I'm Back!

Hello Everyone,

Firstly, sorry about being so quiet. There has been so much going on in the last couple of years, I just can't believe it has been so long!

I moved in with my partner back in March of 2014, the house is very much a work in progress so all of my jewellery and beads have been stuck in boxes for quite a while.

The house is making progress, although you wouldn't be convinced if you looked at it!
We now have double glazing, gas central heating, sorted the roof out, new electrics throughout and a brand new en-suite shower room.... The rest is being worked on as we speak!

In January we are hoping to get our two chimneys repaired, order our log burner which I am so excited about! We are also going to start getting some of the rooms plastered which will be great as we have bare bricks in pretty much every room at the moment, which leaves everywhere really dusty.

We have also been really busy working on the garden, and getting a veg patch up and running. During the summer and autumn we had quite a lot of produce which is so satisfying. Luckily we live next door to some allotments so we quite often shout over the wall to see if we are doing things right!

Then, just to fill in any remaining spare time we have I decided I wanted to have a workshop built at the top of the garden. 

We did decide that as there is so much other stuff happening at the moment we would not build it ourselves as we were going to, but we would demolish an old brick built shed that was already up there, dig the footings and lay the concrete slab.

Our Current Kitchen

Our Current Living Room

Classes & Workshop Research

Hi All,

As some of you will know from here that I am looking to start running jewellery making workshops I was just wondering if I could get some input from you guys.

These are the points that I am trying to get some information about but please feel free to include anything that you have experienced or would like to see in a workshop.

1.Location - At the moment I am finding it incredibly difficult to secure somewhere permanent to run workshops from, I will keep on looking. Would you be happy attending workshops in various different locations such as community centres, private rooms in pubs and restaurants, out of town locations?

2.Times and Days - I was thinking of weekday evenings 6:30-8:30pm, and Saturday and Sunday days 2:00-4:00pm. Do you think that 2 hour classes are enough and would you attend at these times?

3.Maximum Numbers - I was thinking 8 people maximum?

4.Price - For a two hour workshop, although some will vary depending on what the project is I was looking at £25 which will include tea and coffee.

5.Tools & Equipment - Would you like the opportunity to buy tools and kits so you can get practising at home?

I would like to run a range of workshops in jewellery making for beginners mainly and would like to start children's jewellery parties and hen parties too.

Have you ever been on a jewellery (or any craft) workshop/course? What were your experiences, what would you like to see again and what were you not so keen on?

I look forward to hearing from you.
Chloe

So why do I want funding?

Some (most) of you will have seen me pestering you over the last few days and this is why.

Since I started my business back in 2009 everything has been done on a shoe string, I would sell something I no longer need on Ebay in order to buy a new tool for the business!

I have applied for numerous funding methods but for various reasons including location, 'proper' job and owning a home it was just all stacked against me. So for the past 3 years I have been plodding along really, but it is very difficult as I know it is what I want to do.

Something I would really love to do would be to run jewellery making workshops and this is why I have applied for funding of £450, there are no boxes that need ticking in terms of my or my businesses circumstances. I did however need to prove what it would be used for.
So how do I get hold of this money?
Well I am relying heavily on you lovely folk. All it takes is a quick registration which takes your name and email, a couple of tick boxes and your done!
You will get a couple of emails as soon as you do that but you will NOT be spammed.
The whole process takes about 1 minute.

Each vote that I get counts as £1 so I need 450 votes and unless I get the full amount I will not get anything.

I recently attended a jewellery course in London, the course started at 10am yet I had to be up at 3am. I didn't get home til gone 9pm. It was such a long day and that is partly why I would like to run some classes.

Ideally I would love to secure some kind of premises in Leamington/Warwick where I can permanently house all my equipment.
When I am not running my own class other crafts people or small groups could use the space and I could even allow individuals to use the space and tools as they can be an expensive investment.

Please please take a minute out of your day to help me, if you leave a comment on the page you will also receive a discount code for use on my website.

Please vote here HERE!

Warwick - Portas Pilots

Hello everyone,

As a lot you you will know Mary Portas has been involved in bringing some life back into our high streets and it all kicked off for Warwick when the lovely chaps of Hatton and Harding made it through to the finals of The Telegraphs Best Small Shops in Britain headed down to the big smoke and were schmoozing with Mary herself,  and came SECOND! Woohoo well done lads!

Now Warwick is to put in a bid to get Mary's help. There is a blog set up here where they welcome any suggestions on what is needed to improve the town. So are you a business that would love to be part of the Warwick buzz but there is something holding you back or are you a Warwick resident that would like to see a change to make to visit more often?

