KSWjewellery

Patchwork cottage

Whilst in my road to recovery this weekend, I decided to make a start on my new quilt.I am making lots of different patches made all differerntly and then Im going to join the together, I am even looking forward to handstitching the quilted details,  and I have discovered how to put the bias binding around the edge! very exciting!

The cottage itself was a lot easier to construct that I innitialy thought, and all elements of the cottage have been patchworked together, and the only piece that has been stitched on, is the lovely rose flower in the garden. There is no set pattern for the coottage, and you just need to make it up as you go along, choosing the colours that you feel look right, and deciding what kind of garden you would like is as easy as choosing what the grass would look like, and whether you would like a garden on a hill, or on a flat!

I only have a tiny portion of my rose fabric left, so Im excited to be using the last pieces in my quilt. This type of patchworking, where you use what you have, is a great way of using up all of those really small scraps, and it has been a great way for me to try out my new rotary cutter!

This piece of kit has seriously changed the way I make my textile work, there is no better way to cut precice pieces for patch working, and it really is fantastic when the patches line up precisely. my new 'Material Obsession' book has a wealth of patchworking ideas, and I will be trying my hand at some of the more complex blocks during the week.

Ok, I need more coffee! today is a work day!

New books

Winter is fast approaching, although the weather remains quite unusual, and it's putting me in the mood for making the house warm and cosey! Over the weekend, whislt feeling sorry for myself because I was ill, I remade all of my cushin covers in the living room (im one of those people who cannot relax when im ill), so they are now made fom lovely soft jersy fabrics and recycled wool jumpers! I have washed my most favourite patchwork blanket so it all puffed up and snuggly! I thought it wqas about time I had some new inspiration, so I have treated myself to some new books just to kick me back into the making!

Material obsession is one that I have been admiring from affar for a while, and it has lived up to my expectations, as it has some really beautiful quitlts in suitable for all. nad there are some really gorgeous patchwork pieces that truth be told, could be wall art!

I have also been feeling rather broody of late, mostly because Nikkiie is pregnant, so this book I had to have just because it looked so adorable, and there are a few projects which im sure she would love, this one is one of my fav's . . .. 

This really is so cute! and can be made from just odd bits of fabric from your stash. I love making plush toys, but I never have anywhere to store them, well, unless I want our house covered in toys. . . . . I get enough stick as it is for my knitting!

But back onto the sewing . . . . . I want this! we were in Boot's last night buying various things to try and make us feel better, and I saw this sewing basket! who would have thought that Boot's would sell such lovelyness! OK, Im going back to work,

xxx

Blackpool!

Yesterday I went to Blackpool with the new students as part of their induction week. The weather stayed nice, and im glad I took my wellies because the tide came in sooooo quickly that all of the sand castles were swept away with the tide! The downside to spending the day in Blackpool is that my sore head and aching bones have been made worse, and today was a day in bed! I have been feeling under the weather for about a week, and it seems all of the other staff are feeling just as rubbish as I am! However the work must go on!

I have recived some beautiful fabrics in the post of late, and whilst photographing some of my samples I thought I would show you some of the most recent cufflinks that have been flying out of my workshop!

I am also making some cufflinks for women too, and these will be in my new shop in the near furture, as I have had one request too many, so I will have to think about some new, soft shapes just for the ladies, with some beautiful fabrics to boot!

Talking about new fabrics, for my new shop I have given it great though as to how to name them, as 'blue flower pendant' doesn't really inspire me . . . . or anyone else! so, I have been looking at some old fashioned girls names, so that the pieces evoke the kind of nostalgia for the vintage that has inspired me to make them. If you think its a silly idea, I would like to hear from you, it will stop me from making a HUGE mistake!

I have had a delivery of new tools today, which I am looking forward to using in the next day or two, nd just so that you know . . . .  thats not my hand! I have bought and am now the proud owner of a desk top soldering unit, which I am suitably excited about! Im hoping to feel much better by tomorrow so that I can give them all a try, although it does make me feel better that I am not the only one!

wish me well,

xxx

OK . . . . . . i'm sorry . . .

It really has been tooooooo long! Since I last blogged, so much has happened I couldn't possibly condense it all down, but, I did have a fantastic wedding anniversary, we went to Green man festival, and it was my first EVER festival, and it was amazing, we (Jon and I) have been all over the place on days out, visits to family and relaxing and trying to get the house straight for when Jon starts his teacher training. On one of our visits, we went to see Jon's mum in Morcambe, and we decided to have a drive to the pendale whitches site in Lancs, and this is where the picture of the cottage comes in  .  .. . . . . . it's my dream house!

I must have looked like a compleate nutter just taking photo's of it but I had to! We are planning to move in the next year so were on the look out for places we like, and although im sure this beautiful little cottage will never be mine, I can always hope!

On the jewelelry front, my Wedding collection has really taken off, and I have been very busy making cufflinks, necklaces and lots of other jewellery for my August-October brides!

I have been adding lots of new pieces to my shop, and I have studs and a few other pieces to add in the following weeks.

Some of you may have also notcied that I now have a new website, which caters for my Wedding collection, and I will be setting up a seperate shop shortly that will have my personal work in. I have been working on some pieces that have a more mature/vintage feel, using some of the vintage inspired fabrics that I use in my bags. watch this space!

Talking about vintage inspired fabrics, I stayed with my very pregnant (and looking gorgeous may I add) best friend Nikkiie (aka Ditsy Designs) over last weekend, and I was moaning that I couldn't find the 'right' book for the start of term, so, we bought loads of squared paper and then . . . . . I made this!

This is my new book, and I made it using one of Nikkiie's workshop tutorials, and I love it! it's padded on the front and hard at the back, and has just the right paper on the inside.
I think I will leave it at that for the moment, I have some cufflinks that need a making, and a headache that could do with nursing! but I will leave you with this . . . . .since last blogging I have aquired some knitting machines, new sewing tools and gizmos . . . . . . and I will be making time to use them ALL!
xxx

Charm Bracelets and necklaces

I have been wearing my set of charm bracelets all week! I make sentimental jewellery for people to buy, however, like most things, you forget all about making something personal for yourself.
So I treated myself to one of these, and I stamped our innitials onto the tag, so that I have something nice to wear from my own wedding dress! Although I did notice that I am down to my last few tiny pieces of my own dress.It's really lovely to wear soemthing really personal, becuase, as you can imagine, I have quite a lot of jewellery and sometimes its nice to have some pieces that will go with all of my clothes, and the colour of my wedding dress is very subtle.

Becasue I have so little left of my dress, I made a necklace so that the off cuts wouldn't just be sitting in my tools box (very un-romantic I know), and I loved wearing it so I have added it to my shop.

 

Well, I am looking forward to having two weeks off, however I am supposed to be going camping with friends in lake District next week, and something tells me were going to have rain!
x

Throwing the bouquet!

