Sunday 27 June 2010

Helloooo!

Long time no speak!

This is a short post here, just to let you all know that I now have a blog at

http://www.rebeccacrabtree.blogspot.com/

I'd be grateful if you would follow me over there as I will be making that my main blog.  Keeping a blog for each area of my businesses is proving a headache!  So the new one is all about me and whatever creative things I'm working on, be it new classes for Fired Silver, new jewellery for my own site or new things at Tiny Charms

See you there!

Sunday 2 May 2010

Haydock Park Bead Fair

It was the Haydock Park bead fair today, and I got to go as a shopper this year!!

Because it is dangerous for me to be let loose at a bead fair, I literally ran in bought what I "needed", chatted to a few friends and left again!! I was only there about an hour!

So, here are my essential purchases

This is a Titanium Drusy Cabochon, and I love it!! It's a really pretty bronze colour and very reflective as you can see!!  Lots of pink hues in it too.

I may be slightly addicted to these!



Now this one is really girly and thats unlike me!  Bright Pink - it must be summer.


These will be made into jewellery soon - I'm hoping one of them will fit into a Masters Registry project I have in mind, so you won't see that one for a while!


Of course, I couldn't pay a visit to a bead fair without hunting down some lampwork!  There were less lampworkers there this year which I thought was surprising, but I still bought a corker of a bead

Its a devil to photograph, but its a beautiful transparent purple with gold fuming.  I absolutely adore it.

Friday 30 April 2010

Anyone got a fairy???

I could really do with a fairy to come in and blitz my job list!! So if any of you can lend me your job fairy that'd be great!!

This weekend I will sort out my webpage listing for the PMC Starter Kits - yes this has been an ongoing saga, but they're finally ready.  I'll be offering a couple of different level of kits, with basic tool kits starting at £25.  I wanted to include the best quality tools so that you don't waste money on cheaper versions which then need to be replaced.

Also top of my job list now is to re-write the PMC Certification pages on my website.  I put the exisiting pages up as a temporary measure so that everyone could see what the modules covered.  I'm trying to get sample pieces made up so that there will be at least one photo example against every project.  But at 20 projects in total that isn't going to happen overnight!!

Hopefully I'll have a couple of pictures for you over the weekend if I get to finish some of the sample pieces.

Monday 19 April 2010

exciting new stock

I'm still furiously working on new products for the website.  I want the webshop to contain a really good selection of products, but I don't want to stock products just for the sake of it!  So, all the products I stock are things I use myself.

I've got a whole new range of cutters on the way which is really exciting.  The reason I haven't stocked them in the past was because I couldn't find a range that I was happy with - I hate cutters with big seams because then you have to sand/repair.

The cutters that are on the way are beautifully made - in the UK, yay!

Monday 5 April 2010

Easter Break

Happy Easter everyone.  Hope you've all eaten too much chocolate!!

I've been taking a well earned break from the computer!  The last month or so has seen me working constantly on my website design, ebay or etsy listings and I was getting to burnout with it all!

So what have I been doing?  Obviously spending time with my family, and trying to get back on track with my creative side which has been very neglected lately.  I've started making up some sample pieces for the PMC Certification Modules.  So far, I've been leaf painting, ring making and mould making!  I'd forgotten just how therapeutic I find leaf painting!

I've also been having a first play with Art Clay Copper - just made some really simple pieces as tests.  They all need to be fired now. I even let my 4 year old loose with the copper!  She's made 2 pendants herself, and seems to be a natural!!

Thursday 1 April 2010

PMC Certification Classes

Another bit of exciting news is that I have become one of The PMC Studio's Area Training Centres.  This means that I am now able to offer PMC Certification classes at my studio.

This is really exciting.  In the past I had looked into offering Art Clay certification classes, but after doing Art Clay Level 1 certification I changed my mind and decided for various reasons it wasn't for me.  So I stuck to my guns and carried on teaching as I always had, because I believe in doing something that you believe in.

When the chance arose for me to teach PMC Certification, I knew it was right for me.  The new modules are great and cover a really good range of techniques.  I believe they really set you up with good quality training and knowledge.

My website now has details of the projects covered, and also a calendar of classes available for the rest of 2010.  I can't wait to get started!

Sunday 28 March 2010

Remeber Me??!!

I know, I know I've been hopeless at blogging recently but that'll change now I promise!

There has been a lot going on here at Fired Silver HQ!  Probably too much to write about in one post, and certainly at this time of night, but I will update you fully over the next few days - promise!

News Item No 1 - A number of weeks ago, I took over all the stock from a company called Craftgemz.  I have been a customer of their's for a number of years and they stocked the most gorgeous range of fireproof gems to use in PMC and Art Clay.  When I found out they were closing, the opportunity to buy all of their stock was just too fabulous to turn down!!

So a number of weeks later and I've finally finished sorting and bagging the stones - over 40,000 of them!  I've got most of them uploaded on the website now and you can see them on the Gemstones page of my website.  I hope to get the rest of the stock uploaded over the next few days.

More news to follow............................