So if Warwick were to win how would they benefit?
Well 12 towns and cities will get the chance to implement some of the recommendations from Mary. They will receive a share of £1million between them as well as the support of the Minister, Whitehall and Mary.

Don't you think that this could be an amazing opportunity for Warwick?

Learn Something New - January

I have set myself lots of little things to do throughout the year, one of them being design a new piece each month and the second is learn something new each month.

Well I had intended on a spot of wax carving but I have misplaced my saw blades so I tried a bit of reticulation instead.

Reticulation involved heating the metal several times to bring a layer of oxidised copper to the surface. when this is polished it leaves fine silver behind! 

I have seen the results and they can look absolutely beautiful, I however have a way to go yet until I am controlling the flow of silver!

This is what can be achieved

Image from http://www.siue.edu/artsandsciences/art/galleries/myers/img/myers008_2.jpg

and this is what I achieved (no laughing)

It does still need cleaning up. whilst I don't normally do very organic styled silver jewellery I think this style once perfected would look great against crisp polished silver.

Changing

I will try and find something other than the business to talk about before long. It just seems like the past couple of months have helped me find the direction I want to head into.

I attended a Meet the Buyers event at Argos today, it was a very good day. I wore by gold Gaia necklace but showed my simpler more 'Gifty' items that I thought would be more in keeping with the Argos pricing.

The one piece that the buyer was interested in though was my Gaia necklace!

This has led me to a descision about my business.

When I started making jewellery I wanted to please everyone. I made lots of what I call 'gifty' jewellery which was relatively cheap to make and proved very popular. 

The kind of thing was my Amor Swarovski Crystal heart pendants. Silver was a lot cheaper back then, the chains I use have gone up £2 each and the bails have doubled in price since them.

If I was to re calculate the prices they would actually work out quite expensive, I don't want this and customers certainly don't.

They were great earners for me at events but they don't really say anything about my making skills do they? I also got fed up of people prepared to spend £20 on one of these pendants but would complain that £20 on a hand made silver linked bracelet was far too expensive! This is why these and other items will be discontinued. I want to concentrate on MY pieces.

When I attended a trade fair last year the main items that got visitors attention were my Gaia range. This is what I got sales on. 

They always get attention and are the pieces I am most proud about, and the one piece of jewellery I always wear when I am making an effort.

This is also the piece that Beverley Knight owns and the piece that won me a competition.

So, I will be working on new silver pieces and these will be the things that I will focus on selling from now on. Whilst I will be discontinuing a few ranges, I will still be able to make them should people want.

I have also been labelled as a 'Wedding' jeweller designer, whilst I realise some of my pieces do lend myself to weddings I will probably be using pearls in a much different way from now on! 

Again I will be able to make up any style of jewellery and I will probably enjoy it a lot more when it isn't the main focus of my business.

I have fallen out of love with a number of different products that I use so this year I intend to make things that make me happy, try not to please all markets my making a whole range of items and styles and prices and mix matching them on one stall. I think this confuses everyone.

I want to use the skills I have learnt as a jeweller more and to become known for my silver pieces.

I would love to hear your opinions on this and whether your business has moved in a different direction?

Full Steam Ahead - 2012

I have set myself and my business a few challenges over the next year. (A lot actually!)

One thing has already been crossed off the list though - Exhibit at a wedding fayre. Its all booked for March!

I have also set myself a challenge to get new stockists this year and I have already managed two in January which isn't a bad start!

I really want to get the house sorted too and I have started by re carpeting my bedroom (yes myself!). I'm trying to have a clear out too so whilst moving bits out of the room I had the opportunity to chuck a lot of things.

Part of my clear out involves me selling the fashion jewellery I used to sell before making my own. It is all brand new and for sale here in turn it will help me pay off my credit card.

And last but not least I have a BIG meeting next week, a bit nervous and I'm not getting my hopes up but I will keep you updated.

Looking back on 2011

I cannot believe 2012 is here already!

I just wanted to share a few of my highlights of 2011, lots has been happening that you may not be aware of 

So in February I was featured in a 2 page spread of a local glossy magazine

In March I became part of the Warwick Tweetup where I have made some amazing friends

In April I exhibited at the BCTF trade fair

In July I pitched to Liberty in London and then was featured in a Spanish publication

In August I launched my new greeting card range. A lovely member of Warwick Tweetup helped with all my photo's to make my products come to life!

In November I had the privilege of making a necklace for Beverley Knight, I went to see her gig in Leamington Spa and met her afterwards. She is very, very down to earth and has inspired me a lot.

