Messing about with silver

I was trying to get a bit further with all the projects I have going at the moment.
The first job was a clearing up session to try to get a working area. During this process I found a little cheap St Christopher pendant I aquired when I bought a second hand chain. Well since he isn't officially a saint any more I decided to melt him. It's a fairly nasty little pendant anyway, (sorry if you have one like it)

 Here's the original little pendant, about the size of a 5p and very thin, with an embossed image, which is not much clearer than that close up.

Here's the melted result, I'm quite pleased that I've managed to keep the little hanging loop. I like the colours on the reverse, I doubt if I'll be able to keep those if I want to clean the rest, I'll give it a try though.

I've actually combed some of the fleece, I bought two 'slicker' combs for dogs from Wilkos (wilkinsons for the uninitiated) for about £3.50 each rather than about 10 times that for proper carding combs. I've also started making the body for one of the paper puppets. The paper rabbit has a coat of gesso ready for decorating. I've really got to concentrate on one project at a time.

As a complete side issue how about this jackdaw posing for me in the local churchyard last week.

Oh and here's a slow worm who visited last sunday.

In the background you can see a clutter of moulds and deckles, a bowl of pulp and the paper rabbit, just to prove I'm working hard.

Sunday

My only day off this week so I was determined to make the most of it. A latish start, I got up as my husband was leaving for work! I usually try to do an hour of yoga before breakfast but I've had a dodgy back for over a week so I was taking it a bit easy today. Breakfast, and then housework. Very dull but it's gotta be done don't it. I had lunch around 3.15, well I didn't get up 'till 9.30! then attacked our disastrous garden.

We live in a tiny 19th century cottage with 2 rooms down and 2 up but it has loads of garden, seemed like a good idea when we bought it! There's about 50 feet at the front which is relatively cvilised and almost looks like a garden.

 By the way does anyone know what those white flowers are?

There's 100 feet at the back, fine except that it slopes very steeply. Outside the back door is a tiny yard with steps leading up about 6 feet or so to the garden, which hasn't had anything done to it for years. Last year our neighbour, who does gardening professionally, strimmed it down for us, took him a day and a half! We had dug over the bottom few feet and put fleece down, and some slate chips on the first flat bit, but that's it. So the last two sundays I've been digging a bit more, trouble is there's a lot of bramble which has roots about a mile long! By the way while digging I met a slow worm and a newt.  At least the wildlife like the garden!

This is a view from our back bedroom window, the stone wall at the top holds back the bank leading up to an old railway line which used to run trains to and from Barnstaple and brought holiday makers from all over. It didn't close until the early 70s and is now part of the national cycle network. Actually that bit of wall is behind my neighbour's garden as the angle of the gardens is a bit odd, you can just make out the blossom from the smaller of two apple trees, we've never had fruit from that one as the crows get them before we've managed to struggle up there! There's the remains of a dry stone wall just above the fleece covered bit, I'm hoping  to rebuild that eventually.

Here's a slightly closer view,you can see all the stuff I've dug out in the wheel barrow!

After my husband got home we sat out in the front garden for a cup of tea and spotted these new ferns growing against next door's porch wall under an old fuschia.




Planning to get on with some beading tonight, I have a repair to do for a friend who was given a piece of my work as a leaving present when she changed jobs last year. I need to find a way to stop my vintage bugle beads from cutting through the threads! Any tips anyone.