Art trails: Henley Arts Trail, Oxfordshire Artweeks and Whiteknights Studio Trail plus the V&A!

 It's going to be a busy spring! I'll be at three arts trails and the V&A! 

Events

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Silversmithing demonstration at the V&A Museum
16 May

Join us at V&A South Kensington to see demonstrations by silversmiths whose work encompasses a range of styles and techniques.

Along with other silversmiths, I will be demonstrating as part of London Craft Week at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on the afternoon of 16 May. I will show my scoring tools and show how to score metal. I will also have some finished pieces to show that I made using the scoring technique.

Exhibitions

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A BANK HOLIDAY SHOWCASE OF CREATIVITY
4th-6th MAY
I will be at venue 13: Oaken Grove Vineyard

From Henley-On-Thames take the A4155 towards Marlow, after approx 1.5 miles turn left onto Benhams Lane and continue for approx 0.8 miles until you arrive at Oaken Grove vineyard.

Parking is available on site.

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18-26 May 2024 

Six great jewellers present a selection of jewellery and silversmithing in silver and gold to appeal to many different tastes. Beautifully crafted using traditional techniques, this gorgeous jewellery includes rings, earrings, necklaces, cuff links and more. There are pieces made with gold, silver, a combination of gold and silver and various gemstones. Our group includes three jewellery teachers and most of us accept commissions, so please come by and have a chat about jewellery and jewellery making! 

Venue:

Peach Croft Farm
Twelve Acre Drive
Abingdon
OX142HP

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Whiteknights Studio Trail
Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 June 2024

Whiteknights Studio Trail is coming! On the weekend of 8th and 9th June, we will open our studios and venues, to everyone who wants to see the art made in and around the university area of Reading.
I will be at 1 Marlborough Avenue.

Royal College of Art Public Exhibition 30 June - 3 July 2023

 

RCA2023: Royal College of Art Battersea

I will be exhibiting my work made at the RCA in the Woo Building on the first floor. 

Woo Building
Royal College of Art
Howie Street
London SW11 3AN

30 June – 3 July 2023

From 30 June to 3 July, MA students who started in September 2022 will be offering visitors an insight into the RCA’s work and creativity, through exhibitions, events, interactive activities and discussions with artists, designers and creative practitioners.

Opening hours

Open to the public from 12–6pm daily, with a late opening on Friday 30 June until 7.30pm.

Getting to the RCA

For information on getting to the RCA, and the accessibility of our campuses, see Visiting the RCA.

RCA2023 online

Physical exhibitions and events will be accompanied by a digital platform allowing visitors from across the world to discover content by theme and collections.

Craft Festival Bovey Tracey 16-19 June 2022: stand A11

 

I'm delighted to be participating in the Craft Festival at Bovey Tracey for the first time this year. You can find out more about how to get to the festival and how to buy tickets here: www.craftfestival.co.uk/Visitor-info-BoveyTracey. 

The festival is open Friday - Sunday from 10 - 5 each day. 

Directions

SAT NAV co-ordinates TQ13 9AL

Bovey Tracey is only 2 miles off the A38 Exeter to Plymouth Expressway.

Exit the A38 at Drumbridges Roundabout and follow signs to Bovey Tracey town centre. 

Follow the AA signs to The Craft Festival. 

Nearest train station Newton Abbot. Regular buses from Exeter, Torquay and Newton Abbot stop at Bovey Tracey. The nearest train station is Newton Abbot. Bus 39 takes you to Bovey Tracey from Newton Station. Exeter International Airport is 18.5 miles away. 

Tickets available here: www.craftfestival.co.uk/Ticket-info-BoveyTracey

 

Oxfordshire Artweeks 14 - 22 May 2022

I am taking part in Oxfordshire Artweeks once again this year! It is 14 - 22 May 2022. The opening hours are 10 - 5. 

I will be there: 

10 - 12 on Saturday 14 May 

all day Sunday 15 May with a special Meet the Authors events with my co-author Janet Richardson. 

10 - 1pm  Friday 20 May

all day Saturday 21 May 

I am exhibiting with 4 other jewellers in a fabulous barn filled with other art such as paintings and ceramics. There's also a lovely farm shop in which you can get a snack or hot or cold drink. And there's plenty of easy parking! 

Venue

Peach Croft Farm Barn

Twelve Acre Drive

Abingdon

OX14 2HP

Website: 

http://www.peachcroft.co.uk

Facilities available: 

Accessible for Wheelchairs, Demonstrations, Refreshments, Parking

Henley Arts Trail 2021

 

Henley Arts Trail 2021

Lots of fabulous venues this year! See me at venue 12!

Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th July
Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th July
10am – 4pm each day

Venue 12: Henley School of Art

The Studio, 30c Hart Street, RG9 2AU

Amenities in the venue:
Demonstrations/work in progress, Toilets for visitors, Wheelchair access.

