Sunshine, Spinach and Celtic Focals

Sunshine, Spinach and Celtic Focals

   Spring is being kind to the fens this year, mornings are filled with bright sunshine and long light evenings keep both fen tigers and gardeners happy, even the odd shower of rain has that wonderful smell riding it's back, I love the smell of rain, a cent only found in spring and summer along with that of fresh cut grass.
   The vegetable garden is already producing a harvest, the first salads are finding their way to the plate and that wonderful green spinach is already a great addition to evening meals, tho my hoe never seems to rest. I still find the hard work really worth it and fully understand why those who moan about the flavour of shop bought veg do so, there really is no comparison and the fact that within minutes from being cut or pulled they are cooking makes one feel very lucky and grateful we have the space and opportunity to grow them.

   On the bead side of things, it's been and interesting week, I'm truly addicted to making wild and wonderful focal beads at the moment, the results of ivory coloured glass and turquoise never cease to amaze me, a marriage yet to be surpassed in my eyes. With the addition of silver and a few wild ideas, every morning the kiln seems to produce the odd gift or two along with a big smile upon the face of this bead hermit.
 

Rains Wash The Fenland

Rains Wash The Fenland

   Cool spring rain welcomes us this morning, washing the dust from the fen and transforming the flat dark soiled east into a green backdrop for that wonderful early summer theatre that mother nature delivers every year. Every blade of grass, every leaf that plays between blossom is clean, clean and new, awaiting those warm summer winds in which they will dance gently while fen tigers warm their bones.
   For this bead hermit a day of work lies ahead and as rain runs down my window my eyes will once more watch the magical movements of my flame as it kisses and caresses the glass in my hand and the sounds of rain on timbers above my head will again remind me just how lucky I am to work warm and dry.

Bank Holiday Beading

   Bank Holiday Beading


   May bank holiday and the sun is warm, the doves are calling and the world in the fens is very quiet,  but this bead maker has beads to make. A trip to the coast was an option or a visit to Ashwell, but no, this old bead hermit as decided to spend the day working, I have things to try and I'm sure my flame can share the holiday with the vegetable garden.
   Kiln is heading towards 500 degree while I enjoy a cuppa and my usual inspection of the greenhouse, every morning new green seedlings are appearing and new rows are making their way through the soil in the vegetable garden, I love this time of year, can there really be a better season than Spring ?
   Still the great water fowl are filling the wide fen skies and grey heron return from early morning hunt, lilac blooms turn their colour and the white cherry blossom hang in bunches while the great little workers pollinate every stamen, if the lord did put us upon this earth, then to witness Spring was one very good reason for doing so.

Back To My Flame

Back To My Flame


   Well our house is now minus a back porch, two days of dismantling a structure that any medieval castle would have been proud of and at last the ugly wart that stood out like a sore thumb and took up room is no more.
   So now after two days so called rest I once more return to my flame and that wonderful magical world to bead making. With the sunshine placing that sense of summer upon the fens what better time to create more natural designs in glass, that feeling of new life in the air, the world of nature once more fresh and this amazing countryside again coming alive, what more incentive does this bead maker need.

April Showers

April Showers


   The week of sunshine and warm afternoons comes to an end here in the fens, this morning the showers of April drench the black soil and dark wide skies sit over the flat lands like those on painted backdrops in some victorian theatre where the black clad villian draws boos from his audience.
   The plans of this bead maker were to toil in vegetable garden but these must await a dryer day and beads will be cleaned, photographed and made ready to list for sale, maybe tomorrow the day of rest, will be spent sowing the seeds and turning the soil.

      

 

Alive Once More

Alive Once More


   Once more the marshland of the east wakes from it's winter sleep, finches fill the hedgerows, heron and cormorants fish the drains and rivers and buds of every kind rest upon tree branch. Again the the river banks are covered in a mosaic of yellow daffodils, from white to golden butter, heads dance in the fen breeze while reed beds emerge from the ice cold waters where eel and zander feed.
   Fen tigers sow seed in kitchen gardens and livestock are placed upon lush fresh grass while the last winter logs are warming still those few cold nights that remain.

Playing With Rock

Playing With Rock

   With Spring well and truly upon us, this bead maker has been enjoying the warmer weather, the longer evenings and the fresh enthusiasm that this wonderful season brings. The new beads in both the ebay and etsy stores are fast becoming popular and my days are once more filled with the enjoyment of making the beads I myself love, the more natural beads for which I am known.

 
   The actions I took of completely emptying both shops to start afresh were a risk of course, but I just couldn't go on spending day after day making beads that failed to please me, it wasn't me at all. I knew it was time to introduce once more my love for the rock and silver effects that bring that smile to my face and if this meant the odd customer who was looking just for cheap beads would no longer buy my work, then so be it.
   I must admit, to say I'm enjoying my work more is an understatement, I'm loving it, those feelings of excitement are once more there when I open my kiln each morning and as any true bead maker will tell you, that is such an important part of this life.
   To take a look at the new stock that is being added each week to the shops just click on the following links, https://www.etsy.com/shop/pebbledreams  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Beads-Of-Glass I hope you find something that may interest you.
    Now it's time for this old bead hermit to get back to his flame and the magical world of fire and glass, that little world free of stress and worry.