new logo

Ah, I forgot to actually put in the pic of the new logo - so here it is:
Also, in December I'm participating in the Reveal Showcase over in Henley. Right at the top end of Henley's main street, the show is set in a lovely space. Do come and have a look at then afterwards you can relax in one of Henley's many fab cozy pubs! In the meantime, you can 'meet' the makers over on Reveal's organiser's blog here: http://laurenceramics.blogspot.com

plodding ever closer to craft fairs...

So now it's 2 weeks until the first of my autumn craft fairs - Festival of Crafts at Farnham Maltings. I'm still making things and will be sending off a hallmarking package soon.
I went to the Goldsmith's Fair on Monday but was too ill to enjoy it - just helped my friend and then went home again. Yesterday was worse, felt awful and had to get another friend to cover my evening class for me. Today is a bit better, after the long sleep and lots of medicine! I'm going again to Goldsmith's Fair on Friday so will have a proper look around then. What I did see all looked very impressive! In the meantime I have one more class to teach tomorrow and I have a lot to make!
My new website is finished apart from some tweeks here or there: www.machidewaard.co.uk. There's a new logo - same as at the top of this page! New layout and several new pieces of jewellery. It's neater and hopefully simpler for me to maintain!! I also sent out my latest newsletter - if you'd like a newsletter, you can sign up here.
In other news, my friends over at ToDryFor have been very busy indeed - and are opening a shop in Oxford! A real bricks & mortar shop! It's all super exciting and their opening is going to be in a couple of weeks (I'm crying into my tea that I can't make it to the launch, boo hoo!).
Here's a photo of my new gold ball stud earrings:

engraving...

Ok, not the best photo in the world, but here's a photo of my first go at engraving... Last night we had a lesson again and we started on our lions. This is what mine looks like so far... If you click on the photo, you can get a proper look, closer.

teaching again

This week teaching starts again at South Hill Park - have lots of plans and things to show, so besides some small preparations to go, I'm ready for that! Went and had a look at the Caversham Artists' show yesterday, lovely location and very nice display too. Sorted out a bunch of stuff yesterday so now just need to knuckle down today so the week doesn't get too hectic. It's going to be busy though, with the teaching and meeting people and the engraving course on Wednesday! I'm updating Etsy and Folksy, adding things a day at a time. I've been adding things that I already had but hadn't been on either site yet. Soon I'll start adding new items (some I have to wait because I still need to get them hallmarked). So here are a couple of photos of washi earrings now up on Etsy & Folksy:

mini pliers

Look at these super cute tiny pliers - a freebie from Walsh's at last week's Jewellery Symposium at Farnham Maltings:

Caversham Artists autumn show

Caversham Artists' next show will be taking place on Saturday 18th (11-6pm) and Sunday (12-6pm) 19th September 2010. The exhibition is housed in Mays Barn, a historic 17th century brick & flint building tucked away in the garden of 234 Peppard Road, Emmer Green, RG4 8UA.

Check out the details here: http://cavershamartstrail.co.uk/

inspirational week

Last week was packed with inspiring trips and new lessons and things. On Monday I went to International Jewellery London, which is a massive all-things-jewellery show at Earl's Court in London. The trip in was the usual London excitement, with the tube being sort of functioning - it had rained so hard that the gutters were overflowing and the water was gushing out of the cracks in a brick wall like a giant waterfall. I still got to the show, though, and was dazzled by the huge selection of gemstones and beads in what was only a small section of the event. There was lots to see and I got some useful information about boxes and display gear.
On Wednesday things got even better with my first evening of a 6 week course about hand engraving. The course is offered by the Hand Engravers' Association and in the first evening I learned a ton of things - even though I got home at 11.15pm I could hardly sleep for thinking about all the useful tips and things. I'm already looking forward to the next class this Wednesday evening!
And then to top off an already exciting week, on Friday I went to the Jewellery Symposium at the Maltings in Farnham. I took the chance at lunchtime to look around the New Ashgate Gallery, which had some amazing work in it. I went to three workshops - Reticulation & Heat Scarring, Keum Boo and lastly and most exciting, Polymorph and making a flocking machine. I'm going to try out all the things I learned as soon as possible! Polymorph is amazing stuff - you can heat it in warm water and then shape it to anything you like and then it cools and hardens to be like nylon. I can see the tool possibilities already!!
And last, but certainly not least, progress is being made on my brochure! I'll be updating my website, sending a newsletter and offering a brochure very soon...hopefully all by the beginning of October - so watch this space!