The Haberdashery Blog Hop: Signups open now

If you’ve been a reader of my blog for a while you know I join lots of blog hops and challenges, it’s a way of making me stretch myself and try new things. Anyway, I’ve had this idea in my mind about a blog hop for quite a while now, and I think it’s time to put it into action!

So, without further ado, I’m introducing The Haberdashery Blog Hop (or Haby Hop for short, we Aussies like to nickname everything)!

(you can use this image as a blog button, just copy the image to your own blog!)

It’s time to pull out your ribbons and buttons, trims and fabric scraps to create beautiful and unique pieces of jewellery. Pinterest is a fantastic source of ideas—take a look at the board I’ve been putting together for some stunning examples, and a few tutorials too. It can be as simple as adding a beautiful ribbon or scrap of sari silk to your necklace or bracelet, or a complex collage of beads, buttons and more.

Some examples of jewellery I have made using sari silk ribbon

Take yourself off to your local big box craft store or fabric store and peruse the goodies there. Op-shops and thrift stores can also be a good source, particularly if you like vintage buttons and ribbons. Raid your mum or grandma’s sewing box (or your own if you are a craftaholic). Look for interesting scraps of lace, unique buttons, felt flowers, yarn and embroidery silks, zippers, anything you can incorporate into jewellery! Think of unusual ways to incorporate your finds, and stitch, embellish, string away!

From top left, clockwise, my great aunt’s button jar, a selection of ribbons and fibres, lace ribbon from the scrapbooking aisle, a fabulously decorative (and very large) button.

Some books with good ideas include Lorelei Eurto and Erin Siegel’s book Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry and Melinda Barta’s Custom Cool Jewelry.

To sign up, email me at melissa_trudinger at yahoo dot com, with your blog name by July 1st. I’ll send out a reminder email a week or so before the hop, and a list of participants too! The blog hop itself will be on Saturday August 2nd, so you have all month to create something fabulous!

I’m excited, are you??

Winners are grinners

I’ve had a pretty lucky run in the last month or two, with my name being pulled out of the hat three times for various things.

First of all, I was fortunate enough to win one of Pearl Blay’s giveaways from her blog The Beading Gem in a redraw when the first recipient did not get back to her. I won $40 to spend at Etsy shop Beadeux, which supplies laser cut blanks for cross-stitched pendants. I chose a rainbow cloud kit, plus a couple of different options for pendants. The kit is great, as it provides embroidery thread and a needle, as well as the suggested pattern, allowing me to get started straight away. I should point out it has been years since I have done any embroidery! But this kit is very straightforward and simple to do and I am already planning what to do with the other blanks. Now, if I could just see to thread the needle!

Then I won a draw from Art Bead Scene‘s monthly challenge, which turned out to be two fantastic lampwork beads from The Art of the Bead, Chris Thommen’s shop showcasing both her own and other artists’ beads. The glass donut is by Lea Zinke and the heart is by Susan Elgar.

And finally, I also won a house bead from Tari Sasser of Creative Impressions in Clay for commenting on her recent Art Bead Scene Studio Saturday blog post. Isn’t it sweet?

Thank you very much to all of the blog hosts and donating artists, I will be putting my winnings to good use!

The Ocean Blog Hop

First up, I’m sorry I’m a bit late to the Ocean Blog Hop, a combination of busy times at home and some struggles with the muse mean I’m late to the party. Well, better late than never.

Of course, there shouldn’t really be a need for excuses, as Lisa Lodge, the host of the hop, sent these beads out months ago. Look at what she sent me! Cultured (aka faux) sea glass in two shades of blue as well as orange, vibrant orange impression jasper, tiny mother of pearl heishi and some brass starfish, fabulous stampings that look like coral and some tiny brass beads and a clasp!

So the first piece I made I’ve called Washed Up. It uses some of the irregular sea glass links and the orange beads. I wanted to use an art bead in this piece and I found a great ceramic shell link made by Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Designs, that I think I got in a destash from Lisa a while ago. I tried to use brass link the beads together, but the holes in the sea glass weren’t quite in the right places to hold a jump ring, so I ended up using waxed linen, which kind of reminds me of rope or fishermen’s nets on the beach. I added some barrel-shaped sea glass beads in a lighter blue (that I also got from Lisa) and some orange sea glass rounds.

