Brown's Hotel Vintage Jewellery Workshop: new date!

Just a booked a special treat workshop day at Brown's Hotel, Mayfair, London! It's aVintage Tiaras and Wedding Jewellery themed workshop, to be held on Saturday 19th September: it's £125 for a full day course to include all materials, vintage brooches and crystals/pearls, coffee and their delicious, prize-winning afternoon tea (for lunch!).

The idea is that you can bring 'something old' such as your Mum's brooch perhaps, to make into a special headdress or jewellery for the big day. If you choose to come along as a creative hen day, all your friends and family can make gorgeous vintage jewells to match their wedding outfits as well! If that date's no good, just let me know and they're happy to book in different days to suit your hen party plans. Any questions, just email me at sarah@sarahdrew.com.

more workshops: make your own wedding jewellery and tiaras at lovely, Cornish locations!

Had the first Recycled Jewellery Course this Saturday at the Windswept Cafe in Newquay: it was great!

future workshop and fair dates and details

April

Tuesday 21st: Cornwall College St Austell

www.cornwall.ac.uk

Friday 24th Golden Mill, Grampound www.goldenmill.co.uk/courses.html

Thursday 30th Archie Brown’s, Truro

www.archiebrowns.co.uk/

May

Saturday 2nd: Golden Mill, Grampound

Saturday 9th: The Cove, Lamorna,

www.thecovecornwall.com

Tues 12th

Thurs 14th Cornwall College, St Austell

Sat 16th www.cornwall.ac.uk

June

Friday 12th Golden Mill, Grampound

Saturday 27th Windswept Cafe (TBC), Newquay

www.windsweptcafe.co.uk

July

Saturday 25th Golden Mill, Grampound

10week Fashion jewellery: £54

Recycled Jewellery

£75 including drinks/lunch/cakes!

talk and taster session: £3

Beach-find jewellery

£140 for weekend: drinks/lunch/cakes included

Vintage Wedding jewellery and Tiaras: £49 including drinks and lunch

Adult Education week: free taster sessions: call 01726 226626 for more details

Beach-find Jewellery, £75 including drinks/lunch/cakes!

Recycled jewellery, £35 including lunch and coffee

Beach-find jewellery

£140 for weekend: drinks/lunch/cakes included

The idea is everybody brings a bucket, collects materials from the beach in the morning and we make them up into contemporary jewellery in the afternoon.

It was a lovely sunny day on Saturday, the cafe is very chilled with gorgeous views and we had a delicious lunch and drinks included: all for £38.

Here's a link to the cafe site: http://www.windsweptcafe.co.uk/. The next one there is booked for 27th June: I'll put a list of other venues for workshops below; and I'll put some pictures I took on the day on blog later.

Here's a comment from one of the participants:

"Hi Sarah
just a quick note to say thank you so much for Saturday - I came home absolutely buzzing!!
keep me posted for any further workshops I have some friends who'd be very interest in coming along."

I've sorted out more courses at some of the best venues in Cornwall including:

* The Hotel Tresanton ( http://www.tresanton.com/) in St Mawes: 'Vintage Wedding Jewellery and Tiaras' 7th Nov
* The Cove ( http://www.thecovecornwall.com/) near Penzance, 9th May
* The Golden Mill, Grampound: http://www.goldenmill.co.uk/: 'Beach Finds' and 'Wedding Jewellery' 2nd May
* Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery: www.mcsj.co.uk: 'Wedding Jewellery', 14th Nov

Wanted to make sure that if you come on one of the courses you will:

* have a relaxing, 'treat' day in a fantastic location
* have a delicious lunch
* enjoy a laid-back, creative group atmosphere
* get value for money: workshops between £38 and £85 (depending on venue lunch etc)
* as well as learning a new skill which you can use to save (or even make) money: making jewellery for presents or even to sell for eg

Another course that's coming up soon is 'Vintage tiara and Wedding Jewellery' Course at the Cove on 9th May: this is aimed at brides and their friends/families who want to

* make something individual to wear on their wedding day: perhaps using family brooches for 'something old'
* save money and learn a new skill: £58 for the course is a lot cheaper than buying a tiara!
* perhaps have an unique hen weekend: making their jewellery to wear on the wedding day on the Saturday; and spa treatments, lazing by the pool the next!

Of course, anybody is welcome and people may come who are thinking about setting up a business making jewellery; or they might just like vintage style jewellery to wear and give as gifts: have a look at my Picasa album to give yourself an idea of what you could make on the day: http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahdrew50/RecycledJewellery#

The Cove is in a fantastic position, set in the cliffs over Lamorna Cove. The course would be £58 including coffee and lunch; we can offer overnight deals from around £30per person (£120 for 4 bed appartment).

