Beadsite.co.uk

Bead addiction article

2011-11-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

I can really relate to this funny article. Can you?

Glazed stars and glazed ceramic flowers online!

2011-07-11T02:42:00.000-07:00

My assistant and I have to co-ordinate her taking photos in Scotland, sending them to me in Spain, and then getting them online, but they can now be bought. Sory for the lack of photos in the meantime.

Star beads arriving at last!

2011-07-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

Today the glazed / enamelled star beads / washers are in Birmingham, and they are due in Aberdeen on Friday. I hope to have these online for ordering by Monday 11th July. Meantime, here is a disc necklace made by a customer (Joanne Black) in classic black. Why didn't I think of that? I am off to make myself one in white! The three necklaces are some of my most recent makes.

2nd prize in the Golem Beads competition

2011-06-07T02:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who voted for my design for this. I can't wait to get some beads all for myself!

Greek ceramic beads and knitting

2011-06-07T02:47:00.000-07:00

I always like to hear about folk using the washers in unusual ways. See them being used in a knitted shrug in this month's edition of Knit Today magazine. The design is by Dorothy Wood whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the Edinburgh Bead Fair. She has written 20 crafting books and her latest, The Bead Jewellery Bible will be out 1st July 2011. I for one will be checking it out!

It is published by D&C.

2011-05-18T02:37:00.000-07:00

Here are my 2 entries in the Golem beads Spring Design competition. If you can be bothered to vote for me that would be great. I'd love to win some vouchers for Golem beads!

Simply go to the picture gallery for the entries on Facebook and click "like" to vote for any of the entries. the one with the most clicks, wins!

This design incorporates Golem Bulgarian beads (which I sell on Beadsite.co.uk) with Greek ceramic flowers in ivory, red and navy blue and copper Greek beads. I made my own copper wire jump rings to fit through the centre of the flowers.

I think this is my favourite as it is light coloured, fun and funky! I used bulgarian Golem doty ceramic beads with Ivory 13mm washers and smaller 8mm washers in toning colours. I wove silver coloured Beadalon through the beads, securing them with crimps and small beads to stop the crimps slipping inside the larger ceramic beads.

The final touch was a silver chain and grey dotted ribbon.

2011-03-28T02:06:00.000-07:00

Found these two crafty ladies who are starting a new venture in Dundee to promote crafting. Sounds interesting as a business model don't you think?

I was selling my Greek beads at The Perth bead fair on March 13th ably supported by daughter Nicola and my friend Esther who is being trained up to provide cover for me when I am away on short holidays. I tend to get stuck in making items within the green/blue palette, however Esther had had her colours "done" and was wearing lovely, hot, sunny colours, so I just had to make a necklace for her didn't I?

As customers are often unsure of how to use he washers, other than end on, I simply knotted some washers onto waxed linen thread at 2" intervals. It was quite tricky to get it lying as I wanted, especially as it tended to tangle up when you weren't looking, but I really like the result and ought to make up a kit for it.

My latest bead order has been placed and should be sent to me in about 4 weeks. Watch this space!

2011-03-05T10:39:00.000-08:00

I must make an effort to post more here this year. Hee hee. Yet another resolution! OK - here is my latest creation, and so it is probably my current favourite.

I love the snake-like flexibility you get by using lots of Greek ceramic washers together. here I used a large lampwork focal bead by Lori Denny (USA) and teamed it with gorgeous pearly lampwork beads by Rob Johnson (UK). I have had them in my bead stash for ages, so it is satisfying to have at last put them together. there are some little lampwork spacers by Colette Ladly(UK), a faceted smokey quartz and lots of silver coated greek ceramic nugget beads for chunkiness.

It's a pleasure to wear! Hope you like it.

Colour trends for 2011

2011-01-12T10:41:00.000-08:00

Decided it might be a good idea to have a look at what is coming in, but in reality, it seems to be like almost every colour is there anyway!! Ah well the groups of colours look nice and might inspire jewellery design combinations for us all :)

Check out Spring 2011 colours here.

Restocking beads on their way!

2010-11-29T11:46:00.000-08:00

I am out of stock of quite a few 13mm coloured washers, and the new stock has made it to Northampton on 28th November. Now it just has to get up to Aberdeen, but as the M90 has been closed due to snow, it may take a few days yet. More 13mm and 17mm silver rounds are coming plus a few new shapes. I'll keep you posted :)

The strangest thing happened today.

2010-10-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

Picture this - I am the only person in the house. The phone rings, but it is the special "internal call" ring.

?????