Then I made some earrings using the brass starfish, and some large aqua blue sea glass charms I got from Lisa a while ago. Very simple, but they didn’t really need anything else!

My third piece is a necklace, although it started out as a bracelet! I’ve called it Out on the Reef. The brain coral stampings are used to connect a little twisted strand of beads. The mother of pearl heishi beads remind me so much of those shell necklaces I used to wear as a kid, and I love the contrast of the deep blue glass and the orange impression jasper. I toyed with using chain for the back half of the necklace, but in the end I used a gorgeous blue sari silk ribbon (from Etsy shop Ribbons and Silk). The blue sea glass shard on one side balances the clasp on the other side.

Thank you Lisa for the lovely selection of beads to play with, I’m looking forward to the next hop in a couple of months! Please take some time to look at the blogs of other participants in this hop!

Ocean Blog Hop June 14^th Reveal:

Your hostess: Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn’s Creations

Ev Shelby, Raindrop Creations

Toltec Jewels, Jewel School Friends (Posting Later)

Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams

Ema Kilroy, Ema K Designs

Candida Elkins Castleberry, Spun Sugar Beadworks

Catherine Yvonne King, Catherine’s Musings

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes <– YOU ARE HERE!

Shaiha Williams, Shaiha’s Ramblings

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware (Posting Sunday)

Eleanor Burian Moore, The Charmed Life

Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz

Jill Bradley, Chat 2 Jill

Rebecca Ednie, Eclectic Endeavours

Ocean Blog Hop May 31^st Reveal:

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Christie Searle Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry 

Kim Dworak, Cianci Blue

Marybeth Rich, A Few Words from within the Pines

Karin Grosset Grange, Ginkgo et Coquelicot

Candida Elkins Castleberry, Spun Sugar Beadworks (moved to June 14th reveal)

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Monique Urquhart, A Half-Baked Notion

Katrina Taylor, I Wanna Go Out

Mary Ann Macri Jacobs, Trucksville Crafts

Jeanne Steck, Gems by Jeanne Marie

Ann Schroeder, Bead Love

Kathleen Breeding, 99 Bottles of Beads on the Wall

Marianne Baxter, Simply Seablime Jewelry

Terri Wlaschin, Dances in Fog

Margaret Pelech, Margaret Pelech’s Ocean Blog

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It’s a Beadiful Creation

Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Heather Richter, Desert Jewelry Designs

Andrea Glick-Zenith, ZenithJade Creations

Facebook auctions are live

In the last few months, a number of Facebook groups devoted to buying and selling jewellery and supplies have popped up. This week marks the debut of the Aussie Artisan Jewellery Buy and Sell group, which as the name suggests, will provide a marketplace for Australian jewellery designers to showcase their wares.

It’s a straightforward concept with an auction approach to selling. The designer lists each piece with a starting price and a Buy it Now (BIN) price and gives a time and date for the auction to finish. Then potential buyers can bid until the auction ends or the BIN price is reached.

Here are the pieces I’ve listed today. If you click on them, it should open up the appropriate photo in Facebook! They are available until Sunday 15 July at noon Australian Eastern time. And the prices are listed in Australian dollars, but don’t let that stop you from bidding. One other thing—I will always post at the most inexpensive rate available, but due to the fragile nature of the components, I have to package them as securely as I can.

Bluebird of happiness necklace: the Blu Mudd Challenge

If, like me, you are still working your way through BSBP8, click here for my blog post!

A bit over a month ago, I was lucky enough to sign up for Blu Mudd challenge number 4. These challenges are hosted by Moriah Betterly, the ceramic artist behind Blu Mudd, a source of delightful pendants, beads, bracelet bars and toggles. The challenge is simple: to design a piece with the kit sent out by Moriah, using all of the components supplied. Today, pieces by 28 designers went up on Facebook, so now we can look at all the designs and vote for our favourites—the designer with the most votes will receive a $50 Blu Mudd gift certificate!

Moriah sent each participant the same pack:  a pendant featuring a pale blue bird perched on a branch, a toggle clasp in the same oatmeal glaze as the bird branch,  and four coordinating blue beads. The blue is more of a pale aqua, robin’s egg blue.

