Competition Time and Mouse

Hi all!

Well yesterday was a little traumatic - I choked on a piece of pickled ginger! Yes I know it's a comdey moment, but my life flashed before my eyes and I saw myself as a pile of bones, only coming to light when I didn't arrive to pick up hubs from the station..... (ok slight exaggeration, but still....) and then as if that wasn't bad enough Layla the cat strolled into the lounge with a live mouse!! She meowed to tell me she'd bought me a present, mouse took off like a rocket underneath our corner sofa which is heavy and a tight fit. Now, I can't budge the sofa and this is Layla's attitude to the entire thing! Bothered? Not much.....

Anyhoo

I've solved all the little glitches (I think) in the new website and I'm chuffed to bits with how it looks!
That brings me on to my website launch competition where you can win a little bit of something nice - all you have to do is count how many items are for sale on my website at the moment and to enter you will need to send your answer via the Contact Us page. Please don't post your answer below as others will see it! Closing date is Saturday 27th at 5pm.

Last week I gave you a teaser of one of the new pieces so this week I thought I would show you a whole picture of a cuff from my favourite collection ever - Digital Cuff.

What do you think? Do you like it? There's a necklace and earrings to match on the website too.

Exciting News
So what's next for me?  Well I'm extremely busy at the moment putting collections together to go off to Salford Art Gallery and Museum to go into their brand new Landing Gallery and also some work to go into an exhibition they're organising in Ordsall Hall, a Tudor Manor in Salford.  The exhibition is called By Hand and will run from October until January. This is very exciting for me as it's the first exhibition i've taken part in outside Devon. If any of you are in the area, please do go and take a look and let me know what it looks like as I doubt I'll be able to make it up there.

Anyway, I'm off to the studio now to put together the collection I've been working on over the last few days - it's called Solar Flare and is yellow/peach/orange and it's very summery.

See you all next week! Don't forget to enter the competition you've got to be in it to win it!

Competition for a Valentine's Treat!

Hello folks! We've just been to the Seco Lounge to meet up with other Flameworks members, however, no-one turned up so we had dinner and forlornly came home, checked our emails and realised that the meeting is next week - hey ho, dinner out next week too!! #notaseniormoment

So, who would like to win a delicate Valentine's inspired pendant? There's no cost to enter so why not have a go - you could give the pendant to someone you love or you could just keep it yourself!! I know what I'd do!

So how do you enter?  All you have to do is guess the weight of the pendant with chain and the nearest guess will win it!  The closing date is Sunday 5th of February at 5pm so start guessing and post your answers below!

What is the weight of this pendant with chain?

Last week I blogged about Alison Branagan's books on business for Artists and Designers, so I thought I would tell you about another book which is providing me with a lot of inspiration at the moment.  We all get our inspiration from many diverse directions and I get a lot of mine from naturally occurring forms, such as the bark of a tree or a lichen formation.

This book, which I received for my birthday at the end of last year, is proving to be such a source of ideas, even if I only use a colour combination or a small pattern repeat from within the pages.  If colour and texture are your thing too, then give it a try.

It's called Heaven & Earth, Unseen by the Naked Eye by Phaidon and contains stunning photographs of our planet and us, but mostly from the inside!

Do you remember the piece from my Signature Collection I showed you last week? Well this week I have used to same form but in shades of yellow ochre, green and blue, forged it and also designed a pin through it to make a very desirable brooch which would look sensational against black clothing with simple lines.  The oval head of the pin is made from heavily reticulated silver and perhaps I'll post some pictures of it next week.  I've also been working on some simple aluminium adjustable band rings and some not so simple ones!! Pics next week!

Hope you all have a good week - competition results Sunday night!

Good Lunches, Good Business Books and News

Well, another week's over! It's been a bit of a grim one as I've had tonsillitis so have had a bit of time off from making.

So, have you all been and treated yourselves to some fabulous Debbie Orr, Skein Queen, products? I hope you enjoyed looking around her website and I would just like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to her for taking part. I have met some lovely people through my collaborative blogs so long may it continue - and I do have at least one more in the pipeline for you and I'm always open to suggestions of artists so do let me know if you come across someone we should all know about.

