Glad To Be Back

   For all those who used to read this blog and would have been thinking the blog had been closed, I'm happy to say I am once more back using the blog to show off the beads I'm making plus more of my customers jewellery, jewellery in which my beads have been used.

 This I hope will give people ideas on how you can produce pieces of jewellery to wear with beads from my online Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/pebbledreams
   At this stage, I would like to ask any of my customers who would like to have any pieces in which my beads were used shown on here to just send me any pictures and I'll happily post them for all to see. With us being in lock-down because of the Corona Virus more people are trying new crafts including jewellery making and bead jewellery is indeed a wonderful way to start. You will find a wide range of beads in my shop from the basic plain inexpensive spacer beads to the more expensive unique one-off beads many of which are only found in my shop. All beads I sell are hand made by myself I do not sell any mass-produced imported glass beads. I do sell a small range of Greek-style ceramic beads which can be used on their own or alongside my own beads and there is also a small range of metal Greek-style pendants.

   So please everybody try to stay safe out there and while you're in lock-down and looking for new things to try have a think about making some stunning bead jewellery like many of my wonderful customers. With the help of a huge number of books and youtube tutorials which show how easy it is to start making your own jewellery I'm sure you will be surprised how easy it can be. So go on, give it a go I'm sure in no time you'll be proudly wearing your own handmade pieces.

Thousand Up!!

   After many years selling the majority of my beads from my Ebay shop, it was only last year that I decided to concentrate on building my shop on Etsy into my main source of income, it was going to mean hard work and many long hours at my torch but was surely going to be worth all the effort.
   At this time I had been seriously thinking of giving up my Ebay shop, their selling charges had gradually risen and the shop rent was not cheap, ok on a good month it was fine but if you had a bad month of sales then it really could hit your profits. So after a few evenings research and checking numbers and pricing I felt it was time for a change. The first job was to clear out my Etsy shop of old stock and start to list nice fresh new sets and focal beads, which was quite enjoyable, to be honest. Next move was to jump in at the deep end and close my bead shop on Ebay, this was a big decision and one I thought long and hard about, but money wise I knew I had to do. I could and will still sell odd sets on Ebay but I wasn't making enough money to warrant having a shop, there was the worry of maybe losing customers who would think I had given up making beads but with nice new business cards I was sure that problem was solved and they would find the Etsy shop.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/pebbledreams
   So within a few days, the Ebay shop was no more and the Etsy shop was going to get most of my attention, it was a fresh start yet a move with big risks.
   I often set myself targets in life and this was another such time, but this time the targets were set rather high and there was no expectation of seeing them reached in the new future. Firstly my aim was to reach a target of 500 items listed in the shop, these would include bead sets, focal beads and spacer bead sets. From past experience, I know that the bigger the selection of beads on sale the better, customers love a wide choice giving them more chance of finding the beads they need to work with. Secondly, I wanted to reach a thousand sale orders, not a thousand items sold but orders received, this was really a bit silly as I had up until then only had a couple of hundred orders and I was guessing this target would be a long time coming.
   Well now after a hell of a lot of hard work there are well over 600 items listed in the shop and yesterday saw my one-thousandth order, to say I'm over the moon is an understatement, I'm really proud of myself, as we Ashwell lads would say, "it took balls" but the boy did it. This just goes to show how hard work, dedication and belief can produce the goods and this now means I have a good solid base on which to build on, with the use of social media and working to a good solid standard I hope I can move forward. Now I see my beads used by some very special and talented jewellery designers, designers from all around the world and that really does make this old bead maker happy, it's all I've ever wanted and if I can continue to form beautiful interesting beads from molten glass then I'll be happy spending the rest of my days in my little bead world.

   On the bead side of things again I've been mixing glass to produce some unique one-off spacer sets, the "Toffee Cream" spacers as seen above being my favourite. I think most bead makers should spend a few hours each week mixing glass it's relaxing, interesting and throws up some great results.

