1 Dec 2008
Gift and things
It went well but it was pretty quiet, not as good as the other two craft fairs I've done recently. There just weren't that many people there, but oh well, I still did well and met lots of nice people. I have another stash of business cards from interesting people who make wildly different things - from clothing with antique lace to recycled handbags to paper clay ceramics.
I have to admit I was pretty tired when it was over and did a whole lot of nothing much on Sunday. One more craft fair to go - in Reading at the Rising Sun Arts Centre - on the 13th of December. Hard to believe it's December already!! On the other hand, it is easy to imagine because it is COLD today! yikes! I have to find where on earth I put my snazzy fingerless gloves...I have some that my sister made and some that knithappens made. Hm, they are somewhere in my closet!!
28 Nov 2008
crafty craft craftness and stuff.
Anyway, I've ironed all the cloths again and packed everything up and have it all ready to go in the car, so I think it's all ready to go! Here we go again!!!
ps. I had another sale on DaWanda yesterday, hurrah!! To someone in Barcelona. I love Barcelona - such a brilliant city - it has everything. Beach, art, architecture, crooked back streets, fascinating history, etc. There are several excellent books about Barcelona - I'm trying to remember the titles. I think one is just called Barcelona, by the art critic Robert Hughes. The other is....something about miracles...City of Miracles? I know I read that one in Spanish, for a class I was following on Spanish Literature. Hm, well, if I think of the name I'll post it. And of course there are the fantastic Orwell books - I love his books, but especially the one about him in the Spanish Civil War - he went to Spain to fight. He was in Cataluna, so it makes me think of Barcelona. Ah, just looked it up, that book is called Homage to Catalonia. If I remember correctly, he was shot in the throat and was lucky to survive. I have a bit of a fascination with Catalonia and Catalan because I spent quite a few summers there when I was small. I really like the Catalan language and wouldn't mind learning it...except I wouldn't have much chance to use it. I like the words, like obert, tancat, es prohibit d'incendre foc. (=open, closed, prohibited to start a fire). anyway....tangent...ok, off to Gift now!!!
27 Nov 2008
25 Nov 2008
Projeto Gallery
The gallery is now open: Open Mon-Sat 10am-4:30pm
24 Nov 2008
two remain...
In other news, I had my first sale on Folksy, which is quite exciting!! hurrah!!
Now I have to get ready for Gift!! Here we go again.....
19 Nov 2008
necklace commission
18 Nov 2008
gorgeous ceramics
http://www.laurendenney.com
and here on Etsy.
17 Nov 2008
yay!
UPDATE: here's a photo of me at the stand - this was in the theater part of the building, so that's a balcony above me!
14 Nov 2008
South Hill Park Christmas Fair
fawlty towers
Not only that, but their catalogue is a pathetic collection of photocopies that gives you hardly any idea what the products are like and their website is totally rubbish....if you don't believe me, this is their website: http://www.lynco.co.uk/
13 Nov 2008
grrr
On the plus side, the posters/postcards are out for the Rising Sun Institute Christmas fair and one of my rings features on it! So that is nice and once the internet connection works properly I'll upload that!
11 Nov 2008
Slough Museum
10 Nov 2008
MagpieNest available in West Yorkshire!!
Coincidentally, I went to a friend's lovely wedding over the weekend (held at the Bodlean Library in Oxford, not too shabby!!!!) and it turned out that she got her wedding dress in Silsden - as it happens, Silsden has one of the best bridal wear shops in the country!
6 Nov 2008
South Hill Park craft fair 15-16 November 2008
5 Nov 2008
sleepy...
Randomly, in Camden we also went to a small shop called Robot and it had lots of fun stuff. Bits of 1980s and random children's shows' things like My Little Ponies and Rainbow Brite and things like that. Fun t-shirts and cute plastic wallets and just quite unique fun things. Their website is http://pinkkat.co.uk/ - you can see some of their things on the site, but the photos aren't great. If you get the chance, definitely a shop to go have a nose around in Camden!
3 Nov 2008
pretty yarns
website:
http://www.skeinqueen.co.uk/
or straight to the shop:
Skein Queen
Camden
In other news, I got a lovely award from Something Just to Start:
31 Oct 2008
30 Oct 2008
opportunities
So now I'm going to try to get that photo off my phone which I took yesterday of the snow. Ok, got it, this was on my way to my jewellery tutor's house: not bad for a camera phone, even if I do say so myself...
29 Oct 2008
snow
Ok, I have to keep it short because of the monitor situation, but hopefully a new one will be appearing soon and then I can type again normally without getting a crick in my neck!!!
27 Oct 2008
inconvenience
23 Oct 2008
So, 7 random factoids about me:
1. I don't have a TV because I have no willpower to turn it off so if I had one I'd watch it too much. This whole idea has been slightly undermined now that you can watch lots of TV free online....