Here's some more dates: just call or email me if you'd like to check anything or arrange a private workshop for a hen party or group of friends: happy making and might see you in Cornwall soon!


future workshop and fair dates and details

April

Tuesday 21st: Cornwall College St Austell : Fashion Jewellery: £54 for 10 weeks
www.cornwall.ac.uk

Friday 24th Golden Mill, Grampound: Recycled jewellery: £75 including coffes and lunch www.goldenmill.co.uk/courses.html

Thursday 30th Archie Brown’s, Truro: Talk and taster workshop: £3
www.archiebrowns.co.uk/

May

Saturday 2nd: Golden Mill, Grampound: Beach Find Jewellery: £140

Saturday 9th: The Cove, Lamorna: Vintage WEdding Jewellery and Tiaras: £58 including coffees and lunch; www.thecovecornwall.com

Tues 12th
Thurs 14th Cornwall College, St Austell: free taster sessions; call 01726 226626 for details
Sat 16th www.cornwall.ac.uk


June

Friday 12th Golden Mill, Grampound: Beach finds: £75


Saturday 27th Windswept Cafe (TBC), Newquay: Recycled Jewellery: £35 including coffee and lunch; www.windsweptcafe.co.uk


July

Saturday 25th Golden Mill, Grampound; Beach Finds: £75

beat the credit crunch and do it yourself!

Booked lots of courses in so you can have a go at making your own for all the fashionista, sparkly divas on a budget at the moment. Courses cost from £35 and you can go away with loads of jewellery.

The first one coming up on 18th of April is at the lovely Windswept Cafe on Fistral Beach: http://www.windsweptcafe.co.uk/ If you fancy actually making something gorgeous from all those bits of seaglass and appealing pebbles you collect, come along to this Recycled Jewellery workshop, and take home some lovely, unique seaside jewels!

The cafe is in a fantastic position, right on Fistral beach: so after a sustaining coffee and delicious brownie, we can take to the shores in the morning, foraging for seaside treaures such as:
* lovely opaque seaglass,
* bright seaplastic,
* worn driftwood
* smooth pebbles
* quirky seastring

Then it's back to the cafe with our horde, scoffing some delicious lunch and a laid-back, creative afternoon making our finds into stylish, wearable jewellery.

I'll go through wirework, crochet anbd stringing techniques from scratch so the workshop is perfect for complete beginners with extra challenging projects for more experienced makers.


The first workshop this year is on Saturday 18th April, 10-4pm

Course cost: £35 including lunch, coffee /tea and cakes!

call or email Sarah for details and bookings: 07951 960647 or 01726 68433

Bring a bucket and see you there!

Autumn update in the land of beads

Christmas present collections
We’ve got some nice sparkly wintery collections ready for Christmas! Lots of
· chunky, irregular Swarovski pendants in sparkly clear and moody dark colours
· vintage brooches on dress rings and customised on necklaces
· plaited semi-precious stone bracelets in smokey quartz, onyx and garnet
· quirky hammered silver chains with antique charms and chunky stones
· black-black crocheted statement necklaces and cuffs for dramatic evening wear
With the credit crunch in mind, we’ve tried to keep prices reasonable with lots of pieces to retail for under £10 and under £20. Just email or call if you’d like to see the collections or have a look at some images.

Credit-crunch reductions: 1/3 off selected retail prices
We’ve knocked down prices on selected jewellery and tiaras to help you still afford a treat in these testing times!. We know a lot of people are nervous or struggling in the current climate so we’d like to help out with a bit of sparkle if we can! We’re finalising the reductions now and will follow up next week with a list of sale items: they should show on the website price then anyway. Just let us know if you have queries at all or would like to order anything. sarah@sarahdrew.com or 01726 68433

new recycled jewellery and retailers recycled fair at Wadebridge
On Tuesday 28th October we’ll be hauling lot’s of lovely recycled goodies to the Greener Retailing Show at the Royal Cornwall Showground in Wadebridge. We’ll be taking all our new darker sea-plastic necklaces on suede, slate and sea-glass jewellery along with our popular antique collection. It’s on from 9.30am – 3.30 pm and looks like it will be a good day! To book your free place please visit www.greenerretailing.co.uk or call Jo Lake on 07737772181 for more information.

new bridal collections for 2009: vintage/quirky/sleek...

Our antique collections have been really popular so we’ve developed them further with:

· Vintage leaves: diamante/crystal and silver leaf asymmetric headdresses, cuffs and chokers

· 50s filigree: big, bold necklaces, encrusted with Swarovski crystals and vintage brooches set on crocheted silver wire

· Quirky: handmade hammered charm bracelets and delicate necklaces with vintage quirky charms: pretty goth...

