Reading Beer festival and rain

It's been such good weather lately that I got lulled into a false sense of security. I had visions of lounging around outside with a big crowd of friends at the Reading Beer Festival. Picnics, sunglasses, blankets laid out on the grass... But alas, the weather has gone back to its usual dreary and there are great big dark grey clouds hanging over Reading. I am now back to regular mode and assuming it will start pouring it down the second I get down the beer fest. Ah well, at least they have two HUGE tents so I'll be safe and fine and still have a great time!!
I've been busy on the jewellery front - finished the wedding cuff links and brooches. I have loads of photos, but the bride & groom are keeping secrets and these are surprises for the recipients, so I'll hold off on posting those until after the wedding! I'm also progressing nicely (finally) on their wedding rings. Also finished some other items and even snuck in a tester of a new bit of washi that I got for Christmas. Here's a photo:
The black came out very nicely with the metallic bits of silver and gold staying shiny. I'll be showing this washi at the private craft fair I'm doing on May 20th (newsletter readers have already received their invites - let me know if you're interested!).
Classes are progressing fine as well, with a bunch of new techniques show and next week I'll be doing a demo on photo etching. So, once I get these wedding rings done I can start making some new items - whose designs have been sorting themselves out in my head for months already! Hope you all have a lovely weekend, rain or no rain!

here we go...

Tomorrow's the day - my driving test. I am trying to stay calm and focus on all the driving around I'll be able to do when I pass!!!
Plus I'm sending off two items that I've been working on for ages to the stone setter. Am very excited about these two and hope to high heaven that they turn out beautifully...photos to follow in some weeks after their return and hallmarking.
I got the go-ahead for a big commission that I will be slaving away on all of next week - lots of cuff links and brooches. And I'm even making progress on my copper bowl. The bowl is moving towards vertical on the top half...I'm working on getting the top to go in so I have a rounded bowl. Photos to follow for that as well.
The financial year's end is near so am also aware I need to sort out my folders of invoices, expenses, etc once again. It's hard to believe it's March already. I wouldn't mind spring to hurry up and get here already, my fingers are so cold again today!!
Here's to the weekend and hopefully good news after about 12.15 tomorrow!!!

Caversham Arts Trail

Oooh it's so lovely out - a nice mix of wet snow and rain. What a fantastic day for another driving lesson! woo hoo! Ugh....get me some more tea!!!!!!!
ehem...anyway....so in May I will be participating in the Caversham Arts Trail alongside Lauren (that's Lauren Ceramics to you!) and there are now a number of easy peasy ways to follow the plans for the Arts Trail. If you're on Twitter, follow either me (magpienest) or the Arts Trail (http://twitter.com/CavArtsTrail). If you prefer facebook, please become a fan here. Or you can just click this link, which is also on my sidebar on this blog and brings you straight to the website (http://cavershamartiststrail.co.uk). Sooo many options, surely one is right for you!
I hope everyone is nice and warm and snug today. My day looks like it's going to be full of driving, a bit of making a ring and quite a lot of tea. Oh yes and probably a trip to Hobbycraft!! I shall leave you with a picture of a nose stud I made a few weeks ago. It is tiny and has a leeeeeetle tiny stone set (yes, set, not glued!!) in the end. Here it is next to a ten pence coin so you can see quite how small it is:

It's snowing out right now! How is that happening? I thought we'd already had way more than our fair share of snow for the year. Or even for the decade!
Anyway, so on Friday was the opening of the Evolution exhibit over at South Hill Park. By all accounts it went well and a good amount of people came. I wasn't one of them, though. I tried, but when we got on the motorway there was a very long queue and when we got to the end of the queue it turned out that there had been a major accident. The police made everyone do a u-turn over the grass verge and sent us back the way we had come. Both sides of the motorway were closed. By then there was no time to get to the opening anymore another way. So sadly I missed the opening!
This weekend I caught up on some much needed sleep and now it's back into the ring. I had a Folksy sale, which is great, so those earrings are going to be sent off today. So today's plan is post office and sorting papers and then back to the bench to start on the next batch of custom jobs. I'm hoping to have an item returned from the hallmarking office, but it looks like no luck on that front because it's already noon and usually it would have arrived by now. That was a bit of bad luck because one of the items I sent off for hallmarking came back with no hallmark on it - the Assay office just forgot! So another hallnote, another trip to the post office and another delay.
Here's a random photo of Mt Fuji that my dad took from an airplane - an exceptionally clear photo:

technically not a snow picture

Well, it's an icicle picture. Hanging from our gutter are numerous large icicles.