I toyed with the idea of doing two necklaces, using the toggle as a focal for the second, with the idea that they could be layered. But in the end I went for the simpler option, and kept all the beads in one design. I added some large Czech faceted rounds, in a Picasso finish natural colour, as well as a solid and translucent aqua to intersperse with the lovely tubular ceramic beads. I strung these on waxed linen in a natural colour, with three strands of Picasso aqua-green seed beads between each larger bead. No wire was harmed in the making of this necklace!!!

Now, if you’re on Facebook, please take a moment to go there and vote for my design by clicking LIKE. You can leave a comment there too, but only the LIKES determine the vote. This link will take you to the main album, while this link takes you directly to my picture! You can vote for more than one design, but only once on each design! Thank you!

Lots of knots: Waxed Linen Blog Hop

If you are looking for my BSBP8 post, it’s HERE!

About a month ago, Diana Ptaszynski had the brilliant idea to host a blog hop using waxed linen. Quick as a flash I signed up, as I really really like using waxed linen cord in my jewellery designs. I first came across it in Lorelei Eurto and Erin Siegel ‘s book Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry, which is a fantastic book, and one of my go-to books for inspiration. I love how both of these designers incorporate waxed linen into their designs, they are both a source of great inspiration to me!

What do I like so much about waxed linen? It comes in a whole range of colours, like teal or lavender, denim blue or rusty red, chocolate brown, black or naturally off-white.  It comes in several sizes, or plies (which refers to the number of strands incorporating the cord, usually 4 or 7, but as few as 2 and as many as 12!), so you can find one to fit most beads, except perhaps those tiny-holed pearls and small seed beads. And the waxing makes it kind of sticky, so knots really stay where they are supposed to stay. It’s lightweight and drapes nicely in a necklace, and is strong enough for bracelets too. And it adds a textural element to all jewellery designs that wire just doesn’t have.

For this blog hop I did a couple of pieces. The first is a necklace that is similar in design to the owl necklace I did a few weeks ago for BSBP8. As I have mentioned before, I am a member of Rebecca Anderson‘s Curiosity Club, and the April kit, entitled “Delft”, contained a combination of blue, aqua, white and translucent beads as well as two disk-shaped lampwork beads made by Helen Chalmers. And, like all of Rebecca’s kits, there were 2 skeins of waxed linen, in orange and denim blue.

In my stash, I had a polymer clay pendant in copper and blue-green from Erin Prais-Hintz, with a bird on one side and the phrase “Mother knows best” on the other: perfect as I planned to give this necklace to my Mum as a belated Mother’s day and birthday gift. I combed through my stash for some more beads in similar shades of blue, adding the white and blue floral ceramic beads and some blue seed beads to the mix. A copper chain at the ends of the beaded section allows the length of the necklace to be adjusted.

My next design also used beads from one of Rebecca’s kits, this one the March kit, called “After the Rain”. Rebecca included a piece of Liberty print bias binding, and I was racking my brains to come up with an interesting use for it. Inspired by one of the other designers, I decided to wrap it around a Vintaj creative hoop to make a bangle. Instead of the more common wire wrapped around the fabric to help secure it, I wrapped some yellow and orange linen around instead, with a few tiny translucent pink Czech beads (both the linen and the rounds also came from the kit). I found an interesting lobster clasp in my stash and used it to close the bangle.

I also made a pair of earrings from the same kit, using orange waxed linen to dangle yellow and orange flower beads and “mushrooms”—piggies on top of a round bead—from a brass ring.

Finally, I thought I would show you some other earring designs using waxed linen (these were made a few months ago, not with this blog hop in mind). The first pair uses a pair of ceramic rounds from Jennifer Heynen, with seed beads knotted on waxed linen dangling below. The second pair uses some porcelain charms made by my Mum, with a sweet little floral decal adorning them. A small Czech coin with an embossed bird is knotted over the charm.

Mum and I have also collaborated to make sweet bird ornaments: a porcelain bird with waxed linen “legs” knotted onto an antiqued brass or silver branch.

It seems like there are a lot of other fans of waxed linen out there with Diana and I, as 44 people are taking part in this blog hop. If you have time to visit some of their blogs, the links are below.