Various jewellery related goings on: book and locket

It's been a while since I posted, mostly somehow lost in a lockdown fug where every day sort of passes in similar fashion. But this very, very long month of March is drawing to a close. The sun is shining, the daylight is longer and the spring flowers are out in full force. Hurrah! Let's hope we have a lovely summer, getting closer to being safer with every vaccination! 

In book news, my and Janet's book Silver Jewellery Making is out there in the world. Janet went on Jewellery Maker TV and for a brief moment (about half a day), our book had the coveted "Best Seller" banner on Amazon in our category of metal work! That was quite exciting! Also very thrilling for us is that we are now on TWO recommended book lists. The first is on Metalsmith Society's page, here: https://metalsmithsociety.com/pages/book-recommendations. The second is on Nottingham Jewellery School's blog, which is here:  https://www.nottinghamjewelleryschool.co.uk/post/reading-recommendations

On that second list, check out the Jewellers Creative Journal if you fancy some help with your creative process. I haven't seen it yet, but a friend recommended it and said it's great if you're just starting building up your own designs.

Both of those are well worth following on Instagram, by the way, if you're on there, at @metalsmithsociety and @nottinghamjewelleryschool

Otherwise, I have been busy making lots of new jewellery pieces. At the moment, I am on my quest to make modern lockets. This is one of those lockets. It's my "mini orb" locket, made from sterling silver and 13mm in diameter. I am enjoying getting a better grip on hinges, learning what to look out for and what works well. I figured out that several times, I thought the hinge knuckles were sitting nicely in their little groove, but it turned out that they were ever so slightly *above* the bottom of the groove, which meant that later down the line, the fit was not as good as I wanted. So I've learned to get the loupe out and check under the hinge knuckles from the side to make sure they are sitting down properly in the groove. The tube I'm using is 1.2mm outside diameter, so loupe required! Anyway, here are photos of my mini orb locket: 

Publication day of Silver Jewellery Making: a step-by-step course

 

 

The day is finally here, our book is published!!!! Hard to believe it, but it's finally here. Janet and I are doing an  Instagram takeover for the publisher, @searchpress if you want to follow us there. Apparently there are some delivery issues at Amazon UK, but there are plenty of other places to get the book:

• WH Smith
  
• Waterstones
• Blackwells
• Search Press
• Guardian Bookstore
• Amazon USA
• Penguin Random House
• Bol.com in the Netherlands
• Amazon Germany 

This is me at my bench and the photo below is Janet at her bench :-) 

Happy New Year!!

Silver Jewellery Making: a complete step-by-step course is NEARLY here. It's published 1 February and is available, amongst others, at the following places: 

• Search Press (publisher’s website)
• Waterstones
• Amazon UK
  
• Penguin Random House (USA)
• Amazon USA   

Janet and I were SUPER excited to get our own copies of our book right before Christmas! It was quite a moment to see it really, truly in print! 

I wish I could tell you about exciting launch events we're doing, but sadly that will have to wait until the situation improves. For now, it's all online! Janet and I will be in the Henley Standard very soon , talking a bit about how the book came about and the content. We're also over on the More Arts website! Various other things are in the pipeline, so I'll update when things happen. 

I hope the new year will bring many positive things for everyone. The vaccination has started, which is great. I am really missing seeing people, so I'm looking forward to the day I can make lots of plans with everyone! For now, the only outing is the post office or the supermarket, so I am glad I have my studio to retreat to as a creative outlet. I've made many new pieces of jewellery, which I am looking forward to showing, but I need to take the photos first! 

While we're all stuck at home, for any fellow jewellers and jewellery students out there, I can highly recommend Metalsmith Society on instagram (@metalsmithsociety) and also the website. Another great resource with very useful and relevant podcasts is Jewellers Academy.

Update on Silver Jewellery Making book and other things

 I'm delighted to be part of the Craft Council Directory - a fabulous list of many of the amazing makers in the UK across many disciplines. The link is: https://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/directory/machi-de-waard-jewellery

In book news, Silver Jewellery Making is nearing completion. By completion, I mean nearing the end of many, many stages of editing. We're down to the nitty gritty now!!! The marketing team have made this lovely leaflet:

 

 

I'm working on some new pieces - namely five pendants - which I will hopefully have photos of soon. 

Silver Jewellery Making book

Janet and I have been hard at work trying to make our book, Silver Jewellery Making, the best it can possibly be. Yesterday we had the last photo shoot at our publisher, Search Press. We added extra images to clarify some techniques and took many photos of tools to show them more clearly. We also added more images to properly illustrate our "how to design" chapter. The photographer, Mark, did an amazing job. Between him and the design direction from Search Press, the tools were turned into works of art! Below are a selection of photos from the day. The cupcake snuck in there because one of the team at Search Press had a special birthday and we luckily got to join in with the cake! The book is coming together well and I really hope that by the time it's published in February 2021, we will be able to throw a big party and invite loads of people!

cupcake

Files made to look beautiful!

the propane torch gets its time in the limelight (although all the projects in the book are done with a handheld torch, we wanted to show different torch options).

tools and the big lights for the photos

silver being photographed