It's been a while...

I know, the internet is full of blogs with that title and similar. Often followed by promises to blog more frequently, share more photos, tweet regularly, blah blah blah

Well I'm not promising anything, the only thing I can guarantee is that there will be no tweets (I'm not on Twitter). I have, however, recently made an effort in my Etsy shop, selling on facebook and posting on Instagram. I'm going to try to bring the blog into that group.

If you've been following me at all in an of those ways you'll know that I've been having a serious play with molten glass over the past year or so and that a new cat has sauntered into my home and stayed. For those that don't know about one or both here is a couple of gratuitous pictures to keep you going until the next post

Rationing a glass delivery

New arrival in the front, unimpressed established puss behind

Spur of the moment competition!

I've just relisted these on Folksy.com and on a whim I offered a 5% discount to anyone who could identify which plant the leaves were modelled on. So, the first person to post the correct answer in the comments here can have 5% discount in my WearItsAt and/or Argentia Folksy shops.

 

It was a spur of the moment decision to offer the discount but here is the hastily thought up nitty gritty:

Discount is not available on postage. Discount will be applied in the form of a Paypal refund after order has been placed and paid for. Discount is single use although maybe used once in both shops.

Etsy here I come!

Yep, I've ventured to 'the other side' as those on Folksy call it. You now can find me on Etsy under the shop name 'AnnaMadeThis', See you there!

Quiet round 'ere innit?

I know, I have been a lax blogger. I did never say I'd be blogging that regularly but a 3 month gap does count as a gap. However, I am still here and still making things, watch this space for the latest news....



'Retro' canes in Fimo Soft, 9x9mm

In the meantime I've just added a new item to Folksy and its a bit of a departure from the norm for WearIts@ - I've put some raw polymer clay canes on sale. If you have experience of working with polymer clay then you'll know what I mean (and you don't, just google!). So far I have only listed some extruded 'retro' canes, these in fact.

This type of cane is made by extruding layers of different colours of clay through a square die on a clay gun. The result is a kind of bullseye effect that runs through, and varies along the length of, the cane. That means no two slices are exactly the same (The 4 ends you can see in the picture are where the same cane has been cut into 4 pieces revealing a new pattern with each cut).

Honestly, there is nothing particularly difficult about making this canes so why am I offering them for sale? Because not everyone has a clay gun or wants to invest in one. I realise many people will be screaming 'That's nothing special!' at the screen right now but there could be someone out there thinking 'Oooo, I could use that pattern.....'. Anyway I'm happy to hear any thoughts on the canes, good, bad or indifferent!

Photographing Tiddles

I was going to put 'Pussy' in the header then my inner Mrs Slocombe kicked in and I thought I'd be popping up on ALL SORTS of searches! Mind you, 'Tiddles' could still get me in trouble....

Anyway, it was a genuine title/quandary - As Liz said in her comment on my last post, photos of my cat would be lovely on here. However, beautiful as she is, she is black. I suspect she has chosen this colour with great care as it means her hair shows up on pretty much everything, she can trip me up in the dark, she's hard to find when she sneaks out at night AND she's almost impossible to get a good photo of! If I'm lucky I get a black blob with a couple of eyes showing.

I can't be the only person with this issue, black is a very common cat colour (Its OK, I don't think she read that over my shoulder) so there must be thousands of people out there with digital cameras full of black blobs. Has anyone achieved a good photo of a black cat? Are they just plain unlucky to anyone with a camera? Or should I be purchasing bright pink hair dye? (That's not a serious suggestion, you don't need to call the RSPCA).

Busy busy busy

I've not made a single thing this weekend but it still seems to have been really busy. I've opened a new shop on Folksy - Argentia - to sell all things silver. Its still in its infancy and the range will grow over the coming weeks but feel free to drop in and let me know what you think.

Then, while I was listing items, I stumbled on the Folksy front page and thought it looked strangely familar...really familar...in fact, they've used one of my Pinterest boards on the front page! You wouldn't believe the size of the smile on my face when I realised it was mine. I hope it generates lots of sales for the lovely daisy items on there!

Ever get the feeling you're being followed?

Well I am! I have my first 'Follower', welcome Edwina!
Honestly, I still don't know what I think about blogging and following and the whole cyberspace thing. I'm trying so hard to get my head around it. I will post about what I'm doing and what I think etc. I won't be telling you about my kids' first steps or the contents of their nappies (this is mainly because I don't have any kids and the cat is fully litter trained).

Does anyone else feel slightly uncomfortable reading these details on other people's blogs? Slightly voyeuristic? Like you're spying on someone else's life? I feel much the same about Facebook sometimes. I know, if you put it online then you should be happy for someone to read it but still...sometimes I just feel a bit creepy for reading it.

Anyway, something I have no qualms about anyone seeing:

Firebird Feather Earrings - New on Folksy today