1) If you were a cake, what kind of cake would you be?
I’d be a massive chocolate fudge cake. Large, gloopy, chocolate-y, creamy, sensual – a total indulgence.
2) What will you be doing at “A Makey ‘do’”?
I’ll be beadweaving while sitting behind my stall, which will be filled with gorgeous (but very reasonably priced) necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Every hour for a nominal cost of 50p to cover materials, show attendees will be able to join me in making a delicate beadwoven floral mobile phone or bag charm.
3) Fish and Chips or Curry?
Oh, definitely fish and chips for me! I’m originally from the North-East of England – Sunderland – where they make the best fish and chips in the world. Crisp, golden batter, flaky white fish, fluffy chips covered with salt and vinegar. My mouth’s watering just thinking about it.
4) Where else can your wares usually be found?
My website is full of photos of my jewellery, and it also includes links to my shops on Etsy, Folksy and Coriandr. The web address is
http://www.nerolidesigns.co.uk/ . Visitors to the Bead and Button magazine website
http://www.beadandbutton.com/ will be able to download a free pattern of one of my bracelet designs to make (if they register with the website), and another of my bracelet designs will be in the April 2009 issue of “Bead” magazine – available from this weekend, I think. My blog, which I update weekly, contains details of what I’ve currently got on the go. I’m doing about three largish bead projects at the moment, switching between them when I get a bit bored. My blog can be found at
http://www.anotherpartialsuccess.blogspot.com/5) Do you usually hang out in Sandwich, or are you a visitor?
I’ve only been to Sandwich once – last Summer on a day trip with my husband and two daughters – but I really loved the place! You’re so lucky to be able to live there all the time. We had a great day walking up and down the quaint little streets and walking round the town moat, stopping to look in the shops and the fancy took us. We also had an excellent tea in a little tea shop just round the corner, but I can’t remember its name. I’ll be visiting Sandwich again before the Makey Do – one of the things I do when I’m not crafting is walking, and I’m currently walking the Saxon Shore Way. This is a long-distance walk of some 160 miles from Gravesend in Kent to Hastings in Sussex, following the line of the ancient Kent/Sussex shore as it was in 300AD. Over the last two years I have covered the distance from Gravesend to Pluck’s Gutter (what a great name!) and the very next section I do, when I resume the walk this April, will take me from Pluck’s Gutter into Sandwich. I’ll wave hello to the Guildhall as I go past.
6) Who is your all-time hero?
There are a number of people who have inspired me over the years, and the person at the top of the “all time high” varies from time to time. At the moment it’s a man called James Partridge. At the age of 18, just before he went to Oxford University, James was badly burned in a car accident, which left him disfigured. But he didn’t let that stop him. He took his degree, and went to work in the NHS. He moved to the Channel Islands and took up farming, and wrote a book about his experience, called “Changing Faces”. It was such an impressive book that he was asked to set up a charity (which is also called Changing Faces), and his charity now helps other people with disfigurements. If you want to find out more about James and Changing Faces, take a look at
http://www.changingfaces.org.uk/7) Who got you started on your crafty journey?
My Grandma. When I was five she helped me to make a rag-doll out of one of my Grandad’s old socks. The doll was called Celandine, and from there I went on to embroidery, knitting and, of course, beading.
8) What colour draws you most?
Green and purple. And red, brown and gold. And blue, and grey, and black. And sometimes pink. But it’s most it’s green and purple.
9) Where do you go for inspiration?
Anywhere and everywhere. I get inspiration from the city streets on a sunny day, the countryside in winter, the way the light shines through a window, the shape of the clouds in the sky, flowers growing in my garden, book jackets in the library, the colour combination of clothes that friends and colleagues wear, and I’m particularly interested in vintage jewellery and jewellery from other cultures.
10) Do you dunk?
AArrgghh, no! Dunking is an invention of the Prince of Darkness. Biscuits are meant to be eaten dry, which is why they have to be baked in the oven until they’re all crispy!
Why thank you Neroli, we shall have to agree to disagree on the whole dunking issue. Your beading looks gorgeous, and so lovely that people will have chance to have a go. See you there with sparkley dangley bits on.....but with no soggy dropped off biscuit crumbs down your front-that will be me!
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