Arabella

Let me introduce you to Arabella.

Arabella is made from Paverpol, I had seen this demonstrated on Create & Craft a few years ago and thought hmmmm, I could fancy a go at that and then it seemed to disappear and nothing else was said about it.

When we attended the trade show at Birmingham in February we were directly opposite a company called Target International. We got one of their catalogues and there it was. So after a quick Internet search to see who sold it in the UK, I placed my order.

It is a fantastic product, you use 100% natural materials, eg T-shirts, leather, silk etc. You assemble the model around a wire frame which is covered with aluminium foil to pad it out. You then wrap thin strips of material covered in the Paverpol and mummify it. Once dried, this takes about an hour, you can dress it. I had enormous fun doing this, it was lovely and messy. After about five days drying time you can give it two coats of an outdoor varnish and place it in the garden, it is completely weather proof.

I have loads of ideas buzzing around and I have just placed another order with http://www.paverpol-uk.co.uk/ for more. Can't wait until it comes.

Graphicus Open Day's

I had great fun at the Graphicus Open Days last weekend playing with my Melt Pot.

I made a necklace to go with the charm bracelet using a couple of the papers from the Guild pack, one had a golden tone to it, the other black & white. I added some spacer beads from my stash and hey presto! two very wearable necklaces. This technique using paper and wire and dipping it in UTEE was invented by Leandra Franich and is called the 'Leandra Bead'.
http://www.paperartsy.co.uk/blog/2008/12/leandra-bead.html







I changed the chain on the charm bracelet and made one using jump rings, a Byzantine chain with an inter linking ring to hang the charms.


Another Melt Pot item, a Pendant, made simply by pouring the left over UTEE from another project into the pendant casing. It reminds me of a fossil.

This is a clever idea to get rid of any unwanted seed beads. I put four onto a head pin and dipped them twice, added a small bead to the top and then strung them onto a leather thong with a few spacer beads. I also made a pair of earrings exactly the same to match.



This is a double Byzantine chain, linked together with jump rings. With a watch chain to match.