Hi to all who look in regularly and welcome to those who have looked here for the first time. Regular visitors will have noticed we haven't been up to much lately which is not like us at all.  Sadly, my dad died a few weeks ago after a very long illness and a very lengthy hospital stay. Due to the vagaries of our overstretched, disorganised and unwieldy NHS, he was placed in a hospital 170 miles from me and 110 miles from my mum which severely limited our visiting and meant he died away from his family. There were a number of issues which my mother feels unable to cope with after such a long battle to get better treatment for my dad so we will have to live with our feelings and thoughts and just get on with it as ordinary people on small incomes have always had to do. Now to put the icing on our particular cake my mum has had a fall and broken her hip necessitating a total hip replacement. Those of you who have met us  know I am still battling the after effects of chemo therapy for breast cancer so I can safely say my cup has well and truly run over now! The good news is that the overworked medical team at Hereford County Hospital are doing a sterling job of caring for my mum and she is making good progress and we hope to be at Nantwich craft and bead fair in December. It's a good fair run by Debbie at JL Fairs so well worth a visit in time for handmade Christmas gifts and bits and bobs for your hobbies etc let me know if you need more details.

Alison

With sincere apologies to our customers who expected us at Nantwich on 2nd December. Sadly health issues prevented me from making the journey. My intention is to get plenty of rest so that I can start the new year refreshed and raring to go. I am still beading so you can expect to see some new pieces of beadwork before too long - just got to finish a piece I'm creating for my mum first!

Richard and I wish everyone a peaceful Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.

This is a big thank you to all those people who visited and bought from us on Sunday at the Rheged fair. A big thank you too for their long suffering partners who accompanied them and stood patiently, without complaint while the beader pored over the beads.  

  For anyone who has never visited Rheged, it really is a lovely place in one of the most beautiful areas of our country and well worth a visit.

I was up early (but not bright!) at 5.30 so I could walk the dogs before we left and we had a lovely day meeting new faces and of course other lampworkers and bead sellers. People were very complementary about our work which is always lovely and encouraging. I have always felt that craft work of any kind is important so that we maintain skills that would other wise be lost. The people who choose to buy from craft workers  enable us to keep crafting and of course in return they get a good quality product that is well made from quality materials and is safe to use.

I've already had mail from one of our customers which was brilliant. I would love to hear from more folk and see what you make with our beads and glass. If you send me pictures I will set up a gallery of your work - just let me know.

I intend having the rest of the day to recuperate - aaaaah! - but hope to get some new stock on line this week.

As always, please let us know if there is anything in particular you'd like us to make and we'll give it a go if possible.

Thanks for visiting

Alison

OK, so I'm new at this but I'm told a Blog is a wonderful thing so here I am pondering what you could possibly find interesting about what we are doing at Clearly Glass.

Due to health issues, I haven't done as much as I would like but things are afoot - or is that a metre? Doesn't quite have the same ring!

Rich has been busy making some new character beads which we will be taking to Rheged at the end of September. All top secret now - I just get a glimpse as he squirrels them away - but what I saw looks rather good.

I have to confess to getting on with my dolls houses rather than beads so I'll be putting more dolls house items on site soon .

I can't think of anything else to say other than please let me know if there is anything you'd like to see on our site. We'll consider anything legal!

We love to hear what you think of our work and ideas for new projects are always welcome.