Month: January 2022

The collection of my favourite beads in my favourite colours is growing! I still have a few more styles to add to this collection and then I will start making some jewellery!

Unfortunately, not all glass bottles can be recycled to make beautiful glass beads. I was excited to be given this beautiful pale green gin bottle the other day, however when I took the lid off I could see that the pale green was just a coating on the bottle. I went ahead and smashed it, just in case, however when I put it in the flame it started going brown and the colour completely disappeared by the time I had finished making the beads. Definitely worth a try, but sorry to see no pale green beads this morning!

Meet a new Hendrick’s Gin bottle! I was wandering through the gin section of Dan Murphy’s last year and saw this bottle, and had to look twice and then hold it up to the light to see if it was really blue. It is a rather amazing, incredibly dark blue. I finally finished the bottle the other night and then went through the process of cleaning and breaking the bottle so I could make some test beads. Love how the earrings turned out. I only have one bottle of this glass, so it’s going to be a short and limited run of bits and pieces from it.

Starting to make a collection of my favourite beads in my favourite colours.

I have restocked recycled glass jewellery at @tartscollective today! This is the place to go if you need a gift for someone special. Open Monday to Saturday from 10-5. My online shops are always open.

A hot day here, so I am playing with a colour palette that reminds me of the ocean. Mixing my recycled glass and Italian glass beads with some pearls and semi-precious stones. Liking these colours so far.

Last year I received an email from someone who thought I might be able to help them modernise a beautiful blue Italian glass necklace. They sent through a picture of the necklace, and an idea they had in mind, and I was intrigued! I met up with her, along with all of my beads, and we looked at all of the colours that could work, and talked about how we could make this necklace. I then took all the beads we had picked out, and thought about the design for a while. It was overwhelming at first, because it felt like there were hundreds of necklaces that we could make with all of the beads we had chosen. But sometimes the best way to start is to simply start with one idea, and from there I got feedback on what she did and didn’t like about that idea. We refined things, several times, until we got to the final necklace. And a simple pair of earrings to go with it. This was one of the most wonderful custom orders I have ever done, and I am so happy that the end result was loved by the customer too.

Quite a road trip today as I stopped at each of the beautiful galleries who have represented my work, some for significant amounts of time. It was so lovely to catch up with everyone, and I am incredibly grateful for all of the support that I have received from them along the way. I think I have been at @hahndorfacademy for about 15 years, so it felt strange to say farewell to them. I saw a contemporary jewellery exhibition at @seppeltsfield , and felt like that’s what I wanted to move towards (bigger pieces with even more interesting stories). I ended up at @tartscollective where I was able to pop a few more items on their sale table. I feel like I have made the right decision to focus on being more creative this year. @naomischwartzjewellerydesign has already offered a mini exhibition when I am ready, and I am looking forward to having something to work towards. Phew, it has been a long day and I just wanted to say a big thanks to these galleries for their support. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. Also a shoutout to @pepper_street_arts_centre for their support (I collected my work from them last year).

Farewell 2021! Looking back on the Top 9 photos of the year I feel very proud of my small creative business. Some of the highlights included: putting together an exhibition with @tangerinemeg at @tartscollective, making recycled glass jewellery from all sorts of glass objects, trying new things creatively, selling online and lovely feedback from customers. So, 2022….where to now? I have been thinking about this a lot recently. Aspects of my life have changed over the last few years, and I am slowly changing what I am doing too. I am still going to be making glass beads and jewellery, but it might look a bit different this year. I need to get the balance between production and creativity back, so I am removing my work from all of the galleries that sell my work, apart from T’Arts! I will also be selling online. I hope this frees me up to be even more creative this year. Happy new year to you! I hope it’s an awesome year