Pulling my chain…

I went to one of my favourite Cardiff haunts the other week, the Pump House, purveyors of antiques and general emporium of miscellany. I was actually looking for a brass escutcheon for a Victorian writing slope that I’m restoring, and struck lucky at the first stand, which seems to specialise in knobs and knockers 😉 The lovely lady had a fabulous range of brass ware, and I bought a Victorian plug chain too.

I boiled it in acid, I blasted it in the ulrasonic cleaner and I attacked it with a spiky brass brush. Still the antique soap refused to budge! So today I took it apart and scraped all the gunge off with a blade… I think it’s come up quite nicely, don’t you? Goes perfectly with the brass peacock feather thing I made the other day. I suspect this bracelet will evolve into a steampunk charm bracelet before too long!

 

 

Back to Beading

For those who don’t know (I moan about it often enough!), I am a slave to back pain, and have been for the last twenty years. It’s been especially bad the last few weeks, so I haven’t been able to get much done in the shed 😦 So without access to hammers and blowtorches, I’ve been playing with beads and made these bracelets. Something I can do on a tray on my lapped while propped up by lots of cushions!

These ended up being a bit weather related – I’m lucky to have a big picture window which gives me a wonderful view up the Rhondda Valley, and we often just sit and watch the weather roll in.  By weather, I usually mean rain, this is Wales after all!  I had recently acquired some lovely hand made glass beads, so decided to make these pretty bracelets…

Droplets of glass hang from this pretty silver plated chain which measures 18cm (7") plus an extender chain. The beads have a grungy monochrome colour scheme, off-whites and cloudy greys contrast with distressed blacks and metallics highlighted by bright flashes of shiny silver. Thunder and lightening for your wrist, perhaps?

Just £12 with free postage, you can buy it here:  Grungy Monochrome Beaded Bracelet

Sunshine on a rainy day gives you a rainbow 🙂 Just in case the weather doesn't oblige, why not wear your own personal flash of brilliant colour? Lovingly handcrafted in a purple shed in the heart of the Rhondda Valley, each individual glass bead hangs from a high-quality silver plated chain which measures 7 1/2" (19cm) plus an extender chain.

Just £12 with free postage, you can buy it here: Rainbow Beaded Glass & Silver Bracelet

I was lucky enough to find some very pretty lace when I was out and about with Liz in the week, so I thought I’d share that with you too!  Some will be incorporated into a couple of Steampunk projects we have on the go, so do come back and see just what we do with it!

Quite an impressive array of vintage lace!