gold ring

Remember the gold ring I cast and was going to clean up? Well, here it is: First here it is before and then two pictures after:
BEFORE:
AFTER:

wah!

Yikes I have a lot to do today! I've just had two very long days over at South Hill Park. All the classes went well and I got loads of my own work done too. But leaving the house so early and getting home so late is going to take some getting used to! Plus there's no internet access so have just been catching up with emails. Usually I guess there wouldn't be so many emails but I'm (along with another jeweller) organising the Evolution exhibit over at South Hill Park and that is SOON. So there are flurries of emails flying back and forth about stock sheet formats and allocated shelves and cases and set up times and so forth. I'll be great once the exhibit is set up!!!
So today I'm working on that a bit plus I really need to get a box together of things to hallmark. I'm still working on the gold ring from the below post. Nearly there, but have no photos yet. Will have them hopefully soon, all being well.
Anyway, it's all a bit hectic and I'm hoping I can stay calm and carry on! Ha!

progress

Custom jobs have been sent, lessons start tomorrow, orders are being placed (by me, for more materials), etc. etc. The year is well and truly underway. Today the plan is to finish this ring, which is a gold cast ring. I made it in silver first, approximately right, but hollow so I couldn't shape it quite the way I wanted to. Then I cast it, since I only need one I used cuttlefish, and now all I need to do is clean it up. As you can see, quite a lot of cleaning up needs to be done. Hopefully it'll go well and I'll be able to finish it today, which means I'll have a photo of the finished item later today.

"Evolution" by Berkshire Designer Jewellers

Please click on the above poster for a closer look! If you're in the Berkshire area, you're very welcome to attend our private view for this exciting show!

The exhibition presents designer jewellery and metal work responding to the theme of DNA as well as selected pieces from the makers’ individual collections. Jewellery will be available for sale.

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday 5th February, 6.30 - 9pm. ALL WELCOME!

EXHIBITION OPENING TIMES:
Monday to Saturday: 9m - 11pm
Sundays and Bank Holidays 11am - 10.30pm

ADMISSION FREE.

South Hill Park Arts Centre
Ringmead
Bracknell
RG12 7PA

DIRECTIONS: http//www.southhillpark.org.uk/aboutUsTravel.jsp

bah humbug

Please read this blog post if you're local to the Reading area and comment. The jelly is a Reading arts institution and provides support and inspiration for numerous Reading arts groups. Currently based in the town hall, they won't have a home from March. I hope a solution can be found!!

technically not a snow picture

Well, it's an icicle picture. Hanging from our gutter are numerous large icicles.

snow, snow, don't go away but melt a bit please

Ok, the snow is very pretty and all, but I'm still waiting for my hallmarking packet and getting nervous about it now. sigh. I need to go to the post office, but you know as soon as I reach the post office, the postie will be at my door and I won't be home. Grumble....
Anyway......here's a photo that I absolutely love that I wanted to share. I nicked it from my sister, because I am allergic to cats, so I don't have any(*sob* because I love cats!). My sister has our old cat and her super spoiled cat. So at first I thought, aaaaw there's Pepe, sleeping all happy on the couch. Then about the fourth time I looked at the photo, I was like "wait a minute........." and finally spotted JOSIE in the box!!! bwahahaha! ok, maybe it's just me that finds it super amusing, but in any case, makes a change from snow pictures!

more snow?!?!

what's going on? I had never seen so much snow here as we had at Christmas and now we've got another giant packet of the white stuff. It's a thick layer, too, more than Reading has ever seen or at least for a very long while. Not only that, it's still snowing and more snow is predicted until this evening! It's all white, white and more white. It looks nice, but I don't think I'm going anywhere. Lots of rambling about the snow, but really, it's very unusual for here!!! So here's another photo, this time of the back garden about midnight last night.
My scheduled driving lesson isn't happening today. I'm awaiting a special delivery package from the hallmarking office and I'll be very impressed if it arrives today. I also need to send some things, but I wonder if it might be wiser to wait for the roads to have cleared a bit.

brrrrrrrrrrrr

Happy 2010! It's a new year and after a very lovely holiday it's back to normal. All the snow has melted around here, but it's still pretty darn cold. My fingers are freezing and my toes are numb. Much tea and thicker socks are needed! And back to the bench I go. I have several custom jobs to work on and a batch of items to send off for hallmarking today. It's all systems go and my teaching starts next week as well. I'll be posting more photos of custom jobs soon as well as attempting to put new items on my Etsy and Folksy sites. For anyone around this area, I have a bunch of work available over at Norden Farm now, so if you're over that way have a look :-) For now, here's another photo of all the snow that we had over Christmas!