Favourite at the Fair and Inspiration Pics

It's been another busy week folks! What's new, I hear you groan......

You may recall that last blog I was telling you that I was meeting the Ladies Wot Tweat for another lovely lunch and so last Friday, 10 of us met up for lunch at Jolly Jacks.  A fast-paced and hilarious few hours ensued and I didn't return from lunch until well after 4pm! I got chance to speak with those I hadn't managed to chat to before and met another new member and we found that we had musical offspring in common amongst other things.

The weather on Saturday was dire, but, as my husband was on a photography course, I spent the day working and on Sunday we woke up to sunshine so set off as planned to visit the Contemporary Craft Fair at Bovey Tracey, Devon.  I've been before, but the familiar excitement of seeing so much beautiful jewellery soon set in and no, I wasn't disappointed! I couldn't go last year because of surgery on my shoulder but really enjoyed the opportunity of chatting to makers whose work I was already familiar with.  I also met some really lovely designers, who had stunning work on display and who were really friendly.  To the two ladies who were manning stalls and who didn't look up from their mobile phones or acknowledge me the whole time I was looking at their work - bad move! I cannot pass up the chance to mention just a few designers who really caught my eye.  Anne Morgan for her amazing ability to reticulate large pieces of silver, Bryony Stanford's amazing crumpled cuffs, Jed Green's incredible shaped glass tube jewellery and Kokkino for some absolutely stunning new work. I also loved the aesthetically pleasing designs of new jeweller Katie Roberts in the One Year On marquee.  I'm a real sucker for ceramics too and have contacted two of my favourites in the hope that they'll take part in a collaborative blog. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, this week we've had a visitor to stay who was mixing an album with my husband, so after hearing many snippets of music many times, I retired to my studio to work!  I'm hoping to exhibit in the summer so I'm currently working on pieces for that theme.  I'll tell you no more than that, but you can see a picture of one of the pieces so far.

I thought that you might also be interested in seeing what inspires me.  We took a little trip down to Royal William Yard yesterday for a coffee and a look at Plymouth College of Art Degree Show which was well worth a visit, so if you get a chance to visit their two venues down there, do go.  Anyway, on to inspiration.  Texture and colour, every time.  We wandered round and I took some photos for my inspiration board - I hope you like them too.

An amazing rusty old door!

Old stone wall

Peely paintwork

Well, that's all for this week, hope you like my pictures!

Finished Work and New Plans

Well what a week!

I've had a couple of interesting meetings, one with a web designer who might possible be helping me with a completely unrelated project (I'm now investigating the minefield that is known as funding!!) and another very motivating meeting yesterday with a business mentor who caused me to look at how I view my own work.  As a result I shall be updating my website in the very near future and will use the opportunity to launch my new bronze collection. Do keep checking here http://www.slicksilverjewellery.co.uk for updates.

So what have we all been up to?  I've spent a very long time working on my latest Cherry Blossom piece which has led to some problem solving as I really wanted the central flower to appear unsupported from the front.  Eventually I managed to construct something that worked in the way I wanted it to. So here it is, Flowering Cherry!

Flowering Cherry

My other production this week has been my bronze bracelet.  I have taken pieces of scrap wood foraged on local woodland walks and have cast the pieces in bronze before connecting them into a stylish and unusual piece of jewellery.  Those of you familiar with my work will already know that I'm passionate about organic textures and I can already tell you that a number of rocks and stones from Wembury Beach have been cast and will feature in bronze in my next piece of work along with some gorgeous unpolished gemstones.  I have tried putting a heat patina on to the bronze and it works beautifully, producing fabulous shades of blue and pink, but I think that this will work best on single pendants so again, keep your eye on the website for the launch of the new collection.
Here it is then, Bronze Wood I.

Bronze Wood I

These two pieces have been featured in the Orchid Gallery which forms part of the world-wide Ganoksin Project - an online jewellery community for the whole world, and it has been wonderful to receive some nice comments from members in far flung places.

Anyway, the rest of this week will see me producing even more jewellery, no surprise there! A real treat on Sunday though will be a visit to the Contemporary Craft Fair at Bovey Tracey.  I've been before but couldn't go last year, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the work of other jewellers I admire and am inspired by. I'll let you know all about it next week!

See you then!

Celebrations and Work In Progress

Hello folks! As I type this the jubilee celebrations have just come to an end and I have found myself enjoying it all more than I thought I would.  I have felt proud of our traditions and full of admiration for the queen who can't just think she's going to 'take a day off' and have a sofa day. I imagine she would love to put on comfies and watch rubbish on the tv like the rest of us!

What this weekend has bought home to me though is that no-one any longer gives me a paid bank holiday so today was back to the grindstone!!

Last week I cut out two very curvy painted aluminium shapes and it's taken considerable time to file and finish all the little nooks and crannies and I have to say that there have been moments when I wondered why I started it in the first place! Today has mostly been spent cutting some flowers out of my Cherry Blossom sheet and filing the edges.  I've shaped the original pieces and textured them and my next job will be to dap the flowers and put the piece together.

What do you think so far?

I've also been working on a really stunning and unusual bronze bracelet.  Hopefully I'll have some pictures of that next week to show you.  I'm really enjoying working with bronze at the moment as it means I can explore the organic textures I love so much. I suffered very sunburnt shoulders a couple of weeks ago, gathering rocks on the beach just so that I could have some interesting textures! What it does mean though, is that my bronze pieces are totally unique.

Off to the library in the morning to do some research for a little idea which is lurking in the back of my mind, so watch this space.

See you next week!