Beaupepys

IN THE SWIM...
This, for the record, is what you get when you use a bead supplier with a minimum spend limit. You browse for a bit, you dither, you think about all the useful thread and findings you could buy to make up those last couple of pounds and then you buy cloisonné goldfish. I hear they've made this a law in certain countries.

Of course, once you've bought them you have to work out what to do with them. For a while I was leaning towards simply leaving them bagged up somewhere prominent as a reminder that I was running low on thread and clasps, but then I figured everybody's allowed to be whimsical sometimes, right?

The barrettes are made in three stages. First, I wire on a layer of semiprecious chips. After that, I apply the fish and the bubbles. After that, I go back to the couch to lick the physical and mental wounds I've acquired from working with large lengths of springy fine-gauge wire.

Making them drives me barmy, but I'm sort of hoping not all of them will sell so I can adopt one for myself.