Day 23

Today I've reached day twenty three in my 'A thing A Day' personal pledge and I must admit that  I have missed a day or two already , but I don't see it as a big problem. Other days are more productive.
I am not a person who needs a drawing to work from before I begin,  in fact,  I love to evolve my ideas as I go. I have made many of my best pieces in this way.
Each day I have been arriving at my work bench not knowing what direction my thoughts will take me, taking inspiration in the precious stones themselves and the things which lie all around.

A few weeks ago I decided that I would make my version of the famous Anne Boleyn necklace, the letter B with three pearl droppers which is so instantly recognizable. This is a period in history which I find intriguing and at the same time so cruel.  Day 16 I could put off the project no more. I made the B in silver with discreetly hidden loops on the reverse side to take the pearls. A neatly drilled hole would do the job just as well, but it's something that I can't bring myself to do lol. The necklace itself and the drops are cultured freshwater pearls in subtle tones of pink, silver and beige.
I have listed this necklace in my Etsy shop as being available in any letter as I designed the whole alphabet.

I made another pearl pendant on day six, this time using a mabe pearl. A mabe pearl is a curiosity in the pearl world, they can be cultured or natural, but the foreign body implants not in the flesh of the oyster/mussel but on the shell wall. this results in the pearl being part of the shell and being a concave pearl which they cut from the shell.
I think this pendant needed to be quite simple in order to complement and not detract from the pearl, so I made a smooth silver bezel to hold the pearl and added a touch of detail in the twisted and hammered wire link above. This I oxidised for definition

The third 'thing ' I will share today is a big, bold, blue labradorite ring. Again, simply set to emphasise the fabulous stone. The stone is so dramatic, it's almost like a piece of the rainbow is trapped inside, it's stormy colours searching for a way out.
 Lots of the names that I've called my jewellery have been taken from a favourite film of mine and this one is no exception.
Meet 'Welcome To Waterworld Kid'

A big shining hunk of labradorite, what could be better?

Country Life

Now that August is upon us and the vegetable garden is laden with promise, I realise that Mother Nature has played a big trick on me.
On looking around at the bountiful treats in neighbouring gardens, I am less impressed with my flowering courgettes which seem to only produce the male flowers, my baby runner beans which will measure three whole inches if I use my husbands 'fishing' ruler.


My dwarf variety peas are a full 8" tall and produce two or three pods per day. The star of the show are the haricot verts who are very forgiving of the hot drought conditions and are giving me lots of beans <3 <3



The chilli plant is being very endearing in that the pods have formed 'couples'...one straight pod and one curled around it's middle,just like ballroom dancers, how sweet is that?



As I'm working in my workshop, I can enjoy the view of my miniature garden set out in front of me, I can almost smell the swaying sunflowers in the garden next door which is a sight to behold. OK, they are around the corner, but I can imagine them. There were a couple of them in a vase in my studio until yesterday, when a child of mine...who will remain nameless, knocked the vase off the top of the desk and emptied a couple of pints of water into the paper slot in the back of the new printer. Still waiting for the thing to dry out before I dare switch it on to suss out the damage.