Blue Bird Spinning

latest addition to my ever growing Etsy menagerie

(NOW SOLD - thank you!)

Music by Erik Satie, 'Ogives' - Petite ouverture à danser'

Excellent video introduction to basic needlefelt shaping here

Unicorn Nocturne

No time to sit quietly under the stars and think beautiful thoughts; things to do, felt to stab, paintings to finish, paintings to start, book-job to get on with. Thought for the day - needle felting - please don't anyone let the Government know how much fun it is and how addictive. They would either ban it or tax it.

Unicorn Nocturne £60.00 mounted, from Etsy

(four cats and bad needlefelting habit to support...)

Strange and quiet mysteries...

The lovely early Spring weather has fled, to be replaced with cold, pasty February skies. I am juggling several pictures at once - including a 'proper job', which - while interesting in itself - does not particularly spark fireworks. Needing to knuckle down and get on with a good day's painting, I was merely going to post this old thing -

Bird Moon - 2001 - (not for sale) 15 x 10 cm

- which I've had kicking around since 2001. Then Andy brought two mysterious parcels up to the studio...which is always nice on a glum day. (And a third cup of tea, without which said studio would grind to a halt). I had completely forgotten that I had won a surprise pack from Gifling - not only a blog friend but (naturally) a highly popular Etsy artist too.



And what an wonderful pack it was; I love her work, redolent with themes of fairy tales, theatre and circus, all executed with a gorgeous muted palette and swathed in melancholic mystery. Just to have one delightful print would have been enough - but, oh generous Gifling!



A print, a postcard pack, AND a set of scrummy circus family badges -

Well, what can one say, but thank you, thank you, thank you! And thank you. (Did I say thank you?) So feeling rather spoilt, I moved hungrily on to the other anonymous packet...large, soft and squidgy. And literally gasped out loud. After the nice comments (bless you all) about my wheely bird, and suggestions of needlefelting it into a real toy, I investigated further, and discovered a whole new craft waiting for me. I am really excited about the thought of creating some of my creatures in 3D, and this looks like an ideal way to do it. However pennies are very tight again, and I put the thought aside for a while. So the arrival of this -

- was like a classic fairytale scenario, where the poor woodcutter's daughter finds some kind, anonymous benefactor has left the tools to her destiny on her doorstep. Not only that, but chosen well, as they are 'my' colours - so someone who knows my work too. And no note...no receipt...I have a hunch though. Just a whisper of a hunch. (edit...my hunch was wrong so I really am completely clueless...) To the great-hearted person who sent me this - thank you x 100. This is one craft about which I have absolutely no knowledge; I really thirsted to try it out and now, happily, I can. Big smiles and great restraint needed not to pick it up at once and start playing.
Did you notice the happy accident? Don't you just love it when things serendipidously fall into threes? Look at these colours...

Chance? Fate? Fluke? Who knows.

Talking of multiples, I have been a little overwhelmed this month with various tags/list invites - too many to do really, and not much about me that is at all interesting which I haven't already posted. But thank you to lovely bloggers Paula, Tara, Little Robot, Erica and Corinne, who mentioned me on their blogs. All of whom are in my list of 'creative lovelies' on the left over there. Like having a basketful of kittens, it is hard to choose a favourite...so I will simply scoop everyone up and squeeze them. Gently of course.

Watch the birdy

We are off on a big expedition to Oxford this week; we haven't had a day in town for years. It's a bit of a palaver, with our limited rural bus service (which bears no resemblance whatsoever to the Stagecoach advert we saw on TV last week). Although thank God we have one at all (she said, hastily crossing fingers). Like Cindrella - but without the frock - one has to return at a certain time before the Sun goes down, (eg when the last join-up 6 o'clock bus leaves) or fork out for an expensive taxi home. However it can't be avoided: I have frames/mounts to pick up. One has been custom made for Party Food -

- which will be hung (appropriately) in the client's dining room - and smaller ones for forthcoming paintings I have been itching to do. So I'm doing a lot of Moleskine scribbling, as until I actually have the frames and mounts in front of me I can't start planning what size the artworks will be. And I have a 'bread and butter ' job to continue, which I must knuckle down to. Not as much fun as this chap -

Frankly the idea of a day in town scares the bejabers out of me, I might just go and hide in the Ashmolean.

