Caversham Arts Trail

Will be 7 & 8 and 13-15 May... here's the flyer!! Click for a larger view....

Craft & Design awards

It's the last week to vote over at the Craft & Design selected awards - http://www.craftmaker.co.uk/machidewaard/

It's busy as usual here - been working on an interesting bit of fashion for a fashion retailer...will post more about that after I see if they're happy with the first piece I did, which is in the post now!
Also this week is the last week of term over at South Hill Park. However, I still have a packed week next week as I'm teaching a three-day course on hinges there. Hinges and tube, here we come!
Today the plan is to finish a pile of polishing. After this polishing, I think I'm actually nearly ready to start on some new designs! Well, after the hinges preparation, that is. Nearly there...
Hope everyone enjoyed the measily couple of warm days we had. It's back to chilly now, but there are still people walking around in shorts and t-shirts as if it's tropical weather out now. I guess it is officially spring because of the time change, but I still need a scarf!

custom pendant

Photos of a custom pendant made to match my silver bud collection...

finished pendant

This is the pendant I was discussing in my last post, now finished:

the ides of march have passed

I've been making tube and it's a bit addictive. I keep wanting to see how much smaller I can get it. Here's a photo of two of my attempts - both made from sheet. (I had to colour over my nail in photoshop because being a jeweller is not a good thing for the state of my nails!!)

The tube on the left is copper and just over 2mm outside diameter. The one on the right is silver and 1.3mm outside diameter. I'm thinking this will be useful for making hinges, possibly for odd shaped hinges. Also a wee bit cheaper than buying tube ready made.
So yeah, that's been the excitement this week! I've also been working on a custom pendant for my soon-to-be-ex-boss (she's leaving to pursue her own art). It's a silver rectangle, with edges, so it's sort of a shallow open box. We're going to fill it with the internal components of her father's watch - all the teeny tiny cogs and springs and things. Then we're going to fill it with clear resin. It's the ultimate personal piece of jewellery - made by someone my boss knows, filled with material from her father's watch, and she'll pour the resin herself. Hopefully I'll get a good photo of it when it's done...
Also working on some wedding rings, birthday presents, and making more gold ball stud earrings and rings. Photos coming soon...

time flies

It has been incredibly busy again and I find it hard to believe that tomorrow is March! It was just Christmas! This past weekend was eventful. Saturday I helped out in the morning with our Caversham Artists show in Kings Walk in Reading town centre. It was a lovely show and the opening especially, as one of the Third Thursday events, was very well attended. My next show will be the CAT (Caversham Artists Trail) in May.
Then yesterday I taught a one day ring course over at South Hill Park. The idea was for beginners to make their very own ring, which indeed they did, and some even managed to walk away with an impressive four rings at the end of the day! It went well but I was pretty knackered by the time I got home. But today it's back into the fray and I have loads to do as usual.
The weather has been so dreary and the garden is all dark so I also bought a bunch of lovely mini daffodils over the weekend. From one day to the next they flowered like mad, they look super cute. I'm not a great gardener, but hopefully I'll plant them soon to get some colour into the garden.
Anyway, I leave you with a photo of a stack ring I completed recently...

King's Walk Saturday 26th

It's been busy around here again - and more coming up! Firstly Caversham Artists will have our show open again this coming Saturday the 26th in King's Walk in the centre of Reading. Come and have a nose around if you're in town! The opening night last Thursday was lovely, with lots of people milling about and enjoying the live music (and wine)!
This week is half term, but on Sunday I'm teaching a day course on how to make a ring over at South Hill Park. In the meantime, I'm hoping to get a bunch of items finished today. The aim is to finish a ring that I've started on and also a pendant which has some pesky firestain.
There's still time to vote for me in the Craft & Design Selected Awards (you can vote at the bottom of the page here: www.craftmaker.co.uk/machidewaard).
It's such a gloomy day out, I think I need a lot of tea to get going. At least I've cleaned my desk and put up a sign that says "Keep Calm and Carry On"...surely that will help....

Third Thursday

My next event as part of the Caversham Artists will be taking place on 17th February 2011 at Kings Walk, Kings Street, Reading, RG1 2HG from 5.30pm until 9pm. Why not come along, we would love to see you there.