Perfect British Bank Holiday Weather

   Spring Bank Holiday and still the rain is falling here in the fens with some parts of the country even getting snow, only our British weather some would say.
   So for this old bead maker, it is a day in the dry sorting through beads, making up more sets and packing orders ready to post in the morning, the hopes of spending hours in the veg garden are now on hold and will hopefully transpire next weekend.
   A few customers have asked if I'll start a video blog with clips posted here, well I will look into it but like a lot of people I'm really not that comfortable in front of a camera, but I promise to think about it and looking into how easy it is. I guess I could start with a short video of one of my cycle rides but we'll see how it goes. But for now, I hope everybody enjoys their day off and stays dry.

And Still We Wait

   I think I can safely say it's been a very long winter this year and after the storms of December and January followed by the "beast from the east" how much longer do we need to wait for the warmer brighter days of spring and summer? I like a lot of people find even the hint of sunshine makes me feel better, more inspired and lifts my enthusiasm and eagerness in both work and life in general, so let's hope the warmer weather soon makes an appearance.
   I guess there is one silver lining in having so much crap weather, it means I've been putting in far longer hours at my flame which in turn equals more beads being listed in my Etsy shop. https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/pebbledreams  The spacer selection is really becoming large now with well over 250 sets now listed and even more being added each day, I was really pleased to receive a number of comments on how good the selection of spacers is and one new customer mentioned how nice it was to find such a vast number of colours to pick from and at sensible prices too. It's comments like these from new and existing customers that make the long hours worth it, most who know me and how I work, now very well that charging realistic prices and giving the best range of beads I can is all I really care about, it will never make me rich I know but I sure makes me happy.

   On the cycling side of things it's great now the clocks have changed and the evenings are lighter longer because it will now mean I can cycle morning and evening, just need the rain to ease off. I have a long list of fen villages that I'm hoping to visit and of course, I'll be posting what I discover here on my blog. It's funny but apart from enjoying exploring some of these small gems of the fenland countryside, it makes exercising a lot easier, I never really think of my rides as being an effort these days, to me they are more of an adventure, a learning curve where you never know whats around the next corner and that can only be a good thing in my eyes.
  Finally, I would just like to wish everybody a very happy Easter and I hope you enjoy a little time off from this busy world we live in.
 
   

A Trip Through Welney

   This morning was a warmer, brighter and calmer one, so this old bead maker enjoyed his normal morning cycle without the hand warmers stuffed into his gloves or extra socks. The trip included a few more fen villages one of which was the village of Welney, a village I often cycle through on my longer journeys. Welney is an interesting village situated immediately west of The Old Bedford river with the well-known Wildfowl and Wetland Trust reserve just a mile or two from the centre of the village.

The parish has the perfect stop for cyclists with the village pub (The Lamb and Flag), serving hot and cold food. St Marys church stands proudly on the main street leading through the village and the bridge spanning the river is an ideal spot to stop for lunch on a summer day.
   Welney was once famous for it's Ice-Skating bosting a world champion and many British champions and still have a skating club to this day.

   All in all this wonderful little fen village is well worth adding to your cycle route and the locals, of course, have that great fen humour which is always matched with a smile.

The Village of Christchurch

   I promised to tell of the villages I cycle to or through while putting the miles in for exercise and I thought I would start with one of the closer villages to my home, the lovely quiet parish of Christchurch. The village is not the biggest you'll find here in the fens but it seems to have a great community spirit and I find the parishioners are really friendly. The village boasts a wonderful brick built Victorian church (The Church of Christ) which was my stopping point on the first months of my cycling.

   The village has a nice modern village hall/community centre at which a coffee shop is held every Monday morning, run by some of the residents and selling home baked cakes as well as coffee and tea.

   There is one public house in the village called the Dun Cow which sells beer from the famous Elgood's Brewery. It also has I'm told a very friendly atmosphere and is the landmark for a locally run Fish and Chip service on Friday evenings. The village has its own primary school and preschool, but sadly the one village store as now closed.
   All in all a very nice fen village and one I enjoy cycling through on my way back home from my many trips.

Back At My Flame

   It was so nice to be back working my flame today, after two days off it felt good to be there beside my kiln while a wonderful winter world lay outside, at times I could stop looking out the window. There is something very special about snow as kids it always excited us and still when adults there is a tiny piece of that excitement inside us all, even on a grey cold looking day like today.