En route

Now I am sketching and painting properly again, I can't think why I spent so many years crying into a metaphorical pillow because I couldn't get (much) publishing work or because galleries didn't want me. So much time and effort expended for so little reward. Now I am regularly selling to the people who really matter - the people who put it on their walls - and I feel liberated. It is amazing that I am finally doing what I doggedly planned to do, way back when I was twelve, and making a solemn vow to my recently dead parents (especially my old dad). Several times along the way I got distracted and misled, but all the paths eventually led back to this one. I follow the map best when I heed my own directions.

To be delving deep into my creative innards again is a joyous experience. I find myself re-visiting old themes, many of which I haven't explored for a long time. Pre-blog. My bird ladies for instance. My beloved bird ladies. Not on my website, not in the blog, not sold, not printed. A few who read this may know what I am talking about - I showed them to one or two people. I took them to a gallery owner who told me that they were 'beautiful, but not something they could sell'. They went back in the portfolio, their wings clipped. Some of my best bird lady paintings have been languishing far from home and they are coming back at last, I cannot wait to hold them again.

To find the bird lady, look for the three pronged tail...

Bird ladies usually find themselves isolated in a room with a distant window. This time I am going to let them into the city. A city I used to paint when I was an infant of twenty years.

'En Route' for sale at Etsy

En route to a dazzling party, the Grand Duchess Amaretto de Carciobanna rolls through the city streets, pulled along on a silken scarlet rope by an anonymous flunky. Will someone remember to pick up her wheely bird? Because, you see, she could not possibly retrieve it herself, it simply would not do!

What will happen when my bird ladies meet my toys?

Blue without you

At the risk of becoming boring...I started, so I'll finish. Wishy washy part 2.

Once the final background layers are dry and to my satisfaction, I pop a clear wash onto the body, leaving some areas clear. I was once told that I was 'lucky to be able to draw stuff what comes out of your head' (or words to that effect) but the fact is that without having had an art education, and done my fair share of tedious still lives, I wouldn't be able to depict the 'stuff in my head'. You have to know how light falls, how to make a body appear heavy and slumped, and you have to know it well enough to paint it when your subject not in front of you. In many ways, a still life would be easier. So the reason for leaving dry parts is because I want the paint areas to have different surfaces, even though the ear and the tail will be the same colour - to make the character more believable as an object.



I also use several sized brushes and when I am painting I will often have two in my hand, one for the wash work and a slighly smaller, finer pointed one for getting up to the edge - rather like chopsticks.




Here I've floated the body colour - a manganese/cobalt/indigo blue mix - into the clear wet, and am tipping it this way and that, adding more colour and making sure it dries evenly - and that the darker bits of paint are where I want them. I also want the light areas to match up to the lighter parts in the background - so that the light from the window really appears to fall into the room and over the elephant. Seems obvious when written down, but it is another little way of making the picture 'real' to the viewer.



The finished and dried result. I was really pleased with how the nicely granulated paint works on the body, it did all the work of defining the body. So for once I left it alone, and held off bumping it up with pencil work. On the back leg join you can see where a patch of indigo has separated from the main mix, which is why students are told not to mix colours. And is precisely why I do. Because I like the effect.



And from then on it is simply a matter of finishing off - a bit more painting, some coloured pencil work to define the shadows - the deepened indigo/black serves to visually 'push' the body even more to the foreground. I cut it off on or near the gummed tape...as this is how I sell them. It gives the buyer the freedom to have as little of the image or as much as they prefer, when it is finally mounted and framed. If I were framing this for exhibition I would leave as much as I could, to emphasise the empty, lonely feeling.



But as I am getting this made up into a card too, I have a trimmed size for my own use.

'Blue without You' - SOLD

And that's that - one painting. And a cracked cup.

Listing

Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. October was full of post strikes mucking up everything, taking time off with Andy, motorbike illness (the bike, not us) and lists. You know - you wake up and you start working your way through The List, by the end of the day you have hopefully crossed half of it off and then just before bedtime you make a fresh one for the next day. Sometimes when I am in the village, someone stops me and asks me how I am. ''I haven't seen you for such a long time!" Whereupon I assure them that I am, in fact, rather boringly stuck in the Hovel, working, most of the time; as if the fact of them not seeing me meant that I had vanished under a stone. Then they ask how 'work' is going. And as I haven't had much by the way of a 'proper job' for a few months, I say - ''oh, you know, this and that''. Because I don't want to bore them - or you - with the List. The List that has everything on it from making tonight's tea, updating websites, and trying to source some decent coloured card, to emailing a b c and d, ordering art prints for my Etsy shop, ordering Christmas cards, designing the darned things in the first place, trying to get 660 Christmas tags letter pressed and - well, as they say, the list goes on. And on. So I dipped my head down and got stuck into it.

