When it's all worth it...

For months now, I knew that end of October would be busy....very busy! After two days of the UK Wedding Show in Manchester, I got up at 3.20am on Monday morning, threw random clothes in a backpack, and drove for four hours down to Trowbridge (near Bath) for a course with the lovely Julie Anne Denton. So, for weeks, I told myself "just make it to that Monday night" - you'll be able to sleep that night, and all will be well on Tuesday. I don't think I fooled anybody when I tried to look lively yesterday, but, lively or not, I don't believe I've learnt so much in a day for a long time.

The course is about flameworking and sandcasting - flameworking pieces that then get put into cast glass pieces - if that makes sense. We saw a demonstration with Julie doing it, and we had plenty of torch time - aided and abetted by Kim of Liquid Glass allowing us to use the studio until 7pm. I finally turned off the torch at 6.50pm, and the me-time at the torch (the first time to *play* for months since we emptied the garage) was *almost* as good as sleep ;-)

Among the lampworking demonstrations Julie did were one of her gorgeous ladies - this one a juggler - and a dichroic vortex marble. I have to admit I only took photos of the sandcasting demonstration, after that I was busy!!

This is an all-round course - as Julie explained, we'll be having a lot of test pieces and - we hope - one beautiful piece at the end. So we spent time drawing, and thinking, and trying stuff at the torch. The kiln got quite full with all our flamework, including a couple of marbles, a space rocket, and a *lot* of ladies!

I'll try and blog every day, so watch this space! Photos of the course will be uploaded here.

UK Wedding Show

How do you know you're doing a busy fair on your own? When it takes you two-and-a-half hours to eat a simple sandwich, that's when!

Yes, I'm at the UK Wedding Show this week - which seems a bit odd, since other people with stalls include House of Fraser, John Lewis, the BBC, and other huge names.....but also an 'owl bearer', i.e. having your wedding rings delivered by an owl (no, the owl is not at the stall). I'm half way through, one day down, one day to go - only time will tell whether it was a worthwhile investment :o)

Studio update

Okay.....builder came today, and built up one gable - it has to be propped up for a week for the mortar to set, to make sure the RSJ doesn't buckle. And it has to set for 3 weeks before they can drill a hole for my ventilation. So....if it doesn't rain tomorrow, he'll do the other end. If it does, he'll come on Sunday - and if it rains then, we'll be set back another week - aaaaaaaah!

It's alive!

The new Now Forevermore website, that is. It's part of a one-two punch, the second update will happen at Christmas, with 'View Cart' buttons, 'Customers who bought this also bought', and feature buttons. But for now, I'm a happy bunny - I hope you like it!

Excuses to drink Champagne...

I've not blogged much about what's happening with Now Forevermore, but, truth is, things have been a little hectic! I'll be at the UK Wedding Show at Manchester GMEX this week-end, and have been frantically preparing. I've finally got round to making champagne jewellery, with beads created from a bottle of champagne. I know plenty of people have made beads from recycled bottles, and I'm excited to add that service to my wedding range - fingers crossed it drives home the uniqueness of what lampwork can do for your wedding, lol! I made enough beads for cufflinks, two pendants (only one in view), one pair of earrings, a bracelet, and a big hole/pandora bead - now all I need to do is update the website before the big day, and all systems are go!

With effort, like a squirrel

There's a German saying 'the squirrel feeds itself with effort' - presumably referring to a lot of effort to get into one dinky little nut. Anyway. The building inspector came Monday and gave the go ahead, but the builder could only come out Saturday. So yesterday, they started. They were also supposed to finish, I think, ready for the roofer to move in on Monday. This got slightly scuppered when it took three hours alone to remove a stone ready for the RSJ to hold the gable end. So they said they'd come back today (Sunday) to carry on. That was before they saw that the RSJ they had chosen was buckling under the first two rows of stones they'd managed to build up......about four rows to go.......so they took them down again, and the build is now held up until they can find the right RSJ for the job. There's another German saying - 'things that take forever will finally come good' - here's to hope, lol!

Trials and tribulations

Well, when we found out we needed a Building Notice and requested it on Tuesday, all looked well. When the form still hadn't arrived by Friday, the munchkin and I took matters into our own hands, drove down and filled in a form there and then. Things progressed quickly, and, fingers crossed, a planning inspector will come out tomorrow (Monday). Slightly sour feeling when I think it was supposed to be finished now, but holding on to the excitement of how lovely it'll be once it's done.