Much news! classes! masterclasses! new jewellery! events!

Greetings! 

I have a lot of news! So this is a long one about new masterclasses, new termly class schedules, new jewellery, a new award and a talk by me at Modern Art Oxford! 

Award from Goldsmiths' Craft & Design Council

I am delighted that I have won an award for my work from the Goldsmiths' Craft and Design Council. At the moment, that's all I know because the details are under wraps until 3 March! The award is for a silver box I made at the end of last year. All will be revealed after 3 March. More details to follow!

The Art of Jewellery Making

20 March 2025

6:00 pm

-

7:00 pm

Free, no booking necessary

I'm going to be talking about my career as a jeweller and my jewellery along with a bit of demonstrating at Modern Art Oxford. I would love it if you could come!

My jewellery has been available in the newly refurbished Modern Art Oxford in central Oxford since autumn last year.

Find the gallery’s main entrance at 30 Pembroke Street, Oxford, OX1 1BP.

modernartoxford.org.uk

Learn how to expand your skills using Argentium silver!

Are you curious about Argentium silver and how it could benefit your practice? Whether you're new to Argentium or have experience working with it, this workshop is the perfect opportunity to explore its unique properties and versatility.

* a few spaces left *

FORGE

59 Leather Ln, London EC1N 7TJ

Date: Friday 28 March, 2025

Start Time: 10:00am

End Time: 4:30pm

Venue: FORGE

Learn how to make silver jewellery in Reading!

My termly classes in Reading are now possible to join for 5 weeks as well as 10 weeks. You can now join the class starting the week of 3 March on Monday or Tuesday evenings (Wednesday class is full). The 5 week term is £87.50

Prefer to join for a whole 10 week term? The next term of my Maiden Erlegh jewellery evening classes are starting the week of 28 April. If you would like to learn how to make jewellery, you can book now. To book, email me. There is more information on my website HERE. 

18:45 – 21:15 Monday evenings – all abilities welcome

18:45 – 21:15 Tuesday evenings – all abilities welcome

18:45 – 21:15 Wednesday evenings – intermediate/advanced welcome

Bishopsland Summer School

Bishopsland are offering an exciting new Summer School programme, where I am delighted to be teaching! Fancy learning different ways to set square stones? Learn two ways of setting square stones in a wonderful location with individualised help over three days. 

Booking is now open! 

Find out all the details here on the Bishopsland website: 

https://bishopsland.org.uk/events/577-512-996-277-363-744/

This is my new slim radius bangle - available in gold plate (above), silver and oxidised silver. These bangles are now at the New Ashgate Gallery. They will also be available in May and June at Henley Arts Trail, Oxfordshire ArtWeeks and Whiteknights Studio Trail. 

Overdue update: exhibits next year and book news

 It's been a while since I updated, mostly due to finishing up at the Royal College of Art and graduating in September. It's been an eventful few months! The highlights are: 

Book News: 

You can listen to me chat about my and Janet's book "Silver Jewellery Making" with host Sharon on the Jewelry Journey podcast: find me here in two part episode number 207: https://thejewelryjourney.com/podcasts/ 

Our book is included in the Cooksongold Christmas catalogue: https://www.cooksongold.com/Books/Silver-Jewellery-Making-By-Machi-De-Waard-And-Janet-Richardson-prcode-999-A204 

And Kernowcraft now also stock it: https://www.kernowcraft.com/products/just-arrived/silver-jewellery-making-a-complete-step-by-step-course-for-beginners-machi-de-waard-janet-richardson

Jewellery News:

My work is available at the lovely New Ashgate Gallery, always worth a visit if you're into high quality craft! https://www.newashgate.org.uk/shop_artists/7702/c/101/machi-de-waard/jewellery 

I'm also delighted to have my work at Platform Gallery, Clitheroe: Winter Showcase of British Craft October 2023 – January 2024 

I will be participating in Henley Arts Trail 4-6 May 2024 - details to be confirmed, but I will be at a vineyard near Hembleden. 

I will also be taking part in Oxfordshire Artweeks at Peach Croft Farm near Abingdon - well worth a visit to see amazing work in a beautiful barn. And there's a lovely farm shop & cafe right next door! Plus plenty of parking. 18-26 May 2024

Teaching News: 

My regular evening classes at Maiden Erlegh in Reading are in full swing again. The next term starts January 29th. Please contact me if you have questions. 

I'm doing private lessons again as well, here are some examples of recent work by private lesson students: 

solid silver armband

silver oval hoop earrings

And lastly, rather randomly, I was on the radio talking to Andrew Peach on BBC Berkshire due to my connection with Reading PA and Reading UK, as I've lived the bulk of my life in one or the other! I'm on at around 7:25am - it was an early morning!- which you can find here (scroll to about 1 hour 25 minutes in): https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0ghx2qh

Royal College of Art: MA in Jewellery and Metal

 

I'm thrilled that I have just started an MA at the Royal College of Art in Jewellery & Metal. It's all very exciting and I am already working on my first project. This does mean that there might not be much blog updating for a while, as the course is full time. I'm also still teaching my evening jewellery making classes at Maiden Erlegh in Reading. As ever, if you have questions about jewellery or jewellery making classes, please feel free to contact me!

Happy New Year 2022!!!

Happy New Year! New Year, new goals, new plans! 

I have lots of plans, including teaching and craft events. Hopefully Covid will calm down and everything will go ahead. 

