Inspiration

I was inspired today, it happened on my local antiques and collectors market in Barnstaple, I found a 'thing' it's one of those nameless random broken things that turn up on occasion.
The man whose stall it was, selling lovely old stoneware and glass bottles mostly, told me it was found in Budleigh Salterton on a site dating from around 1928, a lady chatting to him suggested it might be one of those scissors holders from a chatelaine, it could be, but it could also be almost anything else.

Here's one side

and the other, the pictures were taken on an old piece of slate in my front garden.
It's broken off at the narrow end and a bit damaged at the other end as well.

I've started to clean it a bit, it's obviously going to take a while to get it cleaned properly

The 'thing', beginning to clean it.

It appears to be brass and made from a thickish sheet, rolled and joined down one edge, I would say it was never an expensive item although it has a nice  stamped and engraved pattern.

I have an idea to create a fairly flamboyant piece of jewellery, the image in my head has a fountain of beads coming out of the top and another falling from the bottom, can't decide if it should be a necklace or a brooch, the brooch option is harder!

This could be an opportunity to use all, or some, of the other 'things' I've acquired over the years.

Watch this space...............

Latest Stuff

Seems like a long time since I posted anything. So here goes. Recently the national sandcastle competition took place in Woolacombe Bay. This is an annual event to raise money for the local Hospice.

This picture shows an attempt on the world record for the most sandcastles built in an hour, unfortunately the attempt fell a few short but there are plans to try again.

Building teams hard at work on their entries for the main competition

Finished entries

 The winner 

 second prize, can you spot the flames in his nostrils?

 Another view of the winning entry

 That flaming dragon again

 Third prize from Ilfracombe Round Table

 Smiley turtle

Woolacombe Bay holiday park entry

As you can see there were some amazing entries and lots of hard work.

Well done everyone and it was a glorious hot sunny day too!

The weekend before this, Ilfracombe held it's first ever arts festival, part of the North Devon Arts Festival, it was an amazing success and I took part in the craft fair in The Lantern, a lovely converted Methodist chapel in the High Street. I didn't make many sales but made a contact with a lady who runs a gallery at Instow, where I now have a few pieces on display.

This is a recent piece I'm quite pleased with, which is now at the Waterside Gallery Instow

10 minute holidays

As owners of a tourist attraction we don't get summer holidays, we go away in November or December. Don't run away with the idea we are in the Caribbean though, last year we were in Branscombe South Devon. It's a lovely little village, we had forgotten  that was where the Napoli broke up,

Link to the Wikipedia page about Branscome
The ships anchor, absolutely huge, is there as a memorial. Having seen the news reports, and now visited the village, it must have been horrendous! The village is very narrow and is all along one road spread for miles, with a tiny square where we rented a flat, and a couple of even smaller roads leading off.
As you can see the weather was brilliant, but it was December!
As you can imagine February, when the season starts officially,  to November is a VERY long time. We have had some time off earlier this year but as it involved funerals and very sad times for our family not really a restful time.
We take what little time outs we can, like the walk on the beach a couple of days ago or a quick visit to a cafe after the weekly shop or as this morning after the bank run for the week.
It's amazing how much relaxation you can squeeze into ten miutes if you have to. I'm lucky as I get Sundays off when it's term time but that means a whle week of housework, gardening and anything else crammed into one day.
This approach to relaxation could apply to anyone, if you're feeling stressed take 5 or 10 minutes out,  go somewhere quiet, a local park, your back garden, or just an empty room if you're at work, anywhere you can be quiet and preferably alone or with someone you don't have to talk to if you don't want to. Just stare at the landscape or the sky or an attractive plant, even a blank wall!  It will pick you up no end. I'm hoping this will help other people to deal with their stress. if not maybe a book will help you find your own way to deal with it.

Bike on railings at Budleigh Salterton at sunset.

AHA solved the mousepad problem, I hope. Needed to download a new driver. All done and now I have adjustable settings again. Getting aroud without a car at the moment, not fun in deepest Devon I live a brisk 20 minute walk from my bus stop and then about 35-40 minutes bus ride. Luckily my neighbour has given me lifts both ways most days. Much appreciated.

Ramblings

Hello, just watched Moon on DVD very interesting film, proper science fiction and a good thriller too. Saw Avatar at the pictures on Saturday loved it! I'm being very lazy about jewellery making at the moment. I have some very nice pebbles from South Devon to work with, by the way I take maybe one or two small pebbles from any beach as they are necessary to the beach surviving, in fact some beaches have scary threatening fines for removing pebbles! I need to learn about the geology of these stones as I have no idea what I'm using.

Link to my Misi shop where the pebble necklace can be bought

This one is a small (1" approx) pebble from North Devon, not polished at all just as it came off the beach, drilled and with a silver mount. Photographed on it's home beach.

New Year

Happy New Year, here's hoping for a prosperous one for everyone, or at least everyone who deserves it and we all have a list of people who don't!

Here's a wonderful snowman made outside Barnstaple Library, the maker gave him a newspaper to read, but I substituted a picture book about a polar bear for the photograph. I don't know if you can tell but he has a proper nose and mouth. Just after I took the photo some kids thought it would be funny to dump him in the library foyer, oh hahaha. Shame as he was rather wonderful, and considerably less so as a heap of snow on a carpet!

Tuesday 15th September

Beautiful day in North Devon, blue skies at last! Went out on to Mortehoe on sunday evening, home of David Kennard the famous shepherd. Gorgeous sunset and a lovely flat calm. Sounds of sheep rrrrrripping grass and a few birds. Quite a steep walk in places but worth it. Makes a nice calm end to a day. Saw a pheasant and heard several others. Hardly anyone on Woolacombe beach now. The whole place starts to slow back down to a normal Devon pace.

Local Police in Barnstaple have been given powers to disperse troublemaking groups, not sure what I think about that. Problem is who decides what is troublemaking?

This is a view of Lundy Island from Morte Point.I've never been there, trouble  with running a tourist attraction everything is closed or unavailable once you have any spare time. Oh well one day when we retire.