New year, new blog post.

Well happy new year everybody! Here's hoping 2014 holds lots of fun and fortune for everyone.  I'm a bit rusty on the old blogging front but I have started the year as I mean to go on...as a super blogger.  2014 is gonna be a big year for Designs by Neelie and I want to share it all with my lovely followers.  So keep following my journey and tell all your friends too!

World's Worst Blogger...

Yep, that award goes to me!
So I've been a bit absent on the blog front lately.  I aplogise to anyone on here who actually follows my blog.  I've been ill for about a month and so I've not got round to doing much and have neglected my poor little blog.  I promise to make more of an effort from now on!  An update for all you lovely people tho; with the help of my dad and boyfriend, I have managed to make progress with that damn mould that was proving rather difficult to make.  Pics coming soon! Yay!

A poor workman...

I'm well aware of the phrase 'a poor workman blames his tools' (or something to that effect), but I'm gonna go ahead and do that right now.  Today I  had to chuck out my shabby old wallpaper table I've been working on for months. It was in a terrible state. It was wonky and leaning backwards and the water from my bandsaw had ran down all the back of it, causing it to rot. It was gonna give way at any moment. I have today learnt the importance of the correct tools, especially in business.  I don't quite know how I have been working on it for so long after seeing the state of it today.  I now have the tedious task of sorting out my mountain of glass in my studio tomorrow.  Hmm, should be fun....

Checkout my new super (hero) shoes!

I've found another use for my glass fusing skills.  Jazzing up shoes! My mum was gonna get rid of a pair of simple blue shoes she'd never worn. Seeing them, my creativity kicked in and I snapped them up.  So, my mum's a size four and I'm only a three but no big deal, I'll pad them out or wear extra thick tights, they will fit me damn it!  I instantly had plans to turn them into Wonder Woman shoes.  I lovingly stuck each rhinestone on and created the stars like on Wonder Womans knickers.  I then set to the fiddly task of cutting out the logo. I cut it out on my diamond bandsaw and tack fused the yellow on to the red to keep the lines nice and sharp and voila! There you have some super revived shoes!

The kindness of strangers

A couple of weeks ago whilst at a craft fair I met a very nice man.  He makes walking sticks and attends the  fairs on a regular basis.   He is a wise and worldly man who was taken by my lovespoons and jewellery.  He talked to me about a coffee shop in Bute park, Cardiff named Pettigrew's Tea Rooms and said they have a gift shop that I should try and get my stuff into.  Well, last night I was taken aback when this man rang me telling me he had spoken to the owner of the tea rooms and told him about me and my products and the owner was interested.  I went to the coffee shop this morning with some samples of my work and they now want some of my spoons and necklaces for their shop!  I did not expect that lovely man to go out of his way to mention me and promote my stuff to somebody else and it's these simple acts in life that really restore my faith in the human race.  It was a small yet thoughtful gesture and I am very grateful to that kind gent.  It's true when they say 'it's not what you know, it's who you know'.

Getting there....

I'm advancing in my quest to make my mould.  I've made a plaster slip mould and I'm now onto the next stage of figuring out this slip casting business.  I've hit a bit of a wall at the moment as I'm struggling to get my clay to dry enough for me to get it out of my mould but I'm definately making steps in the right direction. Yay!

Just a little scratch....

I had a stall in Caerphilly Castle a little while back.  When you have a stall there you're allowed to drive your car on site to unload.  I used to like doing this cos it made me feel important.  I don't anymore!

It's a tight squeeze manoeuvring through the historic monument that was very obviously not built for cars.  At one point I had to do a three point turn to let another car out and that 's when disaster struck and I accidentally scraped my car on a low iron fence.  As I started reversing a heard a big 'eeeeeee' noise that left a real hideous scratch on my car.  It wasn't the best start to my weekend but luckily it wasn't an indicator to my time at the castle and I had a good time there.