In December I won The London Jewellery School's competition for best design. I won a voucher to go towards a course and shall be learning how to make a wooden ring.

I have lots of plans for 2012, I'm very excited but nervous too as I am determined to push myself out of my comfort zone a bit more.

I won something!

I cannot believe it, the London Jewellery School had a competition running over the weekend where you submitted your designs and they chose their favourite.

I submitted my 18ct gold plated Gaia necklace. These are not only my favourite design but they are also becoming very popular with Beverley Knight taking ownership of hers last month!

Anyway, to get to the point I woke up this morning to a Facebook message saying I had won, not only that I was getting a voucher for one of their courses in London.

I have a long list of courses I want to take part in throughout the year but cannot for the life of me decide which I want to do first!

Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

I have been feeling like a real Scrooge this year with everything that has been happening lately I really couldn't be bothered.

I was asked to organise the staff Christmas meal for work, Friday morning came and I was terrified that it was going to be a disaster. I shouldn't have worried though, the venue was gorgeous and beautifully decorated, the staff were amazing and the meal was really scrummy!

Our company is quite small with only 16 of us but everyone gets on so well. The evening was for partners to come along as well so there was lots of chatting to be had. Our table was mainly talking about cars - no real surprise as we design transmissions for lots of car manufacturers.

I gave each couple one of my Christmas Cards with their meal choices in - good job I did as everyone had forgotten what they wanted!

Christmas Card

Rob mentioned to the boss that the cards were my design and he was very impressed, they have been so supportive of my business and word quickly got around about what I do which is great!

The drink was flowing all night and everyone was 'merry' not wanting to leave at the end of the night!

The bosses are already talking about having a summer barbecue to celebrate the companies 5th birthday (I'd better get organising!)

Makes me realised what a fantastic company I work for.

Merry Christmas everyone.

xxx

Zazu Videography

Have you seen this fantastic video of one of my cards being made?
Photos were taken of every movement made to make the design and hey presto a video has been created!

and this is the finished design, I decided to turn it into postcards instead but may get some cards done too.

Postcards in packs of 4 with envelopes for just £2.50 available here

Gift Wrap £1.10 available here

What a Knight!

As some of you may know last night myself and Rob headed down into town to the Leamington Spa Assembly to see a gig.
I have been told for a couple of years now that I need to go as it is an amazing live venue and boy they werent wrong.
The venue is very intimate with intricate wall paper and decor, very art deco.

We had a great spot just two away from the front and had an amazing view.
The first group up were a group of 4 lads all of which played their own instruments and had incredible voices. They are from Australia and this was their debut in the UK. They are called Electric Empire so check them out.

There was another chap who's name I can't remember but was famous when I was just a little girl.

And then there was the absolutely stunning Beverley Knight. I didn't realise I knew so many of the songs, it was a real blast from the past and I will definitely be getting her albums now as the powerful voice coming out of this petite lady was incredible.
She came on stage in skin tight black trousers (like Sandy on Greece) and absolutely rocked the place!
There were a number of super quick outfit changes each time having more of a wow factor. I honestly dont know how she got changed so quickly!

At the end of the night the whole crowd sang Happy Birthday to her backing singer Bryan.

Myself and Rob were lucky enough to get passes to see Beverley after the show. There were only about 10 or so people who got to meet her so feel very privalaged.

We were all ushered to the bar area where Beverley came to meet up after getting changed a few minutes later. She came in with her cup of tea - very rock and roll!

She spent a few minutes talking to people and then came over to Rob and scaredy cat me  in the corner!
Beverley is the nicest person, just so lovely and friendly. I made her a necklace which I hope she liked, it was based on my Gaia necklace but a little more intricate.

I just want to say a huge thank you Beverley for putting on an amazing show and for putting up with me waffling to you last night!
xx

Thinking about my New Years Resolution already

I have been at another event today and it has got me thinking about next year and where I want to go with the business.

So here goes:
I will not be attending smaller events
I will not be making things that I don't enjoy just because I think it will sell
I want to gain more stockist for both the cards and jewellery
I would like to have more of an online presence so will be looking into SEO a bit more
I would love to make more of a mixture of price ranges so make some lovely top quality gemstone jewellery
I want to attend a wedding fayre
The gift range is going to grow and I would love to add new items regularly

Well thats my thinking done until next year!

Been Featured

Just a quick post to give you an update on our new card range.

Well they seem to be very popular so far. Some have made their way to Studio 61 in Derbyshire and another lot will be working their way onto an online shop soon too.

