Monday 12 February 2018

Spikes, Car Trouble, Rationalising Bead Boxes and Appreciating Past Efforts


Well, this is a bit late, as I try to post every ten days, but we took a short break for our combined birthdays and various DIY things happened too. But I did get some time in my workshop despite all that. 

I sold a bunch more spikes things on Facebook last week. So I am feeling appreciated ;-) These pictured below are some of they. .




On a less happy note, I managed to reverse into a friend's car on our drive a day or two ago, so the feeling of being appreciated is only transient. . . An insurance job, as it bent the front wing and cracked the lens on the headlight. My car was merely scratched a bit. 
Oh well, there goes me no claims bonus for a while. The rear visibility is not good in my car, but that is a poor excuse.
To bore you further, said car has done 100k miles, so I splashed out for a service. The mechanic asked me when the cam belt (I don't know either) had been changed, I said as far as I knew, I didn't think it had, so he looked it up in the manual. It contained the interesting information that it should have been changed 40k miles ago. . . So I have been pushing my luck apparently.


Back to bead matters - I have been sorting out my various bead boxes, in conjunction with checking my laptop, with a view to working out which beads have been listed on Etsy, which have expired, and which never got as far as being listed in the first place. There are surprising number of things that aren't in my shop. I am going to start remedying that situation forthwith.


It's been nice seeing some old friends lurking in their little compartments. Some things I was, and still am quite proud of. I always learn something from looking at what I was doing a year or so ago, it's easy to forget how far you have come in that period. And to realise what you have also forgotten, some it useful stuff that you would do well to remember.

Here are some of my new spikes, for sale in the LBA Galleria Elementals group on Facebook. Only a glimmer of interest so far, but give it 24 hours and we'll see where we are.




On to more general stuff, like the weather. . . 

Time marches on, and as was the case this time last year, (and every other year I imagine) the aconites are out in the garden, and some snowdrops, some cyclamen and even some crocuses are coming out. The hazelnut trees have catkins hanging off them, and all sorts of daffodils and suchlike bulbs are determinedly pushing their way out of the ground. At least Spring seems like something that will happen in due course. I even heard a skylark singing the other day, when the sun broke through. Don't know what it was thinking. . .
Winter ain't over yet however. I don't mind, as long as it stops blooming' raining. This winter has just been sodden. Give me a crisp, cold day anytime instead of dismal wetness and uncomfortable blustery winds. . . Extreme weather? We get extremely dull. Hence no photos ;-)
Jon x

3 comments:

  1. The spikes are fabulous, love the blue ones!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love that you make beads Jon. It amazes me and what you do make amazes me as well. Your spikes are superb. There's no surprise that they are selling so well.

    I believe what got my attention in the first place was your laser printed stuff. You've gone many ways since then and then back again now and then.

    I think as artists we tend to get involved in our explorations. I know I need to start keeping a journal of how I managed to create some things. My mind is NOT a steel trap - more like a steel sieve...and I forget things quickly and have to relearn a lot of what I do. It's really annoying.
    I hope that as you study your bead boxes you remember how you made those beauties!

    As for weather and cars. I went out to mine yesterday with the intent of making a medical appointment only to find my SUV frozen and unable to turn over. I had not been paying attention to the temps forecasted because lets face it - once winter hits here who wants to step outside? You might as well forget it and spend those 5 or 6 months in the studio looking out at the snow or completely ignoring it. Which I did. Unfortunately it had dropped to -40 overnight and my poor vehicle wasn't plugged in. That's something we need to do here to keep the oil from getting so sluggish it won't move.

    Because we live in this crazy weather it's the norm for vehicles not to start or for roads to be unsafe due to snow conditions and changing a medical appointment isn't that hard to do. I've got fingers crossed that tomorrow and Friday have good enough conditions for me to get out to my appointments - and yes - I've got the silly thing plugged in.

    I'm quite jealous that your flowers are starting to poke through. It will be months before we see anything green around here. (I think I need to move)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks ;-) I am due an image transfer binge I think. I am being distracted by actually making things that sell ;-)
      I hear you about relearning. I find that after a few days of not being in the studio, when i do get back in there it takes maybe a day of struggling and messing things up before it starts to flow again and I remember what worked before and what didn't. I think you have to almost expect it, and relax into it somehow. In theory anyway ;-)
      I can't imagine -40 degrees and would rather not try. . . brrr.

      Delete