This afternoon, whilst making ring pillows and reading through a wedding magazine (purely research, honest!) I stumbed upon something really interesting! I have never know why women throw their bouquets at their wedding, but now I know!

'In medieval times, a bide's dress was deemed lucky, and guests would tear pieces off to keep a lucky charm. To avoid desroying the dress, brides began to throw personal items, such as a garter or bouquet, and this later developend into the superstition that the next girl to catch the bouquet would be the next to marry.'

How amazing! In some way In my wedding I stuck to the origionall tradition, as I actually gave pieces of my dress away, good job really because I kept my bouquet!


 
So whilst reading and getting carried away thinking about weddings, I was finishing some ring pillows, they are now available in the shop,and thinking about my ring pillow. My Best friend and fellow (very pregnant) crafter (Ditsy designs) made me a beautiful ring pillow made from pieces of my dress and the bridesmaids dresses, it was perfect, and it was such a personal touch! I then took another trip down memory lane before photographing the work to go in the shop.
x

Wedding Dress ring

 

This is only a quick post, but I just had to share it with you because im so excited about it! I made myself a little ring out of my own wedding dress. I get so much work in for other people I forget that I don't have a copy of my own work!

 

So yes, this is my favourite piece so far (you will notice the regular pattern of my lastest work being my favourite!) and I have just made a charm bangle set with my dress and also an innitial tag with 'KSW + JP' on it (Jon Poate is my husband), so when I get round to taking some decent pictures they will be available for purchase ( with your wedding dress in of course, you don't want mine) in the shop.

x

Jewellery Rolls

New Work in the Shop

I have finally posted some of the jewellery rolls, my favourite on is the one in the picture above, it is made from Duponi silk! I just love it! So, there are in the shop, and there is only one of each, at the moment!



I have made some of the wraps from vintage looking materials, but I only have small amouts of the fabrics left, so grab the while you can! The are fully lined and padded and make great gifts, and the silk ones are great for bridesmaid gifts!


I have included images of some of my jewellery in some of the images to give an idea of scale, however if you would like to buy these earrings they are also in my shop!


Im going to do something before my day wastes away, have a lovely weekend!
toodle pip!

Raspberry sweetie pendant!! I just love it!

 

I have literaly had this resin piece in my tool box for about a year, not knowing what to do with it, yet not wanting to get rid of it (other pieces have fallen foul to this routine!)

 

every time I saw it, it just looked to lushious to get rid of, and now it is my new favourite piece of jewellery! I made a lovely thick bezel to go round it with a large bail link at the top so that I loop on of my oxidised chains through it!

 

I may be the only one who see's the deliciousness of this spangly new piece, and thats OK, I will wear it with pride, and I may even match my shoes to it, maybe even a red belt!

 

I have also compleated my wedding fabric cufflink samples over the last few days, there are more from this range to come and the orders are comming in thick and fast! Remeber, I love to hear from you, get in touch!

toodle pip!

x

My little scrap of Gold!

 

I have had this tiny scrap of 18k yellow gold sitting in my solder box for weeks, and it has been too small to do anything with, but I decided to stretch it, and bash it, and make it into a delicate band to go onto my ring stack!

 

So I polished up the rest of the rings and I haven't taken them off since! I spend the afternoon in the workshop yesterday as I had a few commissions to finish so that they can be poisted today, so there was a lot of cutting and soldering, and now my hands are feeling a little neglected again!

 

These are the 'before soldering' stages with my pieces, stamping my innitials onto the back, I really do love the hand stamped feel to these, and eventhough I could get the laser etched, I like it this way, it makes me feel like there is a real hand crafted quality baout my work!

Today I have the mamoth task of clearing out my locker (or two) because I have been throwing everything in there for months, and now I don't even know where to find a pair of pliers! So before I finish my making, my tool bags are going to be stripped, because I can't cope with my own mess for much longer! wish me luck!!

x

My favourite so far . . . . . . . .

Honestly, the requests I recieve for the personalised cufflinks have been very entertaining and rather obsqure at times, however, this pair is one of my favourite becuase it has such an adorable story behind the choice of words! At first I thought it may have been a spelling mistake, but they are actually words from the mama musical, and the lady who bought them said that her daughter say's this to her husband and it makes him go all gooey with love! Aaaaah! so cute!



Over the weekend I will be putting together my wedding packages, and the wedding season is upon us and I want to make your life as easy as possible when shopping for gifts for your wedding party. There will be two types of packages, one will be the customised collection with fabric used to create the jewellery, and the other collection will feature my floral pieces, the stude the earrings and the fabric flower booches like the one above.



I will also be listing the jewellery wraps I have been steadily stocking up over the last couple of months, there are full size ones and also some small handbag size jewellery wraps! I have made them in a variety of colours and fabrics, but there are some bautiful Duponi Silk wraps for wedding gifts, as you can never go wrong with jewellery wraps as gifts! I will keep you updated on the Wedding collections and the wraps, in the meen time, enjoy the sunshine!
x

New books and a relaxing Sunday!

There is nothing better than a good cup of coffee in the morning, and today is no exception! I had a rather late evening last night, and despite feeling like I had been run over by a ruck most of the day, I went out for a nice pear cider on the veranda of Fat cats last night . . . . . . and got in at 5 in the morning! after having only a few drinks I went to meet jon out our friends house, and didin't  leave untill gone 4! so I feel surprisingly very awake and perkey today, and the coffee helped to wake me up!



My knitting is comming along well and I am at it every spare minitue! I was even doing it on the way to work on Friday!! Gemma (one of my lovely students) told me about this amazing book for knitting soft toys, and I must say, I can't wait to give some of them a go!



The twins and Peggy long legs are my fav! and I just love the way the have been photographed!



So if you like the look of the crazy little fellas, the book you need to get is this one . . . . .



It really will inspire even the non knitting folk out there, and the good thing is, many of these could be made from using knitted jumpers etc! Its just so exciting to read and to imagin how your character will turn out!
I am going to spend the rest of the day relaxing, knitting, and I may even take a trip up the attic to see what little treasures I may find . . . . thats the kind of atttic I have !
xxx

I have been taken over . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . by knitting!! Seriously! everyone who knows me knows that when I like something I become slightly OCD about it! I decided to knit one day two weeks ago and i havent stopped since! Circular knitting needles are my favourite, mostly because the tiny needles fit perfectly into my hands!



I started this about 4 hours ago, I want to make a neck warmer for camping this summer, and I know it sounds daft becuase we are having glorious weather, and I suspect I have picked up knitting at the wrong time of year! I can't stop the knitting fever!



I picked this wool up today on my lunch break, and it is super duper soft, almost like jersey fabric (which I love), and its a lovely colour, and I can't wait for it to be big enough to wear. If your reading this, and you love knitting, or the idea of knitting, or would like to give me any tips on my journey into the world of knitting, I would love to hear from you,

toodle pip
x

Im struggling.........

