Lockdown - Overthinking, Goslings, Socially Isolating Chickens and Stripey Stuff

So, two and a half months since my last blog post. That must be a record. Not one to be proud of I have to say. (I initially wrote 'two and a half moths' until I noticed and corrected it, still, I like the image it throws up. . . )
I suppose the enforced limbo we are all in has eroded any sense of urgency I might have felt. Also, feeling guilty about not posting for weeks doesn't help. How can I possibly post after so long a gap? etc. etc.
Oh well, I am doing it now aren't I?

Scratch design rustic, turned look tube beads

The trouble is, for us, so far this lockdown has actually been rather pleasant, which is something else to feel guilty about. We have had fine weather, a lovely big garden to spend time in, access to pleasant country walks and good, responsible neighbours. I know, sickening. . . And it's so much like the everyday existence of self employed freelancers working from home, which is all I have ever done, that it doesn't even feel even vaguely disconcerting. (OK, the supermarket trip is a bit weird with 2 metre distances and masks etc but everyone is pretty chilled and considerate. I tend to go at 8.30 a.m. to avoid any queues.)

Pleasing shape stripey rounded bicone type beads

I feel guilty mentioning it, which makes no sense really. Feeling guilty doesn't actually help anybody else. You can end up feeling guilty because you feel you ought to, that somehow it's not right not to feel guilty considering the predicament some people find themselves in.  Somehow it's the least you can do. You find yourself feeling guilty for even wanting to not feel guilty. . . Like it's a social responsibility to make yourself suffer because others are suffering. Not that affluent middle class guilt is in any way comparable to real suffering you understand. Anyway, I've been round this convoluted moral dilemma enough times for one blog post so I'll stop wittering on about it. Apart from to say that of course I miss seeing friends and family, I miss pubs, I miss meals out, I miss finding cool things in charity shops and I miss playing music with others, but as long as they are just deferred pleasures and not permanently withdrawn ones I can cope without them.

Extremely bad taste

Obviously we wish the situation was different for those unfortunate enough to have been directly affected by this potentially lethal virus, and send them our sincere sympathy/empathy/thoughts/prayers/support. Meanwhile we will keep our heads down and maintain social distance and all the things a certain government advisor has shamelessly ignored recently. I'm not even going there apart from to say 'Grrrrrrrrrr!'. . .

Distressed blunt ended turned look spike bead

As I am talking about domestic stuff, I'm pleased to say that the two geese have done themselves proud and produced two wonderful, greeny yellow, fluffy goslings. ( I don't have pics, sorry) They have even reinvented themselves as good parents, the goslings are about two and a half weeks old and are thriving, unlike last year when the poor little things lasted two days.

Using some simple digital patterns and upcycled steel split rings

The chickens are also in lockdown. We have confined them to the orchard and the pond area, as they were trashing the spring flowers and threatening the well being of anything that might show it's head in the veg patch. (and pooing everywhere) There is more than enough room for the four of them and they are still amongst the most environmentally fortunate chooks you will ever come across so don't waste any sympathy on them ;-)

Weird conjoined tube bead focal thing

My jewellery components have had a few ups and downs, but that is more to do with general retail variation and the fact that I make different stuff every week which will either tickle someone's fancy or not. Recently things have been going nicely, so that is one more thing that hasn't changed much in this time of lockdown. They say that craft supplies are undergoing a boom as people turn to crafting to alleviate the boredom of lockdown. Not so sure about that in my case as I sell to a variety of repeat customers with only the occasional new buyer appearing. Whatever, I am still busy making stuff, so again, situation almost normal. .

An actual necklace - 'Red Lorry -Yellow Lorry' retro rubber stamp images with nylon garden string. .

I have been experimenting as usual, and producing variations on tried and tested things too. The images throughout this post are in chronological order, (apart from the first one) just showing some of the things I have made and mostly sold in the last two and a half months. Enjoy ;-)

I will post again soon, probably. . . ;-)

best, Jon x

Sideways spikes, like fairgound ride spaceships

Boombox!

Seriously large hole tube beads

Multi blob painted distressed spikes

Image transfer wrapped chunky large hole wooden beads

Face

Stripey painted tube beads - these and others like them have been popular ;-)

These rustic image trans wrapped tubes have been popular too

Pruning, which has no relation to Prunes, Swords, Mixing Wires and Getting Back into it All

Well, the weather got a bit wintery for a change! In a good way, it's been dismally dull and wet for weeks round here. Steady light rain and the kind of dull light that makes you feel like you never actually woke up fully, so you mooch around, squelching across the mud and moss that may revert to something like a lawn one day if it ever stops raining, grumbling, mumbling and tripping over the chickens, feeling like your battery failed to recharge properly and you left your 'oomph' in your other trousers. .

But a few days ago it was crisp and bright. Cold, (comparatively of course - this is the south eastern bit of the UK after all) but we had bright sunshine for two whole days, which meant it was actually pleasant to be outside. This was convenient as there was work to be done in the garden. 

The apple trees needed pruning and as it was the right time of year for such activity I got the ladder out and set to work. I might have been a bit too enthusiastic as when I looked up a Youtube vid or two  after the event, (I know!) it seems I cut some of the new growth back a bit too much. Still, I got rid of the millions of spindly vertical bits called 'watershoots', that produce neither fruit nor blossom, so if we get fewer apples this year than we potentially might it's no great loss as we usually get far too many anyway. . . 

It's the cooking apple tree up next, Bramleys, lovely great big buggers they are. We get shedloads of them, maybe I should start up an apple pie factory or something. 

Still I'm not really complaining, I am only doing a good impression of somebody complaining, I mean, we have an actual (small) orchard FFS! Not something I imagined I would be lucky enough to own years ago ;-) So I feel suitably blessed.

Anyway, pruning aside, I have been back in my workshop making stuff. I think people, including me in my capacity as a person, are a bit tired of the chunky rectangular image transfer stuff I've been making lately, so I will leave that alone for a while I think. 

I am busy making some spike related things. Spikes with a slight difference, as I am using upcycled wire instead of copper for the bails and loops. Something I have done before but not quite in this way. I have been making Swords. . . Cool huh?

Oh yeah, before I knocked the image trans stuff on the head temporarily I messed around with using thin copper wire wrapped round some of the upcycled wire I like to use as bails etc.

Note the copper leg warmers, very 80's

I liked the effect, so I have integrated it into the Sword thing. . .

 

Selling wise, things have been a bit slow but it's all going OK, with a few things actually selling on Etsy believe it or not. Maybe I have ceased to be invisible there for a brief time, who knows?
Anyway, onwards and upwards, or at least not backwards and downwards, the climate is taking that journey on it seems. . . ;-(
Until next time, whenever that might turn out to be,
be well,
cheers
Jon x