snow, snow, don't go away but melt a bit please

Ok, the snow is very pretty and all, but I'm still waiting for my hallmarking packet and getting nervous about it now. sigh. I need to go to the post office, but you know as soon as I reach the post office, the postie will be at my door and I won't be home. Grumble....
Anyway......here's a photo that I absolutely love that I wanted to share. I nicked it from my sister, because I am allergic to cats, so I don't have any(*sob* because I love cats!). My sister has our old cat and her super spoiled cat. So at first I thought, aaaaw there's Pepe, sleeping all happy on the couch. Then about the fourth time I looked at the photo, I was like "wait a minute........." and finally spotted JOSIE in the box!!! bwahahaha! ok, maybe it's just me that finds it super amusing, but in any case, makes a change from snow pictures!

more snow?!?!

what's going on? I had never seen so much snow here as we had at Christmas and now we've got another giant packet of the white stuff. It's a thick layer, too, more than Reading has ever seen or at least for a very long while. Not only that, it's still snowing and more snow is predicted until this evening! It's all white, white and more white. It looks nice, but I don't think I'm going anywhere. Lots of rambling about the snow, but really, it's very unusual for here!!! So here's another photo, this time of the back garden about midnight last night.
My scheduled driving lesson isn't happening today. I'm awaiting a special delivery package from the hallmarking office and I'll be very impressed if it arrives today. I also need to send some things, but I wonder if it might be wiser to wait for the roads to have cleared a bit.

lots of snow

This is more snow than I've ever seen here in Reading! Loads! White stuff! Fluff! Everything looks really lovely and I really like the quietness that comes with snow. The cars are muffled, the people walking by is just a soft crunch, etc... Anyway...here's a photo of the snow beginning and then how it is now, we reckon a good 2 inches fell at least just here.

Does Craft Matter to you?

Hello hello it's another super gloomy super rainy blah grey did i mention gloomy day. I'm sort of getting ready for the South Hill Park Christmas Fair, which starts tomorrow. I say sort of because I've somehow neglected to have any tea yet today so I'm warming up slowly! In any case, I thought I would pass on the Craft Council's plea for signatures to let the government know that craft DOES matter in the UK. I did sign it, because I am all in favour of the current and continuing craft revival. I love seeing skills being kept alive - better than complaining years from now that there's nobody left who knows how to do these things. Here's to handmade - from jewellery to silversmithing to knitting and everything in between!!! If you're interested in signing their declaration, see the below letter and link (the link is the last sentence).

Make Craft Count The Crafts Council believes that Craft Matters and we want to show that it matters to thousands of people across the UK as much as it does to us. The government’s own data tells us that “17% of the population took part in a craft activity in 2008/09” – we want to show what that statistic looks like in real support so that everyone can see that craft is highly valued. In the next few months, we will be posting the names* of all our signatories on our website so that we can demonstrate the great support for craft across the UK – and we need your help to show its true extent. *(Your name will feature on a graphic design to show your support, and will be the only part of your signature made public). So, sign up today and pass this email on to friends and colleagues. Together, we will show how much Craft Matters. Sign up to Make Craft Count

happy october!

It's October already! There's a chill in the air and I'm looking forward to a possible halloween party and cosy evenings near a fireplace. Well, ok, it's only quite mild out, so maybe the fireplaces will have to wait a bit longer! Also, I have to admit I really like my winter coat, so I prefer wearing that to my summer/autumn light jacket.
Anyway, enough of that. I've had a flurry of posting on Etsy & Folksy. Lots of earrings (see photos of some below) - since I retrieved a bunch of items from Slough (since they're in the process of finding a new curator) I have lots of little earrings. I've added some of those, more to come. I've also got a bunch of rings which I'm going to polish, photograph, and put up on Etsy & Folksy at reduced prices.
Yesterday I organised a whole bunch of boxes and items and I'm definitely getting into craft fair mode! The first one of the autumn is a mere 16 days away - 17-18 October Festival of Crafts in Farnham ! I have a mere FOUR tickets left for free entry. They are actual paper, so I can only post them to you if you're interested. Just send me your address if you are...