My Nan has taken lots to sell at her local craft fair in West Wales.

I have also been featured on lovely Laura's blog check it out A Daisy Chain Dream please do take a look.

Present Greeting Card

Nearly forgot, I am running another offer with GoodyPass. Get a £15 voucher for my website which costs you just £5 - Christmas isn't that far away you know! GoodyPass

Cards, Post Cards & Wrapping Papers

I have been doing a lot of talking recently about launching a new gift range.

Well (drum roll please) hear is the first of it - YAY!

All of the designs have been made using beads I use in my jewellery

We have launched 4 postcard designs which will be sold in packs of 4 with envelopes these retail at £2.50 per pack.

There are 4 greeting card designs, left blank on the inside to use as you wish. These retail at £1.80 each

This is my favourite on, images of the rest will follow.

Some of the designs have also been made into gift wraps, these retail at £1.10 each gift tags will follow soon

These are large sheets measuring 50cm x 70cm

I hope you all like them, would love to hear your comments

We will be looking for shops to stock these items, if you would be interested please do get in touch here.

Halifax - Who Gives You Extra?!

As some of you may know 'R' lost his job in August. When it happened the first thing we did was to go into our local Halifax branch to arrange a payment holiday.

The chap was really helpful and said we would be eligible for up to 6 months payment free. We initially only took out 1 month and decided to take each month as it comes.

So we are coming to the end of the month and 'R' still hasn't got any full time work, although things are looking promising. This morning we headed into branch again and they said it wasn't anything they could do in branch. What? Only a month ago did we sort the last one out.

They said we needed to phone up to sort it so we requested to use one of their phones. I was on hold for 15 minutes only to be told we cant have another holiday. Again, What? We were told 6 months last month.

The bloke on the phone sounded as if he was half asleep and couldn't really give a damn about our case, he even asked us why we wanted the holiday... erm the same reason as last month.
He then went onto ask, 'well is he getting a job?' that is the plan I replied but it still means another month without money.

So as I tend to, I lost my rag a little, for him to finally say he has another solution.
His solution was that because 'R' had been making regular over payments we could have October off as it would be coming out of that money but after that nothing, zilch, Nada!

So what has Halifax done to give us extra.....
Naff all, just given us our own money back but refusing to help after that.
What happens if R isn't working in November? Are they prepared to just let us lose our home?

What else has happened between me and Halifax?

Last month went in branch to reduce my overdraft, they took all relevant information put it through the system and gave me a print out, so why did it fail to change on my account?

Had issues making payments when paying for shopping on my card, luckily I have a spare card with a different back.
Went into branch, they said there was nothing wrong but maybe I should try the card by making a small payment like buying a coffee before buying food shopping - thanks for that!

I phoned up recently to discuss my loan, I got through to someone who went on to transfer me to Sainsbury's - Yep I kid you not! The lady at Sainsbury's was very helpful, I just wish I would have taken the loan with them now!

When we took out the mortgage with Halifax they would be prepared to lend us 170k but wouldn't give us a joint bank account for us to put some of our wages into to pay the mortgage and bills. How does that work?

That's enough from me because I am about to boil!

Thanks Halifax for all your help over the last 24 years. I cannot wait till next year as when my loan comes to an end I will be moving current account, mortgage and ISA too.
It may not be much of a loss to Halifax but it will give me great satisfaction to go into branch and close each of the accounts.

My Holidays

We hadn't been on holiday for about three years and with Rob losing his job recently it seemed like a good time to go away.

We headed down to my sisters near Cardiff last Saturday where we had a lovely relaxing time. We went down to their local beach which was scorching and then ate (lots!).

On Monday morning we headed to Cornwall. We decided to camp in Bodmin so set up camp ended up asleep by 8 because we forgot batteries for the light!

On Tuesday we visited Looe and Fowey. It rained constantly but this didn't stop us having a great time.

Wednesday we went to St Ives. I absolutely love it there, Rob ended up being dragged around all the shops!
We went to the pretty Cath Kidston shop, Poppy Treffry and Red Hot Sal amongst others.
We took a walk on the beach and managed to find some small bits of sea glass too which was a bonus!

On Thursday we went to the Eden Project. I have been before, not long after it had opened but it has changed so much. Loved every minute of it.

  

On Friday we went to Padstow, it wasn't long before the sky turned grey and we heard rumbles of thunder. Then there was the flashes of lightening and suddenly all plans for the day went out the window! To stay in the dry we went to the Jamaica Inn, had a lovely roast dinner and a wander round the museum.

