Commission time

I was lucky enough to be commissioned Sandra to make a necklace and matching earrings for her friend's birthday. Sandra is a former teaching colleague of my mum's (both of them retired at the end of last year) and first saw my jewellery when I visited my parents in Melbourne for Christmas. She purchased an orange butterfly necklace for her son's girlfriend for Christmas and apparently it was a hit - so she called up to request this special present, to be given by her and another friend.

I rushed home from an intensive marketing workshop that I conducted with a new client on Thursday morning (both businesses booming at once!) and spent the next five hours rolling, cutting, stamping, brushing, piercing and baking the individual beads to make up the necklaces. The first image shows some of the finished beads arranged on my table ready for stringing.


Unfortunately, in my dedication to the task at hand I neglected to do something very simple - drink enough water - and ended up feeling very ill by the time the beads were ready to be strung. It can be very hot here in Perth and it's pretty important to do something as basic as keep your fluids up, but I tend to become extremely focussed when I am making jewellery and forget basic things like eating and drinking. Believe me - it's about the only time I do forget to eat!! So, the upshot of all this is on Thursday night I went to bed feeling rather ill, necklace unstrung, and my partner ended up eating leftovers instead of the nice Valentine's meal I was going to cook him. I finished my commission the next day after recovering- and here it is, ready to be gift wrapped and packed off to Melbourne. I hope Sandra's friend likes it!