New Toy!

I haven't had time to do much in the way of bead making lately, and anyway my muse seems to have taken a little time off! I did get some nice shots with my new camera though, so I thought I would share them with you - who knows, maybe they'll inspire you?!

My website has launched!

Oh dear, it's been a while again hasn't it? I do find I forget to post, which is very bad of me, I'll try and get back into the habit :-D
So, what news? Well, the most exciting news is that veebeads.net has gone live! I'm currently selling jewellery that I have made using my own lampwork beads, and, even more exciting perhaps, veebeads.net is now the UK home of Val Cox frit! I sell the Ample Sample size, and I also have some stock of the brand new sampler sets, and Vals wonderful Frit Secrets book, signed by the author. Have a peek!
I've also started a new group on Flickr, We Love Val Cox frit! is open for anyone to join, hopefully there will be lots of gorgeous fritty beads added soon :-)
Here's a few of the beads I have been working on lately, I know you love the eye candy!

Hard work and a pressie for me!

It has been quite a challenging time recently, work has bee really stressful, and ther is more stress to come! I am also in the middle of creating my new website, watch this space for news on the launch date, I'm hoping to have something very exciting to share with you!
Why is it that listings take so long? And getting descent photos at this time of year is nigh on impossible, then you have to crop and edit and compress etc, nobody told me it would be such hard work! I've hardly made anything over the last couple of weeks!

Anyway, I did find a little time, and this necklace was partly planned, so I finished it with a new bead I made a couple of weekends ago. I made it to sell, honest I did! But when I saw it finished on the bust, well, I decided I couldn't bear to part with it! So here's a little present, just for me!

Doesn't time fly?....

I am shocked and dismayed at how long it has been since I posted here, so I hope to make it up to you by treating you to some new eye candy!
After a difficult end to 2010, and even with an uncertain future ahead, I have found the time and inspiration to make a few new things.
The weather here isn't really conducive to taking great photos, so it will be a while before you see these items popping up in my Etsy store....... just think of this as a sneak preview of things to come!!

Phoenix Collar

Well, with my bonus from work, I invested in some "kit", including some of the delica palette boxes from Spellbound Beads. I'd had an idea for this necklace jotted down in my notebook for a while, and I'd made the lampwork bead a while back too. I wrapped the bead in copper wire and finally decidede to use it!
I designed the whole necklace from start to finish, and I made a note of how I did it, as I have another focal in lovely meditteranean colours that I want to use in a similar necklace!

By the end of day 2, this is how it was shaping up:

You can just about see the original idea scribbled on the page!

And after three days solid, here is the finished article:

I'm rather pleased with how it turned out, and I already know how I'm going to evolve the design with other added "elements". Watch this space!

A Lava-ly time!

I have been making quite a few beads lately, and have re-visited an old friend in the lava beads. I enjoy making them, there is no need for them to all be the same size or pattern, they are just organic pebbles really! The first neclace here is the second one I made actually. I made the clasp from heavy gaugue copper wire which has been hammered and wrapped (and prompted a custom order for sterling ones, yay!). There are some swarovski bicones and some snakeskin jasper beads in here too, and the spacers between the round beads are new for me as well, round flat peyote stitch. The necklace is a whopping 85cm from clasp to clasp, plus the pendant is an extra 7cm.

This one I made with a 2 hole bead, made with my button mandrel. That clasp is mine too!

Finally here are the earrings I made for Mum for Mother's day. Thank goodness she liked them!

The Devil Wears Denim!

I had a go at St Petersburg chain stitch, single and double, and this was the result! It was an experiment really, I wanted to make something that looked like it had almost been zipped together, and I felt the stitch might achieve this look. Not quite, but I am still pleased with the result. It's given me some ideas too, which can only be a good thing, don't you think? ;-)

The fab focal was a birthday pressie from my Frit Happens friend Shahlaa.