Diana Ptaszynski

Kelsy Vincent

Susan Kennedy

Linda Landig

Kashmira Patel

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Vanessa Gilkes

Sandy Huntress

Kay Thomerson

Sarajo Wentling

Kari Asbury

Rebecca Anderson

Melissa Trudinger <– YOU ARE HERE!!!

Ann Schroeder

Shai Williams

Blanca Medina

Cheryl Brown

Johana Nunez Rivera

Lori Bowring Michaud

Kelly Morgan

Barbara Bechtel

Kristen Stevens

Heather Boardman

Janet Bocciardi

Kathy Lindemer

Lesley Watt

Susan Kolovson

Jayne Capps

Michelle McCarthy

Cynthia Deis

Karla Morgan

 Erin Siegel

Becky Pancake

Kelly Hosford Patterson

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson

Inge von Roos

Carolyn Lawson

Linda Younkman

Sandi Volpe

Toltec Jewels

Michelle Mach

Jen Cameron

Dorothy Winchell

Darlene Mansue

Cory Tompkins

 

Owls and dragonflies: the 8th Bead Soup Blog Party reveal is here!

So here we are again, at the 8th Bead Soup Blog Party, the highlight of the blogging beader’s calendar! The premise is simple, participants are paired up by our amazing host Lori Anderson to swap a bead soup containing at the minimum a focal and a clasp, plus some coordinating beads. This year almost 500 beaders and jewellery designers from around the world signed up to play. Today we reveal what we made using the beads our partners sent us.

My partner, Sandra Wollberg, from Wiesbaden, Germany (you can read more about her here), sent me a fabulous soup, including a pendant, clasp and bracelet bar from Blu Mudd, handmade polymer clay headpins, a stunning Czech glass button and a selection of beads including Czech glass dragonflies, flowers, leaves and little critters, freshwater pearls and some painted shell beads, Indian glass, and peanut beads. There was also some sari silk and a packet of mica sheets, thrown in by Sandra as an extra challenge.

To get my muse going, I started with a few pairs of earrings, using Sandra’s polymer clay headpins, one pair wrapped with the pretty painted shell beads, the other one combined with two little ladybird beads from the strand of Czech glass critters. A third pair of earrings became a posy of Czech glass flowers.

Next on the list was the bracelet bar. I had it in mind to combine it with leather, and I found some lovely soft teal blue leather that picked up the blue colour in the flowers embossed on the bar. To counter its one-sided weight, I knotted a selection of beads onto some teal blue waxed linen.

My first necklace was inspired by the dragonfly beads and the Czech glass button, which also features a dragonfly. The challenge for me in this piece was to work out how to incorporate the button into a necklace,, especially as I also wanted to use the clasp Sandra sent me. In the end, I cut off the button shank and used a filigree piece from Vintaj to wrap around the back of the button, with a couple of jump rings to create a link. Between the button link and the clasp, I strung the Czech glass dragonfly coins and the pearls, and used a Vintaj dragonfly as a pendant. I’ve called this necklace the Dragonfly Pond necklace.

And finally, a necklace with the Blu Mudd owl pendant. The pendant is glazed in a glossy gold with breakthrough undertones tones of teal and green. I was inspired by some of Lorelei Eurto‘s recent necklaces, with beads knotted on linen, so I picked out a selection of beads in blues, greens and bronze shades, as well as a deep red to give a pop of colour, from both the bead soup Sandra provided as well as my own stash and knotted them on teal blue waxed linen (you’ll recognize some of the beads from the bracelet). The pattern repeats linearly from the clasp to the pendant, but looks asymmetric—a trick I think I picked up from one of the posts in Love My Art Jewelry‘s recent bootcamp on asymmetry. I’m really pleased with how this necklace turned out, I think it really captures the autumn woodland feel of Sandra’s soup. I’ve called it the Owl in the Woods necklace, and I think I’ll keep it for myself!

Now, there are a few elements from my soup that I haven’t yet used. The Indian glass beads are destined for a necklace when I find the right chain. I almost used the peanut beads in the dragonfly necklace, but the seed beads just looked better. And I plan to make a few more pairs of earrings as well. The sari silk is lovely and I’m sure I will use that somewhere soon. The mica sheets are a bit more challenging, and I’ve been looking at various tutorials and blog posts about how to use. I have had them out to play with but so far I haven’t actually done anything. I have plans though, which I am sure I will blog about down the road.

