Made in the Shade

The Made in the Shade girls have had a busy time of late fronting the new Nokia E7 Campaign and I love their pop up shop adventure! This video gives you brief overview but it is worth checking out each stop. The Chain Bridge Honey Farm isn't far from us and it's where you can see R's Dad's fabulous paintings, including a portrait of me! I must get a photo of that for you!

Jim Clark Rally 2011

A few snapshots from the Jim Clark Rally 2011. We could hear the roars up the road and couldn't resist a nosey!

Rainbow and Sea Glass

We've had a lot of rain and wind over the last week or so and even a few rainbows. Fortunately there has been no damage for us or our neighbours apart from a few flattened daisies and a timid little cat looking a uncertain of being outdoors.


Yesterday was finally a bit calmer and we went for a breath of fresh air and a poke around the beach. It is one of my favourite beaches nearby and even though we were only there about an hour we got a decent collection of glass and pottery and a pebble that looks like a thumb - look at the top left of the image below and use your imagination . . .
Some gorgeously smooth nuggets in green, aqua and white, a piece of pottery with the word 'SERVE' still visible and, if you look closely right in the centre of the photo, a tiny piece of purple glass. The purple is tiny and a bit rough around the edges but it is purple so I had to bring it home. I think it is the first piece of purple sea glass I have ever found and I'm going to have to find a use for it!

I am (still) waiting for my first delivery of recycled silver so it's all a bit slow at the workbench until it arrives. I have a number of pieces at various stages of completion which I can't do any more with until I've got the silver. I think my next order will be a year's supply to avoid these lengthy waits, ho hum, lesson learned.

National Vegetarian Week

Loads of events and recipes over on the National Vegetarian Week's website. Am going to explore the recipes now!

Education and Fire Power

It's been a week with an education focus with a trip down to the midlands for some training for a job I'm doing. It was great to catch up with some friends from the school I used to teach at who made up for having to sit on a train for ten hours just to attend a three hour meeting!

I've also been preparing assignments and a short lesson as part of the PTLLS course. I felt nervous teaching a small group of lovely people for twenty minutes which seems a bit daft given I've managed to teach large groups of teenagers I've never met before!



My workbench has been a bit quiet with all this other work and I am awaiting the first delivery of recycled silver before I can crack on with new pieces. I have been fiddling with my blog layout and did manage a bit of a play with the copper foil a kind lady from the PTLLS course brought in for me. I made an absolute shambles of it but I now get how it works and think, combined with jeweller's silver solder, this has huge potential. The photo shows the light coming through the glass and deliberately silhouettes my messy soldering!

I've also come to the realisation that I need a bit more fire power at the bench and will be investing in a new torch to speed up the soldering process. My current torch is perfect for small jobs, it is quick and precise, however, on larger pieces I am struggling to get the even heat required. A more powerful torch may mean a move to the garage for safety reasons so now I just have to work out how to make the garage a more usable space. No electricity or windows poses the main challenge!

Crossing Borders

Last week both R and I were delighted to be accepted as members of Arts group Crossing Borders and now have a selection of our work on display in the Crossing Borders Gallery at Paxton House.


If you are visiting the Scottish Borders, North Northumberland area, and interested in the Arts, the Crossing Borders website is a great place to start with information on artists and galleries in the area.


Please excuse the poor photographs, they were a rush job and I had to use flash. At various times over the next few months we'll be working at Paxton House, I'll let you know when. If you come and visit do say hello, I'm the one who looks like this!

Weekend

Last night's dander up the road treated us to a hazy sunset, frolicking hares and twittering birds. Today, the lovely Naomi of Amelee Jewellery took me up to the Edinburgh Bead Fair which was a fab day out. I treated myself to a few small purchases so expect to see a wee bit of moonstone with my sea glass! There were some impressive demonstrations by the folks who teach up at The Little Bead Shop in Edinburgh and I had a very helpful chat with Jared Sanders with tips to help me speed up and improve my sawing technique.

This evening our kitchen looks like the picture above: cultivating alien life forms or attempting to grow wedding flowers? It's up to you to decide.

Goatscrag Hill and Roughting Linn

The Cheviots from Goatscrag; taken straight into the sun so do excuse the big sun spots in the sky. We went down to Roughting Linn last week on what turned out to be the last day of the lovely sunny weather. A bit of striding in the great outdoors was spirit liftingly splendid.

I didn't take any pictures of the markings in the rock as there was a man there informing us about the supposed connections with lady parts ('you'd know more about that than me, eh?') but you can see a variety of images here. Interesting to note the erosion in just the last thirty years and to wonder whether they are in any way protected?

Having a sit down and a drink at the top of Goatscrag and watching R taking photos I did think to myself that this beats the arse of being in school on a Wednesday morning.

Earrings

Green and white sea glass earrings on sterling silver earwires. Simple, pretty and recycled!

Hope you are all having a good week!