As part of the Third Thursday events for one evening only the shop windows will come alive, you will see demonstrations from artists, have the opportunity to talk to the artists and purchase the art work on show, all in the ambient surroundings of Kings Walk through sponsorship by London and County.

There will be musical entertainment, wine tasting from Award Winning local Organic Wine Merchant, Vintage Roots and The Third Thursday team will be on hand to talk about the partnership project between Reading UK CIC, jelly and the future arts events.

Our next event after the Third Thursday will be the Caversham Arts Trail on 7th & 8th and 13th-15th May 2011. There will be 15 venues with 31 exhibitors. Click here to see who is taking part.

(thanks Lauren Ceramics for this text and image!)

Exciting events coming up

Plan to go out the evening of February 17th - and enjoy an exciting Third Thursday event in Reading town centre: Please see below the note from Reading's very own Jelly: (Please RSVP to come along!)

We would warmly like to invite you to an evening of creativity at our next Third Thursday, on 17 February, The Walk, Kings Street, Reading from 5.30 until 9pm.

The hosts for the evening are the Caversham Artists who have taken over the currently available units in The Walk, through sponsorship by London and County.

The Caversham Artists have over the past few years put on a number of successful Arts Trails. The work ranges across many mediums including painting, ceramics, sculpture, textiles, decoupage, printmaking and jewellery.

For one evening the shop windows will come alive, you will see demonstrations of how the artworks are made, talk to the artists, all in the ambient surroundings of The Walk.

There will be musical entertainment, wine tasting from Award Winning local Organic Wine Merchant, Vintage Roots and The Third Thursday team will be on hand to talk about the partnership project between Reading UK CIC, jelly and the future arts events.

Why not extend your evening by enjoying the delights of the restaurants and bars in the The Walk ~ details can be found here on the Rguide or if you fancy musical entertainment, head up the road to South Street for Thirdsday Blues where National Steel - Cumberpatch, Cohen and Geraghty with their take on late 19th, early 20th Century Delta Blues will be performing. Click here for full details on Thirdsday Blues.

For more information on the Caversham Artists, you can take a peek at their website http://cavershamartists.co.uk/. The exhibitions will continue throughout February, with a further Open Day on Saturday 19th.

For more information on Third Thursdays, please visit this page http://jelly.org.uk/third-thursdays/

We are always looking for new venues to take part, new artists across all art forms and new guests to come along too so please feel free to pop by, bring a friend and find out more.

Hopefully see you there
Suzanne, Jo and Justine

RSVP suzanne@jelly.org.uk by Tuesday 15th February

Progress

Progress is finally being made - I have nearly prepared all the demos for my classes for the whole of this term, which is a big relief. There's a wedding ring on the horizon, a stacking ring, a pendant, some cufflinks and a clasp to repair. I finally got around to buying some PNP paper for etching, seems to work much better than just using a transparency. I took ages to buy some because I didn't know that I had to look at enamelling suppliers! So, some on order.

On the 27th of February I'm teaching a one-day course for beginners on how to make your own ring. On 6,7,8 April I'm teaching a three-day course for advanced students on hinges. If you'd like more info, drop me an email or comment.

I'm entered for the
craft&design SELECTED AWARDS

please vote for me
by visiting
www.craftmaker.co.uk/machidewaard

The Public Vote is open until 31st March 2011
Thank you for your support

Finally getting better

Well, the holidays were all about tissues for me. What fun. I am finally emerging from a fog of tissues, pain and medicine. Today's the last day of antibiotics and I am actually getting things done. A craft fair application out of the way today and trying to sort out my domain and hosting for my website. Hopefully this will not result in website failure. If I've managed to code it properly, everything should just continue working. However, if you do happen to spot website blips, I would be most grateful if you could let me know so I can fix them!!

In other news, I sent out a newsletter today. If you'd like one, just drop me a line in the comments. The most exciting thing is that you can vote for me in the Craft & Design Selected Awards on their website here: http://www.craftmaker.co.uk/machidewaard/. Just go to the bottom of the page to vote - registering and voting is free. Also, you get entered into a prize draw so you can win stuff too! Brilliant!

