Vintage plastic beads – a love affair

May 18, 2012 in Crafty, Jewellery by Peta | No comments

A great portion of my jewellery made in the last year has included vintage plastic flower beads.

A few reasons for my great love of these beads:

  • The huge variety you can get. There are so many different flower shapes out there as well as so many colours and shades. You also get variety in the rigidity of the beads, textures, amount of detail and even opacity.
  • They’re more environmentally friendly than new beads. This is especially true of plastic, because it’s made from a petroleum by-product. The less new plastic we buy, the smaller the impact on fossil fuel production.
  • The rarity of these beads is a big draw for me. There are less people using these kinds of beads than those who are using Czech glass, gemstone beads or those ubiquitous metal bird charms. I have nothing against using these, I just like the idea that using vintage beads makes my jewellery a little bit different to the mainstream of handmade sellers (especially those on Etsy).
  • They’re ever so pretty! I think these beads are gorgeous and they give my work a really lovely retro feel. I have an affinity for retro stuff. A lot of my music is ‘vintage’ – a huge portion of my iTunes catalog is from before 1980. I love vintage homewares and have a lot of them that I have inherited, not to mention the stuff I have found in op-shops.

If you’re interested in buying some vintage plastic flower beads for yourself, I have some tips below:

  • There are lots of people on Etsy selling reproduction beads as true vintage beads. Good sellers will mention that it is a reproduction, possibly using the phrase ‘vintage style’ in the tags or description. A related issue is that some sellers will sell some vintage beads mixed with new beads, especially the new lucite beads that are available.
  • When you buy these beads they may come to you in less than ideal condition, as is the issue with anything secondhand. The hard plastic flowers you buy can break quite easily and it’s not uncommon to open a package and find a few broken. They can also come to you with stains and marks. You have to be extremely careful when cleaning these beads as the colour can actually come off with some cleaners. It’s generally not a noticeable amount of colour that comes off, but it’s something you should be aware of.
  • Think carefully before buying a mix of beads if the seller is not using an image of the exact beads they are selling i.e. if a seller says something like “you’ll get a similar mix of beads”. Buying these mixes sight unseen can result in you having tonnes of one particular colour and/or style of bead that’s more commonly available and less of the ones you love best.
  • Become an informed amateur when it comes to vintage supplies. Read any articles you can find on the topic and learn how to identify vintage beads, especially for online shopping. It’s infinitely harder to be sure when you’re shopping for supplies online because you have no way to check the beads out for yourself.

And with that, a little look into my collection. I now have to store it in three containers – one for my largest flowers, one for the medium flowers and one for the tiny flowers.

So, lets talk. Have you used vintage plastic flower beads before? Do you want to? Do you collect any particular kind of craft supply?

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Lots of new lovelies

May 14, 2012 in Jewellery by Peta | No comments


The above is a sample of some of the new items I have added to my shop today. All of these items were made before my last craft market and are only a small portion of the new stock I have. For the first time I have some items in multiples. I’ve always made one off pieces so this is a very new concept for me.

Keep an eye out at the shop because I’ll be adding a bunch of new stock soon.

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Craft room and a new online shop (again)

April 25, 2012 in Jewellery, Life by Peta | No comments

A dark red rose from my backyard
One of the roses from my back garden.
For the last two months, I have been living alone for the first time since 2006. I’m in a four bedroom house that my Dad bought, which I, my siblings and my Dad are paying off together. I’m certainly not finished unpacking but my kitchen is set up which I thought was the most important thing. I have also set up a craft room in the last bedroom but I’m not completely finished. It’s fantastic having space to make my jewellery and store it all. Back at home in Melbourne I was working out of my ridiculously over cluttered bedroom so this is just lovely.

Another thing I’ve been up to is creating a much more me and user friendly online store using Joomla’s Hika Shop. You can find it here. This should (hopefully) be my last change in shop format.

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25% off sale ’til 14th January!

January 3, 2012 in Crafty Business, Jewellery by Peta | No comments


That’s right, I’m having a sale! I’m trying to clear some stock and you can benefit.

To get 25% off all items in my store, use the coupon code 6501309852 when you checkout.

*Only includes jewellery already featured in the store. Does not include custom orders.

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Atheist Christmas

December 28, 2011 in Food, Life by Peta | No comments


As I’ve talked about before, we had family visit for Christmas this year. With other relatives and friends, we ended up with fourteen people over on Sunday.

I cooked a turkey, roast vegetables and cheesecake for the big day. My sister made a Christmas cake and my Nana brought ham. The other guests brought salads and bread.

I modified this turkey recipe for my whole 4kg bird. I didn’t stuff it, I ended up putting in a halved onion, lemon and bay leaf in the cavity for extra flavour. It turned out fairly well, but since my meat thermometer is still in a box somewhere I ended up over cooking it a little which resulted in slightly dry meat. The gravy is awesome and everyone needs to try it.

The cheesecake and Christmas cake recipes were both from The Cook’s Companion by Stephanie Alexander. If you don’t have this book, you really ought to change that.

The day itself was good, though one of my cousins fell asleep pretty early on after getting home at 6.30am that morning from a big night of drinking. It’s been really fun having my aunt and uncle’s kids visit. We hadn’t seen them in five years and they’ve grown so much since we last saw them. They’re now teenagers and pretty damned mature for their ages. Sadly they’re off extremely early this Thursday morning so the visit is almost over.

All in all it’s been a good Christmas for someone who usually swings between hating and barely acknowledging its existence. The presence of people you love really makes all the difference.