Not to mention finishing off card orders. That's right, every card someone buys from me has been lovingly folded, creased and corner punched by my own podgy little fingers. It keeps printing costs down. And yes, there are hundreds to do. Still, it gives me an excuse to put Midsomer Murders on the Box, and do some work at the same time. I've whipped my time down to 150x prepared in 2 hours.

So - pleasant things which happened in October - my Robert Snowflake was kindly reviewed by the Finding Wonderland blog, who said all sorts of nice things about me. I do feel a bit of a fraud sometimes, as I have only illustrated one picture book in my life, (oh yes and a little bit of another one which I don't really feel counts) . I wish I could persuade publishers and a decent agent to change this situation, but most of my work is simply my own cards and artwork, because thankfully there are a lot of good people out there who do like what I do. So I'm never quite sure what category I fall into...oh let's have a nice random photo before I get maudlin. What shall we have...ah, my nice little new-but-vintage Christmas pony block...or rather, the results.




But - reasons to be cheerful, I have had a gratifyingly big order for Christmas cards and multi-packs of Christmas letter pressed tags from a new shop opening in Winchester, mid-November. 'Your Life, Your Style' is owned by a lovely person who is aiming to stock quality, unique products not normally seen in the High Street - and giving small creatives like myself a chance to put our goods out there. I hadn't expected my humble printing hobby to actually start making me some money so soon. So I sensibly blew my last 85 quid on 5 pots of block printing ink...when I should have bought letterpress ink. Um. Never mind, if I roll my colour out and leave it for 6 hours or more it does get the required tack for a crisp print.

Next week I am sending off my first American order to a gorgeous shop in Hawaii, (where I believe it is somewhat warmer). Nest will be selling a good selection of Red Flannel Elephant cards and open edition prints - take a look inside, is it not adorable? Now I must fly, as my ink has been tacking for nearly ten hours and should be ready by now. There are tags to press, tags to trim, supper to make, and - where did I put that list..?

Sophy higher than the Moon

Will she fall? Will the trapeze snap? How far is the floor? We can't see it. Is there a safety net? I don't know...life seems precarious sometimes.

'Sophy higher than the Moon' for sale at Etsy

A visit to Crow's Feet

And so, as they say, to Ross-on-Wye, for a pootle on the bike, and to drop in on one of the lovely shops who have had the foresight and good taste to stock my Red Flannel Elephant cards. Rather nervous about turning up unannounced, as my last attempt at cold calling was a bit of a disaster. Someone had recommended a toyshop in Chipping Norton as being a possible outlet, and after much sweating and beating of heart I did call in to introduce myself. As an ex-shop worker I am well aware of how unwelcome these visits can be, so I made sure the shop was empty and put on my best manners. Initially I was somewhat put off by the stony faced chap behind the desk, who to be honest looked more like a used car dealer than a jolly toyshop owner. After agreeing to talk to me, he told me he was quite happy with the range of cards he had, and that mine would have to be 'pretty special' to change his mind. After a cursory look, he declared that they 'weren't for him' and no, he wouldn't be interested in looking at any more designs in future. I don't mind being turned down. Well, I do, but it's something I've got used to, being freelance. I did mind the complete blank rudeness, the lack of warmth and inability to smile. Maybe, as Andy said, he just didn't like me. I left the shop feeling two inches high and my worst fears of direct approach confirmed. But my experience at Crow's Feet couldn't have been more different.

It was bustling. Vicky, one of the owners, was serving a happy bunch of customers, and I waited unobtrusively (as much as a 6ft person in bike jacket and boots can be unobtrusive) until she was done. On finding out who I was, I was greeted like a long lost friend, and indeed, after only five minutes it was clear that she was, as Anne of Green Gables would say, 'of the race that knows Joseph'. If only I could find an agent who 'got' my work as much as this dear lady did. Is there anyone out there? I was offered coffee and then I brought out the samples of my new card designs; to my delight they were pounced on and exclaimed over. I tried to hide (unsuccessfully) in a corner while she extolled them to customers who all seemed to appreciate them. Star of the show was a card I almost didn't bring - remember the sad little rabbit? Well, by experiment, I turned him into one of my designs, thinking that perhaps he was a bit melancholy for retail.


