Packaging

Whether one likes it or not, packaging is very important. I remember getting a parcel from my good friend Michelle of http://www.hmbm.co.uk/ (Hand Made By Me) - she makes lovely pieces from polymer clay beads - which was a bright pink shiny envelope, and getting so excited and happy just from the look of it! I, of course, like to re-cycle, so I often re-use the envelopes I get from other people: my jewellery bits and pieces, books etc. But I do pay a lot of attention to what and how I put inside. Well, of course, one doesn't want to go mental and spend lots of money on the stuff that will end up in a bin anyway, but your product has to be presentable.

I have been using these dark green boxy-things, made out of tough paper, you can open and close them on both sides. They were quite good, but not ideal: apparently, they wouldn't go through a letter-box, which is an important consideration for a lot of customers: when they are not at home, who is going to take the parcel from the postman? I'd wrap up my beads into white tissue paper, then into bubble-wrap, put them inside the green thing, wrap around some fuschia ribbon with a little dangly bit at the front - done!

But I have now run out of these. I went to Noblepac website, and the buggers have put their prices up! They obviously don't want to deal with little customers like me: if your order is less than £50.00, there is a £6.50 handling charge on top of everything else. OK, they can do without me then. So I found an alternative: http://www.bagnboxman.co.uk/, they do these little boxes which take about .1sec to put together and which look very smart!

So this is how my beads look now when they arrive: all wrapped up in white tissue paper, bubble wrap, inside a smart little box with my little Bead Mon Amour sticker on, with fuschia ribbon. I am very pleased, especially that these boxes are cheaper than the Noble ones were. AND they go through a letter-box!

This just reminds me that I need to spend some time thinking about my new logo for my new name: it's Nelli Rees Glass Art.

Making New Things Out Of Old Things

I had to fill out my "interests" section on Facebook, and this was one of my favourite things to do. Here is an example. Never throw anything out! I don't, that's why moving house is such a difficult job, I have so many things! Anyway, my daughter likes this bracelet very much, and I don't blame her: it is shiny and sparkly. Unfortunately, it was made in China, out of some very crappy material - I guess, some plastic, which later on was covered in a layer of shiny paint, so it looks like it is real silver (typical). It broke the other day, and there were tears. But don't you worry, mum is here! With her jewellery-making tools! AND her brain with bright ideas. I took a piece of sterling silver wire, attached it to one end of the links of the bracelet, put a big 8mm Swarovski on it, then connected the end to the other link. Voila! The only thing was my daughter didn't want any of my beads put into the bracelet :( Never mind, I'm used to it! :)

Lampwork Open Day in Leicester

What a lovely date, so I had to write a blog today!

But I won't bore you with my thoughts about 10.10.10 - too much has happened since my last blog, and I won't even be able to write it all out tonight. But this is a great excuse to do it tomorrow!

I suppose, the main event has to be the open studio of Diana East in Leicester. We went there on Friday. Of course, as Diana mentioned a marquee on Facebook, I had put on several layers of warm clothes - these murky October days in England, especially if you have to be outside. But it was quite warm - surprisingly - so we considered ourselves to be lucky. I met Astrid Riedel, a south african lampwork artist. She was petite, almost elfine-like, and very very pretty. She demonstrated how to make a couple of beads, which was a big success. I also met other bead and jewellery makers, and a lot of people bought my book, a big Thank you to them! I was trying to take pictures, but as it was my first experience in being a "photographer" of the event, I got shy - as usual - and only managed to take three pix! They are on my Facebook as a separate album. After that we went to a lovely restaurant "Little Tokyo" - if you ever happen to be in Leicester, you have to check it out, it's worth it - and had a great meal. So the whole day went really very well!

After the Rain

So what's new? Yesterday was the day of Faith, Hope and Love (this is the Russian variant of the name translated into English). I love that day: 30th of September in Moscow would usually be quiet, no wind, with golden leaves and that special autumn sunshine - soft and kind of meaningless...

Today it was raining ALL day. I even posted a pic on Facebook - nobody commented! I think everybody was a little annoyed with me, stating the obvious. So I have posted these pix here! The thing is, in Norfolk it isn't actually as wet as in Derbyshire. But after all that rain this beautiful rainbow came. It was huge, double or even triple, with many layers which, unfortunately, can't be seen on the photo. It was here only for about half an hour, but it changed everything: the light of the sky, the air, my mood. I forgave and forgot the rain. It was lovely.

I must sort out my torch. Otherwise I am having too much spare time, doing absolutely nothing. Who cares about unpacking anyway? It's boring, it was very boring packing, I only did it because I had to. Tomorrow. Definitely. I'll do it.