The builders are here. Could one of them be phoning me from my workshop? Very odd.

"Hello?" says I

*snuffle, snuffle* I hear on the other end.

I hear similar noises coming from the kitchen. It turns out that our labrador had jumped up, knocked the phone off the table then stepped on it with her paw. Clever huh?!!!

Give a dog a phone.......

Next order for Greek ceramic beads has been placed

2010-09-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

Gosh there were sooo many I had run out of, so coming in approximately 5 weeks (ages I know): 6mm silver washers, large butterflies, tiny silver chips (new), Aegean 13mm washers, bronze washers 8mm and 13mm, Antique silver washers 8mm and 13mm, large flat pancake pendants, large ridged wheels, silver melons, silver cubes in both 5mm and 7mm plus the larger 10mm cubes (new).

For anyone in the area, remember Edinburgh bead Fair on Sunday 26th September at the Corn Exchange, 10 Newmarket Road, Edinburgh EH14 1RJ
It runs 11am to 4.30pm

Free silver ceramic pendant and 20% sale on KHT large toggles!

2010-09-08T23:58:00.000-07:00

....when you spend over £10 on Greek beads. Only available until midday Saturday! Sign up for an occasional newsletter from me about special offers, sales etc on the left hand side of the front page. To get 20% off the large Karen Hill Tribe pendant toggle clasps, enter NEWS2010AB in the shopping cart discount box. This expires 30th September.

So much happening!

2010-08-04T01:37:00.000-07:00

Where to start? I had a great holiday and although I hated to shut down my online shop, it was much less stressful to come back to only 4 days of back orders, rather than 14 days, so it worked well for me. I hope it wasn't frustrating to too many customers. One downside to the holiday was that our villa was burgled, so I lost my brand new Samsung netbook with which I was going to keep in touch with my emails :( Thankfully I have the receipt so insurance should sort me out with a new one.

My next delivery of silver ceramic beads should be arriving in about 10 days, so watch out for some new shapes such as a small silver flower, silver chips and triangles. I am also going to start selling top quality Greek leather thong in 1.5 and 2mm sizes and in navy, black and brown.

The fabulous ceramic beads by Bulgarian artsit Vlad Ivanov are back in stock with some unusual new designs, so I hope to get them photographed and online later this week.

I was very excited to see my Greek ceramic coloured washers are used in a design by Brenda Harvey in this month's issue of Make Jewellery on pages 43 and 44. Until now, my business has grown by word of mouth and through my site being found via Google searches, but I have just taken out my first advertising space in Creative Beads and Jewellery. I have suggested to them that they might like to think about doing articles on women (OK and men too!) setting up their own websites and online businesses, selling at craft fairs etc and how to do it most cost efficiently, so watch this space!

New delivery has arrived!

2010-06-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

Lots of restocking to do. They arrived just in time as I was down to my last packet of 8mm silver washers! I have ordered 20 thousand this time, so we'll see how long they last :) Gold 7mm, 10mm and 13mm rounds all back in. New brown patina copper short spikes, mini tubes and 7mm rounds. A customer has asked me to get some gold spikes in with my next order, so if there is anything you would like to see me stocking, just let me know.

Many new silver shapes in stock, but in short supply as thy are "taster" shapes. If you like them, I'll get more. Have a look at silver pebbles, square pebbles, silver butterflies, textured tubes, large curved tubes and irregular mixed silver shapes.

13mm coloured ceramic washers now available in fuchsia, ivory/cream, sunshine yellow and mauve. 8mm turquoise and fuchsia washers all back in stock, and lots more. I can't contain myself any longer - got to go and open up the boxes!!

2010-06-09T08:05:00.000-07:00

Lesley Gleeson of Coburg Crafts uses silver wire, chain maille and stringing techniques in her work. Lesley is a fellow blogger and you can see more of her yummy work with my delicious Greek beads here. To get you in the Greek mood, as it happens, there is also a fabulous photo of the view from her holiday villa in Corfu. Oh for some sunshine!

The Mexicana mix of ceramic washers that I sell on Beadsite is perfect for a cheer up present for yourself or others. I like how Lesley has put them on red thong. I only have navy myself and it's getting me thinking!

2010-06-09T07:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Kay Russell for sharing her design with me (and you). Kay made this after the Towcester Flame Off 2010 using lampwork beads by Lorna Prime (UK) of Pixiewillow Designs and Greek ceramic 8mm washers between. Kay sells her own lampwork beads and jewellery on Etsy under the name Hollergrafik.

This reminds us all that washers can be used flat or on their side - ever so useful!

