Sleep At Last !

Finally I Get Sleep

   Yes, it happened, for the first time in months I had a good solid nights sleep and do I feel better for it ? do I hell haha ! I feel like I could get back to bed a stay there for the whole day, it must be my body telling me it enjoyed a real sleep and wants more. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours clearing the area in the garden where the new raised beds are to be constructed this winter, there was a lot of timber to move and the old beds to dig out so it was hard work but well worth the effort. The area looks so big and once the hedgerow that side is cut down I'm sure it will look even bigger.
   So I'm guessing the fresh air and hard work helped in the sleep department last night and I'm hoping to get out there again this evening too. There is still a lot of work to be done before I can start getting timber delivered for beds, lots of those wonderful garden bonfires to have in the evenings and lots of topsoil to move ready to mix with compost and dung. The work will take up a good part of the winter but the end result will be a really nice kitchen garden that I hope will keep us feed for most of the coming year. I'm still playing with the idea of chickens but after having them in the past and knowing the efforts of keeping them I feel it may not be worth the trouble as fresh free range eggs are so cheap around here with so many being sold at gates and local farm shops. As for keeping chickens for dinner birds, well we tried that a few years back and after getting the birds ready for cooking, Yvonne decided we couldn't eat them as they were once our little fluffy chicks, so that was a no no. So taking this all into account and the fact they would take up a good bit of room which could be put to a better use with growing veg or herbs I think the chicken idea will stay just that, an idea.
   It's strange really when I think of those days as a kid, helping on my grandads garden, feeding the hens and collecting eggs, watching how every month had different jobs to be done, from sowing and weeding in the spring to harvest and clearing the ground in the autumn months. I remember one job that I always had to help with, the muck cart. Every year there would always be one afternoon after school in late autumn when I would get to my grandads only to see that the pigs dung had arrived, this huge trailer load would be standing there in a heap steaming away all ready to be spread over the garden. It's only now later in life that I understand just how important it was to the garden, in those days were wasn't all the bags of treatments you can buy now, these days you can just cast some tiny pellets over the soil and dig it in. Then it was hard work and you used the raw materials which meant this little lad in his wellies carting wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow off to the veg garden and do you know what, in a way I'm looking forward to doing the same here with my garden, tho I have a feeling most of it will be free bags of horse dung and not a mountain dumped in the drive.
   This morning I hope to get a few pictures of the pumpkin harvest, a lot of the farmers here grow fields of pumpkins and for the last few weeks a steady stream of trailers have been passing by with what must be thousands of these wonderful orange squashes. If I get some nice shots I'll list one on here, the sight is amazing when you pass these fields, but hey, I'll leave that until my next blog.
   Looks like we may get another nice sunny day here so I hope you all enjoy the weather while it lasts and get out in your gardens, I'll be looking to see whats happening around the ponds as yesterday there were a few dragonflies around having a late play in the sunshine.

A Long Week

What Do I Do First ?

   This last week seemed to me like it was a month, there was so much to try and fit in but just never seemed enough hours to get it all done. For a start I wanted to get a lot of beads made and listed in both the ebay shop and etsy shop, so this was going to use up a lot of hours with all the cleaning, photographing and listing. Then I have so many things happening in the clay room and I so wanted to get the kiln full ready to fire this weekend, but I couldn't manage it and the new target is next weekend. The recycled beads I just love making and wanted to get lots of the small ring beads made plus leaf beads, both of which I did manage and some are listed on etsy but I have so many more to do.

