Dipping my foot in the muddy waters.....

Well, hello there blogosphere.......

Ah, the poor folorn parasol gathering mildew in the gloom......

A rainy half-term holiday afternoon finds me driven finally to start blogging.  When you see the to-do list you will understand why:

Amuse the kids, or they will amuse themselves

Clean the house (that stair carpet is a disgrace)
Finish jewellery for the craft fair on Saturday
Look out the baby things from the loft in preparation for tearfully giving them away on Sunday
Practice the piano (Grade 1 exam in 2 weeks)
Finish off the samples I'm supposed to be making for my wholesale catalogue

I should add, in my defence, that I took the kids bowling yesterday, to a friend's house to play today, and am planning a nice day out with friends tomorrow. So I'm not that much of a terrible mum....really, I'm not.


I'm making my first foray into making some stud earrings - I know, 20 years of jewellery making and it's my first attempt...but bear in mind I spent the first 15 years avoiding soldering as it caused me great distress and many melted pieces of silver...until I discovered extra-easy solder and my life was transformed.  

I suppose you ('one') usually make things you like yourself, and I've always been a dangly kind of a girl.  I'm trying to restrain myself and make them nice and simple, but I have to resist soldering a bit of copper on, or doing another layer of etching.  I need to price them quite competitively as I'm finding some of my pieces are just too expensive for people at the moment, and the less work involved, the less I need to charge.  

I like to be able to price things so that people can buy and wear them - that's why I make them - but I also have to make a bit of profit to plough back into the business.  The days when I will be able to pay myself are quite a way away I fear, but I have to keep telling myself that any new business takes a while to get off the ground.  Trouble is, in my mind I've been doing this for so long that I have to remind myself that I've only been really concentrating on it as a business since Minipickle 2 started pre-school last September, and even then it's had to fit round his half week there, and other commitments.

Well, if I manage to finish them off and not ruin them I'll post a picture next time.  Meanwhile, here's hoping for a little teeny tiny bit of June.