But he was loved by all, and I think The Adventures of Fred (for such is his name) will be turned into a full set of different scene cards. But maybe not all quite so - poignant. However, Andy, who had temporarily vanished at this point, (gift shops not being a comfortable place for a tall chap), turned up in time for coffee too, which arrived in dear little rainbow spotted mugs, and we had a good browse, while I took photos of the marvellous displays.




It was impossible to move without falling in love with this trinket or that treasure. Vicky and Howard have an impeccable gift for picking the most charming, delightful and downright beautiful wares, and all arranged in gorgeous, eye catching arrangements which would tempt the tightest of purses - even mine...I ended up with a handful of exquisite cards, including three hare designs by different artists. I really wanted to show all of them together, as they are all unique and yet compliment each other beautifully, but I can only show two, as I haven't heard back from one of the artists - (I'm a bit of a stickler for copyright and it is not polite at all to reproduce a creatives work without their permission where possible).

The left hand artwork, 'Spring Fever' is by the artist Sonia Rollo and is published by Canns Down Press, and the right hand work, 'Mad March Hare' is by artist Julia Manning, who is also an independent card producer. I haven't collected anything for years (apart from books, letterpress equipment, toys and bread tins) but I might start an album of hare related ephemera. I'm sure I've got just enough room...

Over coffee I was formally introduced to the shop mascot - his home is on top of an old cabinet, keeping a watchful eye on the goings on, but he took time out to have his photo taken with another shop treasure, the sweetest little pink enamel vintage cup. I fell in love with both of them and had I been a little younger would only have been parted from them kicking and screaming. But I am far too mature for that kind of behaviour now!

We left Vicky and Howard with samples of the new card designs, and many good wishes on both sides. We will be back, soon. For those of you who love delightful shop interiors, the full set of photos can be found here on my Flickr page. And for those of you who cannot visit Crow's Feet, the new cards are also on my Etsy site, as singles or packs of six. Including Fred.

Big wigs and hats

So, with a distinct lack of commercial work on and with the workhouse looming, I've taken off my sensible commercial hat and put my please-myself-indulgent-artist beret on. This one fits better. After a couple of years mainly doing other people's work, it's been odd getting back into my own little world, but once I'd dusted the shelves and aired the rooms, it was very nice to be home.

I find increasingly that sitting at the studio table doesn't do it for me as far as inspiration goes. Like many creatives I tend to get the best images as I'm drifting off to sleep or half dozing in the small hours which is bad news if I can't struggle awake to scribble a few notes. (Like, most of the time...). Now I have given up making myself sweat at the desk for hours and if it's not happening I take myself off with sketchbook in hand and go for a wander. I have a sweet little new Moleskine - like kittens, you can never have too many - and it has concertina pages. I love this: it's like a frieze, and in at the end will be a continuous sheaf of primary sketches. It was a present from Maya, so it was almost like taking her with me when I took it to the woods the other days and sat on a little bench under the birch trees. And look who emerged from the end of my pencil...

I seem to be having a Thing about 18th century wigs...they turned up in two of my latest paper cuts...

So, back to painting - for all those who have asked me about when I have anything for sale, I am now back in the driving seat and producing work to sell. The little Moleskine sketch was worked up and has now been sold through my Etsy shop. It's a bit larger than A4 in size, and sold without mount or frame (I figure people have their own ideas about how they like stuff presented on their walls). I am very taken with her boudoir wallpaper, and if I could have this in our bedroom I would. It's called 'The Invitation' and as usual, I'm sure there's a story in there, but it's for someone else to find. Oh yes, and it comes with a few free Red Flannel Elephant cards too. Bit like a Happy Meal but without the plastic toy.

'The Invitation' - SOLD

I cannot tell you how it is good to let my imagination go again - I somehow feel - more me. If that makes any sense.

Inning and outing

Greetings from Planet Head Cold where I have been marooned for what seems a lifetime - but is in fact only a week. A week in which things have come and things have gone. With a delightful accompaniment of sniffs, snuffles and pathetic coughing.

