Hello readers, I'm back home in the UK after an eighteen hour journey from India, including a four hour stopover in Dubai. A stinking head cold, a sore throat, and jet lag have turned my brain into mush. Yet, I feel this strange compulsion to talk to you - I've got this blog is well and truly under my skin. So, what shall I tell you about? I've already talked about the show and the pre show viewing at mum's place. Here are a few more pictures. I lost a load of my usual friends and clients to coughs and colds and travels, but new ones soon took their place. Sheela, Rachel and Aishwarya came to help and stayed as long as they could to help show the jewellery off. And then, all of a sudden, it was done and the rest of the holiday loomed before me. After a few days of resting up, I flew to Jaipur. I've always wanted to visit the land where semi precious stones are cut and polished, and silver wholesalers supply the rest of India. Having been let down by my sister who was meant to be accompanying me but had other fish to fry (or is that other cakes to bake??) I went on my own, armed with gen from my friend Rashanta. My mother was terrified, but didn't dare say a word - she must have kept her fingers crossed all the time I was away. I stayed at the comfortable family run Umaid Mahal, and tramped around the wholesale jewellery bazaar for a couple of days until I found what I was looking for and even made some new friends to go sightseeing with. I met the lovely Mark Hampshire, an energy therapist from Drumkeeghan, Donegal Town, who helped while away the time during the long evenings and dinners in the hotel terrace restaurant. That's me for this week folks. I'm off to get my head down and hopefully will be fit to go to work on Monday. I have yet to unpack all the stuff I bought in Jaipur. While we were sat in the airport waiting for our flights, I said to Mark, my energy therapist friend, 'let me show you my booty from the jewellery stores' and he looked at me quizzically. 'Booty has another meaning these days', he said - I hope he didn't think I was about to show him my bottom - that would certainly have been a shock to his system!
I will show you my booty next week when I've had time to take some pictures- and I absolutely do not mean my bottom! Have a great week and I'll catch you next week, same time, same place xx
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Dear readers, it is done now - my third show at Raintree, my own personal little battle of Agincourt, and hard work it was too. This time around, Mike cheered me on from afar as he stayed in the UK, but I was ably supported by my friends Aishwarya, Rachel, Sheela, my sister in law Anu and my mother, and I am exceedingly grateful to them for all their help. As usual, the main fly in the ointment was my inability to accept credit cards - card readers have only just become available in the UK but unfortunately the UK readers cannot be used internationally. Alas, India has a way to go to catch up, although it won't be long now. I had a great time meeting a whole load of people and will have to keep the stories till I get back to the UK. Here are a couple of pictures from the event. One of the ladies who bought a necklace from the exhibition did me the honor of wearing it the next day to a party - the inimitable Rubi Chakravarti. She is a "Theatre Afficianado, International Stand-Up Comedian & Performing Artist, Actor, Columnist, Writer, Corporate Nuturer and Activist. Internationally Validated by BBC as one of the Top 100 Women to have made a difference in the year 2014 and selected by Salt magazine as among the 100 of the greatest female change agents of 2015". I enjoyed looking at that picture especially as the necklace is called 'Forever in Blue Jeans' . As soon as the exhibition was done with, I flew out to Jaipur to buy some supplies which is why the blog is out later that usual. I am due to go back to Bangalore tomorrow and have spent the day combing the back streets of the Chameliwala market where the jewellery wholesalers live and work. I will tell you all about it later when I get back t the UK at the end of next week.
Until them, have a great week and I'll catch you next week, perhaps a bit later than usual, byeeee xx Hello readers, I am now in sunny Bangalore and today is the day of the exhibition. I've set out my stall and now it remains for me to wait and see who turns up at Raintree. I got to Bangalore on the Saturday and had no time for jet lag. My sister in law had kindly agreed to me having a pre exhibition viewing at her place on Sunday for a couple of hours as some of her friends had requested it. It was meant to be just a couple of hours of work. However, all the jewellery had to be displayed as best as possible in the space that was available. I took over the living room and dining table for a few hours and set out my stall. It was nice to see old friends and make new ones, and the ladies who dropped by were very enthusiastic about this years selection of jewellery and I made enough sales to cover my expenses for the show at Raintree. I had three days off to rest and relax with my mother ( and to allow the jet lag to catch up with me in all its viciousness) before I had to gear up for Raintree. This will be my third show, and I know the place well enough. However, I do confess to some butterflies in my tummy - I just hope there is a good turnout and that people are in the right frame of mind to like my jewellery. Here are some pictures of my initial set up which I shall tweak tomorrow and prettify it a bit. I was more concerned with getting all my stuff onto the tables with price tags on every piece today and the aesthetics of the set up was the least of my worries. In spite of this a few people walking by the room popped in and a couple purchases were made - I'd best not over publicise this or I might be charged for a three day show by the good people of Raintree! Last year I made a friend called Aishwarya at a beading class I taught at Itsy Bitsy and she came by to help me set up. Once everything was out of the box and on the flat, we amused ourselves by taking a few selfies before we locked up for the evening. I'm off now to the show, keep everything crossed for me won't you, and I'll tell you all about it next week. Have a fabulous week and I'll catch you next week, same time, same place
xx Hello readers, by the time you read this, I shall be airborne, on my way to see my family in India. Excited to meet old friends, and to run my third show next week. There's something nice about a show - it's all about instant gratification as there's no waiting around for people to write back ( or not ) with feedback about the pieces they have bought - you get to hear about it straight away. You've seen this invitation for the show a few times by now, but do bear with me - this will be one of the last times, as next Friday I will have the show up and running. Once again, I ask that you share it with friends in Bangalore, and of course, stop by yourself. Headless chickens have had nothing on me this week, as I've rushed around like a mad thing, putting the final touches on all the stuff I leave behind at work, labelling all my work at home, packing my bags and putting together little gifts for my family. I am exhausted now, and look forward to a long rest on the flight to India. By the way, do you know the story of Mike The Headless Chicken - if you don't, click on the link and read on. My friend Shekhar has brought me a new bowl to make a central piece for - he says there aren't too many people combining woodwork and polymer clay in the UK and he wants to display his bowls at a woodwork show in Daventry later on in the year. Here is his latest bowl, it isn't finished yet and still has the chuck attached to the bottom. I decided to make a mosaic out of polymer clay and armed with a class taught online by Sylvie Peraud, I made two pieces. Shekhar can take his pick and perhaps he will make a second bowl to use up the other piece - a retrograde design, this time around. Here are a couple of pictures of my project from Bead and Jewellery Magazine - people have started to write in to tell me that they loved it, isn't that nice of them? I am due to post my second project out to the Editor before I go on holiday as it needs to be photographed so it can go out in Issue 70, which will be out in a couple of months. I thought I had finally packed everything away, and sat down to watch television. Sad jewellery addict that I am, I only went and picked up my pliers without a second thought and made a little pendant. Since I had made it, I strung it with some lovely purple beads and Layla came into being. I've had it with myself and my crazy addiction, and I've given myself a stern talking to. No more now, until I get back home from India. Having administered myself a stiff bollocking, I went on to enjoy our seventeenth wedding anniversary and spend some quality time with Mike who will not be accompanying me this year. My packing all done, I heaved a sigh of relief and hopefully after the long journey I will have a quiet time with my mother, whose first words will be to tell me how much weight I've put on since the last time she saw me, and the very next will be to ask me what I want to eat - yes I know, Toc Toc Toc! but as it happens every time I know what's coming at me. Have a great week, and I'll try and get to you next week, same time, same place, until then, take care
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