2. I like crackers with ketchup. I don't know if I should admit that.
3. I actually dream about jewellery designs. Maybe that's a bit odd, but I guess I used to dream about my work when I worked in an office, so maybe it's normal.
4. Kettle crisps are my favorite, particularly the ones in a red packet, I think they are mesquite flavoured. However, I also like walker's chunky paprika flavour crisps. And if they count as crisps, walkers also have these lime flavoured mini poppadoms which are fantastic. I totally love crisps and it's a battle not to eat too many.
5. I love scrabble. It's by far my favorite board game. I was worried when scrabulous disappeared from facebook but happily there's now an official scrabble game on it. phew! I particularly like playing scrabble with Marianne (who can still remember particularly fabulous words we've managed over the years!!) and Alana.
6. my two favorite art "isms" are Abstract expressionism and minimalism. My favorite artists are my mom and Robert Rauschenberg.
7. i'm going to have a hard time tagging 7 blogs so I might do less.
I'm tagging: Bea, Dave, and skein queen.
22 Oct 2008
shiny nails
21 Oct 2008
Holland and holidays
Randomly, the shops here have started putting up Christmas decorations. It's OCTOBER. pf!!! In the US, there's still Halloween and Thanksgiving to go. But here there aren't any big holidays between August bank holiday and Christmas. Well, there is Guy Fawkes in November, but that's not really associated with decorations per se, nor is it commercial beyond lots of firework purchases. So here we are already, as one of my friends said "heading towards Christmas season"!! Maybe the UK needs to have another holiday somewhere in the Autumn....
17 Oct 2008
16 Oct 2008
To-do lists......
Oh yes, and grocery shopping lists are totally separate but we have a good system for that....the cutlery drawer in the kitchen has a space for some pens and a small pad of paper and when we think of something we need to get, we put it on that pad of paper. Then whoever goes to the grocery store can get what we need and just take one piece of paper off the pad. It works!
Any tips from anyone out there? What's the best way to have lists that help instead of hinder??
14 Oct 2008
It's pretty darn gloomy outside today but I need to go to the grocery store as there is not much food in the house because we were away.
My mom sent me some interesting material that she bought in New Zealand. It's called Paua Shell Laminate and it is, as far as I can tell, a composite piece of shell found in New Zealand and then polished. It looks a bit like opal or mother of pearl. There's a bit of information on the packet, which says:
New Zealand has a small group of shells collectively known as paua, unique to New Zealand. The group comes from the worldwide family Haliotidae, which contains nearly 130 species from oceans in both tropical and temperate zones. These shellfish have been used for food since ancient times and have figured largely in the diet of coastal Maori. Most countries have their own local names, Abalone (North America), Ormer (Guernsey), Mutton Fish (Australia and early NZ) and Awabi (Japan) being some of the best known. Paua is the most colourful shell in the world, other abalone have some colour, but not the brilliance of Paua.
I'm looking forward to trying to use it for earrings or a pendant and of course photos will follow at some point.... in the meantime, here's a photo from our canal boat trip:
13 Oct 2008
Along the way we stopped at a lovely little town/village called Hungerford. It was a kind of funny little place with mostly either antique or second hand shops. I usually don't even look at antiques because I'm more into modern, minimalistic styles, but I looked in the window of an antique store and saw this miniature desk which was just amazing - a completely working desk but only about 8 inches high. So I made an effort to go to the shop the next morning before we set off to see how much it cost. The woman in the shop told me it was an 18th century Dutch desk made from walnut wood. I thought it would be between £200 - £500 but when I asked I was shocked to find out it was £1450!!!!!!!! wah!!! That's a lot more than I thought it would be - not that £500 would have been ok, that's still way too much for me. Oh well, it was interesting to see!
Now it's Monday morning again and I have loads to do!! Lots of sorting out and making a to-do list for the week.
3 Oct 2008
On the jewellery front, bit of a slow week although I did get a fair bit sorted when I went into London. Just need to finish a bunch of stuff today, some sanding and polishing. And I need to finish polishing some collar stiffeners. Now, about 3 weeks ago I had never even heard of collar stiffeners......apparently I was the odd one out though because everyone I spoke to about it knew what they were. They are long, thin, flat pieces of something hard, either plastic or metal, which go into small pockets at the inside end of the collar men's formal shirts. It's to make the point of the collar neater or something. Sounds Victorian to me!! Anyway....a friend of mine wanted silver ones for her fiancé because he got it into his head that he'd like silver collar stiffeners. So, they are in my workshop and waiting to be polished!
2 Oct 2008
1 Oct 2008
30 Sept 2008
I now have a lovely big fat blister under each of my big toenails...bet you really wanted to know that. I'm hoping the nails won't fall off. ew. We'll see....