 

to keep myself going at work, it is so tedious here without students! Seriously, I forgot how this part of the year slipped into uneventful paper work!! It's just lucky that I have drafted in some creature ( literally ) comforts, to help my day seem less dreary!

 

 

You may not believe it from this picture, but I have the tidiest desk in the office, and I have become so board at times that I had even washed down my monitor!" yes, I really did wash it! then I turned into the tazmanian devil and blitzed the office too! have I mentioned how much I dislike paper work?! Im just thankful that I have commissions and other fun things to keep myself my brain from dying a slow death which is an academic summer!!

Have I mentioned that I have become a little obsessed with knitting (and cleaning the attic. . .. . .  .don't ask) over the last few weeks? I have even gone home in my lunch break to finish knitting a cushion cover! Im in the middle of nitting a bolero from this beautiful irridecent blue colour, I have no idea how it will turn out, and its only the 3rd thing I have attempted knitting for about 6 years, so I won't be too surprised if it ends up being something I only wear around the house out of shame!! this book is brilliant, I have bought loads of lovely books lately about knitting and this is the best! Its very simple and it explains everything with pictures and colour, which is my kind of language!!

 

and because I have started knitting, my already defeated hands have been getting really sore, so I have hand cream in every bag (including the new one I made last night, you can just see the fabric behind the cream!) because I don't want to stop knitting and I don't want to have horrible hands! this one smells lovely, Jenny gave it to me because she knows how much I love the rose anbd carnation hand cream that Nik gave me ( ditsy designs ), so I apply it liberally, and often!

OK . . . . I have done a whole day here (work) I am now going to partake in some knitting, or attic clearing, depending on how I feel when I get home. I hmay even may a new book for my research proposal (tell you later),

toodle pip for now!

x 

A bit of R&R!

 

It has been a very busy and stressful few weeks, with all of the students being assesed and the final show up, its time for a bit of a wind down! Jon has been working hard doing his maths training and the pair of us have been looking to spend some down time by reading and relaxing! so, I have made some book covers for my new books that I picked up at a car boot sale that Jon and I went to two weeks ago, it's not that I don't like the covers, I just like the fabric better! My crafter in crime also came up to visit me last week, and we all spent the day at the beach and then car booting on the sunday!

 

We were on the hunt for Baby stuff as Nik is 4 months pregnant! and guess what we found! a Ghostbusters pram!! please tell me someone else knows about the Ghostbusters pram? anyway, we didn't get it because it was super freeky! but we did get lots of other goodies!

 

In a bit to get soem restful sleep, I have also picked and have started to dry my lavender, and it smells delicious! it should be working its way into some handcrafted puches sometime soon!

xxx

Tough Times!!

Times are getting tough, and the academic year is drawing to a close, and I have been reflecting on how my students will do when they embark on setting up their businesses and selling their work in this current climate, and due to this, I have decided to adjust the prices of my work! I feel that it is important during these  to support those who are still buying handmade, as it is you who will in turn support all of those fantastic designers and makers who begin their careers this year. I have dropped my prices considerably, and some items have had upto 50% cut off ( rosey pendant above).



I will also be adding more earrings and studs to my shop withing the next 2 weeks so that those of you who like to buy my necklaces can see if you can find the earrings to match!! and the style above will be set at £15.



I will be very busy making over the next few weeks as the wedding season is fast approaching, and cufflink orders are flooding in, and I have also been making stacks of sumptuous jewellery wraps to store jewellery in! I always take on when im travelling, otherwise my earrings always get seperated, and I can't tell you how much I hate that!! I shall be posting them soon, as there will be a range of these wraps and bags to acompany the wedding range, and they have been made from some gorgeous Duponi Silk!!! mmmmm!
I am going for a much needed glass of wine after a hard days work! I would love to hear your comments and thank you all for supporting handmade goods, it makes me feel optomistic about our futures!!
xxx

Bangles and BIG pendants!

I have been thinking about these bangles for months! they come to me in dreams, they are distracting me from my work, I just cant get them out of my head! So I made a mould for the kidney shaped bangels that I had in my mind, and cast this first bangle! Now theres loads wrong with it at the moment, and there is a lot of things that I will be changing, but what do you think? I shall be making these double sided so that you can see the fabric from both sides. I have also made this huge pendant to go with the bangle.



It actually fits into the center of the bangle and is the contunuation of the patteern, so it makes a fab matching set. So what do you all think, I would love any comments, because if you think these pieces are worth making, then I shall get some ready for my shop. Well, its another day at work, and this morning I am teaching felt making, so im really looking forward to it, and I have almost finished upholstering my stool!I will get the pictures posted after next weeks lass! sooo excited!!
toodle pip!
x

My new dress!

First off, sorry for the quality of the pictures, they are off my phone, I can't find my camera anywhere! But, besides that, what do you think of my new dress? I made it this afternoon, rather surprisingly, as I spent the entire day in various pubs from 2pm untill 11pm yesterday, and was expecting to be nursing a hangover today! This is the compleated dress worn with some black leggings,

 

and with my DIY blue cardie! there is a mess on the floor as this was taken in my sewing room, but all in all, im really chuffed with how it turned out, especially since I managed to cut the pattern piece for the yoke out of a part of the skirt!!
If any of you are interested in making your own dress, its really easy, and I used this pattern

 

it's out of print at the moment, but I bought mine through ebay for a couple of pounds! its a jumper dress, but it doesn't need to be made form knit fabric!
I have also been casting some bangles today, no pictures, but hopefully, depending on how they turn out there may be some sneeky peaks tomorrow!
x

I have been very very busy!!

It has been a bit non stop over the last week or so, which is how I like it! I have been making jewellery, making bags and making clothes, and on top of that I have also been to an upholstry course! But what Im most excited about is my new pair of studs! these are made from black and white fabric, and they look ace, Im going to wear them to work today! There will be some differnt colours on the shop soon.



To keep myself out of mischief, I signed up to an upholstry class on a Wednesday, so I found this cute little stool at the car boot sale on Sunday, it cost me £3, and needed a good stripping!



But when i did strip it down I was pretty surprised to find that it was just a wooden box with legs!! so it's definately going to have some fab fabric covering it, and hopefully you wont recognise it when its done!

Right, im off to work, Im teaching an acrylic class this morning, so I shall be in the workshop all day, Im hoping to get a pair of those black and white earrings madefor my Mum for mothers day, but she is more of a dangly earring gal, so I shall have to make them dangly!

Have a good one, and lets hope the sun stays out today!!
x

Lady in Red

Well I decided to have a go a stenciling last night, I recieved a new book in the post and it got me feeling all excited! It was a stencil book with pre fabricated stencils, and the robot and the lady just looked too cool!! There was also a chandaleir and a paisley print that I have aslo done, but I really want to work into that that one this eveing!



