Brilliant Aether & Always Coming Home

So what’s been keeping me busy these days, so busy that I’ve neglected this blog horrendously and my blogging friends even more than usual? Well, I’ve been frantically making new stock, but I’m always doing that.  The truth is, I’ve also been building another website, and it’s just recently gone “live”.

Brilliant Aether is going to be a bit of a departure from The Birds In The Meadow, but I like to think the two sites will complement each other nicely.  There’s been an element to my creativity that’s gone unexpressed here – the part that loves living in a city, that wants to run with ideas that would not fit on a nature blog, and wants to make things to sell that would be out of place in The Birds In The Meadow’s shop. For instance, there’s been a Steampunk section in The Birds In The Meadow ever since it opened and it’s been one of the most popular sections in the shop, but to fully explore the more fantastical and costume like aspects of my craft I really have to take it elsewhere; thus the Brilliant Aether shop was born. There isn’t a huge amount of stock just yet and the blog has barely started but I hope it’s going to gather momentum nicely. And I’d love it if you dropped in and said hi!

The Birds In The Meadow may have been a little slower than usual while I worked on the new site, but the making never stopped and the arrival of summer (a chilly summer, but summer nonetheless) galvanised me to make some new summery stuff. I’ve been hanging on to a pair of absolutely gorgeous vintage clip on earrings for a while now and I’ve wanted to give them a new life as cocktail rings but the right ring backs just never came my way. Until now that is, and here’s what they look like now (excuse my horrid dishpan hand)

The arrival of swallows after their gruelling migration from Africa a month ago filled me as ever with happiness and awe… so much better than shock and awe, don’t you think? I have a whole blog post to write about that in fact… but not now.  To celebrate I made these necklaces; I called them “Always Coming Home”  after the book by Ursula K LeGuin…

…and to celebrate the first rose appearing in our front yard, I made this necklace

And there is more to come! But not now, as I think you’ve probably had enough to read as it is, so I’ll thank you for reading this far down and take my leave.

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Cutting some vinyl

One of my favourite art materials right now is old vinyl records. I was looking through our collection of much beloved albums and singles one day when I discovered a bonanza of unexpected trash. “What the hell? We have a haircut 100 single? WHY???” It turned out that some of R’s previous housmates had less than glittering music tastes and would occasionally leave their more embarrassing choices behind when they moved on to pastures new. Not wanting these to go to landfill inspired me to see if I couldn’t do something with them.

My first pair of vinyl earrings I just couldn’t part with and I’m glad I didn’t, they are one of my favourite items of jewellery. There just doesn’t seem to be a limit to the ways I can use it for necklace making, and anything made using vinyl fragments immediately adds edge to whatever else I’m wearing.

The trouble with using vinyl record fragments for jewellery is that vinyl in this form is brittle and difficult to cut; it’s taken me an age to figure out the best way to do it. It’s not rocket science but if I told you my method I’m afraid I’d have to eat you. The other problem and the worst one by far is that no matter how lousy the record, cutting one up gives me terrible pangs of guilt and nostalgia. I love records. We still have a turntable and often give our old vinyl a spin, so when I’m scouring charity shops for suitable material I’ll only buy the scratched ones that no-one could listen to anyway. With careful cutting I get rid of the damage, have something fun to wear and keep some vinyl out of landfill.

Want to see more? You can buy my recycled vinyl collection “Put Your Records On“ in the shop!

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