 

Craft Fairs:

At this year's events, I'm will be showcasing a new range of modern lockets, which I am very excited about! Craft Fairs and events I'll be doing this year include: 

11 – 13 March 2022 Cheltenham Festival of Crafts

30 April – 1 & 2 May 2022 Henley Arts Trail

14 – 22 May 2022 Oxfordshire Artweeks

11 – 12 June 2022 Whiteknights Arts Trail

17 – 19 June 2022 Bovey Tracey Festival of Crafts

 

Jewellery Making Classes: 

JASSO near Oxford

I'm doing a series of Masterclasses in Abingdon, near Oxford at the fabulous workshop of JASSO. You must be a member of JASSO, but at £20/year it is very good value. Details can be found at this link: https://jasso.org.uk/jasso/short-courses/ 

• Sunday 20 February – Keum boo (1 day)
• 19 and 20 March – little box with a one knuckle simple hinge (2 days)
• 15 and 16 October – trillion stone setting (2 days)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Henley School of Art, Henley on Thames

Monday Afternoon - Beginners Silver Jewellery Course

SPRING TERM - An 8 Week Course! See details here: https://www.thehenleyschoolofart.com/event-details/daytime-beginners-silver-jewellery-course-with-machi-de-waard-spring

Term starts Monday 24th January 2022

Half Term Monday 21st February 2022

Last day of term: Monday 21st March 2022

Only 3 spaces left! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New jewellery classes in Oxford & Henley and Arts Trail in September

 

 

Henley School of Art

New Classes:

Saturday 25 September – Making Silver Rings

Saturday 23 October – Making Silver Bangles

Saturday 4 December – Making Silver Rings

Learn the basics of silver jewellery making a wear a piece you made yourself by the end of the course! For more information and to book, see www.thehenleyschoolofart.com/courses

 

JASSO
New termly class!
Thursdays 10am - 1pm

Starts 16 September  I will be teaching a 10 week class at the fantastic workshop of the Jewellery and Silversmithing Society of Oxford. To join, you must be a member of JASSO but joining is incredibly good value at £20/year.

 

11 & 12 September 2021
I will be at Venue 10 St. Luke’s Community Hall, Norfolk Road, Maidenhead, SL6 7AT along with six other artists. Come see jewellery, paintings and ceramics!

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.

Jewellery made by my students

This term has abruptly ended because of the current virus situation, so I thought I would share some photos of jewellery made by my students in Chesham and Reading this term.

Made by Gill: hammered texture napkin ring

Made by Jane: matching set of earrings and ring with bezel set agate cabochons

Made by Kirsty: punch pattern silver cuff bracelet

Made by Natalie: small bezel set onyx stud earrings

Also Natalie: a rather fabulous rectangle statement necklace. Although it did get amended later because it didn't hang quite right, but I don't have a photo of the updated version!

Made by Rachel: a ring with a large, beautiful stone and on a double ring shank beneath.

Also made by Gill: a swirl of silver wire necklace

Made by Ruth: a very impressive small box with friction fit lid and tree and leaf decorations in brass.

Made by Sarah: a large checkerboard cut stone ring. The stone has subtle colour changes in the light.

Made by Maureen: an impressive cuff bracelet with a simple and elegant result that took quite a lot of effort!

Made by Cora: a very impressive square box with bezel set coral cabochons. Nobody ask how long this took!!!

Made by Helena: elegant moonstone cabochon cufflinks.

Made by Tony: two tube settings on a d-shape ring shank.

Made by Jo: a successful bezel set rose quartz ring.

Made by Gill: bezel set small oval amethyst dangle earrings.

Made by Cora: unusual stone bezel set with decorative gallery wire. Don't mention the melted ones!

Made by Victoria: fun and effective school of fish silver cuff bangle.

Made by Sarah: a brilliant result - hinged square locket with clasp!

Made by Cathy: fabulous rectangular box with friction fit lid.

Made by Susanna: hammer texture pendant with blue cabochon stone.

Made by John: twisted wire rings.

Made by Gill: I forget the name of these things - silver twist and pin to hold a knitted cardigan together.

Made by Jane: ammonite bezel set from the back (this is the front).

Happy New Year!

It's the new year! Happy 2020 everyone! I have many plans for this year, not least the exciting work on the jewellery book. The publication date has been moved back slightly to July of this year, but all is going at a pace in the background. The photos are looking amazing, the text and photos are being put together, and Janet and I have starting editing and we're looking at EVERY DETAIL. There was much excitement when we discovered the book is already on Amazon!!!! No pressure then!!! ha!

Here's the link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silver-Jewellery-Making-step-step/dp/1782217355/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=make+jewellery&qid=1575366994&sr=8-1
and we've even set up author pages so if you click on our names you get way more info on us then you're ever likely to need.

Here is a sneak peek of one of the photos. The designer and photographer put together this photo of the polishing tools and it looks like a painting! I've never seen polishing tools look so pretty!

In other news, in November I brought a selection of jewellery to the always lovely New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham. Not only do they have an excellent jewellery display, there are always interesting other crafts to see there, such as fabulous ceramics! You can see my work on the New Ashgate website here: https://www.newashgate.org.uk/shop_artists/7702/c/101/machi-de-waard/jewellery

Also in November, I taught a very fun and succesful class at Henley School of Art. Everyone made fabulous silver rings and the atmosphere was great.

In my other classes in Reading and in Chesham, students continue to make beautiful and unique pieces. (for information on upcoming classes, see http://www.machidewaard.co.uk/classes/)

Twisted wire bangle with thin round wire and thicker square wire - tricky soldering the join! -by John

Lovely textured rivet swivel locket with a great weight to it - by Hilary

Interesting stone with very flat sides, so set from the back - this is the front with very crisp edges to best show off the stone - by Lucy

Double ring with loose 9ct yellow gold brackets soldered around them - but loose so you can fiddle with the rings - by Natalie

Set of rose gold spiral earrings with crystals on a wire wrap loop - by Jo (fabulous Christmas presents)