I started going round the outline of her last night with some black stitching, but i think she needs some beads and a patch pocket! Nikkiee is comming down this weekend for a few days of full of crafting, its going to be so good, and we bith want to have a go at making our own stencils! oooh! the things we could make!
x

My little softie!!!

I made this crazy little chap for Nikkie for Christmas,and I managed to get a photo of him whilst I was there for the weekend, he still looks cheekey mind you! I especially like his little bum patch!



And he looks like he was made to live on Niks bed, it's a shabby chic's dream!
Yesterday we left Niks to travell to my Mums in South Wales, it was her 50th Birthday last week and I had some gifts for her, all handmade of course! I made a bag, makeup bag, jewellery wrap and the long necklace that I posted as unfinished, but I did finish it before I gave it to her!



We also arranged for her to spend the day at The Celtic Mannor Hotel spa, its sounds amazing and she will be taking her friend with her! hows that for a birthday treat! I typed up what she would be getting and made a little fabric envalope so that she has something really nice to open! She was so surprised! Well, another day in the art uni for me, and this evening, i will be starting my dressmaking course!! Im so bloomin excited!!!!
x

Exhibition Fun!!

 

Yesterday I spent the morning helping Nikkiee put her exhibition up! It was fab! althought I did a bit more leg work than she did because the poor thing has managed to dislocate her knee. . . . . .dancing the night away in night club!! crazy lady! Her work Is very gorgeous, is very girly and I would like to have her work over my wall!

 

 

So now I am spending the weekend sewing, gossiping and eating a lot of food at Niks this weekend, catching up with my buddies! If you would like to see more of Niks work, have a look at her blog, its under ditsy designs on my blog list!! have a fab evening everyone!

xxx

Work in progress!

 

I am almost finished with this piece, Its for someone speceial so Im taking a risk blogging it, Im hoping she doesn't see it!! Its one of my new pieces, Its a really long oxidised chain with 3 double sided pendants!

 

 

 

It needs pickling, sanding and cleaning, and then it just needs to be oxidised and then I will mount the pendants!! I love these pieces and I wear a different one every day. They are not available to buy yet but will be shortly! This is the one Im wearing today!!

 

Im just in LOVE with the tiny blue rose prints, they are so country living!! plus, these colours go with most of my clothes and bags . . . . . Im starting to sound really sad now arnt I !!

x

Its been a good day!!

It really has been a good day! I have taken the plunge and signed up do do two new courses, and I can't wait! Im going to be doing dressmaking and upholstry and they both start next week in the evenings!! it will solve a bit of a dilema that we have in the household at the moment. . . . . . Jon (aka husband) has a lot of homework do do for his maths teaching course, which is great, but not when the person you are living with (aka Me ) likes to relax by spending the whole evening rmmaging around in her fabric stash and sewing bags and patchwork quilts. . . . . in the same room! So getting me out of the house for two nights a week to do sewing might work well! I have been thinking about what I have made recently, I don't blog hardly anything I make apart from jewellery (mostly because I think people may think they are naff) so i thought I would show you one of my bags! with my patchwork quilt!




This is my other patchwork quilt, the first one I made with Jon, and its in our room as I think the colours are perfect for de-stressing. . . . . . . and since our room is for de-stressing, I have also made some jackets for my books!



At the moment im reading Bleak house, but he cover wasn't really making me want to pick it up, and since books are about habving an experience, it does have to feel right! so I used some of my butterfly print fabric to make a cover!



It also matches my new bag I made on Sunday! I like thinds that match! Im sad like that! I seem to be wearing jewellery that matches my bags, made from the same fabric, wearing cardies that iv customised to match my clothes! I swear my students are thinking that Im loosing it!!
x

Spending some time in ye old workshop!

I spent some time in the workshop yesterday afternoon, cooking up some new pieces. I really do love my job, I am very lucky! I get to spend time teaching what I love, and then I also get to make my own work, and I much prefere working in the workshops whilst my students are around because I really enjoy nattering away to them whilst Im sanding or soldering, it really is compleatly differnt to being stuck in a workshop on your own, where you only have a tv or radio to keep you company! I would never go back to that, and If I decided that teaching was no longer an option, I would probably try and roope some of my students into setting up a communal workshop with me!

 
Im always battling the issue that is a messy tool bag, and since I am trying to constantly trying to reduce the amount of tools I keep at Uni, I decided to make a tool wrap.Over the years I have been reducing my tool beg simply because I only use a small percentage of what was in my workshop, and when im working I really don't like have to hunt around the inside of all three, very large toolbags, to find what I need, and the tool wrap has solved all my problems. All of my essential stuff is in her, although, as you can see from my desk space, Im still not very tidy!



Im still not decided about whether or not to sell my fabric stuff, although I seem to be giving them all away left right and center! its is brilliant though, Im pretty much a walking advertisment for my work, my bags, jewellery, pencilcase, wallets, toolwraps. . . . .  .I have made myself! Its so rewarding to be surrounded by things you have made, and I would reccomend it to anyone!
Im going to get some sewing in today too, along with a few other things, and reading a few of the amazing books that I have had through the post this week that I havent had the chance to read!
have a lovely saturday
x

Its Friday!! woohooho!

 

I thought you may like to see some of my doodles! I have been doodleing ideas down for my jewellery in my work journal, and I have been thinking of framing the prints in my fabric in much the same way as you frame a picture. I think it could work, it may not! any thoughts?

and although its my work journal, you never can tell when an idea strikes, and I always make sure I get it down on something! I have been making a lot of fabric stuff lately, and this was about a week ago when I was in a meeting (shhhhhhh) and I was really trying to work out the shape I wanted my bag to take on! who said meetings are dull?

 

 

And this lovely foot belongs to the life model Jon! I love life drawing and I run the life drawing workshops on a friday in the University, and there is nothing that beats spending the morning in the life modeling class with a group of enthusiastic students. This mornings session was brilliant, I didn't get a moment to sit down (secretly I like this ) and there was so much work going on!!

 

Wel, thats a little sneak at my daily journal, Im off to spend a bit of time in the workshop before the day dissapears!

x

 

Sewing!! and migraines!! ggggrrrr!!!!

Well, I have had one of those days where half of it dissapears, and the other half is taken up with a migraine!! what a bummer! I have had it all day, and it got towards 3pm and the whole left side of my face was completly numb!! and I must admit i was looking a bit on the wiered side, I almost wish I had an eye patch! seriously! I couldn't take it anymore so when I got in I took some tablets, but it took hours to go, which is a real pain because I had some fabulous books turn up this morning,and I really wanted to read them!! maybe when im snuggled up in bed. So, when my face had recovered enough I decided (and I was a little bit bit inspired by my new books) to get on my sewing machine and make some makeup bags and things .. . . . .. it was ace! these are my name tags that I keep in a beautiful little antique dorcas pin tin that I picked up from a car boot sale last summer.



