Wire weaving

[Bubbles]

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[Rhiannon]

I used to do something like this til I got a repetitive strain injury from twisting the wire. Had to give up. 

[Rhiannon]

Larger things than you I expect. I made a hanging mermaid with shells about seven inches high, and a dancing goddess with amethysts from a broken necklace, and various sun crosses and pentacles. I was wrapping more than weaving so that probably accounted for the injury.

Currently I'm painting an old pot cupboard that belonged to my great aunt. I'm masking off squares and rectangles of different sizes and painting them with Annie Sloane paints in a range of colours. I've started decorating some of the squares/rectangles with stencils and freehand flowers and patterns. In the end I think it will look a bit ethnic and a bit folky and very shabby!

Have you tried the silver clay that you fire over a gas flame?

[Rhiannon]

Sounds like you are very creative 😀👍🏻

I have read about the clay in one of my books on making barrettes because you can use it and make a shape to fit on the clip.( although with this you fired in in an oven)

Haven't tried it yet though.

One of the things that pleases me is the quality of beads are a lot better than they were a few years ago.

Hobby craft stock some really pretty beads now and you can also get the Swarovski crystals now at a reasonable price.

It's usually cheaper to buy on Amazon for a lot of things though 😀

Sounds like you are too. 😀

This is the kind of thing I'd like to try with the silver clay.

http://www.kernowcraft.com/jewellery-making-tips/step-by-step-projects/precious-metal-clay-moulded-shell-pendant-project

Bit expensive for me to shell ( ) out on at the moment and I need to concentrate on stuff for when I move, but I thought I might ask for some bits for Christmas and give it a go.

I hunt around charity shops for vintage things to remake, you can usually get 70's shell necklaces really cheaply and they have loads and loads of individual beads to resuse. Sometimes hunting turns up really unexpected gems - I got a 1920s black lariat for a couple of quid and a 50s aurora borealis double strand necklace for 50p at a jumble sale. Those I won't be reusing! I also found a raku clay pendant of the kind you get in art galleries for many squids for 10p - just needed a new thing attaching.

Incidentally, did you know it was Monty Don and his wife Sarah who 'invented' using Swarovski crystals in jewellery?

[Rhiannon]

His wife was the designer and he the 'front man' - it was the eighties and they did the typical boom and bust. They've written a wonderful book called The Jewel Garden which charts both the business and how Monty fell into depression and how they found redemption through planting a garden.

[Rhiannon]

Yes, gardening in particular very healing. Gutted to not be doing anything this year because of the move - I've diverted myself by planting up lots of pots but it's not the same.

Crafts I find very absorbing - good for being mindful and forgetting stuff, plus you get the sense of achievement at the end of it.

Journaling is something else I enjoy - Terry Waite chose a pencil as his 'luxury item' on Desert Island Discs and I can't imagine what it must be like not to be able to get my thoughts down on paper.

[Shaker]

Journaling is something else I enjoy - Terry Waite chose a pencil as his 'luxury item' on Desert Island Discs and I can't imagine what it must be like not to be able to get my thoughts down on paper.

As a diarist of thirty-two years come October, I know exactly what you mean 

[Rhiannon]

I have periods when I don't keep it up. But I know I feel much, much better when I do.

[Shaker]

I've missed only one period - of about six months or so - in thirty-two years, and that was about twenty-odd years ago. Apart from that sole and now much-regretted aberration, it's been every few days before and since.

[BashfulAnthony]

I've missed only one period - of about six months or so - in thirty-two years, and that was about twenty-odd years ago. Apart from that sole and now much-regretted aberration, it's been every few days before and since.

Publish  -  "The Shaky Diaries."   Could be a publishing phenomenon...