   It was a spacer day for me, I need lots more sets to place in the shop https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/pebbledreams after spacer beads sales were so high last month, I've always said I want one of the best selections of spacer beads on Etsy and boy that's what I'm going to have. At the moment I sell sets of both twenty beads and ten beads but now I'm really thinking of selling smaller sets of say six beads, some customers don't always need ten or more spacers so this would give them the option of buying more different colours without breaking the bank.

   While on the subject of spacer beads I still hear customers moan about the ridiculous prices some bead makers charge for spacers, some even charging around £1 per bead. Now I don't care who you are, how famous you think you are or how stunning your main beads may be, to charge customers £1 for a plain colour spacer bead is not right, it's unreasonable and just unacceptable. I guess some bead makers are just out to make money or are what some of us call bead snobs but hey, come on, spacers can take literally seconds to make so behave and sell them for a reasonable price.

Snow and Snow Dragons

   The last few days have been rather cold, freezing cold winds and snow have kept temperatures well below freezing here in the flatlands. I decided to take two days off work, it was mighty cold in the workshop, nice to look out upon the snow but bloody cold and I had been working long hours for the last few weeks so well earned if I do say so myself.
   With the white cold world around me, the thoughts of snow dragon beads came to mind and I think it took all of two minutes to select the glass and start experimenting, the results seen below and now listed in my Etsy shop, https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/pebbledreams I'm pleased with the way they look and will I'm sure be making more in the future.

   The shop is now once again at the 500 item mark and as I've stated in the past the target for 2018 is to reach 700, it will mean a lot of work but I'll give it my best.
   On the cycling side of things, I have decided to start placing a post here telling of the different villages I visit this year, starting with the more local ones while the colder weather is still hanging around. This week I have missed four days cycling because of the snow, wind and ice but I hope to get out again this weekend, fingers crossed. 

Playing With Dragons

   Like most bead makers I guess I often have periods of time when I become a little addicted to a certain style or type of bead, usually when I'm either working with a new idea or as with the case now when I'm trying new colours with a favourite design. A lot of my customers will by now realise how much I enjoy producing my "Dragon Scale" beads and other the last week or two it's these that I've been playing with, no design changes but I have experimented with different colours. I've always made the green and blue dragons but until now have never really given other colours a chance and now I'm just trying nearly every colour I have, so far only a few living up to expectations but those which have I'll introduce into the Etsy shop every few days, so keep an eye out if you enjoy using beads with a difference.

   I'm having great feedback from customers who are enjoying the frit and wave sets I'm listing, to be honest, I never really listed these beads much in past years but after having several requests for them I thought it was a good idea to place them in the shop and boy was that the right decision. So many sets have sold and I must admit they really add a great amount of colour at a time when a lot of designers are making jewellery for spring and summer.
   Some of the sets are made up of different sized beads allowing the customers to use them in many more different situations. Other sets are made up of a number of beads all measuring the same, which is the common way of selling sets and most are sold in sets of odd numbers.

   So the Etsy shop is fast growing into a very nice selection of beads with a wide range of beads being added most weeks, More trio sets and earring pairs will be listed this coming week and of course yet more spacer sets in many different colours.

Storms, Gales and Damp Days.

   It's been a while since I posted here on the blog, the main reason being my lack of inspiration, for here in the fens of East Anglia we seem to have travelled the last three months taking cover from high winds, persistent rain and some rather severe storms. In such weather I really find it difficult to raise my levels of enthusiasm, in fact, many days were spent in the safety of my home and workshop, trying my best to ignore any worries of either being damaged.

   Now, although the temperatures have fallen and talk of snow is rife I'm starting to once more enjoy my little bead world and to be very honest the thought of looking out at the snow-covered fens while working my warm glass is one I'm looking forward to.

   On the bead side of things I've been receiving some great feedback on the new photographs I'm taking and the more colourful glass selection, I guess while witnessing such a grey damp winter I was longing for spring and summer and this showed in the choice of colours I've been using.