I have been trying different ways to attach them to my work, Im not sure what my favourite way is yet. This is one of my wristlets, I love it because I am terrible at remember to pick up my bag at the end of the night, and at least with this, its attached to me! plus, I can make one to match every outfit!!



Whilst moving the bedroom around, we managed to dedicate an space to the blanket box, and even though I have ousted most of the soft toys (it was so hard to do, how do you pick a favourite!!) and decided that these two looked just right, plus, they are the first two that I made, and they remind me of the propper soft toys you have when your a child!
well, im going to have a look through my new books, stick the heated blanket on and snugle up in bed!
night night
x

It has been a while

  It really has been a long time!! Im sorry for keeping it so long, I have just had sooo much to do! I thought I would give you a sneaky peak at the new wedding collection that I am working on. I have found myself a new best friend, she used to make and sell wedding dresses for a living, and since she works from home now, she has a cray stockpile of silkes and beautiful fabrics!! So, I am in the process of cataloging all of the different samples, so that I have an solid chunk of sample work to show prospective clients! Other than working on that, I have also been moving a lot of furniture round, and have re-decorated the bedroom! yippee!

 

I have used this beautiful (i think its beautiful anyway!) antique throw as a curtain, and it looks lovely when the morning light is creeping in ! well it certainly gets me out of bed . . . . . that and having two cats running around!! I have also been working on some new jewellery, double sided pieces so that there is pattern on both side, they are scrummy!! Im wearing them every day more or less to work, that and all of the new bags I have been making!! honestly, at one point I was making a bag a night!! and matching my outfits with my new bag!! I bought 300 . . . .. yes I did say 300! zips about a week ago, and now evrything has a zip!!

 

 

I have been pinning all of sewing samples on my work board t home. Its hard work trying to rescuse some of it from the cats mouth!!! Well, thats a little bit of what I have been up too, I shall get the pictures of the new work and the bags (although Im not selling the bags ) up soon, and low and behold, I have been busy developing my new website, and it just looks so exciting!!!

see you sooon

Kate

x

Im on a roll!!! New Jewellery in the Shop!

Its official! I have got my jewellery groove on! In-between teaching, and during my lunch break, I have been work away at these little beauties! I think my favourite one is the little Blue Rose one on the left, instead of having the pendant suspended from the center, I have attached the pendant to left hand side of the chain, so it is part of it, and when worn, it sits on the left side of your chest! A real little eye catcher, so much so, I made 2!!! One for me, and one for you! I just have to think about what outfit Im going to wear tomorrow, maybe a bleck wrap dress and denim linen trousers . . . . . . .yes. .. . ! So, I am super excited about Christmas, we even put up our Christmas tree yesterday, and so faar, the cats haven't trashed it, although we did have to spend about 20 minitues trying to sort out some lights, only to chuck them in the bin!! So this evening I shall be making some lovely soft toys and casting up my resin for some Cufflinks tomorrow! Oh, whilst Im on the subject of cufflinks. . . . . what do people think about cufflinks for Women? Im going to make a pair in the next week just so you can see, and if any of you lovely ladies think its a good idea, I shall add it to my Shop!! Well, have a lovely evening, Kate x

It's So Exciting!! My new range is now available!!! woooop!

Oh my gosh! I have done it, I have finally got my pieces together to go on the shop! and Im so excited because within an hour of putting them up I recieved a sale!! woohoo! Thse pieces are more refined than the last collection of work and hopefully they will be more poular as they are more delicate with lots and lots of Oxidised Silver! I have been trying to restrain myself with the oxidising but for this collection I have thrown all caution to the wind, as all of the fabrics I use just look so much better with a matt Black surround, however if you are a fan of my work and do like your silver, there is still plenty there for you too choose from. Well, its almost Christmas, and alongside the teaching I am making quite a few Wedding commissions (its so fab), plus I have to start thinking about what to make everyone for thier Christmas presents! The new website is on target for the next few weeks, I need to get it in before Christmas because my guys will be making all of the Websites for my third year students in January, so I need to nab them before they don't have a spare minitue, and at least now I have lots of new yummy pictures. I am offering a 10% Discount on orders over £100 , so if you have any orders to place, my last order date for Christmas is 15th. Its late, and I have been on my laptop waaaaaaay to long today, who would have thought photographing and altering pictures would take so long! Anywho, nite night x

Its Almost Christmas!!!

Its almost here, and the mad rush to complete orders and make soft toys, quilts, cufflinks and cards has started! My last date for recieving orders for Christmas is the 15/12/08, so as long as the order is in by then you will have it by Christmas, after that and there are no garentees! I have jsut updated my Not on the High Street shop with my wedding range, as it seems to be my main line of work! How ace is  that, I do love making work for other peoples weddings, especially after I made all of the stuff for mine not long ago! I have 4 commissions on at the moment which need to sent off by the end of the week, so I have been pretty busy lately, what with being made full time at Glyndwr University and making my jewellery, but it is keeping me on my toes!! I have ordered myself some lovely sewing books from Amazon this week as a treat for myself, I seem to be moving in the general direction of soft furnishings, and its not too surprising as my jewellery is based on textiles, but I am getting some worried glances from some of my students when I tell them how I will be spending the rest of my evenings! I don't seem to stop! I may as well make the most of it whilst I able, as I have not met many who are fortunate to have a full time lecturing job and still keep on top of all of the cool things (in my case jewellery and soft stuff) they just love making!! The next thing on my long list of stuff to do is make Christmas presents for all of my friends and family, so Jon and I will be sewing crazy, yep, thats right, Jon also has turned into quite a good sewer! so, im hoping my new books will give me some new ideas as to what to make. I really wnat to start to make my own clothes too, so maybe in the new year I will see about getting myself onto a course, because Im getting really fed up with whats available at the moment, and eventhough im not too bad at making skirts ( I made 2 yesterday) I would like to make a lot more! Today I have also been browsing for ages on the LUSH shop website, getting a basket of gifts together for a friend of mine, but also lusting after some gorgeous new stuff! my favourite at the moment is the coconut dusting powder! It smells amazing and keeps my hardworking feet smelling lovely even after spending all day on them! Im hoping I will recieve some LUSH goodies for Christmas, so I am going to start dropping some hints!! Has anyone else put their christmas trees up yet? I finding it hard to resist, its oing up tomorrow with all the rest of the decorations, im just too excited!! Well, enjoy the rest of your Sundays, and I hopen you all have a fab week!! cheerio! Kate x

Patchwork!

Finally, I managed to get them! this is one of the baby blanket that was given to jons ( aka the husband) customers, I made a really soft plush toy to go with the blanket! it was lined with a soft and super warm woolen blanket! I hope its something that will be kept for years to come!

Sewing crazy!!

