It’s been a rather fuggy week. I seem to have spent much of it trapped inside, stuck in my arm charm, doing repetitive tasks. I finished the sprucing up of the jewellery shop. I’m half-happy with the results. (All the new jewellery is listed - including a few pieces I’ll share here.) One of the final chores was standardising the listings - very repetitive. I’ve always had great difficulty writing listings, a far greater difficulty than the task warrants! I found myself writing this stuff - ‘this beautiful’, ‘featuring a wonderful’, ‘a very lovely’, etc., etc. - and it just didn’t sound right. It probably sounds a bit precious to say it but it just didn’t sound persuasive coming from me. I really have always admired the shop name Buy My Crap. And I also admire listings that give a detailed, descriptive account of the piece and its making, highlighting its qualities and loveliness. I just can’t strike the right tone.

I don’t imagine anyone finds it easy to enthuse at any length about what they make. I’m hoping the format I’ve arrived at (which includes losing the adjectives) is an okay compromise. It might seem a bit impersonal. I don’t know… But I’ve probably spent more than enough time fretting about it for the time being.

(ceramic cottage - Bo Hulley Beads, ceramic flower - Captured Moments)

The other repetitive task that has dominated my time during the last few days is bead sanding. Once done with shop-sorting, I was quite ready to get to work on some new bead designs. Several days on, I can say that my desire for bead making has been thoroughly sated. I’m very happy making them, but the sanding…. . I’m sure there must be an easier, quicker method than the one I’ve arrived at. And my hands are in ribbons! Anyway, I must have made about 150 beads and they’re all sanded finally. Now it’s time to add paint details to the ones that need it, then, some will need glazing. However, I’m going to leave off the glaze with most I think. I’m always tempted to finish beads with it because I think it will protect the surface, but for some designs it just doesn’t look right. Also, some people prefer beads unglazed. There’ll be photos soon and I hope to get them listed by the weekend. Today, however, I’m having a break. I’m going for a pub lunch. I know - on a Tuesday! But I must leave the house.