Amanda Norman
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Little Fairy Cult Jewellery
Recently I came across the wonderful and talented Sandra who in my opinion makes some beautiful custom pieces of jewellery out of all kinds of metal. If you’re a fan of unicorns, dragons and bats, Sandra’s store is worth checking out.
I wanted to find out more about Sandra and her inspirations for her jewellery making.
Firstly, I must say ‘Thank you muchly’ to Amanda for wanting to do a blog about my jewellery.
Anyone that follows me on Twitter (@LittleFairyCult) will already know more than they want to about me. I used it to promote my jewellery and website, but it kind of became general ramblings about my chaotic life. For those that aren’t on my Twitter, quite simply I am married and mother to two MiniBeasts – 9 year old girl and 19month old boy – studying for a Degree in Psychology and Philosophy and making jewellery in my workroom (utility room) whenever I get the time, housework has been known to happen on occasion. I started making jewellery when I attended my local Art College and found I had a passion for Jewellery and Metal Art, which encompassed my love of Art, tinkering and shiny things.
Books – I love reading anything Fantasy, but the books I could read over and over againare the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Harry Potter series, Terry Pratchett’s series, Brian Lumley’s Necroscope series and I recently found a book that covers my love of Zombies and my wish to survive the impending Zombie Apocalypse – Dr Dale’s Zombie Dictionary.
Films – I can, sometimes, be a bit of a film geek too. My favourites obviously include Star Wars and the usual contenders for renowned Film Geek moments. If I was asked to pin it down to three awesome films that I can’t live without I’d have to say Legend, Shaun of the Dead and Leon – can I have The Rocky Horror Picture Show too, as that’s more of a musical than a film.
Hobbies – Making jewellery is my main hobby, I love it and hopefully I can make a fortune (or some pennies) from it. Also, I am the proud owner of an X-pole and regularly torture myself on it – all in the name of exercise. An X-pole is a PoleDancing pole and it’s great exercise. I even teach one of friends once a week, which is fun.
Where do I get my inspiration from?
For my custom pieces, the inspiration comes from the customer themselves. They already have an idea in their head for what individual piece they want, my job is just to take that idea and design a piece that reflects the image as closely as possible. As the customer needs to approve the design before I start making it sometimes get requests to alter parts of it to how they wish, and that’s fine as it’s their piece and it should reflect what they want. This also makes sure that all pieces are individual and one-offs.
What has been the most challenging piece of jewellery to make and why?
I haven’t made it yet, but I have two ‘secret’ pieces that I have been commissioned to make. These designs won’t be approved by the people that will be receiving them but by the people buying them as presents. I think it’s
going to be tricky to gauge what or how they’ll want it without truly knowing from the ‘horse’s mouth’ so to speak. I’ll also be using a couple of new techniques one of which I’ve never tried and one I did once at college. I’m looking forward to pushing my boundaries with these pieces and, fingers crossed, they’ll like them.
What is your favourite metal to work with?
I have to say I love working with Sterling Silver. Gold is a lot softer, making it hard to work with and easier to make mistakes with. I’m hoping to make a range of etched jewellery using Gilding Metal, which is a warm golden colour, too. In my head it all looks beautiful, I’m hoping that reality works out the same.
Where do you see yourself this time next year?
I hope to be in much the same position, but with my business account in credit not debit. Hopefully, I will have completed all the custom pieces that are on my list at the moment and have new orders on there.
Have you ever been asked to do a piece that wasn’t inspiring?
Not yet . . . each piece is individual so I don’t get bored of making the same thing over and over again. I’m currently making my fourth Dragon piece and all of them have been different. I will admit to having a ‘Diva’ tantrum with the Unicorn necklace I did. I think she forgave me when it turned out so beautiful without the wings. I am firm believer that Unicorns do not have wings and Pegasus does not have a horn.
Where can readers find out more about you?
They can follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/LittleFairyCult and join in with my randomness on there daily. I have a FaceBook fanpage that I update regularly
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sparkly-Little-Fairy-Cult/272500357564 and, of course there’s my website http://www.littlefairycult.co.uk/ which has bead items for sale. If they would like to see a Photo Gallery of all my ‘Custom Pieces as’ I make them then they can go to http://www.sparkly.littlefairycult.co.uk/html/photo_gallery.html
Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!
Last night my daughter shouts me into the living room and she’s in hysterics at an old show of Jerry Springer. She was only a baby in the 90’s so seeing Jerry for the first time was very amusing for her.
Watching it last night got me thinking about how much I miss the old Jerry Springer shows, being totally shocked at the outrageous antics. Never in a million years would a British TV show allow fighting like that, hence why Jerry was always put on late at night.
In remembrance of these shows, I’ve found some excellent clips on YouTube for us all to enjoy.
I really don’t know what to say about the Midget KKK!
The Countess 2009
I recently had the pleasure of watching this wonderful film based on the life of the Hungarian Countess Erzebet Bathory played by Julie Delpy.
Known as the ‘Blood Countess’ and for good reason, this 2009 film tells the story of the Countess who falls in love with the attractive Istvan Thurzo who is 18 years younger than her. Their love is mutual much to the dismay of his father Gyorgy Thurzo, played by William Hurt, who proceeds to split them up by forcing his son to marry another and not see the Countess again.
Heartbroken, the Countess has no stomach for food and is slowly starving. She gets paranoid believing that he has fallen for a younger looking woman and when viewing her reflection in the mirror, she sees an aging woman.
One day in a fit of rage, she strikes her maid across her face and blood splatters on to the Countess’s face. She proceeds to wipe it off in the mirror and at the same time, light shines through the window and the Countess believes that the young maids blood is making her skin more youthful in appearance.
Has she lost her mind or does she truly believe that the blood of young virgins is responsible for making her skin appear youthful again?
In real life, the Countess is believed to have killed more than 600 young women and this adaptation provides one of the many theories as to why she did this. One thing we do know for sure is that she definitely had a thirst for blood.
After watching this film, I felt very sorry for The Countess and Julie Delpy played her magnificently. It’s a beautiful, heartbreaking story and one that shouldn’t be missed.
If you would like to know more about the history of Countess Bathory, follow @BathoryErzsebet on Twitter. She will entertain you for an eternity!
The Greatest Car in TV History
Munster Koach
It has to be the ‘Munster Koach’ built by ‘George Barris’ for the hit TV show ‘The Munsters’.
This hot rod car is 18ft long and made from three Model T bodies. Each member of the Munsters family required their own compartment, which included a laboratory for Grandpa Munster.
It has blood red velvet interior and black gloss pearl paint on the exterior and gets three miles to a gallon on embalming fluid. 
1964 the cost to build the first Munster Koach was $18,000.00 and there was only two built.
The studio only gave ‘George Barris’ 21 days to complete the car.
It has a four speed manual transmission with a power rear end.
The car is powered by a 289 Ford Cobra engine which was bored to 425 cid.
Second Best TV Car Ever?
Dragula
Dragula was Grandpa Munster’s car which was also built by ‘George Barris’.
The fibre glass body of DRAG-U-LA was shaped like a coffin. It featured a 350HP 289CI Ford Mustang V-8 engine, with a four-speed stick shift.