IN - A lovely bracelet from Etsy jewellery seller Definitely Different Designs, calling up images of the sea in autumn; dull green seaweedy stones and pebbly stone/red jasper beads, set in silver plate. Yep, I got suckered by the sea thing again...call me weak willed.

IN - I inadvertently won a draw on the lovely Vintage Pleasure blog; 'Something to Do', a Puffin book from the Seventies, when it was not beyond the realms of imagination that children should occupy themselves cooking, sewing, bird watching and crafting. Most of it without the aid of an adult and blissfully lacking in 21st century health and safety warnings ("please be aware that making hand shadows can result in a sprained finger...") I do so love getting beautifully wrapped things and this is a fantastic book - thank you Kirsty!

IN - my SOSF Tea Party from Tara of the Silver Apples blog, who also packs a pretty - and generous - parcel. Herbal teabags from her own garden, lemon geranium sugar tea, a tub tea bath bag and other wholesome goodies - thank you Tara, the herbals are just what I need to flush the darned cold out of my system.

IN and OUT - In from the library and out again for someone else to enjoy - The Lock by Frank Egerton. I used to review books for a specialist magazine, and while I read some darned good stuff, I also read some unutterable tripe. The worst offender was a nauseatingly cosy pot boiler penned by a well known TV personality. So I felt obliged to give the drivel a halfway positive review, even though it deserved to be dipped in watery porridge and fed to the birds. With a certain High Street book chain gripping the book industry in an iron fist, small, quality publishers need all the help they can get. What follows is not a book review; I have lost my book review skills, or at least they don't work on Planet head Cold...this is my opinion.

Suffice to say that this is an Oxfordshire writer, and the Lock is set in and around Oxford, which is given its full share of attention, and described with love and knowledge. But the main story - the straying off the marital path of a middle aged Oxford don, and the consequences of his actions on his family and friends - is cleverly and thoughtfully written. Egerton has the rare gift - in a male author - of being able to write strong female characters realistically, making each one individual and interesting - sometimes even infuriating. Any fan of Oxford and its university scene will love reading this; the detail of the city and its inhabitants is true to life and hugely enjoyable. If I had to be so crass as to give it a catchey genre, it would be (highly) superior Joanne Trollope. For while it concerns itself with similar themes - middle class affairs/guilt/angst - it is so intelligently written that it is a joy to read, the more obvious subject matter belying Egertons sophisticated language skills - this is no mere 'Aga saga'. It has had a shining review from John Bailey, the late Iris Murdoch's husband. Get your library to order it in, read it and savour it. Or even buy it - let's give small publishers like Smaller Sky a fighting chance, God knows they need it.

OUT - the hope engendered by my recent London trip. (The so-called new dawn as optimistically mentioned in my fortieth birthday post.). Not wishing to go into details, let's just say it was like being invited out by the School Hunk. At first you can't believe he really wants to see a little mouse like you. Then you spend days fretting and sorting out what to wear. You buy a dress you can't afford and dream of being Mrs School Hunk, having little School Hunk babies. You draw hearts in biro in the back of your exercise book with your initials entwined. The big day arrives and with trembling fingers you apply the last coat of lip gloss, heading off with beating heart to your dinner date. But when you arrive it appears you are not the only chosen one - he has several candidates for the prized position, who he is also wining and dining for suitability. And you know - you know - that they are prettier, slimmer, sexier than you. And so does he. He lets you down gently, and tells you that you have a nice smile. You crawl under the duvet and cry. You wake up the next day and realise that you didn't want to be Mrs School Hunk anyway. Or so you tell yourself. And life goes on.

so we won't be eating here just yet...

OUT - I finally got my Robert Snow snowflake finished and whizzed off to America. Each snowflake is decorated by a published artist and is auctioned after exhibition. This raises money for the Dana-Farber cancer Institute. It's not well known in the UK, so I do suggest going to have a look at the Robert Snow site, as it is a remarkable and touching story and I was proud to be able to contribute.


front back

OUT - My first repeat order for the Lost Toys cards, from Pad in Manchester. I've managed to get a few gorgeous shops to stock them (see the list on the left) but they are also available from my Etsy shop, from where they have been going nicely. I am printing off various designs in small numbers, just to road test them - the first being this ginger cat cat design from the very first incarnation of Red Flannel Elephant cards. (another story, another time). Available in packs of six, so that's one to keep and five to send. Right, that's my feeble energy used up, I wonder if I can summon the strength to do Illustration Friday - the theme is 'Moon' and I am sorely tempted...

