Rings and Things

Hello everyone!  Last Thursday night we went down to Royal William Yard to have a social get together with some of the members of Flameworks and ended up having a really enjoyable evening meeting a hot-metal worker, an artist, a photographer, a metal sculptor and a potential new member who's interested in printing as well as my husband, also an artist.  It does increase your motivation to meet up with like-minded creative people!

In my last blog I mentioned that I'd had a request for aluminium rings and that I'd tell you more about what I'd been working on this week.  The customer in question treated herself to two rings so here's a glimpse of my aluminium and silver rings.

Andromeda Wraparound Ring

Andromeda Ring

All of these rings are made entirely from aluminium which has been dyed and forged into shape to produce a unique piece of jewellery.





Starry Nights Ring

I also wanted to work on a ring which combined sterling silver and aluminium.

I hand pierced two flower shapes, filed and polished the edges and then made the sterling silver ring band to which I soldered a small silver wire.  I domed the flower shapes, drilled the centres and stacked them onto the silver wire and cold connected them with the wire acting a rivet.  Hope you like the outcome!

Flower Ring I

So, what else has been happening this week? Well my family have come back to their homes from working in all corners of the globe so that's something!

I've found Pinterest which is great fun and has lost me many hours of my life this week!!! It's so addictive looking for and adding the items that I personally find beautiful, inspirational, funny, cute and plain weird to my boards (like the dog that looks exactly like a loaf of bread!!). If you are also on Pinterest, come and look for me!

In other news my husband is just in the process of redesigning and relaunching his website so if you'd like to see his paintings then pay him a visit on http://www.davidmuddyman.co.uk

See you all next week!

Gifts and Friends

Well hello again! I hope you're enjoying my ramblings because I'm really enjoying doing them.

I hope you all visited Mhairi Wild's website following last week's blog and have made out your wishlists for xmas!  I had a lovely surprise the other morning when I had a parcel from Perth.  It really was like Christmas as I opened it.  There was a layer of hand dyed silk and inside was a stunningly beautiful skinny scarf from her new range in colours that had been scraped straight off a Scottish glen.  See what I mean? Apparently I'm the first person to own one and I'm very honoured. 
If you would like to own any of Mhairi's accessories then she informs me that Concrete Wardrobe, Edinburgh on 0131 558 7130 will be happy to help you or you can contact www.mhairiwild.co.uk

So what I have been doing this week?  Spending far too much time on my laptop if truth be told, but it's allowed because my shoulder is still healing and I can't drive or work yet.  I feel that my time has been productive (if you don't count the internet shopping!!) and I now have very active Facebook and Twitter accounts.  I can also now be found on UK Handmade. http://ukhandmade.ning.com/profile/SlickSilverJewellery

The more time I've spent on social networking the more I've realised what a great community we have in the crafting world. Facebook is great for keeping up to date with friends, especially my closest friend who happens to live in France (she's my French agent!!) and Twitter has allowed me to make a whole host of new friends whom I chat to on a daily basis (you know who you are girls!!). Becoming a member of UK Handmade is another level of professional networking as I immediately realised that there were local groups of like-minded people, some living in the same city as me. Old friends that I've yet to meet.  I've certainly met some really lovely helpful people through my laptop and phone who are committed to their craft/art and to sharing it with others.

Whilst trundling through the virtual world I've also been looking for my next blog victim!! Seriously I'm looking for my next interviewee who's work really appeals to me.  I have a couple of people in mind so watch this space.  So far I have spotted a dress designer, a knitwear designer, a milliner and some others so I will put the feelers out.  Do you like the idea of me featuring, interview style, another artist on the blog every now and then?  I would love to know what you think so please feel free to leave me a comment below.

I thought I might show you some of my silver jewellery.
These are some of my reticulated sterling silver pendants in my Ghost Daisy range. They are hallmarked and are available to buy.  They are supplied wrapped in tissue and in my black gift bags. Please contact me on info@slicksilverjewellery.co.uk

I'd also like to end my blog this week by putting some beautiful artwork on my page.  Our house is full of paintings so I thought I would share some with you.  They are the work of my husband David Muddyman who has his own website. www.davidmuddyman.co.uk