Martic Jewellery Blog

My Deco Diva earrings are in Beads and Beyond magazine!

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It seems such a long time ago that I completed this project but that’s the way it works with books and magazines. The deadline is months before publication. In fact I have already completed and sent a second project.

The April edition will hit the shops on 11th March and I hope you will all be buying it and I would love to hear your comments particularly if you have had a go at making the earrings.

I’m off now to work on my third project. There’s just no stopping me. My fingertips are abuzz and creativity is flowing. Oh yes!!

Magazine project

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this. Beads and Beyond Magazine asked me to contribute a two-page project but after the excitement had died down, I had to get to work!

Sometimes I have to ponder for weeks at a time on a new design, sometimes I come up with a design on which I spend weeks and I have to abandon because it simply does not work but this time it all worked magically (after a few dead ends and a lot of trial and error).

If you have already bought the March edition of Beads and Beyond, you can see a sneak preview of some of next month’s projects on the last page and my Deco Diva earrings are featured.

So make sure you don’t miss the April edition. They are really unusual, very Art Deco and although they require precision, are quite easy to make. So, I hope you will have a go.

New re-vamped website

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Although it has been many months since its inception, the new look website is finally ready and I really like it. I think my web designer Glen of Cargo Studios has done a great job and it contains many more features than the old site. Please feel free to tell me what you think.

Two important additional features are the tutorial section and the blog. Those of you who are budding jewellers can now have a go at learning to make some fantastic jewellery. All the tutorials are my original designs and are classed in order of difficulty. All are lavishly illustrated with close-up photos of every step taken guaranteeing success. Keep visiting as I will be uploading new tutorials regularly.

In this blog, I want to apologize for the look of the shop. Glen changed the format of the front picture to square. This means all the photos look a little odd. Basically, it means re-shooting the lot so it fits in with the new format. Obviously, this is going to take me some time even though I have not yet figured out how to make a tiara square! So, I hope you will forgive me in the meantime but I promise you some new and exciting pieces very soon.

Jewellery Maker of the Year in wirework

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Dear friends and customers,

Welcome to my new blog on all things sparkly and I start my blogging career on a high note as I have just been awarded the title of Jewellery Maker of the Year in wirework by Beads and Beyond magazine. I could not believe my eyes when I read the e-mail from the editor, Michelle Powell, telling me that I was on the short list and inviting me to the Artisan show at Leamington Spa for the award presentation. I arranged to stay with my daughter in England and she was as excited as I was on the day. Beads and Beyond magazine had laid on a delicious buffet lunch for the 24 finalists and it was a chance to meet and talk to like-minded people (jewellery-making obsessed, that is!).

After lunch came the awards and I can tell you that I now know exactly how Oscar winners feel: the anticipation, the nail-biting wait, the mounting tension and finally the thrill of being recognized by your peers for your achievement. All the entries were displayed at the entrance to the show in beautiful tower display cases that visitors could walk round and I had the added pleasure of seeing the word “winner” displayed next to my earrings.

But it was not just the kudos that went with the title, my prize was a substantial £500 worth of tools and supplies donated by the Shiney Company and it was like all my Christmases had come round at once. They had been very generous and included all sorts of hard to find tools that I had been coveting for a long time. So it has been jewellery-making heaven for me ever since. The prize also includes writing up two projects for the magazine so look out for that in the future.

And the winning entry? Well, it’s my Twirly Whirly Earrings which you will find as a tutorial in the jewellery-making section of the website. They require few tools and are very easy to make so why not have a try yourself?