   Alongside all this I have garden jobs to try and fit in which is my own little get away, my hour of two of fresh air and no thoughts of work, a time when I get to be that small kid helping his grandad in his garden growing lots of veg and having bonfires that seemed to burn for days filling the air with that autumn smell of burning garden greens, those small funnels of smoke reaching up through stacks of fresh pulled weeds and runner bean stalks.
   Myself and sleep are still not mates so most mornings I'm up and about before light getting the kiln started and beads ready to clean and wash. I'm glad to say that this week I've noticed the goldfinches are feeding more, maybe as the colder weather moves in they are telling us something. for the first time this year the old baggy jumpers are out, I need something to keep the early morning chill off as I open the barn, I may look like a tramp but sod it, I'll be a warm one ! At least this year the jumpers are a lot bigger on me that's a great sign, it means the bike rides are working still and to be honest I'd rather work in baggy jumpers and feel better about myself than sit at my torch like a fat toad not wanting to go out where people would see me and I can brush up ok when I'm not working so I'm not always a complete mess !
   As some of would have seen a lot more disc beads were listed last night has they are getting great feedback and some really nice positive comments from customers who are finding them nice to work with. I know these little beads are simple and easy on the eye but they seem to be a very handy bead to use, as I have mentioned before I have seen some great pictures where they were used on their own in jewellery pieces, not just as a spacer bead and to be honest they looked really classy, it just goes to show yet again you really don't need a flash "in your face" bead to produce a stunning piece of jewellery, in life I find the people who I care for and who mean the most to me are the people who are very natural, honest no gimmick people and I guess that's how I feel about beads. You don't need to have terrific looks to be a special person, god believe me, if people all read a book by it's cover I would never have been given any landscaping jobs in the past. Can you imagine some couple in their 70's phoning me to pop round to quote for a job and on the day when they opened their door this huge guy with a shaven head stood there looking like the perfect hooligan, well lucky for me it always seemed after a while chatting they started to find I was just a normal guy and I could soon sense they were more relaxed around me.
   So sometimes it's worth giving what may seem to be just a simple bead a try, give it chance to show you it can work, it can stand up and show off like any other bead, it just doesn't need all the frills to do so and next time you are out shopping or watching your favourite tv programme take notice that there are a lot of people out there who wear and love natural looking beads.
   Well it's time I got back to the clay room, it seems Sunday is fast becoming the one day I get to play around with ceramics and I'm glad, it's a nice feeling knowing your whole day is there to try out new things, not like beads, that's completely different, with beads you can only try different designs, your still making a bead, but with ceramics your able to make such a wide range of items, from small beads to huge pots or wall hangings, from pendants to sculptures or handbuilt pots, it's never ending and maybe thats the challange that excites me so much. Enjoy your weekend.
  
  
  

A New Week

Early Start

   Like most mornings I woke early so decided to get up and get out there and get things started. It was great watching the dawn sky with that early morning cuppa and thoughts of the coming week in my head. I have to change my oxygen tanks this morning so the first job was to load them into the car ready to head off to the dealer, it maybe me but the tanks seem to be getting heavier haha or I'm just getting older. I like to get them changed nice and early so I don't waste too much of the day, when I return it's a ten minute job walking them across the garden to the barn then connecting, a heavy job but at least it only happens once a month.
   Yesterday I made a lot of ceramic items most of which I need to finish off this morning so my flame will have to wait until this afternoon before it can produce some magic. Spending the whole day in the clay room yesterday sent so many memories flooding back of the school days in pottery class, all those handmade pinch pots that us kids made and the hours spent looking at the pots and bowls displayed in the class gallery wishing I could some day produce such fantastic items.  I remember there being a large electric potters wheel being there but never once did I see any of us kids get to use it, still to this day I think the teacher had it there for his personal use. The kiln was this huge walk in one which was as big as most peoples bathrooms, it always seemed to have hundreds of pots inside, pots of all shapes and colours and it had a smell of dry baked clay, hard to describe, a very unique smell. It had a big thick steel door more like those found on a safe with big steel clip strap handles and the inside walls were built from what always looked like yellow bricks, of course these were fire bricks.
   It's amazing how you can remember all the small things from school days, tho I seem to only remember things from the lessons I enjoyed, ask me about the maths or french room and I haven't a clue. I do remember the french teacher had fantastic legs and it was the only class where us boys wanted to sit at the front rather than hide in the back rows haha !
   Oh well I better get those tanks changed and get busy in the clay room, I'm sure I'll be back later with more thoughts to share with you, I have to say I'm really starting to enjoy writing my blog.