Last Friday, before the sore throat, I attended a really gorgeous lunch at the River Cottage Canteen and Deli at Royal William Yard, Plymouth.  The lunch gathering was held by Ladies Wot Tweat and consisted of a group of ladies who had met each other through Twitter, other social networks, business and word of mouth.  It was slightly daunting to walk in, not knowing a soul, however, I did find I knew one member when I got there and I definitely knew several more by the end of a fantastic meal.  I believe they meet regularly so I shall look out for the next date!

So whilst I've been feeling under the weather, I've been reading.  My husband bought me a great little book for Christmas which is a short punchy business guide, literally only a page or two on each aspect of business for artists and designers.  It's by Alison Branagan and as soon as I started to read it I felt that I also wanted to read her more in-depth essential guide on the same subject.  They're really well written and assume no previous knowledge which is just brilliant for me as I'm just taking the next steps with growing my business into full time hopefully.  I bought both books from Amazon and they're my recommendations for the week!

A Pocket Business Guide for Artists & Designers by Alison Branagan
ISBN 978-1-4081-2992-0

The Essential Guide to Business for Artists & Designers by
Alison Branagan
ISBN 978-1-4081-1903-7






If you fancy a read, these are interesting and not heavy going at all.  I've learned a lot.

So I'm hoping to work on a few designs in the next few days and I'll let you know how I get on and there might even be a Valentine's competition next week!!!

Are you all going to read this next week then? Be in with a chance of winning a very pretty piece? See you all then!!

New Website Launch Giveaway!

Well the day has arrived!  Today the new website launches, hopefully with no glitches!! So excited!!

On the new site you will be able to find 4 shops - one for each of my collections and this is a first as some of my aluminium has been available online before, however, my silver and copper have not, so I hope you'll all find something you like.  Make sure that you tell your friends and drop heavy hints to those who might be buying for you!

To celebrate the launch I will be giving away this choker pendant from the Looking Through Stained Glass Windows collection.  It is a beautiful colour.
What do you have to do to enter the draw for this piece?  I'd like you to tell me the size of my Enchanted Forest pendant, so start searching the website and post your comments on here and I will make the draw on Monday 5th September.  Competition will close at 7pm and I will make the draw at 8pm.

 http://www.slicksilverjewellery.co.uk

Looking Through Stained Glass Windows

I am hoping to introduce a forum element to the site where a weekly topic can be discussed too which hopefully will make it interesting to all.  I really would welcome any feedback which you can leave on the Contact page. Are there any features missing that you would like to see included? Can't promise but will certainly try to include any suggestions!

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank David Muddyman for all his hair-tearing hard work on adding the graphics to the site, he's lovely!! He's had a really great week too, with a gallery in Penzance taking 10 of his paintings in one fell swoop!!! Yay!!!

In other news I cried yesterday, seeing my beautiful daughter in her wedding dress at the fitting - yep - proud Mum!

Challenges, Changes and Cherry Cheesecake!

Phew - well last week's blog was an exciting time! I had some lovely comments from people entering the competition, a few new followers and you seemed to enjoy the challenge of searching through for the name of the collection that features on my background and you all got it right!

So challenges and changes are my theme for this week's blog.

My greatest challenge at the moment is that I still can't make my jewellery although my shoulder is finally beginning to improve, so hopefully the day won't be too far away! Luckily I was aware that I wouldn't be able to make anything for some time so I stockpiled before I had surgery and I can confirm that I will be launching my new website with a new aluminium collection or two. Just wait until you see mouthwatering Cherry Cheesecake and Surf's Up!

Cherry Cheesecake - but what is it?

That was a neat little link there to the changes ahead on the new website and the challenges it's bought me (and my husband!).  It was supposed to be so simple, but inevitably, it wasn't!  You can, however, expect on the new site to see a shop for each of my collections, Waves, Impressions, Colour & Texture and Aluminium. I'm also hoping to get a forum going with a different subject for discussion each week if possible but we'll wait and see how good the take up is on that.

The other challenge I've had this week is finding another artist to collaborate with.  I'm looking for designers who produce something out of the ordinary and I have emailed a couple of people whose designs are stunning and totally different from anything else I've ever seen.  I really hope I hear back from them soon, however, I shall carry on looking anyway and if anyone has a suggestion I will gladly take a look and see if it fits in with my own work.

So, hopefully before my next blog we shall be up and running on the new site and may be able to celebrate the launch in some way - another competition do you think?