· Sleek: contemporary, sterling silver collection: linea with big, clear rock crystals

· Structured lace: heavy, Prada-like lace structured into chokers/cuffs and little caps with wire, and loads of pearls

upcoming fairs and parties

We’re building up to a busy Christmas with Fairs and parties galore! We’ll be at the gorgeous atmospheric Fowey Christmas Fair on 6th and 7th December, taking lots of sparkly, vintage Christmas treats complete with gift-wrapping for you to peruse!

Our special handmade Christmas present parties are booking up fast. We’ve teamed up with Rachel Grigg, a textile designer who makes lovely bags, cushions and decorations to provides a nice cross-section of presents to buy, mostly for under a tenner or twenty quid!

Quite a cool idea to kick off a work do: we can come to your shop, you can choose lovely sparkly goodies and perhaps a new bag, then go out on the town to show them off! Oh yes, and you could order some presents for other people too...

Just let us know if you’d like to book one and we can get you in the diary: quick!

collecting at Crantock for 'Coast'

I was very pleased to be asked by 'Coast' to be filmed talking about my jewellery and collecting reclaimed materials at Crantock last Friday. It's for their 'postcards from...' section of the programme and I talked about how I like using materials such as sea-glass, sea-plastic, string and driftwood from the beach in my jewellery.

Felt a bit daft on camera, being filmed with my little green bucket, looking out to sea. But it was good to discuss why I like using these thngs and the connection with where I get them from and the finished piece of jewellery.

There were a few curious dogs about, and a lifeguard hellbent on getting on camera, but aprt from that it all went very well and is due to be shown next spring: I'll keep you posted...

pebbles and fimo...

Been a while since I last blogged: sorry about that. Been busy making orders and sunning myself in Andalucia! Picked up some nicely eroded pebbles there though, with loads of holes so I can connect them in a chunky handmade chain. That's when I get time though: busy time of year for sparkly tiaras and pearly necklaces for weddings...

Using a lot more pearls at the moment for wedding jewellery: brides seem to be going for bolder, simple looks to match striking, structured dresses. Our vintage collection is still very popular: brides are putting out asymetric spider or wild vintage headdresses with slinky Jenny Packham style dresses. Combs and grips are also going well to go in softer , more modern bridal hairstyles...

Bridal fairs are about finished now: the last one we did at the Jubilee Wharf in Penryn was great: a bit contemporary and alternative with eco venues such as Crasken Farm (www.greenerthangreenvenues.co.uk) beautiful hedghrow flowers from Fleur Parkinson (www.fleurparkinson.co.uk ) and wooden rings from Justin Duance and lovely precious rings from Mirri Damer (www.mirridamer.com ). The cafe's lovely there too: Miss Peapod's: nice food, cool music and very kid friendly with great toys and proper menu for the little monsters (www.misspeapod.jubileewharf.co.uk/peapod-home.html ).

And just remembered that we won an award!! Best accessories designer in the South West: I was well-chuffed! You can have a look at the other winners here: www.westcountryweddingawards.co.uk Was voted for by customers so nice to feel a bit appreciated!

Half term this week so desperately trying to think of interesting activities: fimo was good! Been wanting to do some for jewellery anyway and got it out with my lads: was a bit envious of the ones they did! Mine were a bit neat and boring: want to do big abtract pieces like they did but it's hard to fake...maybe will just pinch their ones. Swords coming out now so will maybe have to keep a bit of an eye on them! Won't leave it so long next time...

Sunny skies and chunky stones...

What a difference a sunny day makes! Actually got to go out without my big white duvet coat on, look at some boats and half-heartedly shouted at scavenging seagulls (after my treacle and cheese sandwhiches) with some lovely Cornish sun on my back. It just lifts your spirits; and it's so nice not to have wet jeans bottoms...

Makes a difference with design ideas: can't bring myself to consider black and berry colours now. Got some lovely big (1.2 mm) light green jade beads that I just want to put in everything. They're lovely and heavy and make a nice clicky noise when you move them!

Going to use them to make a necklace along with a gold vintage brooch with turquoise and diamante stones: might put a cosmic swarovski bead in silver shade with it because I just love them. Nice that they're irregular but still really sparkly: the silver shade looks really vintagey as well...

And got some fresh looking BIG chunks of rose quartz: might put those with the yellow porcelain roses that I love: or maybe even the coffee coloured ones.

Getting ready for the Truro bridal fair at the Hall for Cornwall on Sunday 9th Feb: feel like doing loads of fresh colourful things so hope some adventurous brides will be coming along!

Done some BIG jewellery for the fashion show (Elegant Bride from Falmouth are doing it http://www.elegantbrides.co.uk/) so you won't miss it on the stage. Quite into BIG jewellery anyway at the moment (in case you hadn't notced!)

Anyway, need to get on: have to make a vintage centre for a rose on a lace choker for Bride! in Penzanze (http://www.brideincornwall.com/): it's quarter to 10 and I still have to fit in my nightly weetabix; life in the jewellery fast lane eh?!