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Field of plastic flowers

November 8, 2011 in Jewellery, Life by Peta | No comments

New items in the shop for 8th Nov 2011
item 1, item 2, item 3, item 4, item 5, item 6, item 7, item 8, item 9, item 10, item 11 and item 12.
I have made a huge update to my shop today with the above twelve new items. I’ve been getting back into using plastic flower beads again so there’s quite a bit of new jewellery that uses them. I have ordered a bunch more beads which I’m hoping arrive really soon.

I’m especially concerned about that because I just found out I’m moving up to the country in two and a bit weeks. I’ll be living with my dad until I get a house of my own which could take absolutely ages. I’m really hoping that’s not the case because we’re going to be pretty cramped in the small three bedroom house (there are four of us as well as cat and dog). We’re also having my cousins visit for Christmas but they’ve thankfully booked accommodation in town. It’ll be brilliant to see my cousins and aunt and uncle. The last time we saw each other was August 2006 when my paternal grandmother died. I can’t wait.

So don’t expect many more updates to the shop for a while. I’m going to buy some more packing boxes in the next few days and start on the non-essential kitchen items. Wish me luck!

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Post Earrings

November 1, 2011 in Jewellery by Peta | No comments

I’ve finally been able to add some new jewellery with my camera returned to me in perfect working order again.

I seem to have made a ton of post (stud) earrings lately. I still have a ton more to photograph, as well as a bunch of other stuff. I’m basically just waiting until we get enough sunshine so that I can photograph them.

All the new earrings can be found here.

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Technical difficulties

September 27, 2011 in Crafty Business by Peta | No comments

Clearly it’s been a while since I posted last. Since then I’ve spent a lot of my time working at my old school as a substitute for the last few weeks. It’s now school holidays but I’ve been spending most of my time over the last few days cleaning the house and throwing out garbage to get ready to sell.

You won’t be seeing any new jewellery for a little while on the blog. Recently I was playing with my camera and I noticed I couldn’t change the aperture or shutter speed in manual modes. It’s apparently a pretty common issue with my camera so the manufacturer repairs it for free. The only problem is that I’ve had to post the camera interstate to get it fixed so it will probably be gone for at least a week.

You may also notice that the blog address has changed. I’m fiddling with things a little bit at the moment so certain things may appear and disappear but it should all be fixed in no time.

Collecting sea glass in Melbourne

July 29, 2011 in How To/Tutorial, Jewellery by Peta | 8 comments

whiteseaglasscharm
Buy here

I think it’s pretty obvious that I’ve been collecting a lot of sea glass recently. Sea glass collecting isn’t that common in Australia as far as I can tell from my attempts to research on the internet. There is very little information about which beaches in Victoria are best for finding sea glass, so I thought I’d give a little advice based on my experience so far.

I have only visited beaches in south-east Melbourne for sea glass so far. However I have visited several beaches, many multiple times. Here is my advice on finding sea glass in south-east Melbourne.

  • Don’t carry too much with you. All you really need is your car keys (assuming you drive to the beach) and a plastic bag to put your sea glass in.
  • Visit the beach on a mild day, preferably a weekday during school months. There are less people on the beach and you have less distractions
  • A lot of people take their dogs to the beach, even during the week in winter. If you’re not a fan of dogs you should keep an eye out as I’ve been jumped on by quite a few dogs while searching for sea glass.
  • Try the beaches in your local area first, especially if your council offers free parking permits to rate payers like mine.
  • The best place to find sea glass is right near the shore line. The technique I have found most successful is to walk on one side of the line of shells etc near the beach on the way up, then on the other side of it on the way back. This way you are more likely to find things you miss the first time around.
  • Keep your eye out for nicer stones and shells as well as glass. I’ve found some lovely stones as well as a really nice piece of coral which I plan on photographing soon.
  • At Melbourne beaches it’s still best not to walk barefoot on the beach as I’ve seen the occasional syringe. While the beaches are certainly better than they used to be, it’s best to be safe rather than sorry.
  • Don’t expect your experience to be just like that of an American or European sea glass collector. Australia was colonised much later than America and Europe and therefore doesn’t have as much glass out there. This is why it’s also harder to find the rarer colours of sea glass, which leads to my next point.
  • You’ll find a lot of brown sea glass, as well as clear and green. You will also find some seafoam. The rarest colours I have found so far were cobalt blue and red, neither of which were good enough to use in jewellery. I mostly picked them up just to have them.
  • A similar point is that you’re also much less likely to find thicker pieces and sea glass marbles like the great stuff shown in this photo.
  • Best beaches for sea glass: Sandringham, Brighton Beach, Half Moon Bay, Mordialloc.
  • Worst beach for sea glass: Bonbeach (Patterson Lakes). I only found a handful of sea glass here.
  • Be aware that once you start collecting sea glass you may not be able to spot. It’s become a bit of an obsession of mine. I already have a ton of glass and I only started around March this year.

Anyway, I hope this helps. If you have anything to add please feel free to comment. The more information Australians have about sea glass collection, the better.

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Barbie Jewellery

July 22, 2011 in Jewellery by Peta | No comments

As I’ve mentioned before I’m in the process of cleaning and packing up my house. One of the many things I’ve sorted through recently is the last of the Barbie collection my sister and I amassed in our childhood. While my Mum was still alive she worked for one of Australia’s Federal law courts. At some point she ended up donating the majority of our collection to the child care room in the particular court she worked for but we had a little bit of our collection left over, mostly made up of broken or damaged dolls and accessories.
I went through the collection and pulled out what I thought I might be able to use for jewellery. The following are the beginning of my using the collection.

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