Reading Beer festival and rain

It's been such good weather lately that I got lulled into a false sense of security. I had visions of lounging around outside with a big crowd of friends at the Reading Beer Festival. Picnics, sunglasses, blankets laid out on the grass... But alas, the weather has gone back to its usual dreary and there are great big dark grey clouds hanging over Reading. I am now back to regular mode and assuming it will start pouring it down the second I get down the beer fest. Ah well, at least they have two HUGE tents so I'll be safe and fine and still have a great time!!
I've been busy on the jewellery front - finished the wedding cuff links and brooches. I have loads of photos, but the bride & groom are keeping secrets and these are surprises for the recipients, so I'll hold off on posting those until after the wedding! I'm also progressing nicely (finally) on their wedding rings. Also finished some other items and even snuck in a tester of a new bit of washi that I got for Christmas. Here's a photo:
The black came out very nicely with the metallic bits of silver and gold staying shiny. I'll be showing this washi at the private craft fair I'm doing on May 20th (newsletter readers have already received their invites - let me know if you're interested!).
Classes are progressing fine as well, with a bunch of new techniques show and next week I'll be doing a demo on photo etching. So, once I get these wedding rings done I can start making some new items - whose designs have been sorting themselves out in my head for months already! Hope you all have a lovely weekend, rain or no rain!

Craft and Design magazine

Hey, hey, that's me in Craft & Design magazine....

new items

Some photos of commissioned washi paper pieces:

monday monday

I've finished the brooches and cuff links, hurrah! Still working on the wedding rings, fitting on Thursday. Hands still on the mend, left one has a huge purple spot which hopefully will fade. I've got tons to do so am being slow about blogging. I'm sulking because I really want to take the hand engravers' course, but it's always on a Wednesday evening, which is one of the times I teach. I might see if I can change it in the autumn so I can the course. I've been wanting to take it ever since I first saw it advertised, so I really hope I can figure out a way to get on it!!! Besides that, just plodding away planning and trying to get as much done as possible. Plus in 2 weeks it's the Caversham Arts Trail! Hope to see some of you there....

birthday fun

I'm preparing a massive feast for the birthday boy. I've cleaned, set the table, blown up the balloons and made a couple of the courses already. A couple of things need to chill or freeze, so I did those this morning. Now I have to think about the order in which I'm going to make all these things, otherwise the meal could take a very long time indeed. I'm making 13 very small courses. There will be lots of leftovers, so I think we'll be eating from this for a while!
I'm nearly ready for next term as well - plan at the ready! I've got a goal, some lesson plans ready to go, lots of examples and now I just need to type up some more instruction sheets and make a couple of example items.
Making progress on the wedding rings as well - white and yellow gold line wedding bands. I got the bits and pieces I need in the post today and will be making the 'mock' version in silver first. I almost always do that for large commissions to make sure that the sizing and look is exactly right before I plunge into the gold side of things. Massive package went off to hallmarking yesterday, too, so things are progressing once again.

back to the bench

I'm going back to work at my bench today for the first time since I hurt my hands. They are mostly better now and my other half got me some fingerless cycle gloves. They have padding over the palm, so should help me to keep it painless. I've got oodles to do and now of course I'm well behind because of all this nonsense. I did get to sort out my spreadsheets and update my Folksy and Etsy in the meantime though. I picked up the flyers for the Caversham Arts Trail last night and will be distributing them around. If you'd like one, let me know. I'll put a bunch over at South Hill Park as well, so you can pick one up there. Here are some pics of items added to Etsy/Folksy:

end of financial year

So today I got around to doing my stock take, which means taking everything out of boxes, counting, and then putting it back in the boxes. So I've been relisting items on Folksy and Etsy since I now am sure of exactly what I have! I still have a bit of commission work to do, having been rather slowed down for a week because of my bruised hands. They are healing quite well, but man is it a pain to have big, painful scabs on my hands! I'm going to get back to the bench tomorrow and see how it goes. Today it's all paperwork and relisting. I'll be listing some newer items soon too. I've added the 18k yellow gold crossover post earrings for the first time. I only have one pair, so while the craft fairs and shows were on it didn't make sense to also put them in my online shops. I guess I could put up a gross photo of my bloodied hands, but I think you'd probably prefer a picture of the gold earrings, so here they are:

photos, finally

Here are, finally, some photos of a commission I just finished. A ring and a pendant, 18k white gold with a diamond on the pendant and diamonds and a sapphire on the ring.