No Beads Today

Fun In Clay

   Yesterday my oxygen tanks ran out so as I can't change them until Monday morning it means today is a ceramic day, no bead making in my flame but lots of messy clay to play with. My sunday treat was to watch the England rugby match with a coffee and toast before I head off to the clay room where my notes await with many ideas to play with.
   The most beautiful morning moon stands high in the clear blue sky this morning, a sure sign of autumn and a stunning sight to start off the day. The goldfinches are feeding along with their young family who have yet to get their red face masks but have the most wonderful clean fresh yellow wing lines, I watch and wonder where these young will end up, will I be watching them feeding their own young next year or will they be feeding out in the hedgerows finding their own natural wild foods.
   Soon it will be time to hang the sunflower heads in bunches for the finches, of course after I have saved a couple for seed collection ready to sow next spring. I just love this time of year, it's a real change of seasons, a slow but assertive introduction to winter yet still we get these remarkable bright mornings to remind us of summer past.
   Last night I was sent some pictures from a great friend who has been using the disc beads in her jewellery and wow! I was so pleased to see how good they looked. I just love those little beads and they are such fun to make, I kept telling people they could work really well if used the right way and boy those pictures proved my point, I'm very happy, thank you Joy.
   Friday I had a great time taking my aunt out for a ride in the car, she may be 80 but the stories she tells are as always great entertainment and after she agreed to let me tape some of them to keep for the future I look forward to more visits. I love to learn about the past, how my home village looked and how my family lived within it. At school I have to say history was one of the only lessons I looked forward to, I was ok at most other subjects but history always had a hold over me, I even remember Mrs Tudor the teacher, a slight lady who wore glasses. Now with the marvellous supply of facts and information found online I'm often found reading about the past from the Roman and Saxon periods to local history and I'd love to go back in time to the Ashwell of 18th century, how would they speak and look, how hard was their daily life, I don't think we will ever truly realise just what a struggle it was to live then. After tracing our family tree back well over 200 hundred years I would love to watch them, just for a day, wouldn't that be amazing.
   Well I better get back to the clay room, I need to get lots made ready to fire later in the week. I have to say I'm trying some really strange ideas but hey, you never know one may work and be a real hit, fingers crossed. Enjoy your sunday and keep an eye on the nature around you.
  

Cold Starts

Soon Be Winter

   The nights are so dark now, it seems just a week or two ago when we were sitting by the pond in the late evening sunshine watching swifts hunting and waiting until late to see bats appear over the water. Now by eight the night is with us with it's dark cold evenings bringing thoughts of winter and all that she brings with her.
   I hope one day next week to get the barn roof felted, the first job leading up to the the colder months, months when the barn seems to change character from that hot workshop that can produce some very long warm days when fresh cool air seems as rare as hens teeth to a warm little haven keeping us safe from the cold ice and snow outside.  Still my winter dream is to set up a wood burning stove out in the barn, it would make sense as we spend so many hours there. We have no central heating in the house so the wood burning stove in our living room heats most of the cottage in the evenings when we finish work and they are so cheap to run, I just think it would work out a lot cheaper than having to use electric heaters to warm the barn. But like everything that helps in the long run you need to obtain them in the first place and with the cost being around 300 pounds I'm guessing it's a dream for next winter.
   This morning when I opened up to turn on the kiln it was really dark and cold and for the first time this year it struck me that those summer morning sounds are no longer with us. Now I hear the rustle from the trees behind the barn and a real lack of bird song, no finches singing or calls from early morning swallows, even the running water in the ponds has a different sound, it's as though everything is letting summer go, giving in to the thought of winter.
   The thoughts of Christmas are holding court in my mind at the moment, I know it's early to mention it but I guess I need to get things moving in that direction, there are colours to try and ideas that I've noted down to play with. Yesterday I listed the first red disc beads in my etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/pebbledreams and they have sold already so maybe jewellery makers are getting started on the seasonal pieces already.