Internship opportunity at South Hill Park Arts Centre

Live Art Internship, South Hill Park, Bracknell, Berkshire


2-3 days a week, 3 months with possibility to extend (voluntary)


An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our dynamic visual arts team. The intern will gain experience of multiple aspects of exhibitions work with a particular focus on Live Art during our Live Art season. There will be an opportunity to gain experience of the following tasks:

* Administration
* Artist relations
* Supporting the development of new Live Art work
* Invigilation
* Marketing
* Installing and dismounting exhibitions and events
* Researching
* Supporting events.


South Hill Park has been a centre for innovation in the arts since 1973. In a grade 2 listed 18th century mansion and gardens, people of all ages and tastes find something to enjoy. South Hill Park is proud of its tradition of nurturing talents, among many big names. The centre has six exhibition spaces and an innovative exhibitions programme.

Live Art has been a fixture on South Hill Park’s exhibition schedule and the 2011 season will include the following:

Rules and Regs (www.rulesandregs.org) is an organisation that promotes artistic development. It is also the name for a residency where three artists are invited to create new work in response to a set of rules devised by a curator as a challenge to explore new ways of working. For 2011 Jo Bannon, Florence Peake and Melanie Wilson will be undertaking residencies at SHP.

Testing Grounds (www.testinggrounds.org.uk) a Live Art and Music platform supportive of artistic risks where artists are commissioned to make and present new work rather than reproducing a set performance (participating artists to be confirmed).


Finally, in April At Play returns to South Hill Park for its third year. At Play is an exhibition that explores play and includes Live Art performances at its opening.

Person specification:



This position would suit a graduate with an interest and/or experience in live art processes either personally, as part of their own practice, or professionally. Who wishes to gain more experience of Live Art and more generally an exhibitions department within a public venue. Your primary role would be to assist the exhibitions department during the Live Art Season and act as point of contact for the participating artists. An enthusiastic attitude, time management, organisational, interpersonal and basic IT skills are essential. A driving license and access to a car is helpful as the art centre is outside the town centre with limited public transport. The position may include occasional weekend and evening work.



Please email your CV and statement to:



Gemma Cumming

Email: gallery.tours@southhillpark.org.uk

Website: www.southhillpark.org.uk



South Hill Park, Ringmead, Bracknell RG12 7PA



The CV and statements should indicate: Your availability, why are you interested in this position, previous experience in arts and educational background.



The deadline for application is 5pm 4 Feb 2011.

We aim to interview week beginning 7 Feb and would expect the post to commence on the week beginning 14 Feb



Kind regards

Gemma Cumming

Gallery Education Intern
South Hill Park

only 10 days til christmas!

Another commission done, sterling silver star earrings:

blue wave pendant

just a quick photo of a wee commission I did last month:

Reveal in Henley

Reveal is on this weekend at Henley's Old Firestation Gallery - see www.revealshowcase.com for details. I will be there 10-12 tomorrow morning. Unfortunately I got a little overzealous when I put my display stuff back in the car after Desire, so I've sprained a muscle in my back. So I was dreading setting up at Reveal yesterday because I knew it would hurt. Luckily Lauren (of the beautiful ceramics) and another Caversham artist very kindly carried my cases inside. I am pretty sore today from all the shlepping around yesterday, but jewellery is up at Reveal and even have a small case up at South Hill Park (also for sale, just ask the reception). I have to say, though, that I am super tired. I've been running around since October doing a ton of things and now I'm ready for a rest. Today I had a major lie-in after my last class of the term at South Hill Park. There's more snow in Bracknell than there is in Reading so I guess people were nervous about driving, so there were only three students in the last class!! Oh well, Emy kindly brought biscuits so we had biscuits and made stuff anyway! Hope everyone's keeping warm, it sure is cold out!!!