federer and weekend

So Federer has won Wimbledon (again). I sort of wish I'd seen the match, seems like it was an epic one. I was a little sad that Murray wasn't in the final, but he keeps getting better so let's hope he wins it next year! I say I sort of wish I'd seen the final because it wasn't like I was suffering yesterday. We went to friends for a picnic on their allotment and the weather was gorgeous. It was much better than expected - the forecast was for rain but all we had was sun, sun and more sun. And this friend of ours makes the most amazing puddings, of which I especially enjoyed the trifle - delicious!! I was amazed to discover, once I got home, that I even got a bit of sunburn on one shoulder. It's not that I want sunburn, I certainly don't, but it just shows how sunny it was.
Anyway....so having lolled around on a picnic blanket for most of yesterday, I was glad that on Saturday I did actually get lots done. I painted an undercoat on my display module for the craft fairs coming up in the autumn. Now I just need to do another undercoat, then the main paint, then the rest of the decoration. It's a lot of work, but I think it's going to be worth it. The display is going to be different and look really impressive but approachable! Photos by the end of the week if all goes well....

grumble

humph...the new feature for facebook is not working for me on Etsy. I saw a forum thread that lots of other people are having the same problem, so it's probably just a new item bug. Hopefully it will get sorted soon. I have listed about 15 products for free shipping to the US and UK this weekend on Etsy - so a good time to buy from MagpieNest!!
I'm also working on my mailing list - if any of you out there want to be on my mailing list and aren't already, please sign up here. I won't send out more than about 6 emails a year, so you're not signing up for heaps of emails!! :-)
In other exciting news, the skies are darkening and the temperature is dropping. Or rather, it has dropped overnight and it seems like there's a big storm coming. I heard rumours that there were big thunder storms and perhaps flooding somewhere up north and it's heading our way. Fine by me if it's today. Hopefully not tomorrow though, as it's my friend's big annual BBQ bash in his lovely garden. Let's hope it doesn't rain down on us tomorrow!!!

hmm and FREE SHIPPING to usa and uk

So there are some new widgets on Etsy! First of all there's a free shipping promotion just for this weekend. I'm joining the promotion!! So it's free shipping to the UK and USA this weekend - from now until Monday morning. Free shipping available on almost all my items, just not the very small ones. Contact me if you have any questions!! I'm working on adding this option, so will be adding it throughout the day.
Secondly there's a new connection with facebook. I'm going to be testing that today...I think how it works is that my activity on Etsy will show up on my facebook profile. I'm going to add something very soon, so I'll see how it fits together. I think it's a good idea, but I've yet to see how it pans out. In other news I am delighted that the fan we ordered has arrived. I am a lot more comfortable today at the computer than I was yesterday!! Such an improvement. Plus it's a quiet fan, so it's not making rattling noises, which is a plus.
And lastly, I'm in negotiations with a fabulous independent store in town to sell my new collection there and will be hopefully letting you know about that when I hear more from them!!

back in the swing of things

After a couple of weeks of holiday and a long weekend, I'm getting back into the swing of things. I'm feeding items back on to Etsy, Folksy and DaWanda. I'll be adding new items this week and next. Just letting you know I'm working on it :-)
I am amazed, but we are having a sort of heatwave here. It's nice that it's warm but it's not so nice to have it so hot when I want to sleep. Anyway, I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts. I've ordered a fan though, for the bedroom. Almost all the fans were out of stock, so I'm guessing that there are a lot of people with the same idea! Reminds me of several years ago when there was a really hot spell and we decided to get a small inflatable pool - they were all sold out, which is why we have a purple plastic hippo in the back which although it's supposed to be a sandbox for children, is also a good paddling pool for cooling your heels! ha!

excitement in jewellery land

Well, the bloke didn't call me back because he got the number wrong, so I called him and hey ho, I have the sticks already!! Haven't tried them out yet but they look good!
In other news....it's sunny. That's pretty amazing. I'm starting to feel like I am emerging from the gloom! I think all those months of darkness were getting me down, because just a wee bit of sun is making me feel lots better!! Actually I quite like the darkness in about October, November time because at first it feels cosy and christmas-like. But by February it's just gloomy. So, the days are getting longer and so hopefully we'll have a nice spring!!
Tomorrow I'm off to a masterclass with the Berkshire Designer Jewellers. I'm very excited about it - a super guru jeweller has a list of questions from us and is going to show us some tips and things to sort out those little niggles. I'm looking forward to it!
What else...one of my cousins has had a daughter so now my gran has more great-grandchildren than she can shake a stick at! I think there are 10 or 12 now...something like that.
Ok, people, I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! And here's a photo for you of the front of a postcard that I'm having printed. Or not. I just tried it and the colours turned out all funky on blogger...hm. Well, suffice to say that I will have postcards soon....and I'll see if I can sort out the image and post it...

white stuff and good news!