   A good mixture of bead types are now sitting upon the shelves of my Etsy shop, both stone effects and many new brighter beads are pleasing the customers and sales continue to do well. I've been working hard on the Snakeskin and Dragon Scale beads with new colours being produced most weeks and of course the "Turquoise Mine" beads seen above are fast becoming a great favourite with customers, I just hope I get to see how they are being used. So now I'm back up and running I'm sure you'll soon be getting fed up with all the bead pictures I'll be posting.

   Enjoy the snow everyone and keep safe an warm this coming week. 

Quiet Drove, Bulrushes and Pumping Stations

   This week I chose Tuesday as my long cycle day and another first for me as I headed off towards the small village of Pymoor. The village is around 16 miles from us so a half decent all round trip of 30 ish miles, not the longest of journeys but another fen village I had yet to visit.
   Like most trips I found myself passing through some wonderful fenland countryside, those long straight drains that seem to stretch for mile after mile and of course the water meadows that ease the risk of flooding every winter and all lit by the low morning sun. Heading along "Hundred Foot Bank" which follows the "New Bedford River" was as ever a feast of virgin sights for me, one such sight was a stunning old pumping station with some really interesting stone plaques upon it's wall.

   Uncovering these small hidden treasures of fen history is fast becoming a great pleasure for me and the miles seem to pass with far less effort. It was soon after passing this old station that I noticed the great sight of bulrushes, without fail seeing these reeds always brings memories of my mum flooding back, she used them in many autumn flower arrangements, sometimes in high glass vase with dried seed heads, willow and thistles and at times just alone in bunches. I remember watching her cut the stems to length and the way the bulrush heads (pokers as we kids called them), would over the weeks start to turn into fluff as if shedding their skin.
   So into the small village of Pymoor I rode, very quiet little parish, I never saw a soul walking the streets, I guess the lack of shops etc is gradually turning these small settlements into "commuter villages" rather than the once self-sufficient communities of the Victorian and Edwardian periods. 

 
    All in all a very enjoyable trip and yet another small fen village crossed off my list, now trying to decide where to go next but until then the same 20 mile cycle each morning. 

All In Just Five Days

   Once more the pumpkin harvest ruled the fens for the last few weeks, there are two main signs here in the flat lands that winter is arriving, firstly the pumpkin fields are alive with action and secondly the sugar beet crop is being lifted and indeed both have been prominent.
   Every year I'm amazed at the efficiency of the pumpkin harvest, being out cycling every day I note how the fens change and the pumpkin fields are by far the quickest to change, the three pictures below were taken within five days of each other and show just how fast the wonderful orange crop can go from field to shop.

   Now with the mornings a little cooler and the low sun, the fens are a very different place than they were a couple of months ago, the green hedgerows are now wearing that beautiful jewellery of autumn with the golds and rusty reds replacing those bright fresh greens of summer and the many miles of open land have a real feel of a harsh few months heading our way.

Being Different Really Does Matter

   I've now been making lampwork beads for a long while and over that time I've learned that the best bead jewellery designers are those who explore the different, not only do their designs show something very unique but also the colours and shades they use make every piece interesting. They always seem to resist the temptation to follow the trends, for them it's all about leading, pushing the boundaries, being as unique as possible and this is why even when making my spacer beads I try to produce shades that others dismiss.

   This week I've been adding even more sets to the spacer bead selection in my shop including some very rustic looking beads which seem to be attracting interest already. For those who wish to look over the new shades just follow the link below.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/pebbledreams

 

     

Not Harvest Weather

   The past two weeks here in the east have been a touch damp to say the least, harvest started with the rapeseed being cut but then soon after when the wheat cutting started the rain gods decided to put in an appearance, now we have had nearly two weeks of rain with just the odd dry day here and there. I've gone from watching the harvesting of peas, rapeseed, potatoes and wheat, to now just casting my eye over acres of wet crops and mud filled fields, let's just hope the summer returns soon.