Scherenschnitte

That's paper cutting to you. What a pleasant break from painting. I drew my first little silhouette people when I was about 17, I'd just bought one of those brush pens and was doodling about with it, and this little person appeared as if by magic. A few twiddles and there was another one. I had found my world. I drew several lines of them on horrid flourescent orange paper and they are somewhere in all my bumph but they must be hiding. When Andy and I were at college he made me this sketchbook -

and I filled it with little scenes of my people. I think in those days a lot of them were sheer wishful thinking to be in a tranquil world, just sitting, or sleeping - I still am fixed on beds.




The entire contents of this book can be found here. Back then I was more concerned with having a pretty sketchbook - now I just scribble on the nearest bit of paper and get the idea out asap. I didn't do anything with them apart from the occasional lino cut. There wasn't much of a commercial demand for that kind of thing - and there isn't now. But it's still my favourite way of depicting things; I find it much easier to think in such a graphic way. So here I am again, revisiting my old designs, and pinching my own ideas from 15 years ago. This was inspired from a field trip to Barcelona -

and here it is tweaked a little, as a papercut...mounted on a 5 inch card, and yes, the laundry line was a bit fiddly.

(for sale on Etsy)

It feels a bit odd to be going back an old style, but rather like a comfy pair of slippers you know are going to fit.

What I did on my holidays...

Day one - motorbike to Manchester with camping equipment, about 270 miles with two ten minute breaks. We pop over to the headquarters of Natural Attrill and are treated to a lovely buffet and grand tour of their amazing house. Finally, someone who has more stuff than me!

our trusty work horse laden down

Day two - motorbike out to Lake District. It is glorious weather and Cumbria is looking stunning - my old memories of gloomy, misty, looming mountains and constant rain are dispelled. We set up camp at Sykeside, which is a simply gorgeous site with fantastic facilities - but outrageously expensive for a tent pitch - 18 pounds per night, as (unusually) they charge per person. So we only stay two days...

Andy setting up camp while I lounge against a stone wall

A picturesque ramble through Sykes Farm makes me fall in love with the area.

sheep safely grazing and all that - very Samuel Palmer

Day three - sausages for breakfast - excellent spicy Cumberland ones from the little butcher in Ambleside High Street. We find a nearby beauty spot and I draw a sheet of sheep, while Andy treks up one of those big fell things. I don't do real walking - I'm much happier pottering about with a good supply of paper and pens. Lots of new ideas popping into my head thanks to new surroundings.

I get rather too good at not scaring the sheep and after an hour they are surrounding me and looking about as menacing as sheep can get...

"Do we know you?"

I high-tail it down to the shade, sit by a lovely tarn and listen to the tumbling water with a bar of chocolate, until Andy finds me.


Day four - time to head back. Pack up camp and return to Manchester for a pitstop, then a somewhat tortured trip home, three hours almost nonstop. Biked well over 300 miles in one day. With rucksack. Walking like an aged crab by the time I prise myself off the bike. Good to be home and the cats are overjoyed to see us. If you like pictures of fells, sheep and sausages, there are numerous ones here.

And so with renewed vigour I start a week of paper cutting, and set up my little Etsy shop. Lots of lovely friendly sellers from the UK in the forum and I persuade Andy that I cannot live without this exquisite mermaid bracelet...(thank you Andy!)

...which I found in another 'newbie' Etsy shop, 'Infinite Reverie'. I was her first customer. She wrote a perfectly beautiful description, which was the final persuasion - if any were needed. A very good lesson in how to market and sell your goods. With her kind permission, here it is;

"This delicate bracelet reminds me of walking barefoot on sandy beaches and the glimmer of the sea in the sun. It is simple yet elegant and is sure to add some mermaid magic into every outfit... This bracelet combines a focal turquoise gemstone oval bead with light grey freshwater pearls and peacock (half lime green, half turquoise) faceted Czech glass beads. The turquoise gemstone bead measures about 20mm x 16mm. The bracelet is finished with an ornate twisted sterling silver toggle clasp. All the metals used are 925 sterling silver."

Now isn't that wonderful? What Cancerian could resist that? It is a perfect fit, not too loose or tight, and I am going to be wearing it at least all summer.