   I'm trying to get that feel of Christmas yet in a rustic form, you all know I hate the idea of snowmen beads and santa beads etc etc, all those same old designs that we see sold, I'm looking more into those old Victorian Christmas colours, those rich colours that added fun and excitement to the gas lit parlor and made wide eyed children stand and stare, those orange and purples that mixed with the forest greens and dark reds of the holly berry. It looks like I've got a lot to try but I'm sure I'll have fun doing so and just the thought of Christmas makes this big kid excited.
   Well as the dark wide skies of the fens open to drop heavy rain this morning I need to go get a few beads made before we take a ride to visit family, so an easy day here but a busy weekend ahead with lots of ideas to play with.
  

Apples, Apples And More Apples !

Ready For Winter

   Last night I started to stew our apples from the garden, the winds left a lot of fallen fruits on the ground which means I need to get them cooked and frozen ready to see us through the winter months. My Cox apples will be wrapped and stored on trays in the larder but most of the other apples will be cooked and frozen ready for crumbles and pies on those cold winter evenings. So this evening I'll be peeling and coring yet more of our harvest and a trip out picking blackberries is called for also, nothing better than warm blackberry and apple crumble on a dark November evening.
   Great news about our little dove, at 6am this morning she was still sitting safe and sound with her chicks all warm and protected, the winds have died down a lot here this morning so I'm sure she as got through the worst of it now, well done her !
   It's a nice bright morning here but the high cloud is rushing over heading towards the east coast, any photographer would get some stunning pictures this morning, just wish I had the time to get out to try and capture some of those great shots, maybe its time I had a day out with my camera, I'll see.
   I'm working on some focals today alongside some commission seaglass beads for a customer in the US. They sent me some pieces that they collected on their local beach in LA and asked if I could make them into beads to use, so today I start and I hope I can produce what they want, the one thing about seaglass as I've mentioned before you never know how the glass will behave, will it stay the same colour, will it crack as I try to melt it, there is no way of telling until I get started, touch wood it will be ok and I'll end up with some wonderful beads to post off to the US.

  
   The disc beads are becoming very popular in my etsy shop which is nice as I so enjoy making them, I love using them to show off the great autumn colours which are a favourite of mine, With the disc shape being very rustic I feel they are ideal for the more natural colours both etched and unetched. I will make more in different  colours including pinks and purples but that's a job for tomorrow. I know some people are not keen on disc beads and I understand that but a few customers have now used them for the first time and have had fun trying to figure out the best way to incorporate them in their jewellery. I hope more people give them a try, I'm sure they will be pleased with the look they can achieve when using them with some nice silver findings.
  I just want to thank one customer and friend for sending me a bombay gin bottle to use in my recycled beads, it was very kind of you and there will be some recycled beads on their way to you this week, thank you.
   Ok, off to my torch and what I'm sure will be another happy day playing with fire and glass.

Wild Winds

Fury Of The Fens

    After a good days work I sit here with a nice cuppa while the strong winds batter across the fens, clouds rush over our wide open skies and trees frolic in rage against such unwelcome forces, but for me the magical sight of those galloping carpets of cloud is one that never fails to amaze.
   When we first moved out here around ten years ago the first thing I noticed was the huge wide skies and the formidable long sunsets that we get, from deep red to purple pinks we get them all and tonight the rich orange harvest sun as just started to set. If I could just catch these colours in my work I would be such a happy beadmaker and believe me I have tried over the years, maybe a challange I'll never conquer but god I've had fun trying up until now.
   A small collard dove sits over her chicks in our black elder and after hours of riding the winds her nest stays solid and her chicks safe, all we can do is watch and hope they get through the night ok so we see mum and dad feeding those tiny faces again tomorrow. Shit, how can I think we have it hard here when I see things like this little bird and her family with just a handfull of twigs for protection, makes me feel very humble indeed.
   Well for once I'm having an easy evening, I have things to list on ebay but may wait and list with todays beads tomorrow evening and if any of you call me lazy then sod off !! Now off to have home made scotch eggs and sweetcorn for dinner, been looking forward to it since this morning.