So today it's lots of little errands, final polishing, deciding what to make the rest of the week and tomorrow I'm going into London. I need to go to the Assay office and get a couple of things like a reversible tweezer stand - that's a stand which holds the tweezers in any position you want, sort of like giving you an extra hand so you can solder things in a slightly easier fashion. It looks like this:
25 Sept 2008
24 Sept 2008
Right, well, that's all because it's gloomy out and I need to do some exercise and fill out this insurance form to get a quote!
23 Sept 2008
I got a packet of fliers for the Gift show in November which I am supposed to distribute. I'm not sure how far in advance to start putting them in the usual spots around town. Also, I got some complimentary passes to hand out to friends to get into Gift for free, so if anyone's interested, please email me and I'll send/give you one. Which reminds me that I need to sort out a rental car for these shows in November. Neither are close to a train station and I obviously will have to bring my jewellery plus display items, quite bulky. So transport must be sorted...
That's all for now...hope everyone's week is going fine.
well, scratch that, apparently actually Gift is located quite close to the station: Farnham is approximately 50 minutes from London Waterloo and there are regular services (ranging from half hourly to hourly). The Maltings is then a five minute walk from Farnham Railway Station.
22 Sept 2008
It's a grey Monday morning and this week I am going to be making lots of STUFF. well, lots of rings, some earrings, some more star pendants, and fixing some star necklaces. Well, not exactly fix, because they aren't broken, but strenghthen so that they don't break in future!
I desperately need some tea, it's chilly and my head is still fuzzy thinking it might be asleep.
19 Sept 2008
17 Sept 2008
went to the gym....the gym is nice and quiet in that time right after lunch. one lady in some seriously scary shorts though. they were teeny. eeks.
I've been adding stuff to Etsy/DaWanda and Folksy....all slowly gathering pace again.
This blog cracks me up, just thought I'd share it: http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/ It's not exactly intellectual, but it's amusing.
16 Sept 2008
15 Sept 2008
Today I'm going to finish a bunch of small things (literally small, as in very small earrings) and hopefully finish a new item which I've been working on for weeks. I'm also waiting for a delivery because the barrel of my barrel polisher needed to be replaced....the lid stretched so it wasn't working because the water was just dripping out of the barrel. Hopefully I'll get the delivery today!!
It's somewhat sunny today, which is nice after all the rain lately. It was the least sunny August in 150 years for the UK. Somehow I didn't really mind....might be because I've been in the UK for nearly a decade now!! amazing....
11 Sept 2008
http://www.folksy.com/shops/magpienest -- you can explore the whole site by just clicking on the "Folksy" logo in top left hand corner. It would be very nice indeed to have a successful UK-based site!! It's looking good so far....
Several people have been clicking away on my own site to help me make sure there are no errors...it seems that all is well in that arena. If you have a spare minute, have a look and let me know what you think of the new design! www.magpienest.co.uk
In other news, my friends over at www.todryfor.com are doing very well and are going to be mentioned in the Telegraph this Saturday!! Not only that, but they are in the current Elle Decoration magazine and are going to be featured in a bunch more magazines in the coming months! Well done, tea towels :-)
10 Sept 2008
back to the bench now...
9 Sept 2008
I still need to make a lot of items for all the craft fairs coming up in November though, so I better get back to the bench!
8 Sept 2008
Let me know if you spot any missing pictures, broken links, spelling mistakes or anything that doesn't look right. I appreciate all help! I've done all the work myself so it's easy to overlook mistakes.
There is one problem I already know about - the shopping cart doesn't work properly in Internet Explorer if there are more than 2 different items in the cart. This will be fixed, I'm just waiting for Google to release the latest version of the shopping cart which they told me would solve the problem! UPDATE: actually I just realised what I hadn't done and this is fixed now! hurrah!
Also let me know if you like the new collections :-)
p.s. you may need to hit your "refresh" button to get the new site!
Some of the new features include:
- shopping cart!
- a cufflinks section
- refine your search option
- lots of new items
- new item photos on the homepage
- new, clearer design
- new homepage that looks like the rest of the site
- upcoming shows section
- direct link to this blog :-)
- MagpieNest logo in the corner of every page that links to the homepage
5 Sept 2008
3 Sept 2008
I have loads more ideas for new items, so I want to get the website up and working so I go back to the bench!! And of course I want to start adding items to my Etsy shop again, but I told myself I wouldn't do that until I have my site sorted!! In the meantime, to give a taster, a little picture of some new cufflinks: (matching pendant, earrings and ring will be on the new site)
29 Aug 2008
7 Aug 2008
25 Jul 2008
Gift - info can be found here.
South Hill Park Christmas Fair - info can be found here.
I will also be at the Rising Sun Institute for the 22 November and 13 December art markets!