   OK,I have been sewing for a while, but I had never anticipated selling what I have made, however, with over 25 soft toys, of all descriptions, colours and sizes living in many different homes, I have started to consider selling!! And it doesn't stop at soft toys, I have been making quite a few blankets of late too! Last week I finished making a huge patchwork quilt for my best mate, all in the theme of shabby chic! The reason I have never considered selling is because I doubted there would be someone to buy them, however, Im going to start collecting them together to sell, other wise our house is going to be taken over by creatures! My husband has also made the decision to start up his own business, and he will be making soft animals and all things manly, however, seeing the pair of them on my machines (he has gone into it with his best mate) makes me want to make even more! plus we are slowly staring to turn our house into the house of homemade objects! So instead of jewellery making, I have been toy and stuff making! I will post some pictures of the baby's blanket I made last week too, and you can tell me if Im any good!!

Next years PMC Conference

  Its comming to that time of year again! we are welcoming new students to the University of  Glyndwr and The PMC Studio are preparing for next years Conference! Last year I taught Resin and bezel setting, but this year I shall be teaching soldering, photopolymer pate! Im so excited! Its such a great opportunity to able to meet so many peolpe who share a common interest, and I love jewellery making so the conference is just a fab place to be! The studio have also started selling the resin kits that I demonstrated last year, and they are available in small kits with some fantasic colour and also some glitter kits!! you can have a look at the resin and the kits at The PMC Studio. 

Im Back!!!!

Yes, im back!!! The Wedding was Amazing!! absoloutly the best day of my life, and it was the best party I have ever been too! we got married in Cyfarthfa Castle in Merthyr and then had the reception at my parents house in Aberdare. If you would like to see more photographs of my wedding have a look at our website ! And I did manage to get all of the jewellery finished, and they went down a storm!! there are not many people who have recieved handmade jewellery for a wedding favowe had a fantastic band called The Soul Miners, and I would recommend them to anyone who was interested in getting a band, the dance floor was packed all night, and even I spent a good few songs bopping around with my huge dress! At the beginning of the nigh my dress was held very delicately, towards the end of the night it was slung under my arm like a handbag! We had a hogroast and portoloos that had clasical music! It was just fantastic! We went to Cyprus for our honeymoon, and we were lucky not to get caught up in the whole plane fiasco!! but now we are both back, the luggage has still to be put away, but we have lovely tans, and some fantastic memories, not to mention i now have a husband!!!! on some other news, on the run up to the wedding my hands were getting really sore because of all of the work, so I would like to share with you my two new most  favourite hand products!!

      Nulon hand scrub is something I discovered in Asdas, I thought I would give it a whorl, but, it is fab and also very cheap!! I got mine for under a £1.00,put a blob of this on your dry hands and scrub well, rinse off and your hands will feel silky, and if it works on my hands, it will work on anyones!!! you can buy it from Superdrug too.The next wonder product is Kiehl's hand salve, and this was given to me as a gift for making a wedding commission just before my wedding, and it is brilliant! it sinks in super fast and is non greasy!! I can't stop putting it on, and I will be buying some more very soon as im back in the work this week. this can be bought through Kiehl's website, I think I will be vesting in some more of their products!!!
There are some new products in the shop, I have listed the Chuck norris cufflinks and my rose bud earrings, so they are now available to buy. Its good to be back to normal, and you can expect to hear from me soon as I am back at work in Uni, and we have all the students back, and I can't wait!!! xxx

Only a WEEK untill I get married!

A week to go and I still have all of these (60 pairs) earrings to solder and finish and also 5 pairs of cufflinks and other gifts to make!! but, I am calm! i travelled to south wales yesterday to have my last dress fitting, and it is finally just perfect, which is a real weigh off my shoulders, however, I spent a total of 9 hours travelling on the train! So it is now 1.30 pm and i haven't long woken up, and I still feel crackered, and I just can't drink enough coffee! So today I don't want to be making much, my hands are sore and I think I could do with a day of rest, maybe just a bit of cleaning. The wedding reception that jon and I went to on Thursday night was lovely, but we couldn't spend too long there because we had to drive an hour and a half back, so we left at about 12 ish, just at the part of the evening where everyone (including myself) starts to get a bit merry! Stuart loved his cufflinks, so that was a relief! I really do love making wedding jewellery, there is a real sense of preciousness that you get from making something that will be used on the most importand day of someones life! Next year im going to be working for more weddings, so Im getting my products ready for a wedding liine! This is a good excuse for me to still buy all the wedding magazines after im married, i can put it down to market research! im off to drink more coffee, a walk around town and probably go to a hot air ballon show!!! x

Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee!!

Our friends Studart and Lucy are getting married tomorrow morning, and Stuart is a big fan of Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee! He is really nervous about getting married, so Lucy thought it may be a good idea for his two other favourite people could join him on the day for morral support!! Il be honest, I was origionally going to make these with actual pictures of the hero's, but, it is very hard to find good quality images that are the size of a 5pence piece! so I thought I would create some interesting alternatives! And to make it look a little different, I have oxidised the silver to give the cufflinks a real nice touch! I am so chuffed with the results of these cufflinks I will be putting them in the shop, and if  Chuck and Bruce are'nt cutting the mustard, you can choose any name you like, it could be your chilren's names, yours?! loved ones, or even your own super hero's!
Today I am going to be making all of my wedding favours and making a start on the jewellery for the important people at my Wedding, and im already excited because the fabric has cast really well! But before I strat, I think I will need another cup of Coffee!! mmmm!!

Two Weeks before the Wedding

I have surfaced from the haze of weddings and jewellery making to let you know that I am still alive!! I am working on the last jewellery comission before my wedding, and I can honestly say that my hands can't thank me enough!! Today I am making a pair of cufflinks for friends of mine who are getting married on Thursday, they are a little bit different to the usual work I do, however, I am concidering making them part of my new range. I shall get them photographed so you can see what Im talking about. Other than that, my wedding is two weeks away and I am starting to feel the real excitement! A few more tweeks and my dress will be finished and all I need to do is make the jewellery and relax and look forward to the day. I have just popped onto The PMC Studio website, and it was a nice surprise to see my innitial necklace up to advertise the new Resin Kits they have in. if any of you would like any information on how this necklace was made, just send me an email.

The summer term is almost over, and I can't wait for the students to be back as being in work at the moment is like working the graveyard shift at a morgue. Its too quiet! So after my honeymoon its back in the thick of it! talking about honeymoons, does anyone have any suggestions of romantic locations? we will be booking our honeymoon the week before, but Im still not sure of where to go!!

Ok, back to the workshop! although Im having one of those days when you really would like to still be in b, with the TV on watching daytime rubbish!