We left only to see massive queues on the A30 so we de-toured for what seemed like hours in the fog and torrential rain over Bodmin Moors. 

The rain and wind continued all night, I did think that the wind was going to take our little tent but we were safe. Lots of other campers didn't last the night and packed up in the pitch black.

We are now back in Leamington Spa but so wishing we were back in Cornwall - I'm longing for a little shop down there now!

P.S Very annoyed we forgot to get pasties!

Liberty - Best of British

Well as some of you may seen from my tweets @zazujewellery myself and Rob headed down to London at the crack of dawn yesterday morning to join the queue for Liberty's Open Call.

So we got up at 5:00am and left for the train station at 6:20am.
We got into London and made our way to the back of the queue which was already all round the building at 8:30am.

We knew that we would be waiting for up to 3 hours but thought it would soon fly by as each person only had 3 minutes to make their pitch.
Doors opened at 9:30am and we were indoors within 15 minutes. Thinking about how quickly we had been moving  I stupidly thought we would be in and out by 11:00 at the latest!

After another 10 minutes we had made it half way up their four storey stair case. I was starting to get a little nervous thinking I was going to get in so quickly!

I had needed the toilet since leaving the train station but thought I could wait as we were flying up these stairs. How wrong I was!

When we had got half way up the stairs a lovely member of staff kept coming down to see if there were any people pitching Home wares and Gifts. These people were being moved to the front on the queue to be seen.
This kept happening, and as the hours went by we were getting more and more fed up standing on a single step as people behind were racing their way up the queue.

When it seemed as if there were no more people from Home wares and Gifts we did start moving again. All out our neighbours were jewellery people. It was weird how we were not being moved into the final room.

We spent another good hour on the last step waiting to go through where I registered my name to see a jewellery buyer.
We got in and the staff members that were registering artists mentioned that they were just going to rush people through. It did make me feel that they just wanted the day over and done with and we were the dregs of the queue that they just wanted to get rid of!
My name got called and I went to sit with 2 buyers (not convinced they were jewellery buyers). They liked my jewellery, made positive remarks and some suggestions but did say that they would of liked to have seen the whole collection. I had bought 3 pendants from the range in 3 different finishes as they did say on the invite  only to bring a maximum of 4 things.

So I left the building feeling great that they hadn't slated me but a little down that we were rushed through at the last minute after waiting for hours.

All in all I do think that Liberty's Best of British open call is a brilliant idea but I did feel it was disorganised, although the two girls running up and down the stairs were lovely.

Maybe as they only select such a small amount of people to go through to the next round it would be better to do a bit amount of vetting on application from the designers. If they don't think your work is right on the photo's then you don't get invited. They know exactly what kind of look they want and I feel that they would end up with fewer amounts of people to see but the work is something that has taken their interest.
I think this way they will see more potential designers that are better suited to the store and then potentially more people going through to the second round.
The last thing I heard yesterday was that 12 people had been selected to go through to the second round, not a lot for the number of people that turned up.

These are what I took, sorry about the rubbish pic it was done on my mobile.

What a month!

We are only half way through the month but so much has happened, some good, some bad.

Our camping holiday to Cornwall has been booked - I cant wait. I haven't had a holiday for 3 years so it has been a long time coming. I just hope the weather is bearable!

R lost his job last Monday - not great news but he is keeping himself busy and i'm sure I have a whole host of jobs he can get on with! He is bored already so I may have to get some paint and get him decorating.

I couldn't believe it when he let me know he had lost his job, he was head hunted by someone he used to work with. He left a good job for this one and 3 months later they are laying people off.

On Tuesday I got some photography done for my new card ranges, it was a long day but so enjoyable spending time with my friend Sally Crane the photos that she has sent through so far are amazing. Here is a sneaky look!

What do you think?

On Friday I went to West Wales to see my Dad, I love going home. It is such a friendly place and I saw someone I worked with about 6 years ago which was lovely.

 I do miss the relaxed atmosphere down there and on the way to pick by sister up from the next town (20 miles away) I realised just how many people worked for themselves from their homes and workshops. There are so many talented people living down there.

August Birthstone - Peridot

The modern birthstone for August is Peridot and I have to say I love it to bits. 

This necklace has a Lapis Lazuli star with little hanging Peridots on an oxidised silver chain.

Available from my shop here

The traditional birthstone is Sardonyx, I have just launched a new range featuring Sardonyx and lava. It is still waiting to be loaded to the website though

The cabochon birthstone is Carnelian, a pretty orangy red colour as seen here