Desire and Reveal

Desire is nearly here - the jewellery and silversmithing fair in Winchester. It starts tomorrow and the private view is tomorrow evening 6-8.30...
Next week is Reveal in Henley, in the lovely old fire station behind the town hall. I always like to go Henley, preferably by walking there. If you walk from Reading to Henley, then you arrive in Henley on a long walkway over the river. It's very pretty...and then there are all the super cozy pubs! I bet that, given the layer of ice on the cars outside, rather a lot of those cozy pubs will have lovely warm fires!
Today is packing for Desire. I say packing, I mean just repacking and adding some extras - like some posters I made for the behind me on the shell scheme. I also need some more boxes and some more stickers and some more postcards and so on. Nearly there, also want to finish some earrings that I'm still working on. I only have one pair of each left, so making a few more which will hopefully be ready in time for my early departure tomorrow morning.
It's a hectic time of year, so to those of you across the pond, enjoy your day off - happy thanksgiving! Enjoy your long, lovely meal!!

Desire Fair at Winchester

Next weekend is the Desire Fair in Winchester - below is a bit of info on times and dates and so on. I have no private view invitations left!! I am still getting ready, polishing a pile of earrings this afternoon. I've made posters too, so I'm hoping my stand will look sharp :-) See you there and have a lovely weekend!

Desire Fair - Winchester

26 - 28 November 2010.

I hope to see you there where you will be able to view my latest designs

For further details and directions to the show see below or log onto www.desirefair.com

12.30pm - 5.30pm Friday, 10 am - 5 pm Saturday & Sunday

AA signposted

The Desire Fair showcases stunning collections from emerging British talent together with a number of established contemporary designer jewellers and silversmiths. All are professional craftsmen who have been selected from the very best jewellers and silversmiths in the UK for the quality of their work, individuality and innovation.

Desire offers an opportunity to see and purchase or commission work direct from the designer makers. By discussing the purchase with the maker, you will immediately be aware of their enthusiasm for the creative process and understand the inspiration behind each piece. There is an enormous variety of stylish designs on offer from the latest in exciting and contemporary designs to classic pieces that will not date. Each item sold is unique and can often be designed specifically for the wearer – a world away from the mass produced items offered on the High Street!

To see examples of just some of the stunning designs on offer please visit www.desirefair.com

Jewellery classes

Phew, another craft fair done - South Hill Park Christmas Fair was at the weekend and I saw loads of people I knew, so I certainly had a lot of nice chats. Now it's on to the Desire show at Winchester. I still have some tickets for the private view - contact me if you'd like one. I still need to finish a whole bunch of orders and make some things for the Desire show that I've sold out of...
Also booking began this week for the next term of jewellery classes at South Hill Park. Some of my classes are already full for next term. Booking for members who aren't on the course starts next week. Keep trying if you want to get on those courses, but if you can't get on, you can always have a look at the brilliant Janet Richardson's classes in Wokingham - for info just follow this link or look at this poster here (click to zoom):

Friday again!

So it's nearly the weekend and nearly time for the South Hill Park craft fair. I'm nearly ready...still a couple of things to make and polish and pack and... yeah, so, nearly.
It's been another busy week - and I've been on the Folksy blog! A lovely selection of silver jewellery was showcased, including my silver crossover ring.
Meanwhile, over on the Reveal blog, there's a piece about my jewellery as part of the 'meet the maker' series in the run-up to the Reveal Showcase in Henley in early December. Just follow this link for more info.

South Hill Park and benchpeg

South Hill Park Christmas Craft Fair this weekend!!! 11am - 6pm on Saturday and 10am - 5pm on Sunday!! I'm in the Wilde Theater, see you there!

Proof that I've been working hard - here's a photo of a new benchpeg, followed by a photo of my well-loved benchpeg. The benchpeg is the centre of a jeweller's bench - it's where almost all the work gets done!

South Hill Park Craft Fair 2010

Coming up soon: South Hill Park Craft Fair.

things I like

I've been so busy with craft fairs and teaching and my engraving course that I would like to just mention something else besides all that! So here's a small list of things I like that you might like too. Firstly there's my friends' new shop called Comma in Oxford which I visited last night for the first time. It's brilliantly set up and looks amazing - plus lots of fun gift items, so I need not worry about where I'm going next time I need a birthday present for someone:Then there's the talented bag and purse maker I was next to at Farnham - another good destination for presents for any girly girls you might know: Nicola de Cruz
Then there are the delicate, gorgeous ceramics of Lauren, for example this round vase that I think is absolutely lovely:And then for the knitters in your life (everyone's got one or more!!!) there are the luscious hand dyed yarns by Skein Queen like this one:

Creative Boom and Craft in Focus

hey hey, just a quick note to say - check out a mention on Creative Boom's fab website! Yay!
Also this weekend is the Craft in Focus show at Crowthorne!! See you there!! Open Friday from 1pm and Sat & Sun 10am - 5pm.

