Win a pair of my recycled earrings!

Daisy Green online ethical magazine has just been launched.

A pair of my recycled earrings are up for grabs.

http://daisygreenmagazine.co.uk/goodies/competitions/recycled-memories/

Just enter your details on the page above for your chance of winning.

Good luck!

New boro beads - Draco

My fist sell-able boro beadies! Yay! they remind me of dragons...so I called them 'Draco' (the latin name for dragon)
They have a butterscotch and turquoise yummy vibe going on, encased in clear. Boro beads look much darker when seen in indoor lighting, this photo was taken outside.

My boro arrived!!

I thought I`d show you my first dabblings into the amazing world of boro!

I bought a few rods of the TAG Purple sable, which not surprisingly didnt turn out too great! Nevermind.... Rome wasnt built in a day and all that! Although, when I annealed them again in the kiln last night (well I wasnt going to lose much was I?!) I was pretty chuffed to say the least. the blues had become much more vibrant and there were now even pinky amber tones coming through. this glass is amazing! Can`t say I`m in love with it yet - it takes a massive amount of skill - I am totally in awe of what the pros can do!
Before:

After:

(Believe me its not just the lighting!)

If you would like to know more about borosilicate glass please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borosilicate_glass - it is massively detailed and more than you ever need to know.

From a lampworking beady point of view it is much harder to work with in the flame (imagine REALLY hard toffee rather than syrup) but can produce amazing earthy beads with fantastic colours. Oh yeah and the glass is much more expensive!

Poor little sparrow....

I was in the kitchen making my breakfast this morning when I heard a loud meow. It didnt sound like one of my cats... I found myself saying 'hello' dont know why, like I thought the cat would answer me?!! I went to investigate..... I walked out of the kitchen to find my cat looking very pleased with himself. He had brought me a little sparrow prezzie. The problem is it was half dead. I picked it up and ran round the house to find a box to put it in... found one, lined it with my black tissue paper (which isnt easy with one hand!) and proceeded to place the little bird in. Well, the bird wasnt as injured as I had first thought, It flew straight out of the box, past the cat which chased it down the garden. The next thing I heard was a loud crash as the cat launched into a bush the bird had flown into. I ran down the garden to try to rescue the bird again (with my tiger slippers on!!) but there was no bird, or cat for that matter in sight! Wierd! the cat is now firmly in my bad books.

What I was meaning to write was I have much better photos today - yesterday was not a good photo taking day! Here`s a preview:

Oh and a shell.... I made a shell!

More beads today....

Thankyou to all my customers for being so patient waiting for me to upload new beads. I havent had a great deal of time recently to put them up there, with bead shows etc, I am very grateful to you. You never fail to check my website just in case..... so here they are.

New beads on www.craftyclare.co.uk

Just a quickie to let you all know about the latest additions to my site.

and a few more.....

Paradise Collection

New Jewellery Collection

Stunning hand faceted organic art glass beads. The colours this glass produces are so amazingly beautiful. Blues, purples & greens with a fantastic mirror shine.

Short Necklace, Earrings & Bracelet available.