Wedding stress!!!!

yep, Im starting to feel the stress! I have been ill for the last week which has made me feel useless, and I not only have my own wedding jewellery to make, I also have other peoples wedding to make for too, and this includes a pair of one off chuck norris and bruce lee cufflinks for a frind of ours who is getting married at the end of august!! i have my dress fitting this weekend and im choosing the flowers for the wedding on Saturday, so everything is going OK i just can't believe how quickly it's all come around!!! I am really concious that my hand are going to look terrible on the day of the wedding because of all of the work I will be making, so im going to be slapping on the handcream every five minitues! here is the photo of Niks Wedding that i couldn't post last week, Iv also had some fabulous news over the last week,a close friend of ours gave birth to a beautiful baby boy!! I almost cried when we saw the photos, they named him Noah!! gorgeous!! and another friend of mine had a baby girl yesterday! its all happening this year! theres a bit of my news,and sorry to those of you who are waiting for the website, its been put back a few weeks simply because I just can't do it all, and thats not something I admit to likely! so as soon as my honeymoon is over, it will be back to normal I promise!! I shall post some photos of the mountains of rosebud studs I am making and all the rest of the stuff as Im going along. I am still taking orders (yes I know, Im sure I will die young of a heart attack!)so contact me the usual way or through the shop, take care, kate x

Wedding!! eeeek!

i have been away for a few weeks organising my wedding! i didn't think it would be so crazy! I have recieved all of my materials in the post for me to start cracking on with the wedding favours, yep, im making them all myself! i have roughly 100 wedding favours to make, earrings for the women and pins for the men. . .. . . .cufflinks for my husband to be and my father! plus a wedding commission to do on the side! so appologies if this blog has been a little slow, i never realised how much time wedding planning would take!! I have also been to my best friends wedding too which was just beautiful!! I made my earrings to match my bridesmaids dress, i made them from raw silk and sterling silver! lovely!

It's been busy!!

It has been so hectic lately that I haven't even had a chance to blog! Since I last posted, I had my last session at St Helen's, and It was really sad, as I probably will not see many of the women again, but it was a privalige to teach and get to know them, and I wish them all the best in the future, hopefully I will see some of there work cropping up in shops and galleries! I have had two busy weekends, last weekend I was in France visiting the soon to be inlaws, and this weekend I was in Kent camping with my buddies! in between all of that, I have been busy sourcing new fabrics and patterns to include in my new range! my favourite so far is the cup cake fabric that I cast sometime last week, and should be finding its way into some jewellery bits later this week! I have also asked a friend of mine to photograph my work, as I am so busy at the moment, so her is one of the pictures he has taken, it gives you an idea of what type of work yo can expect to be seeing on my shop soon!

Cufflink WINNERS!!

Thankyou so much for the huge response to the last post! The first three that emailed have now recieved their cufflinks!! I would really like to thank all of you who entered, however, the winners are Amy Jones, Jenny Davies and Hannah Morris! I am busy making new pieces to fill up my new shop, and at the moment, the new necklaces are my favourite! pictures will follow shortly, so you can get a sneak peak at what I have been making. Back to the workshop!!!

My NEW Online Shop!!! 20% Discount for Blog readers for Fathers Day (15th of June)

I know I know, its taken a while, however I felt it was nessesary to take my time and get it right!! I have just set up my online shop that will be attached to to new website, it has a shopping cart and the option to send me your own fabric for your jewellery!! And to get the ball rolling, for Fathers Day (15th June) I am offering a 20% discount on Cufflinks for the first THREE people to contact me via email. So if you are interested in buying the Father figure in your life a special present, and fancy winning yourself 20% discount then get in touch!

My new Online Shop can be found through here  

I will be updating All of my new work in my online shop, and I will also be releasing some new pieces every other month. The big difference between my online shop and my Not on the high street shop is that I will be selling a wider range of jewellery, i.e rings and earrings, but there will be a few lines of my signature work that I will only sell through not on the high street!



Wedding Range

I have also made my Wedding Range available through my Online Shop. This service is available for those of you wishing to provide some very unique gifts for your guests. I can make cufflinks for the groom, necklaces for those little bridesmaids of yours, Earrings for the Chief bridesmaid and whatever else you can think of! Many Brides like to select work from my Silver Flower colloectin, whilst others would like to have pices made using offcuts from their Wedding dress! the coices are endless, but if your interested follow the details that can be found through the shop!

 

Buying Resin??

For those of you who are desperate to get your hands on some clear casting resin, but can't wait for for it to come in stock at The PMC Studio, this is a good alternative! It is a claer cast resin that can be used for embedding, colouring and layering. So you can do all of the stuff that we did in the workshop with this, the only thing is, you will need to purchase the pigments seperately if you wish too to dye it. You can buy this product from a number of suppliers, although the one I will be reccomending will be TRYLON ltd, and I use this company all the time. They are very reliable and very good value for money!

the product can be bought in two quantities

300ml     code:-1010195        £14.10

750ml     code:-1010201        £26.25

They do have a website but it is not very easy to navigate, it is much easier to ring them up ( 01933 411724) and tell them the code of the product, and if you wish to purchase dyes, ask them over the phone which ones they sell, the pigments come in pots of 25g  that will last ages, but remeber to request transparent if you would like it to look like enamel. For those of you that use PMC, you can use your Siligum for moulds, if you would like any other info on mould making materials, just send me an email and I will get back to you asap!!

Im Back!!!!!!

It has been. . . . . . . well. . . . . . a very very busy but fantastic weekend!! I say weekend, I was in Amersham for Wednesday night and got back to the rolling hills of wales at 2pm, so im looking forward to a decent nights sleep!!

for the first two days I was doing the masterclass with mary ann, making hinged boxes and an unusual stone setting! they were quite cool, but as one little Minx pointed out to me (you know who you are!) I work quite quickly and ended up twiddling my thumbs, wich was good, because at around 4pm on Friday evening, everything from the studio needed to be packed up and taken over to Misseden Abey! It was a little bit crazy, there were lots of cars involved but we were all unpacked and ready to go for a meal at a lovely Thai resturant! its hard to know where to start really, so much has happened, but as far as the conference went, it was a roaring succes! and thankfully I wasn't boooed out of the room when I began teaching the resin worksop on the Saturday!! which was some thing I thought may happen! But it was all good fun and I met some wonderfull people and in and out of the workshops! the picture above is of some of the work that was made in the resin workshop, they are fantastic! and to be honest, I wish i could have stuffed them all into my bag and taken them all home with me!
For any of you who were in my workshops, if you would like any advise or help, or even to send me some pictures of the work that you ahve made, I would love to hear from you, so do drop me an email!

This is Lynda's work, she came to my Bezel setting workshop and used her trade mark tiny flowers to surround her stone! I can't wait to see how everyone will get on wiht their new projects!! I think that will be it from me tonight, I do have a lot more to tell you, and i will be making some moulds for my new work tomorrow, so hopefully I can get that cast in the week, and post some images of my new work for you too! but my eyes are refusing to stay open, so good night, speak soon! get in touch!
Kate x

its Sunday, but there's no rest for me!!