   On the plus side I've spent longer hours making beads as the two days a week I set aside for landscaping the garden have been cancelled due to the weather and I think all who know me will know that makes this old bead hermit very happy. Sometimes even I find it strange how after all these years I still enjoy long days at my torch,  I sometimes wonder how old I will be before it fades. I imagine myself working away well into my 80's sitting at my torch muttering to myself about dodgy glass and why odd ideas just won't work and knowing me I'll be surrounded by beads filling every tiny space, even hanging from the rafters, but I guess that's not such a bad picture to have.
 

Why So Different?

   I guess like most bead makers and other artisans I often get correspondence from customers, most consisting of kind words about my beads, others asking questions about the way I work etc. One common question asked is why I love making such unique and in many cases strange bead designs, why don't I just make all the normal shapes like others, round, tyre, cushions, lentil etc etc, so for those who are new to my blog and new to my beads I'll try to explain the reasons.
   From a young child I was always a touch different in the things I did, I loved drawing and designing with the old felt tip pens we used back then, I would come up with strange patterns and carried on doing so through my school days, finally getting good results in art exams. Even in my adult years when hard landscaping my patio or walling ideas were very different and I was always looking to incorporate quirky little features, so I guess when I started making beads I was never going to be happy following the trends as such.
   Over the years I've seen literally hundreds of new bead makers appear, some of which only stay in the craft a year or so, others who end up making a living from their work as I do, but in nearly ever case I see the same old beads being made. With the many bead groups and forums that now exist it's so easy for people to just reproduce what others make and that's just not the way I work, yes we all make tyre beads or pressed beads in different shapes, but to do this all the time without exploring the different would drive me crazy. To me the glass and the flame can produce some stunning effects on their own, far more than I could by placing dots etc in certain places, the crackles, rock effects and swirls produced by the flame are natural, it's like they produce magic and all I'm doing is helping them, so often I have made beads but had no idea what they would look like until they are removed from the kiln the next morning and that feeling is unique. If somebody makes a simple bead and places frit or dots upon it, they will have a good idea how it will end up, but me, well I'd rather not know, I'd rather experiment and that includes spending hours trying new forms other than the usual ones.

   So I guess all in all I just want to be different, I love to lock myself away in my studio and play, not knowing from one day to the next what I'll produce, yes I'll always have to reproduce some beads for customers and of course beads like spacers, but I'll always be pushing at the boundary as in how odd and different my beads can be, I just hope customers will find ways of using them.

  

Putting in the Miles While Watching the Fens Change

   The old bead hermit has been putting in the miles this last week or two, every day the fens seem to change and now harvest is upon us, the many miles of flat farmland that were so cold and bare in winter are now so alive. The farms are busy, the hedgerows are abundant with wildlife and those beautiful wide skies are full of the great birds of the marshes, what more could I wish for as I cover the area.

Dragon Dreams Return

   After some great feedback from customers who have worked with my "Dragon Dreams" I just had to get more made, they always seem to be popular tho when making the first ever set I did wonder if anybody would dare explore their very unique shape. Thankfully more and more bead jewellery designers are beginning to push back the limits as to the bead designs they are using, I hope more will follow and we will see some fantastic new jewellery being worn.
   You can now obtain my "Dragon Dreams" from my Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/pebbledreams 

Hunstanton

   The first "Hunstanton" pebble beads were only in the shop a matter of hours so after enquiries from customers as to if I'd be making more, I decided to list a couple more sets. There are two options, a set of seven beads and a larger set of nine, both sets come complete with matching spacers.

New Encased Nuggets

   The skies here in the fens may not be at their brightest but my flame as been burning well and each day new beads are being added to the Etsy shop, https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/pebbledreams
Yesterday another great set of encased nugget beads were listed and already they are gaining admirers, which of course I'm really pleased about.  https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/539770421/angel-breath-lampwork-beads-sra-uk?ref=shop_home_active_2

Rock Face

   On a grey damp day here in the fenlands of the east it's nice to be working once more with the many colours of summer though I'm sure the beautiful warm weather will soon return.
   This morning I listed more beads including the favourite of many, the "Rock Face" encased beads, I guess if I'm honest they are a favourite of mine too.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/539112457/rock-face-lampwork-beads-sra-uk?ref=shop_home_active_6