Updated Photography

Silver jewellery can be quite tricky to photograph as it needs the right background and can be hard to light correctly. My photography style is quite simple, I always use natural light, I often use my own hand to give the item scale but I have been keeping my eye out for some kind of ceramic piece to use as a new backdrop for my designs.

I knew I would have a good chance of finding something at the Contemporary Craft Festival at Bovey Tracey. It did mean a 5 hour car journey with the husband and my 8 month old baby in tow, but it was well worth the cost of petrol and snacks! The quality of exhibitors was very high and I yearned after so many pieces, but as soon as I caught sight of the work of Wendy Lawrence I knew I had to have something!

My budget was limited to say the least so I had to buy a small piece, which was a small decorative tile. But the variation in texture and colour was just perfect and I feel that it works really well as an interesting but not overbearing background. Here are a few of my new shots . . . (more can be found on my Facebook page)

I made this - Butterfly Thank You Keepsakes

Here's one of my latest lines, a Fine Silver Butterfly Charm/Keepsake with the word Thank You stamped on the front. It comes with a pretty ribbon bow and a lovely little fabric gift pouch. On sale now at my Not on the High Street Store or at a discount if you like my Facebook page

Amazing Carpentry

Wow, check out this site. The most fantastic creations at Straight Line Designs

I made these! Elephant and House Brooches

Just launched! My new Elephant and House brooches! I've always been a big fan of elephants so just had to create one in silver for my Not on the High Street Store.

I also love this little house. I cast the silver clay as a blank house and etch in the door and windows afterwards, so each one will be different. Want to make a batch of these so I can create a little street of silver cottages!

Valentines Facebook Giveaway!

Hands up who wants to win a pair of my Silver Hammered Heart Earrings?

Here's how to win - 

1. Like my Facebook page for 1 entry to the draw.
2. Share this link on Facebook for another entry to the draw.
3. Retweet this on Twitter mentioning this comment and including @beauty_detail for another chance to win.
4. Leave a comment below the VALENTINES GIVEAWAY post on Facebook telling me about the best Valentines Day present that you have received or given for (yep you guessed it) another entry to the draw!

(maximum of four entries per person)

Once I reach 100 Likes I will use random.org to select the winner!

Good Luck
xxx


Click here to enter the competition!

Facebook Page!

Decided to join the crowd and set up a Facebook page for The Beauty is in the Detail . . . Would love for you all to join me on there. I'm planning on offering regular freebies to help drum up interest so just click the image below to be forwarded to the page and just click the Like button to join the gang!

See you there,

Shelley
xxx

I made this! - Silver Tree, Silver Pear, Silver Speech Bubble and Silver Cat brooches

I've been so inspired of late to create several new designs to sell in my Not on the High Street store that I could be making jewellery at any spare minute, which with a 16 week old baby in tow I am actually doing. I foolishly believed that whilst I was on Maternity Leave I would have so much time to dedicate to my craft, but what I have realised is how much I love making these crazy little things and love the idea of potentially making this into a full time career for me (a little way off that at the moment!) Here are four more new designs that I added to my store today -

Using Art Clay Silver allows me to create my own moulds. I start off by designing the original, sometimes using Sculpey Mold Maker, but more recently I've been using erasers which I carve my design into using lino cutting tools and scalpels. I then make a cast using a two part silicone putty which becomes the mould then for the silver clay. I love the way I can keep a sketchy look to my designs and how each carved line can become a feature. The main appeal to making these pieces is how every time each one is slightly different depending on how I cast the clay and how I sand and smooth the clay once dry before firing. I personally love the wonky, imperfect look it creates and think this is a feature and that perfection is not always the aim!

I've also tried to incorporate my brand name into my pieces which I've achieved by designing some tiny rubber stamps in varying shapes and sizes which I can press into the back of each piece (if they are big enough). I'm quite pleased with how these look - here's a photo of the back of my latest snoozy cat brooch -

Packaging is another area I am trying to improve on. I often use my Moo Mini Cards as backing cards to my brooches and earrings before I tissue wrap them, but I've started to offer a Gift Box option which has really proven a tricky exercise in finding a nice quality and colour gift box in the right size. There are so many gift boxes available but they all were either funny colours or had sateen ribbon glued to them. May have found some finally that I like and am looking into getting my logo embossed onto the lid which should look lovely. For now though, here are some of my lines on my new Moo backing cards - 

I made this! - Silver Cloud, Silver Moustache and Silver Whale brooches

Been busy lately working on some new designs! Here are three of my most recent additions to my Not on the High Street Store -

I made this! - Solid Silver Buttons

Whilst making a fabric brooch for a friend I thought it would finish it off nicely to sew a real silver button into the centre so I made a silicon mould from a nicely shaped button and then cast one in Art Clay Silver. I loved how this little button looked so decided to make these to sell. There are three sizes, which look really nice sewn as a group onto a coat or bag but I'm also selling them separately so people can either buy several of the same size for sewing projects or individual buttons as little tokens of love or friendship. Available in my Not on the High Street Store - 

Bumpy Arrived!!

Well on October the 14th at 9.05pm my little boy, Olly Anthony Weeks came into the world. All 9lb 8oz of him, ouch! Three months on I'm just about feeling back to normal (if things will ever be truly normal again!). I'll attach some photos of my little smurf below. . . (my best creation so far!) -