Eggs To Oxidise Metal??

I was looking online the other day and came across this amazing blog/journal by a talented lady called Pearl.
( http://www.beadinggem.com/2010/03/gorgeous-free-woven-wire-tutorials-from.html ) Her wirework is stunning and I can only hope of being that good one day! I also came across something that amazed me! I have been wondering for a few months now about the best way to go about oxidising metal work, but not wanting to spend too much money incase all went wrong. This......is brilliant. Eggs. That's right! Eggs. I'm very very tempted to give it a go, although it does look like it might be a slight trial & error. Surely it's a bit cheaper than buying liver of sulphide!
Click the link below to see what Pearl got up to in her experiments with the pongy boiled eggs!
http://www.beadinggem.com/2011/06/tips-on-how-to-use-boiled-eggs-for.html

A Little Wire Fun

My mum works at Hobbycraft and when all the beading magazines go 'out of date' so to say, the staff get to keep them and the covers go back to the supplier. So, I was looking through one last week and found a really good tutorial on how to make a heart pendant using a single heart bead and two different sized wires. So, I got cracking!!! Attempt 1 wasn't amazing. The second attempt was much better! They're very fun to make and people seem to like them as much as I do!

                                                      Getting to grips with the wire weaving!

                                                                 Attempt number one!

Attempt number two!

Pink Beachcomber

A customer asked me if I could create a girly beachcomber style bracelet using antique gold/bronze and this is what I came up with

I've made this using Rose Quartz, Freshwater pearls, golden mother of pearl chunks, Picture Jasper, Swarovski Bicone's. handmade African beads, solid antique gold rounds and circular disc's. 

Officially In Love

Have just seen this on my facebook feed from RoEnchantedDesigns and I'm in love with it. The colours, the design, the beads everything about it is stunning! It's just beautiful. 

Money Well Spent?

So, I've been living in Birmingham for just over a year now with my boyfriend and his parents and have what I call my own 'Bead Emporium' room, which is essentially like a teeny conservatory/back porch type thing. As you can imaging, it gets very messy and beads are not exactly the easiest thing to keep tidy and organised and if you're anything like me and are not great at 'tidy' in general life...well then, you see where I'm going with this. I decided enough was enough. I went out, bought alot of boxes and have started tidying up. (probably much to the relief of my boyfriends parents!) It gets worse before it gets better though...I hope! There will eventually be a worktop in here where the black cabinet is-recycling from the office upstairs.

Despite all the beads and the mess you can never have too much and I've just won a facebook giveaway hosted by Scarlet Impressions  and this is what I've won-a fab handmade bead called Little lady. 

 

More cupcakes

These are my first attempts at making my own beaded cupcake charms. You can see from the first picture just how small they really are! :) You can see more stuff here www.facebook.com/tashasbeads

Cupcakes.

I love cupcakes. An awful lot of people do and I want to make some teeny hand woven cupcake charms. I have found a good tutorial (see below) by MythrilAngel on DeviantArt and they seem pretty easy to make. Have just got back from Milton Keynes about 20mins ago, so hopefully this week there will be a new beaded cupcake charm bracelet.