And we have more of the white stuff!! My mini garden gnome is snowed under, as you can see. Well, there are actually two and one is hidden under the snow and the other is the one you can see in the photo. I got these brilliant mini gnomes from my friend bob - who just got brilliant news! His gf has just received the news that her visa application to come to the UK has been accepted!! HURRAH!!

more snow

It's snowing again....and apparently it's supposed to keep snowing lightly all week. I don't think we're going to get packs of snow here, like there were in parts of London. It looks nice, but it's so cold and I'm getting tired of all the cold weather. Winter is fine but by February I'm already looking forward to spring and warm days. Last spring, on one of the first nice sunny days, we went over to Wargrave and sat on their huge patio next to the Thames and lazily watched the rowboats go by. That was a good way to spend an afternoon. The pub has a website, www.stgeorgeanddragon.co.uk, but sadly the website does not have a good photo of their fabulous patio/outdoor seating area. Well, in case you're ever around Wargrave on a warm, sunny day...now you know where to go.

snow!

Snow! Lots of it! Well, as much as I can remember getting here before....

in which i waffle

I need to go to the post office again. sigh. it's still cold out. My gran called this morning to tell me that where one of my uncles lives, it's -21 C. I reckon that's the coldest it's been in Holland since I lived there in 95/96. That winter was the coldest in 100 years. I even got to skate - in proper wooden skates - on a frozen canal. I was frozen too. The room I was living in (in a shared house) had no heating. It was also the attic room and had no proper insulation. So I had a space heater and I could feel the wind from outside when I was laying in bed. I used to go over to my friends' house to sleep on the couch in their kitchen because it was so much warmer.
Happily, these days I live in a properly insulated house with functioning heating. Also the boy is not one of these people who goes around turning down thermostats. I'm not silly, I don't heat all the rooms when I'm not in them, but I don't have to worry about someone opening a window or turning off the heat. I even have a hot water bottle and a proper nice thick duvet.
Anyway...in other exciting news, I ordered a sort of posterboard thing from the Assay Office which has all the info about hallmarking on it. I didn't think I needed one, as I've already got their small hallmarking information cards, but it turns out that strictly speaking, if you are selling silver/gold in a public space then you have to display one of these hallmarking info boards. So I ordered one (not that bad, only £10) and lo and behold it arrived. Sort of. I opened the envelope and there was just two pieces of plain brown cardboard in it!! Ha! They forgot to put the board in! So I called them and they're going to send me another one. They sounded a bit suspicious...like I'm running a racket selling Hallmarking boards. Please, like at £10 a piece I'm really going to make a killing or something...pff.

brrrrrrrrr

So it's officially a cold snap here in Britain. It's supposed to get down to minus a trillion degrees Celsius tonight. Ok, *slight* exaggeration, but it might just be the coldest I've felt here. Thus the plan for today is to stay inside. Any venturing outside is probably a bad idea. Argh! Just remembered that I need to go to the post office. Perhaps that can wait until tomorrow. Hmmm...
I'm applying to two more craft fairs, both in Farnham, and need to send the applications. One is Gift and the other is the Festival of Crafts. I have realised that these craft fairs require not a covering letter, but rather an "artist's statement". Yesterday I was struggling with writing one - I want it to give an idea of what I make and what my style is, but I don't want it to sound like every other artist's statement. I think it's ok now, but I think I may pester my marketing friends and see what they think. It's hard to write something about yourself without thinking it's pretentious or lame or boring or whatever. I looked at heaps of artist's statements on the internet and some are too long, some are not very interesting, and some are ok. It's always going to be better just to look at a photo of the work. Ah well, anyway...I'm now going to try to finish this statement and maybe, just maybe, I'll post it here and see what you think.