It's late now and I need to get ready for tomorrow, so keeping it short...

silly season

Well, silly busy season....first craft fair is over and I'm preparing for the next one! This coming weekend, the Crowthorne Craft Fair at Wellington College, Crowthorne is on from Friday until Sunday. It was excellent last year, with a good buzz and people enjoying seeing the fabulous skills on display. Between now and Friday I have four classes, my engraving course, and about a hundred little household tasks. So, busy it is! I'm going to try to get some items up on Etsy and Folksy today as well. I have so many ideas for new items, it's hard to focus on the things that need to happen now...must concentrate and write down all my new ideas for testing after the busiest time of the year.

Also, aside from all that, an amazing new shop has opened over in Oxford called Comma. The website is coming soon, but the shop is already there! If you're in the area, you should definitely give it a look! Especially since it says Hello in giant colourful letters in the window :-)

16 - 17 October Festival of Crafts

Festival of Crafts is this weekend at Farnham Maltings in Farnham! You can see details here on their website: http://tiny.cc/2v9t5!! Looking forward to seeing and meeting lots of people!! I will be ready, with a new stand, new business cards, new postcards, and of course lots of new lovely jewellery. See you all there!

beautiful flyers

All the beautiful flyers for the craft fairs are arriving - like this one (click on it to get a larger image):

other art exhibits to see...

South Hill Park Arts Centre, Ringmead, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 7PA.

Directions at: http://www.southhillpark.org.uk/aboutUsTravel.jsp

New exhibitions on 11 September - 7 November:

Memento by Ed Pien (Bracknell Gallery)

Out of Print? by Printmakers Council (Mansion Spaces)

The Human Response by Bracknell Camera Club (Community Gallery)

Beauty Spot (diptych) by Rowena Easton (outside the Bracknell Gallery)

Craft Fair (13-14 Nov)

Crowthorne Craft in Focus show

Wellington College, Crowthorne, 22 - 24 October

I hope to see you there where you will be able to view my latest designs

For further details of the show see below or go to www.craftinfocus.com

The event displays only the highest standard of exhibitor that visitors to Craft in Focus have come to expect. We hope that you will visit us and look forward to seeing you at the show, as rarely is such a wealth of top quality work seen together at a single event.

Due to a strict vetting and selection procedure Craft in Focus has earned an enviable reputation for presenting events of the highest quality, and over the years, reports in the national media have often placed Craft in Focus above all others in the UK. We hope you will continue to visit our events around the country, and do keep an eye on our website for future developments and other shows in your area - www.craftinfocus.com

If you'd like a discount card for entry, drop me an email and I'll send you one!

Happy October

It's October - welcome to three months of fabulous craft fairs. First up is the Festival of Crafts at Farnham Maltings. Not only is Farnham a lovely town, the Maltings is a great building (are a great set of buildings, technically, I think). There will be loads of fabulous crafts on display. You can see many of the exhibitors here: http://tiny.cc/5sal5
I will have new items on show, including my gold ball hoop earrings (sterling silver with 18k gold ball):
Thankfully I'm mostly over my horrendous cold of last week!So it's back to getting ready for classes, making more things for fairs, finishing my stand...and so on. I'm unveiling my new stand at Festival of Crafts as well....nearly finished....

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!

things are getting busy again...

Tomorrow is September again, which I can't quite believe. Where did August go? Today is a bit of a running around day and I think I better get used to it - might be a running around type rest of the year! This morning I had an exciting dentist appointment. I use the word 'exciting' here to mean 'not remotely exciting' which is exactly how I like my dentist appointments! Nothing wrong so then I drove over to South Hill Park and took down the students' show. Went pretty well, 6 pieces sold and I'll return the rest when the term starts.
I've started posting again a bit on Etsy and Folksy. Will be trying to increase that slowly. Also finally getting towards the end of a project I'm working on with Hello Wilson - just a couple more things to do and it's nearly finished.
You can probably spot the most exciting news at the top of my blog/etsy/folksy/twitter....see anything new???

want to learn how to make jewellery?