Bohemian heaven!

2010-06-09T07:29:00.001-07:00

A fun video of my cousin in Maui. I owe her an enormous debt of gratitude for inspiring me to make jewellery and to be where I am now. Love you Claire! That's her mum singing the song by the way :)

2010-06-03T03:30:00.000-07:00

Words, tags and networking

2010-05-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

The words that you choose to use on the internet are incredibly important, don't you think? The new beads I have in stock can be called so many different things: pearlised, pearlescent, iridescent, oily, pearlized etc......and don't get me started on the extra work caused by different spellings between USA English and UK English: color/colour and jewelry/jewellery. Choosing meta tags, meta descriptions and keywords to drive the correct traffic to one's site are enough to make your eyes water!

On the subject of networking, I am a great believer if Fate, and who should I find in my kitchen tonight, but a South African gentlemen who has a wife interested in jewellery/jewelry, beads and fashion. Now there's someone I could talk to! So after a quick chat with the gent about the intracacies of web design, php etc. I'm off to make contact with his good lady and see if she can find some unusual African beads for me to import. Wouldn't that be fun?!

Customers at bead fairs often have trouble visualising (or visualiZing) how to use beads that I sell like the ring "cheerio". So I am gradually putting designs together to show them, and ultimately I hope to put ready made sets together for folk to buy.

I just need to live a very loooong life :)

2010-04-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

This is my beautiful dichoic lampwork glass seahorse. I have kept him hidden for quite a while, only taking him out in private and chatting away to him about my hidden depths. Anyway, my husband bought these lovely pearls for me and combining them with Bali silver shells, Greek silver ceramic washers and fabulous emeralds from Precious Sparkle Beads, I can almost dare to wear him at last.

I bought the seahorse off Etsy.com some time ago from an American lampwork bead maker: Jeff Welsh of Virginia Beach, VA.

2010-04-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

Well my mojo is back and I had fun today using some magnesite spears I had bought on Etsy to make a really ethnic necklace with loads of neutral coloured Greek washers plus some glazed Greek ceramic beads in bronze and ivory, and a mixture of 4mm gemstone beads. I am so pleased with it that I hope to put together 2 kits for sale at the Towcester Flame Off that happens in just 4 days time. eek. So much to do......

2010-04-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today's design is by Jess Humphrey (UK) of Jessamine Designs on Etsy. I really like the shape of the elongated rice beads, and I am always surprised they don't sell as well as round beads, because I find round beads just a tad boring. Using different shapes is an important part of a design and I really like how Jess used the small and medium silver ceramic cornflakes as spacers.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am a fan of turquoise, and turquoise with silver is a classic combination, although one has to admit that the Egyptians had a good thing going with their gold and turquoise combinations as well. By the way - when the next cornflake beads arrive on my doorstep at the end of April, there will be one bag of small gold cornflakes and gold octohedron beads to try out on you all. So if you are interested, keep your eyes peeled for an announcement of their arrival on here.

2010-03-31T06:17:00.000-07:00

Ooh just found these lovely metallic finish, polymer clay beads by Hazel Ward (continuumdesigns) on Etsy. Wish I could find the time to make more myself :(

Beadsite expanding its selection

2010-03-31T02:20:00.001-07:00

As the cornflake shapes always sell so well, I have oodles (8,000 !) more of the silver ones on order, however, I have also been tempted to get 5 colours of small, irridescent glazed cornflakes.

The new cornflake bead colours which will be due in around the end of April are: mottled turquoise, mauve, pink, cappucino, opal white, marbled denim and marbled natural. I am now kicking myself as I meant to order the cornflakes in "oil" as well, but got mixed up. Ho hum!

Irridescent mini tube spacers: brown, oil, mottled turquoise, cappucino, opal white.

Unfortunately they won't be here in time for the Towcester Flame Off and Bead fair, but if they sell well when they arrive I'll expand this line. I keep telling myself NOT to expand the stock I hold, but it is almost impossible to restrain myself. You know how it is :)

Beadsite bird and beads

2010-03-30T02:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter to one and all, and here we are back into the cold weather again. However life could be worse.

Yesterday I was sitting counting beads - as you do - and heard a strange noise in my office. I thought it was probably a mouse, but on further investigation my eye was caught by a fluttering within the cast iron log fire. A sparrow had somehow come down the chimney and got stuck in the log fire, which wasn't on thankfully. Today might have been a different story! I opened a window, opened the door of the grate, and after once flying into a closed window, he picked the one that was actually open and flew away. A sparrow that aspires to being a Phoenix perhaps?