Thank you Lori, for once again throwing a wonderful party with fabulous guests, despite your own personal challenges besetting you at every turn! I’m already looking forward to whatever you dream up for next year’s party! And thank you Sandra for a fabulous soup, which stretched me as a jewellery designer. I hope you had as good a time playing with my soup as I did with yours!

Now, I have the daunting but enjoyable task of visiting as many of the other blogs partying with me as I can. To see what Sandra made with the soup I sent her, visit her blog. And for the full list of participants, go to the main BSBP page.

 

A BSBP Delay and the Liebster Award!

The Bead Soup Blog Party reveal has been pushed back a week, to allow our Hostess-with-the-Mostess Lori Anderson some time to recover from recent ill health. I have to say, I breathed a small sigh of relief at having a few more days to play with beads (and take photos and write up my blog post). In the mean time, I’ve got a post or two up my sleeve for you this week.

A month or more ago, I was tagged by Sandra Wollberg—my BSBP partner and fellow beadlover—with a LIEBSTER award. The LIEBSTER award is a chain letter of sorts, which is supposed to bring new visitors to small, comparatively unknown blogs. “Liebster” is a German word, and basically means “dearest”, “most favourite”. As with most chain letters, there are a few rules to follow:

• You have to link the person who nominated/tagged you.
• You have to answer the 11 questions your nominator asked you
• Pick 11 bloggers whose blogs have less than 200 followers, tag them, and don’t forget to inform them about it.
• Come up with 11 new questions for the persons you’ve tagged.

So, here are my questions and answers. Hopefully you’ll find a little out about me, that you might not have known before.

Which three tracks are a MUST on your current playlists?

I got Lana del Rey’s album for Christmas, and I have to say I love her song Summertime Sadness. I also find myself bopping along to Pharrell William’s Happy when I hear it on the radio. It’s such a, well, happy song isn’t it? For number three? Let’s go with my all time favourite Paul Kelly song Deeper Water.

Sparkly or matte?

Mostly Matt. He’s my husband. But if you really want to know, I like both. Although I am probably more drawn to matte textures.

Imagine you’re lucky and win a large sum of money. What would be the first thing you spend it on?

I do need a new car, and the mortgage can always use some help, but if I had my druthers, I’d take the family on a round the world holiday! Oh and beads of course!!!

BTW, what was the last thing you’ve purchased?

Winter clothes for the kidlets and a new pair of ankle boots for me. Oh yes, does pizza for dinner count?

How is the weather, right now, at your place?

I’m always surprised by the speed that winter arrives here in Melbourne. It’s like a switch is thrown in late April, early May, and all of a sudden, it’s cold and wet. Today it was damp and cold, tomorrow we’re expecting rain, thunderstorms and even hail. Sadly our school is holding its biggest fundraising event of the year tomorrow, and it’s mostly outside. So I know I’ll be cold and wet tomorrow!

Do you have allergies/intolerances? Would you share which ones?

I am allergic to a lot of trees—birch, maples and the like. And grasses. When I lived in Northern California I sniffled and sneezed from early Spring until mid-Autumn. It’s not quite so bad here in Melbourne, but I definitely suffer in Spring.

What kind of character trait do you hate in other persons?

I really dislike it when people blindly follow someone else’s beliefs without thought, whether political, religious or otherwise.

What kind of character trait do you like in other persons?

Compassion, and a sense of humour.

Which metal do you like best?

My current favourite is copper.

Is there a person in your life you’d consider a soul mate?

My husband.

To which country would you love to travel if you had the chance?

In a list a mile long, I think South Africa would be near the top. And Vietnam. And I’m always up for a trip to the US or Europe!

Now, these are the bloggers I am nominating to continue this chain letter!

