I am officially Redundant!

Today I took voluntary redundancy. Feels a bit wierd to be honest. No deadlines, no venues to go and view, no events to market, no phonecalls to make, no paperwork.........! What am I going to do?
Cry into my hankie? Not a chance............!
I know ...................
.........................................MAKE BEADS!!!
So, after the phonecall to my manager, I dipped some mandrels, switched on the oxycon, sparked up the torch and hey presto, made some pretty gorge beads if I do say so myself!

'Bronze Age'

'Lightning' (made in the thunderstorm this afternoon!)

I feel really positive about the future and know I have heaps of support from my lovely customers/beady friends xx

Back from Mull.....

We returned on Sunday, but I haven`t had chance to blog until now.
We had such a magical time, the weather was truly miserable, but I guess you dont go to Scotland for the weather :)
We stayed in a static caravan.... which I was a little unsure of - I`d never stayed in a caravan before, but this caravan overlooked the sea eagle nest site at Loch frisa, so I guess I`d give it a go.

www.crannich.co.uk - this is where we stayed. We stayed in one of the three caravans on the site - 'Aros' which overlooks the nest site. I would advise you stay in Bellart as it overlooks the area where the sea eagles land (on the 'Standing Stones' at Tenga) when they are hunting for food. We`ll stay in this one next time :)
We couldn`t ask for a nicer, cleaner, friendlier place to stay. Sam and Rob the owners were lovely - the caravans are part of a working highland cattle farm, set in 100 acres of land. The calving pen was right by the gate, so every time you went out or came back in a soggy slimey furry gorgeous baby calf had arrived.
They asked me to have a look at one of their new calves eyes when they found out I was a veterinary nurse. Poor little thing had cataracts and was quite weak, but still feeding from his mother. Must find out if he is still with us.....

Rain rain and more rain, oooh and lots of hail. I swear the caravan was going to re-enact the scene out of the Wizard of Oz when the house gets sucked up in the whirlwind!!! We went to Tobermory Distillery where we had a wee dram of Whiskey. God that stuff is strong!! Wow!

On the Thursday (the best day weather-wise) we went out with Richard Atkinson of www.wildlifemull.co.uk - a thoroughly nice bloke with a passion for wildlife.
We saw sea-eagles, harriers, golden eagles, otters, buzzards, even a 'twite' hahaha!

I`ve uploaded a few pics to my flickr account if you fancied a peek.

Charity Beads

There is a local 14 year old boy who is going on a 'young people`s pilgrimage' to Lourdes.
He needs to raise £500 to enable him to travel by bus to the town with other students at his school.
Whilst he is there he will help support the sick, frail and less able people during their stay in Lourdes.
I think this is a really fantastic thing to do, which is why I am having an 'auction' for these beads over the next month. Just email me with the amount you would like to bid for the beads - claredscott@hotmail.com.
100% of the proceeds will be given to him to put towards his pilgrimage.
He is working so hard for this money - doing odd jobs around the garden, cleaning cars, cleaning windows etc for people in the community, it has not been handed to him on a plate. He is a real pleasure to meet.
A big thankyou to anyone who is able to contribute.
(The set consists of 7 large glass pillow beads with semi precious stone spacers. The lampwork glass beads are deep transparent amber with dark silver plum and desert chameleon shards wrapped over the surface)

New beadies

I have listed a few new sets on my website..... I am so happy how the pics turned out.

Totally unexpected and probably wont happen again but nemind!

Venice here I come!

My Mum and Godmother have surprised me with a trip to Venice and I can`t wait!

(I'm going for my 30th birthday - ssssssh don`t tell anyone I`m 30!!!)

I have never been before but have seen it is so beautiful and steeped in glassy history.

I am staying for one full day - obv the main reason I am being taken over ther is to visit glassy places, because I LOVE glass! :)

I would love to her from anyone who has been over there, where to go (where not to go!) accomodation,etc etc....

Looking forward to hearing your suggestions!

Clare xx

Happy New Year!

I have been experimenting! You like? I think I do!! I`ve never wire wrapped in my life and now I`m obsessed with moonstones and their little sparkly blue splashes of colour, oh and oxidized silver with its coppery bluey patina. Gooooooorgeous!!

Website issues!!

I could scream! I`ve been trying to update my website all day... will have to wait for the people at mrsite I guess...... grrr!

Anyway, I have created some glass beads from Champagne bottles which are available for you to buy. Exciting! They are a beautiful deep rich green colour obviously this varies with the type of Champagne bottle, but I`ve not had a yucky green yet!

Alternatively, you can send me your special occasion bottle so I can create beads for your own very exclusive and luxurious designs.