Busy Week

Too Many Hours

   Well it's the weekend and I've had another very busy week with some long days at my torch along with the hard job of trying to sort out glass rods. Over the last few days I've been trying to get all the different types of glass sorted into bundles with new labels, I started to find packs here there and everywhere, some without labels some were just laying loose on shelves covered in dust and some that were so old the labels had worn, it was a job that really did need doing and at last I think I have it all in order.
   Yet again the past week has seen very little sales which is becoming a common thing, a lot of beadmakers seem to be finding it hard at the moment and we are no exception. I remember when I first started making beads there were a around 20 others making and selling them but now there must be hundreds here in the UK, so I guess with this happening it will only get harder to make a living. A large amount of makers seem to make the same sort of beads, beads with bright colours, flowers, gold stone etc etc, so for this maker who loves making the more natural looking beads it was always going to be a battle getting customers. Like all things, if most are made to look a certain way then the fashion is to go with them, I mean if the market is full of pretty coloured beads with lots of sparkle then that's what most will buy, yes there will be and are those like myself who love the more natural look but we are so out numbered that it's always going to be tough to find customers.
   I think most who know me know I wont shy away from a fight and if in a years time I'm no longer making a living from bead making then it won't be through lack of effort and passion. I guess after the last few years I have learnt one thing, whatever happens to you and however low you get you have to get out there and try to do something about it, only once in my life has there ever been a situation in which I couldn't make things better and that was when my mum died from cancer. We had to watch this fantastic brave lady who loved everyone and everything live out her last few weeks and I couldn't do a thing about it, my mum and best friend was being taken from me and this big idiot couldn't stop it happening. After seeing how my mum never gave up even though she knew she couldn't win I had a very different outlook on life, I would never give up on anything that I thought was right and so for me it's bloody hard work and effort that's needed at the moment and if it means a few more long days then so be it.
   On a brighter note I'm working in the ceramic room today yipeeeeee !!! I'm always like a big kid when I get in there, trying new things and with it being such a different medium to glass there is so much more to attempt. I loved pottery at school and was good at it yet I seem to be learning so much more now just playing around like I do with glass, finding out little tricks and getting those days when things just click into place, it's amazing and better than any lesson. So this big kid will be playing with clay all day and enjoying every second of it.
   On the bead front I've been making a lot of rustic disc beads this last few days, nice little beads that can be used on their own or as spacers, they seem to be a welcome addition to my etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/pebbledreams with a good few sets having already sold. I hope to be listing a lot more beads in the ebay shop in the next couple of days too so keep your eyes out for any bargins there.
   Ok cuppa time over and a happy clay sunday to enjoy, I hope you all enjoy your sundat too.
  

Autumn Chill

Those Cold Mornings Approaching

   The last week has produced some less than perfect weather for late summer to say the least, the early morning chill as certainly returned and autumn is pushing our last summer days southwards planting seeds in our minds of cold dark mornings and those wet wild November evenings when the smell of bonfires fill the air and families sit down to thick belly warming winter stew and dumplins.
   I've been starting work at first light most mornings as sleep and me don't seem to be mates at the moment, I guess like most of us I get periods when I long for a good nights sleep yet wake early with my head full of ideas and worries, but they pass and I'll sleep when my body tells me to.
   With those winds that we had the last few days came the warning of getting the barn roof ready to face another long cold winter. I went up to take a look and found I need to sort out a new layer of felt before the bad weather gets here, most years I do this as the barn is so important to us and if we leave it unprotected against the wet weather then rot can set in leading to the roof boards being replaced, not a job I need or could afford. With things being as bad as they are here at the moment the last thing we need is a major payout like roofing boards so a few rolls of felt is well worth saving for and if it means another week without food shopping then so be it. To be honest I enjoy doing things like the barn roof as I know it means a further year or two safe from the eliments, it means our little haven where we sit warm through the snow will be there again this year.