Yesterday was a lost day as I spent most of recovering from Friday night!! Jon and I went to our friends wedding in Shrewsburry, it was a brilliant night but I was still drunk yesterday morning, which wasn't good! The good thing is, I had already allowed my self a day off no no time lost! So today I am writing up some technical sheets that will need to hand out in the conference, and I want them to be as thorough as possible, so they will probably take up half my day!! In the next two days I also have to get some pieces ready to be photographed to go into a book ! I have been giving this a lot of thought as I don't want to put my own work in there becuase it will be pointless for me to make and sell it, so I will be creating some work in a similar style using techniques that are more accessible! this way everyone will be able to make them without any dissapointment, and this I hope, will encorage people to make more adventurous design choices within their own work.
My week up untill now has been very stressful, I have been assesing non stop and marking dissertations all week, I have the same all next week, and at the same time I have to create all of my work to go to London and get all of my teaching kit ready, and it has been giving me slepless nights, I couldn't sleep last night for thinking of all of the stuff I have to do and take with me, and I am constanty ammending my lists!! In a way im looking forward to getting this weekend over with because Im not going to have an evening off for about 2 weeks, and Im getting to the point where I need a day off.

Im teaching bezel setting and resin at the conference so I have lots to do! on the other hand, my own work is comming on leaps and bounds! I will be getting my website done sometime in June, becasue they guy that does my website has been very busy making websites for all of my third years so once they are done, I will get mind done, and this will give me enough time to get all of my work photographed. Ok, Im off to make those leaflets! wish me luck and a restfull nigh sleep!!

It's been too long!!!

It really has beeen too long between posts! but I have good reason. . . .. . . . . I have been up to my eyeballs in assesments, product testing, shopping for my wedding and getting my own work made! on the plus side, I have some stuff to show you! My new packaging arrived, and I love it, it goes well with all the different types of work that I produce, but Im not dead set on the packaging in or around it. Im considering using grass seed so that all the packaging is bio-degradable and is environmentaly friendly! I have been on a mission to find new resins that are suitable for workshops and I am glad to say that I have found one!!! It is called "Quick Cast" resin from Trylon and it sets rock hard after 2.5-3 minitues post mixing!! seriously! it mixes in two equal parts so it is very user friendly, it cures tack free even when using gell flex, and is ready to sand and polish after 5 minitues!! its amazing! so amazing I have decided to use it fro the conference in two weeks!!! the only downside. . . .. . if you can call it a downside, is that it cures opaque! the bangle above has been made using quick cast resin and roubous tea leaves, and the cream colour is the colour of the cured resin.

The great news however, is that it can be tinted and dyed in hundreds of different colours using the standard pigments for any other resin! this I know because I made another bangle yesterday ( in between assesing!!) using different colours and two type of resin pigments, and the result was a beautiful, pastle bracelet!! I haven't had the chance to photograph it, but I shall finish sanding and polishing it tomorrow and get a picture up for you to see.

I have also bough some silicone rubber, and a resin suitable for flexible moulds, I am testing these because I want to fnd an alternative resin for the students to use next year, as the EMP400 casting resin we have at the moment is definately not suitable for flexible moulds, and since most of my guys make their own moulds, I would like to make their lives a little easier. I have finished my new range of jewellery thus far, and have been busy making, photo's will follow shortly, and I am pleased to announced that my work is finally live of Not on The High Street!! yipppeeeeee!! The cufflinks are first up and can be customised using your own fabrics. I have the conference comming up in just over a week, so I am very busy organising a leeon plan, gatting some samples made and also producing handouts and health and safety sheets, and on top of the, I will also need to get some pices ready to be photographed to go into a book on the same weeked!! Crikey! the book will be the first of its kind for PMC, it will be a how too book that will talk you through step by step of how the pices were made. I think this is fab because many of the books available always keep some techniques secret, where this book tells you everything. two days before the conference I will be doing a masterclass with Mary Ann Devos in The Pmc Studio, and she will be demonstrating a hinged box from PMC! im intrigued as I love making tradiotional hinges, and would like to see how well this translates into PMC! Right, on with the disssertations!

What a weekend!!

Im sitting down on my sofa, watching TV! not long ago I came back from Shell Island where Myself and Jon spent the whole weekend camping and fishing! It was just what I needed to be honest. The last few days I have had a lot to do, and I just needed a break, so thre days of just eating, sleeping and fishing was brilliant!! And the most important question is . . . .. . . . .did I catch anything? Yes I did, I caught one of these! (not this exect one though!)

I didn't manage to get a picture of the one I caught as it was pitch black, wet and cold, not perfect picture taking weather, plus my hands were covered in fish!! So It was great, and I feel ready for the week at hand! tomorrow is going to be long, after a whole day teaching I need to sand down all of my resin pieces so that they can be polished and drilled on tuesday, so that they can be photographed for Not on the High Street. My new packaging should be on its way to me very soon, so I can show you photo's of it! wooohoo! Its going to be a very very busy couple of weeks. . . . . . . my PDA and my brain are already starting to feel the pressure!! toodle pip for now, I hope you all enjoy your Sunday evening.

Jenny Barker jewellery

Jennifer Barker is a brilliant friend of mine who is a glass artist. We have been working together in NEWI since September and it had never occoured to us that we should combine forces and make stuff together!! So, when my online shop will be up and running, I will be selling an exclusive range of work that has been produced by both of us! Jenny making the glass, and me making them wearable. There is an altenative reason for this collaboration too, if in the event that we are not working together in the future, our work will ensure that we keep in touch!! She really is going to kill me for posting this picture of her!

Little flower rings!!

Today . . .. . . . at 6.45, I had and an hour to myself in the workshop! It was bliss! Im surprised really, I spend all day talking about and teaching jewellery, and I still can't wait to grab my tools, head down the workshop and make myself some jewellery! I am developing a range of pieces that I am going to sell through NOTHS. they probably think I have died as I haven't listed one thing yet (note to self, must at least get the cufflinks up before I go to bed!!), but I really don't want to rush into it because I want a really decent range of work that reflects me.

So, today I made a set of rings that will be sold through Not on the High Street, they are stackable in a set of 3 but can be worn seperate or just two!! I love the idea of being able to mix and match my jewellery, so there will be a few pieces of jewellery that are intended for the wearer to customise.

I have chosen some of my favourite flower pieces to create the range, and I will also be producing a few Special pieces, along with cufflinks for both men and women.

Also, I have decided to not use the P2 jelly for the confrence. I am going to be using the other resin which I have tested (the really stretchy one!) instead. It's a two part mixture but it will definately set. . . . every time!!!! And the UV nail glue on my nails. . . . . .. came off shortly after! I did skip the primer stage so the test hasn't been properly conducted. Im just going to try not to trash my hands!!!