Magic & Alchemy

Yesterday was very exciting - my bf was having his first Raku firing and I got to be there to see the results. It was absolutely fascinating seeing the red hot, glowing pots come out of the kiln and seeing them cool. Seeing the colours develop as they cools was magical. I took tons of pics, although, very annoyingly I managed to delete some of the last ones before I'd uploaded them - Doh!

Here's some of the pics from the afternoon :)

A Good Week for Woodle Doodle Dandy!

I've had my shop, Woodle Doodle Dandy Designs, with Folksy now since Christmas and on Friday I got the nicest surprise ever - I made my first sale!! \o/ \o/ \o/

This was what I sold ->



I was still smiling to myself last night when I checked in with Folksy and found another nice surprise. I had a lovely message from one of the other sellers telling me that she had picked one of my necklaces for a treasury for her blog :) To check it out click here :)

Beads, Beads and a bit of Daniel Craig

Its been a good week for cakery and beads. On Monday we went out for the day to Oxford to visit the Pitt Rivers Museum and I had a great time exploring all the cool collections. Unlike a lot of museums where things are organised by their origin or the era they come from, everything here was organised by what it was. There were tons of cabinets full of jewellery from all over the world and all through time. I also enjoyed looking at the weapons and all there ornate and decorative handles. The work that must have gone in to making some of them was amazing and very inspiring.
Heres some pics of some of my favourite bits







I also saw in the news that it was International Womens Day yesterday and loved the video made by Sam Taylor Wood highlighting the inequality that still exists in the world for women. I thought I'd share it with you all here.

Free Beads

Look what I got in the post today :)



They were a free sample I got from Wholeport.com . Now I just have to decide what to make from them. I think I'll definitely be checking out the shop for more beads and jewellery findings as they seem to do a nice mix of quirky bits and bobs. I especially like the cat charm.

Busy week in Katsville

Last night I went out to see Mark Thomas live at our local theatre. He was utterly amazing. I think to say he was a comedian would do him a disservice - he's kind of like v witty, v human and engaging human rights activist. Last night he was talking about his recent trip to the West Bank and how he walked along the wall that divides the West Bank from Israel. I've been a fan for years but never had the chance to see him till now and I would definitely recommend it.



Completely different and much lighter note, I've finished making all my geeky crafts for the Geeky Swap on Cut Out & Keep so I should be posting those off by the end of the week :) I love making things for others. I think its probably my biggest source of inspiration. Hopefully Kiddo will love the bits I've made her as much as I've loved making them :)

I'm also reading loads at the moment. I finished Gentlemen and Players and I'm now reading another of Joanne Harris'. I'm reading Chocolat. I've seen the film a few times so wasn't going to read it, but after reading Gentlemen and Players I got really into her style of writing. I'm loving Chocolat and I'm already near the end.

It's been a bit of the wet and soggy side the last few weekends so I haven't got the down the plot for a couple of weeks. I have been starting some seeds off at home though. I have chili and onions on the window sill.

Geeky

I've signed up for my first swap in absolutely ages so tonight I've been making all things geeky (as thats the theme of the swap) :) My partner for this swap is Kiddo and we've been partners in a couple of swaps so I'm really having fun. So far I've made 3 items and I have another couple on the go. I even used polyvore to help get me inspired. This is the set I made based on the geeky things she said she liked.

Geeky Swap by kathakana featuring green tops

Looking out for our planet

I spotted this on my reader today via Treehugger

Its a beautiful and v v short animation to remind us why we need to be kind to our planet.