Just finished

Another wall hanging just finished.

This is 56cm square and includes some lovely big scallop shells I found washed up on the beach after a big storm.  The colours weren't very nice so I used some metallic paint to brighten them up.
The glass is irridescent sky blue and the swirls in the middle representing waves started out as wooden coasters!

New Mirror

It's been going well in the Gallery,  I've sold more than I expected and have lots of ideas for more to make.  I've also enjoyed working in the shop and meeting the customers.

Here is a mirror I've just finished which I'll put on display next.  It is made with black and red iridescent glass which is lovely but hard to do justice to in a photo.  It looks a bit wonky  here but that's only because I've photographed it at a slight angle to avoid my reflection and then cropped it - I wasn't drunk when making it!

Go with the flow

It's been a busy month because of being at the Gallery for three days - I've enjoyed meeting the customer and the other artists.

As well as making some smaller items I've also spent a while on this peace called 'Flow'.  It's made mostly with things I've found on the beach with a few other sparkly bits thrown in!  I hope it will be on display at the Gallery this week.

Installed

Some of my work was displayed in the gallery last Thursday and by Monday three small things had been sold!  That's a great start and has inspired me to quickly get on with producing some more things to put in before Christmas.

I have to work for a couple of days 'shadowing' other members to be shown  the ropes then I'll be  running the shop myself for one day every three weeks after that.

It's great to have an outlet for selling as otherwise it's hard to justify making even more but my home is looking rather bare now  so I have two excuses to get busy again!   I had started laying out a design on a massive semi-circular piece of wood but as this  would probably fill one whole wall at the gallery and I don't think that would be allowed, I've dismantled it and am using the materials on a much more manageable sized base.

Shoreham Gallery

I've been given a space at the Shoreham Gallery to display and hopefully sell my mosaics, beach art and cards.  It's a really nice shop run by a co-operative of artists and makers who share the costs and work in running it.  I'm looking forward to joining them and getting to know some other local crafty people and feel quite excited about it.  The standard of work is very high so I hope I can make my display match!

You can see their web site at http://www.shorehamgallery.co.uk

The house number mosaic is on the wall and each time I've been free to go and photograph it it's been raining.  Hopefully soon...

Delivered At Last!

At last I have done the grouting in black which is very messy, finished cutting and sticking the numbers and delivered the finished work to Juliet yesterday.  She is very happy with it and her husband even admitted to liking it!  I'll take some photo's once it's up on the wall for all to see.

On Sunday I went to my friend Sarah's armed with boxes full of cards to sell at her McMillan Coffee morning.  It was a bit risky setting up in the garden in very overcast weather but the forecast was right, the sun shone throughout the event and almost everyone who came bought several cards from me.  I was very flattered to hear that some had been hoping I'd be there so that they could stock up again.  Must remember order lots more of the new Brighton & Hove Albion one showing the Amex Stadium which sold out fast.

Preview of house number and table finished!

Juliet is home from holiday and I had to go to the beach today for my first training session at the coast watch tower (I'm going to start volunteering there).  I'd arranged to call round to the house for her to decide on the final things and to see it in place. Unfortunately it was a very wet and windy day (force 6 I'd measured earlier)! and so not ideal for viewing outside.

Juliet was clearly happy with it and seemed very excited that it's nearly finished.  The children gave it a cursory glance but her husband inspected it very carefully peering closely from all angles and not saying a thing.  We asked why he didn't like it and he pointed out that he hadn't said anything (not realising that we girls knew it all from the body language)!  We laughed at the time but I really hope he grows to like it as it will be shining out to welcome him every time he goes home....  Can't wait to see it up in place.

Back to the table - it turned out that my favourite supplier can't get the tiles I was using as singles any more either and had nothing suitable in his bin (only big much thicker tiles).  Why is nothing ever straight forward?!  I tried another shop very half-heartedly wondering how on earth I'd finish the job and was amazed to be shown two shades of blue in a range of discontinued tiles which they still had some samples for and which were exactly the same thickness of those I'd been using.  I was very surprised and pleased and was finally able to finish cutting and sticking then grouted the table yesterday.  Ta Dah!

before grouting .finished.