   With autumn in mind I've been working with some rich orange and rusty colours this week with some producing a few nice rustic looking bead sets that I listed in my etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/pebbledreams plus some nice little disc beads that I thought would be a nice addition. I know people who adore these colours and I can see why, I don't think any other colours represent our English countryside better, as kids I think we all remember those mornings walking to school kicking mountains of autumn leaves that covered every footpath, I remember the local lanes around our village always seemed to have a carpet of orange leaf and when you walked down them it felt soft under foot, every tree seemed to give up their golden jewellery just for us to enjoy weekend walks.
   This weekend is booked for ceramic ideas, my note book is full of sketches to try and bring to life, shapes and textures that I want to try on beads and pendants but also other items away from beads, just a few small ideas I've been playing with and with Christmas just a few months away maybe some will make nice presants. With the long hours I've been putting in on my lampwork I think I need some time out and what better way than to relax playing with clay, a whole two days getting dirty, footie on the radio, peppermint tea and a window looking out across the fields behind us, my idea of the perfect weekend !

Hitting The Bottle

Recycling Fun

   I told you in the last blog update that I was spending Monday or Tuesday making recycled beads from wine bottle glass and that's just what I did. To say I enjoyed it is an understatement, I'm not sure if it was just the change of direction that made it such a pleasure or the fact I knew the bottles I was using would have been buried in some local dump by now.

   As you can see by the pictures the resulting beads turned out ok, I'm really pleased with them and to be honest I may have to put aside one day a week to make more. I think there is something special about using this forgotten waste glass for making beads, ok yes there is the fact it's recycling and by doing that we are doing our bit to help the planet but to me it's the idea of using what we would call rubbish, something we dump into bins every day and think nothing of it to make beads that can be worn in jewellery for possibly hundreds of years. I can't think of anything better than telling people the beads your wearing in that stunning piece of jewellery were made from pieces of broken bottles, the same bottles that lay in our city streets on Sunday mornings, the same bottles that are flung under hedgerows all around the countryside from car windows, yet now they site around some elegant wrist or neck looking a million dollars, I wouldn't mind betting they would also want some.    I know beadmakers have been using such glass for years and I too have made wine bottle beads many times over the past five or six years but until now I haven't really thought about it much, it was just something I wanted to try, I did it and that was that, it didn't mean anything to me. Now after spending a day or two working with the glass I'm starting to get a different feeling about it, it's starting to mean something, you know that feeling you get when you just know what your doing is right, well that's how I'm feeling and I guess one day I'll be able to explain it better.
   If your interested in seeing what I made go take a look in my etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/pebbledreams I've listed some of the sets there. And if you have a special bottle that means something to you or you just love the colour then why not ask me if I can use it to make you some beads, rather than saving that cork from the bottle of bubbly wouldn't it be better to wear a piece of the bottle in bead form for years to come or to remember that special wedding why not use bottles from the celebrations to produce beads that can be made into jewellery for the bridesmaids. I will only charge for the time and you could end up with something very special to wear, you can contact me on robsbeadsofglass@aol.com  and I'll see what I can do for you.
   We have a fantastic wide blue sky here this morning, not a cloud in sight but it is a little chilly and I'm sure autumn is on it's way, the kids are getting ready to return to school after the holidays and it won't be long before we are all thinking of dark evenings and that warm log fire, where the hell as summer gone ?