Kate Selene

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!