Custom order part 3 and your help needed please!
The horse hair and ashes custom order is nearly complete, I just need to swap some of the findings for sterling silver ones when they arrive (hopefully today) and make the silver name bits. I think I should be able to add the full name to the pendants, but a small initial might be better for the bracelets.
I cast a block of resin in bands and then cut it and sanded it with the bands going across the ring. However I now think it looks a bit plain and is lacking something. Any ideas? Do you think I should sell them in sets of 3? They won’t be very cheap because of all of the sawing and drilling and sanding involved, so hoping there’s a way of selling them individually still. Maybe I should just make them thicker?
Make 50: Week 45 and custom order continued
My make for this week is this pair of earrings, they have fabric embedded inside which gives them an ornate sketchy feel.
I am progressing with the custom order I blogged about in my last post. The pieces are now sanded and polished (sorry for the flash I took it after 10pm last night), I drilled them this morning and started working on the findings, though I need some ribbon clamps and triangular clamps to be delivered before the bulk of the work can be done. I will also be making real silver name tags for them too, so there will be another update…
Custom orders
I have quite a lot of custom orders going on at the minute. I have a special project involving locks of baby hair with Jellybelly*Jellybrain plus trying out bubble rings with photos for a lady too:
Normally I can do photo rings with the flatter square rings I make, but we tried this as an experiment.
I’ve also been making two bracelets and two necklaces incorporating horse hair and- for the first time- ashes. I’m quite pleased how the ashes came out, it looked horrible and sludgy when I mixed them in, but once set, the heavier pieces sank to the front, giving a nice granite-y effect!
As usual I have a never ending pile of sanding to do! I’ll share some more pictures as I go with these ones.
Make 50: Week 44
This week’s make is this pair of ladybird earrings:
And I was asked to keep you posted on the friendship necklaces, so here are the two I currently have available, working on a girly girly one at the minute:
Spotlight on… None of the Above, plus a new idea in progress
Last week I received a little parcel from Canada, and I eagerly opened it… Look what I got!
The colours and textures are gorgeous- just look at the detail!
They are made by None of the Above on Etsy and I envy her patience and polymer clay skill! She’s got quite a successful shop (and rightfully so), and I’m now worried that the items I sent her in a swap won’t be up to her expectations…
Here’s some more of my favourites from her shop- check them out!
In other news, I am working on making my collection of Christmas cards this week and also I had a brainwave. I decided to make resin friendship heart pendants. I make the resin fabric hearts as normal, then each one is individually cut before findings will be added. I haven’t sanded this one yet as I was eager to get the saw out first, plus I plan to sand then cut in the future, but you get the idea 
I hope to have some in my shops soon for potential Christmas pressies!
Make 50: Week 43
I made these knitting needles as a custom order this week:
Crafteroo for Children in Need
We’ve decided to reopen the Folksy shop again with items generously donated by Crafteroo forum members. Last time we raised over £600 for Comic Relief with 98 sales, and we hope to do just as well this time! please have a little browse, and if you decide you’d like to donate too, please have a look at this thread for how to take part.
Here’s a taster of the lovely donations so far:
Thank you!
Spotlight on… Corrina Smith
I love anodised aluminium, bright colourful jewellery but still a rigid metal and quality feel to the pieces. That’s why I love the work of Corrina Smith (http://corrinasmith.etsy.com), and she also has another shop with fine silver and gemstone pieces at http://greenriverstudio.etsy.com. Yes I featured her Folksy shop a couple of months back but I don’t care 
Make 50: Weeks 41 and 42…. and um… 20.
I’ve been trying to figure out why I had a picture missing in my Make 50 set on Flickr. Turns out I jumped from Week 19 to 21. Oops. So here’s three new things to share…
Glitter cuff (not available for sale as has been sent off for secret project)
Only 8 more to go In other news I am working on my own range of moulds, just hoping the quotes for production aren’t too scary! I will also be selling more unusual colour of dye in a new Etsy shop as well as on www.pennydog.com
There’s still a bit of time to sign up for the first Rothley Craft Farm workshops too, including the resin jewellery workshop with me! Have a look at www.rothleycraftfarm.com for more information!
A bodge job done good!
I decided to reupholster a battered stool. No I did not think to use upholstery grade fabric and no I also didn’t think to paint the legs and yes, it was completely on a whim with no guidance whatsoever. it worked OK though…
From this:
To this:
So firstly I ripped off the seat (it was loose as there was a screw missing), then pulled out the tacks holding the fabric on:
Binned the bleugh fabric:
Laid some fabric face down, put wadding on top (note: wadding sheets or foamwould be better than soft toy stuffing, but I used what I had), put seat face down on top of that…
Stapled the fabric taut round the seat. Staple gun broke quite soon in so resorted to tacks, a hammer and aggression…
Cut off the excess fabric- I always overdo it:
And then I used the screws (plus an extra one to replace the missing one) and drove them through the fabric and back in their original holes, and it’s finished! Ready to be another seat at Rothley Craft Farm…