Corrie at http://thecedarbeader.blogspot.com.au/

Lennis at http://Windbent.wordpress.com/

Ann at http://beadlove.wordpress.com/

Andrea at http://zenithjade.blogspot.com.au/

Cory at http://tealwaterdesigns.blogspot.com.au/

Tiffany at http://southerngalsdesign.blogspot.com.au/

Solange at http://www.blog.ahowinjewelry.com/

Karen at http://www.overthemoon-design.com/

Tracy at http://beadtrilogy.com/

Lee at http://stregajewellry.wordpress.com/

Patti at http://myaddictionshandcrafted.blogspot.com.au/

And my questions for you are:

1. Dog or cat?
2. Dark chocolate or milk?
3. What’s your favourite time of year (season or holiday) and why?
4. What’s your favourite recipe? Link to it if it’s online!
5. Where in the world would you most like to travel?
6. Name three books that you really really enjoyed reading.
7. If you could travel in time, which period would you most want to visit?
8. What’s your favourite gemstone?
9. When was the last time you dressed up in a costume? And what did you wear?
10. What craft or technique would you really like to learn?
11. Do you live close to where you grew up, or far away?

 

 

Dancers’ skirts: Art Bead Scene April challenge

At the last minute I have managed to put something together for the Art Bead Scene April challenge, which features a painting by French Impressionist Edgar Degas as our inspiration. I’ve always loved Degas’ art, and to me this painting captures the dynamic beauty of ballet contrasted with the endless waiting behind the scenes.

Swaying Dancer (Dancer in Green), 1877-79, by Edgar Degas. Pastel and Gouache on Paper 26″ x 14″ (66 x 36 cm). Palette by Brandi Hussey

I was browsing through one of my favourite ceramic beadmaker’s pages—Peruzi— when I came across a pendant that matched the dancers’ tutus almost perfectly, right down to the flashes of browns and oranges in the blue-green skirts (it’s kind of dark and rainy today, so the photos aren’t the best, sorry!).

To go with the pendant I selected a collection of beads in blues and blue-greens, ambers and peaches, knotted with denim blue and orange waxed linen cord. Some little dangling flowers in translucent blue-green and peach at the junction with the chain remind me of ballet skirts.

I’ll be adding this blog post to tomorrow’s Art Bead Scene monthly challenge post, so pop over then to look at what other people have been inspired to make this month. And make sure you come back on Saturday for my BSBP8 reveal!

 

BSBP: The other soup!

It’s just over a week until the BSBP reveal. So excited! Not that I’ve finished my pieces, far from it! But I thought I would show you what I sent my partner Sandra Wollberg. It took a quite a while for my bead soup to reach her, in fact, I was thinking I would have to send another soup! I don’t think she was quite so worried though, turns out some strike activity at German airports may have slowed it down a bit.

I took a while putting together this soup. It had to have some beads Sandra might not have been so familiar with, and it definitely had to include at least one Aussie artist. And Sandra and I have overlapping tastes (especially when it comes to Czech glass), so I had to try to challenge her at least a little! In the end this is what I went with.

As you can see, there are multiple possibilities in this soup, with both a cool and a warm colour scheme. First of all, the focals. The big blue/gold pendant on the right hand side is from Peruzi, my favourite Aussie bead artisan. I love this pendant, but I have never been able to come up with a design for it other than knotting it onto a large piece of ribbon or cord, so I am intrigued to see what Sandra can do with it (and I was very amused to see that another bead soup this year also uses this focal).  Immediately to the left of this focal is a second ceramic pendant by Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio. It’s a lovely cheerful yellow tree of life. And just for fun I threw in a third focal, a faux sea glass seashell in a deep red.

I included two clasps in my soup—a gorgeous handmade copper Deco rose button-style clasp by Rebecca Anderson, and a silver-tone leaf-shaped clasp. I popped in a couple of other silver-toned beads and a braided ring, and some copper headpins, and double-ball-ended headpins made by Tanglebeads.

As for the rest of the beads, there are a variety of Czech beads in different shapes and colours, including some intriguing twisted lozenge-shaped beads in a deep red, some faux sea glass in orange, frosted and opaque white, and two big amazonite nuggets. The big swirly orange bead is from Puddle Glass Art, a local lampworker.

Of course, there is ribbon, a lovely sari silk ribbon from Ribbons and Silk on Etsy (also based here in Australia), which I used to tie up the box.

The reveal will be next Saturday, 3 May. At this point I anticipate that my post will go live mid-afternoon on Saturday (when it is midnight on the East Coast of the USA), at the official start time for the hop. Come back then to see what Sandra and I—and 500 or so other jewellery designers—have made.