Fish Focal Beads - Update!

Swimming Fish Focal Bead
Originally uploaded by Pips Jewellery Creation

Just to let all of you who have asked me, that the Fish Series Focal Beads are now up in my Etsy Shop.

I have added a link to my shop, over on the left hand side, here on the blog, so if you want, you can just click on any of the pictures and it will take you straight there to have a browse.

I will be putting up the listing for the Flower focals and the Tree Focals later today and tomorrow!

Thank you all for your interest and comments on these beads - it means so much to me to get your feedback - and I love comments!

Hope you all have a great week.

Fish, Flowers and Trees - 1 Week and 23 Beads Later...

My journey into the realms of Focal Beads has taken me by surprise. Having made the first couple of Flower Focals I knew I was hooked, but I have been surprised by how much these little beads took over my creativity for over a week.

I was like a thing possessed! Most of you who know me, know that I am a butterfly, always flitting around from one technique to another, from one style to another and usually when I have made one or two of something, then I am off looking for the next exciting thing I can make in polymer.

Not this time. First a series of 8 Flower Focals. Then I had images of fish in my head and knew that I would have no rest until I had captured them swimming all over my beads and in and out of reeds and weeds.

So several days later I had another series and another 8 Fish Focals.

Then I had images of Birds Flying....unfortunately, these proved more tricky. I did not want a "cute" looking bird and that's what I kept ending up with. Frustrated and surrounded by various canes of all shapes sizes and colours (you should have seen my work table - talk about no room to work!) I decided that the birds were obviously waiting for warmer weather before allowing me to capture them.

By now I would ususally be thinking of the next new project - some Mica Shift maybe? Or perhaps some valentines hearts? I really should be making stock for Saturday's Craft Fair at Cirencester, but no - my muse demanded yet more Focal Beads and suddenly I knew what I wanted to put on them. Trees. Trees in winter against glowering skies, trees just coming into blossom in the spring before the leaves have had a chance to show themselves, trees in all their summer glory - autumn leaves drifting...I think you get the picture.

So 9 hours later I have another 7 Focals with Trees. Phew!

I am so happy with these beads - a completely different style of work for me and it has been great doing them.

Now I can finally start on something completely different - unless of course I do a series of butterfly ones......Hmmmm.!

Flower Series Focal Beads

I am pleased to present my new Flower Series Focal Beads.

I have had such fun designing and making these. Using the wonderful Donna Kato's Composition Technique I have developed this entirely new series of beads.

Each bead is hand shaped with a variety of skinner-blend backgrounds and then covered on all sides with tendrils, leaves and blossoms. Each one is completely individual and no two are alike.

I have not made a series of beads before and am very excited by them. The ideas for more series are swimming around in my head, and the next series will be fish!

I have a few more colour-ways for the flower beads still to create and I hope that when they are all ready they will be well received at my weekly craft fair at Cirencester. I am still undecided as to whether to put them up for sale in my Etsy Shop or not. I am being asked more and more at Cirencester if I will make some beads for sale and decided that now was the time to do so. Beading and Jewellery making has become increasingly popular here in the UK over the past two years, and unusual handmade beads are always in demand. I would love my beads to become part of someone's design, or maybe to inspire a design because of the theme of my bead - that would be fantastic.

I hope you like them as much as I do.