UK Beaders

Ciel

I've always lived in the North East of England, located minutes away from the countryside and have always found nature an inspiration.  The colours, texture and form, even in my back garden, has always been a focus for various projects I've worked on.  Not least, making jewellery.

I started making things at an early age from colourful scraps of fabric or from buttons that my Mum  kept as she was always making something, so I watched and learnt various crafts -  knitting, sewing, making clothes for my cuddly toys and embroidery.  It wasn't until I started embroidery and cross stitching in my teens, that my fascination for colours and nature became more obvious.  I embroidered various pieces and over a period of time, had an extensive collection of threads of all the colours you could image.

I also dabbled in watercolour and oil painting, usually flowers or abstract pictures again the colour combinations a continual surprise.  I still haven't grasped the use of acrylics, but when I have some free time, I might get around to it!

I then discovered the joy of beading.  I was shopping for some jewellery to go with a particular outfit and couldn't find what I wanted.  I ended up in a small bead shop and bought a handful of beads, a clasp and some wire in the colours I wanted.  That was it, I was hooked.  I went on to make jewellery for my family and friends and once I'd exhausted this, as I still wanted to make jewellery, I found an outlet in the form of the Darlington Craft Fair twice a month, which I thoroughly enjoy attending.  Thermals are definitely needed this time of year along with a flask full of hot tea.

I designed and developed my website, Ciel Creations, through which I now sell my jewellery on-line as well as attending other local craft fairs.

But what an experience this has been over the last 3 years I've certainly had lots of fun!

I now spend many a happy hour beading on an evening, trying out different colour and texture combinations - using gemstones, glass, lampwork, pearls, swarovski crystals and sterling silver, until something catches my eye.

I also find the continual creations on this forum a source of inspiration and an hour can easily pass whilst browsing and commenting on posts.  I'm also amazed at the  beautiful glass beads created by various lampwork artists and find them very, very tempting.  Sometimes too tempting and I just have to have some!

You can see my jewellery at: www.cielcreations.co.uk which is regularly updated to add all my latest creations.

Claire-Louise