Click on the photo below for a closer look - take a jewellery class taught by an experienced silversmith and learn how to make your own creative pieces:

Summer course over...

The summer course is over now, I think it went quite well. We discovered some interesting things, one of which is that hollow items with no holes can indeed explode during soldering. It hadn't happened before and then it happened twice - it is loud, an enormous bang! Luckily there were no injuries!! I covered metal inlay and things that look like inlay, for example, amongst others:

So now back to making more things and very soon hopefully heading off to London to get more boxes, as I'm out of nearly every type of box. I'm hoping the supplier won't be too low on stock...

just randomly...

Just thought I'd point out these posts in case someone else finds these interesting. They are about the work life of one person in London in the 1940s over on Mary Portas' (of Mary Queen of Shops fame) blog: http://tiny.cc/3lhiu

cont'd

So Ernest Jones have agreed with no fuss to get the watch fixed, new strap and all at no cost to me. So now I just have to wait another 2 weeks. Sigh. Oh well, at least I didn't have to kick up a fuss.
The guys at The Watch Shop in Reading has been exceptionally helpful and polite. They went out of their way to help me get this sorted.
Anyway, in other news I am working on an order for a wedding gift - a collection for the bride & groom. I had one of the necklaces in stock, so I re-polished that:I've nearly finished a pair of the earrings, of which I had sold out:
And I just need to polish the cuff links which had also sold out:

arggghhh

So I have been working on jewellery and will stick a photo here soon of some new stuff. However, am now posting to vent. You know when you have a little task that should be super easy? And then it goes horribly wrong? Through no fault of your own? Wellllll....so I had a very nice watch. I liked it a lot. My mom had the same one. She liked it a lot. Hers broke by accident. She wanted the same one again. We searched and scoured the internet, could not find one anywhere. It's a lovely, slim line Skagen watch. Very minimal, neat and modern. In the end, I gave my mom my watch because it seems Skagen have stopped making any of their slimline watches for women. They have men's, but they are way too big.
So, I needed a watch. I went to John Lewis, thinking they might still have a Skagen slimline watch for women because they used to have one. No luck. All other women's watches either covered with diamonds, pink, or otherwise bling. Nothing minimal.
So, went online to a reputable shop and bought a minimal calvin klein watch. No numbers, no extra dials, no fuss. It arrived a bit later than I had anticipated because it was out of stock.
Anyway, lovely watch - far too big. Can't self-adjust it because it has links. Go into town for what should be a 5 minute job and go into Ernest Jones. Can they do it? Yes. Now? Yes. About 40 minutes later - sorry can you come back tomorrow, I can't get it back together. I come back the next day, manager hasn't been able to do it either. Watch in pieces.
Took the watch to another shop. They are amazed at the incompetence of Ernest Jones. Turns out Ernest Jones broke one of the pegs. Come back tomorrow....
Went back today, turns out Ernest Jones hadn't the foggiest what they were doing and took out the wrong peg, breaking the watch strap. I need to buy a whole new strap. I haven't even worn the watch yet. Arrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhh.
So, now another week to wait while this shop fixes the problem. Will be presenting the bill to Ernest Jones. Why didn't they just stop when they realised they didn't know how to do it????
Sigh. Anyway....apologies about the long post about this, needed to vent!!!

more cat action!

Thomas, who lives near us, made an extended visit today. (I'm also working on jewellery, but a cat photo for now...)

Peppy

Peppy, originally actually Pepe Romero (influence of a concert I'd just been to) is our family cat and he's nearly 21. He's still going strong and is super cute. Here are some photos to prove it!!

Summer Course at South Hill Park

There are still a couple of spaces left on my summer course at South Hill Park! See here for details: http://tiny.cc/i1gb8
It's a three day course from Tue 17 Aug - Thu 19 Aug 10.00am - 4.00pm each day.