1 Jul 2008
15 May 2008
11 May 2008
6 May 2008
Yesterday was the birthday of a close friend and so we had a gorgeous afternoon just lazing on the patio of a lovely pub, the St George and Dragon in Wargrave - right on the Thames. We just watched the boats going up and down and had a supper relaxed afternoon.
This morning I saw my jewellery teacher and got her seal of approval for the wedding ring that I wrote so much about previously. I promise a photo tomorrow!!!
It's still beautiful weather today and it's supposed to stay like this all week! yippeeeee!!! :-)
2 May 2008
Anyway............I better go finish the earrings I was working on yesterday!!
1 May 2008
30 Apr 2008
29 Apr 2008
That's pretty much all the news from here. It's vaguely sunny, it's vaguely warm but still chilly enough to wear a sweatshirt. It's time to go to the bench!!
UPDATE: getting there....two rings in the polisher, just waiting for them to get shiny to see if they really are ok. getting closer!!!
UPDATE: they are out of the polisher and looking pretty decent.....photos soon I hope!!!
28 Apr 2008
The craft fair on Saturday was pretty successful!! Although it was not busy and not that many people came, I still sold a decent amount. I was also invited to participate in another event at the end of May, so that's very positive. I'll be posting about the where and when of that event as soon as I get the info in electronic format. My display was much better than at the christmas fair I did last year, so that was also good. Got a lot of nice comments and interest. So it was a good experience! The next one will be 5 July!
Today it's back to the wedding ring again. Hopefully today I'll succeed in getting that right. Then I need to plan what I'm doing for the next couple of weeks carefully so that I have enough items for this event at the end of May! So it's still going to be busy...
24 Apr 2008
On Tuesday we went to IKEA to go look for something that would function as a display for craft fairs. I knew what I wanted, but unfortunately it doesn't exist. Or at least not at IKEA. So we ended up buying a bunch of sheets of glass and I can arrange them at different levels and in different ways by putting them on blocks of wood. Nice, neat blocks of wood painted in nice colours would be ideal, but I don't think that's going to happen before Saturday. But I think it'll be fine with regular blocks of wood for now. I need to test it on the table at home today or tomorrow to make sure it'll all be fine.
I'm still working on the wedding ring and need to sort out some earrings for Etsy. I wasn't intending on making those earrings again. I only made one pair and they were sold. But someone on Etsy asked for them, so I am attempting to make them again. I have one, but the second one is slightly not right and after taking photos I think I need to tweak it a bit more. So I need to get that finished today! Also need to make more earrings for the craft fair, finish a bunch of cuff links, finish 3 rings, and then tomorrow do all the remaining preparation for the craft fair! Yesterday I also brought the fliers for the fair to some places in town, so hopefully that'll help. I have a couple more fliers which I'm hoping to put up in the shops near my house - there's a shop that usually has fliers for stuff happening around Reading. Right, well, I better go do these things!!!
23 Apr 2008
22 Apr 2008
17 Apr 2008
15 Apr 2008
14 Apr 2008
12 Apr 2008
11 Apr 2008
1. Go to the site that you want and highlight the URL:
2. Put your mouse on the URL or the little icon on the left of the URL if there is one - in this case the little orange "E" icon:
3. Hold down your left mouse button and drag the URL down to the bar right under it. I know the picture is a bit small, but you can see in the picture below that it now has a button that says "Etsy::magpienest::" and if I click on that, it will bring me straight to that page.
4. If this doesn't work for you, it could mean that your browser bar is locked. OR you're using Internet Explorer and this is another useful reminder why Firefox is better than Internet Explorer :-)
(thanks to Bob for this post, as he showed me this shortcut this morning!)
10 Apr 2008
9 Apr 2008
I've been vaguely trying to make a treasury on Etsy and I think I can forget about it, because the treasury is always full. Every single time I check it's waaaaaaaaaay over the maximum number, so the chances that I check right when it's open are very, very slim indeed.
My friend lent me the box set of Sherlock Holmes and I'm really enjoying it. Way back when I was still living with the parentals, I always used to watch this program on Saturdays called Mystery. It was on PBS and it rotated between showing different British series like Inspector Morse, Miss Marple, Poirot, Prime Suspect, and Sherlock Holmes. I think this Sherlock Holmes is most definitely the best one, with Jeremy Brett. Anyway, Sherlock Holmes used to be one of my all-time favourites and I'm glad it's still as good as I remember. It's interesting, well-acted, and suspenseful. Plus it's kind of amusing that now I recognise the place names of the different locations they go to - Aldershot, for example. I went to 221 Baker Street in London once, just to see what was there, but it was just the Kuwaiti Bank. Maybe I got the address wrong, because surely there would be some Sherlock Holmes type museum or shop or something somewhere on Baker Street. Hm, I'll have to check again sometime.