The great $7 sale

There's a sale in my shop! Check it out here.

Most of the items would make great Christmas decorations, so you could stock up for Christmas. Or you could maybe brighten up your house with the suncatchers, bringing a little summer sun indoors.



Or add a little humour to your outfit with my Spidey pendant.



7 is a lucky number, so why not get lucky at my $7 sale!

Repurposeful Crafts

As a varied artist and designer/maker, I like to work in a variety of media. Therefore, reclaimed materials are an important part of what I do, as I take inspiration from what I find.

I love using reclaimed materials in my work. The idea of giving new life to an old, unwanted piece of jewellery intrigues me. I take the bus up to Stourbridge and scour the charity shops for interesting old jewellery to repurpose into new.



These second-hand pieces have their own unique qualities, which bring something different to a new creation. The style that these old pieces of jewellery already have can inspire the style of new piece. For example, the original look of the second-hand beaded chain in these necklaces inspired the forms that the finished pieces eventually took:



My love of salvage means that you can expect to find reused chain, beads, and other found materials in many of my items (search "repurposed" in my shop for a few of those).

As well as salvaging jewellery for its aesthetic qualities, I am also interested in reusing materials for environmental reasons. I believe that reusing is the best form of recycling, as it is the best way to reduce waste. I feel that it is important to protect the environment by reusing and recycling wherever I can. The reusing of materials is something that I am committed to, not only in my work but also at home. Old sauce jars become containers for paintbrushes, old cereal boxes are cut up to become magazine files, old fruit containers become containers for craft supplies, the list goes on. I think the old adage of "Waste not, want not" is a great one to follow.



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Posting the above in a couple of other blogs on Sunday made me want to do a bit of thrift shopping. So yesterday I popped into Stourbridge and bought a few things from the charity shops:





Earlier today I finished a necklace, which started life as the above bracelet. I took the bracelet apart, then put it together as one long chain:



I then added a beaded heart and vintage Lucite charms, and created this piece:



To hang from the thrifted steel chain, I created a beaded heart pendant from steel wire and emerald green glass beads. This heart measures 6cm (just under 2.5") high and is 5cm (2") high. The whole necklace measures 56cm (22") long, although it can be as short as you like, as the lobster clasp can be fastened through any of the chain's links. Find it for sale here.

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with ... S

Is it Sneddonia? Is it Superman? Is it soup?

Nope:



Now do you know what it is? No, Boris doesn't begin with S. Try again, maybe Rosie can help you:



Now you've got it! Here's another one, the lovely Charlotte:



And another one, the glamorous Astrid, who has woven beads into her web:



Talking of webs, how about some cobweb necklaces? Click the image below for some:



Or maybe a cobweb sculpture or two?





These are great actually, because you can also hang your earrings and things from them:



Thanks for looking :D

I'm an April Fool!

And not just for posting this a couple of days after the 1st, lol. On April Fools' Day itself, I went into work just before 12, thinking that's when I started. I came downstairs to look at the rota and see where I was, and the manager then informed me I wasn't due in til 6! Doh. So I pootled around the shops then came home again. At least I got a few decent photos on my way in, so it wasn't an entirely wasted journey!




I've also nearly finished a necklace I've been working on for a while, called Charlotte. Why Charlotte? Well, I asked folks for ideas for names for my necklaces, and some UK Etsy friends came up with Charlotte, as in Charlotte's Web. All it needs now is a little more wire, which I've ordered off t'internet. Here it is so far:




Talking of spiders, I've just made a new spidery suncatcher. Astrid is the little sister of Rosie. She is also a glamourous little thing, takes after her big sis, and is of course not scary at all, like some spiders can be. Because she likes anything pretty, she has woven beads into her web.

I made Astrid from two beads, one glass and one plastic, with steel wire threaded through and wrapped around them. This wire attaches it to the steel part of her cobweb. This cobweb was made from more steel wire, with copper wire and a mixture of glass and plastic beads in shades of green and blue. This cobweb has a loop at the top, to hang it from.



Also, Doctor Who's back on Saturday, yay!

Jewellery at reduced prices

As if my jewellery wasn't bargainous enough, I've just reduced two of my necklaces. First is my Spidey necklace, which is either a stylised version of Spiderman's face or a ninja, depending on how you want to look at it. Click the image below for the listing:



He's been reduced from $10 to $8 :D

Next is my Double Star Necklace, which features two stars, hung on black suede cord. As the soft suede cord the pendants hang on is adjustable, the pendants can be moved around so that the wire star sits on top of the other star, or so that the two elements are apart, however you want to wear it. Click the image below for the listing:



That one's been reduced from $20 to $15 :D

Don't forget my other necklaces. They're not reduced but they are still rather good value:



All available at sneddonia.etsy.com

Happy shopping!