News, news, news!

Hi - hope you're all safe and dry and haven't been flooded! What a horrible start to the year!

I've been keeping busy, it's that time of year when new ideas get tried out, some work, some don't and some don't work yet but I feel they will in time.  I've reworked a couple of old silver pieces which had been shelved and are now shelved again pending further inspiration!  I started off this year by thinking about the things which inspire me (rust - plenty of that round here with all the seawater being thrown around) and looking at how evident that inspiration is in my resulting work.  I realised that what floats my boat isn't always obvious and so I'm making a more concerted effort to find ways of showing that inspiration. Sometimes it's the colour of rust, particularly on old concrete and sometimes it's the lovely knobbly texture blistering through layers of old paint. With all this in mind I painted and dyed a sheet of aluminium last week which I do think represents my ideas.  I dare say the finished pieces (when they are finished!) will appear on here for you all to see.

A few weeks ago I had a fun day teaching polymer clay bead making at Orchard Learning Centre in Gunnislake, Cornwall.  For most people it was the very first time they tried using polymer clay and a great day was had by all, with much hilarity and some great results.  I'll be there again on the 2nd March if anyone would like to try their hand at making polymer clay pendants using foils.  If you'd like to book a place please book through Orchard Learning Centre direct - oh, and Jay the centre owner includes a lovely lunch!!
Here's some pictures of what the students made during the day.












The following picture is an example of the kind of pendant we'll be making in the forthcoming course so hurry and make sure that your place is booked and I'll look forward to another day of fun and giggles!

 

I've also been working on a statement piece of jewellery - the Dazzle neck piece is now available to buy on my website and I can even produce it in the colour range of your choice, be it blues, pinks, greens etc. All you have to do is let me know! Do you like it?

Dazzle Neck Piece 

In other news this week, I'm proud to announce that Created Gallery is going to be a new stockist and they are in Chesterfield so if you're in that area pop in and take a look. 

I'm also going to be exhibiting with Number Four Contemporary Art and Craft Gallery from 12th April for twelve weeks so I hope you'll go and see what they have to offer up in St Abbs, Berwickshire.  It will be a selling exhibition so take along your pennies!

Anyway, back to the workbench and I'll see you all soon.

News, Sales, Awards and Coffee!

I have been a very bad girl and not blogged for ages but I'm back!!

2014 is showing much more promise than 2013 which was a rubbish year in lots of ways, mostly on a personal level, not professionally.  So, the very biggest news for this year is that I will be going back to college in September to study for a BA in Jewellery and Silversmithing.  I've been offered a place at Plymouth College of Art and I'm really looking forward to it (apart from waking up at night in a cold sweat thinking about workload, whether my poor little brain cells are up to it and whether I might be the only 'mature' student!!).

Last year saw me building up a reasonable number of stockists and exhibiting at some great venues around the country as well as being accepted for some fab shows like Crux.  Whilst I was at one of the events I found myself thinking the future and wondering what might come next.  When you're largely self-taught it can be quite hard to keep pushing your boundaries, especially if you feel that better skills would allow you to take your work to another level. This is where I'm at. I'm happy enough with what I make and you all seem to like it which is wonderful, but, I might be capable of achieving even more! Also very important is the access to opportunites that might come my way.

Have you visited my website lately? There's a sale! A SALE!! There's 20% off vitually everything (only a couple of things not in the sale) so hurry over and get your favourite piece before the end of January! SlickSilver Jewellery Sale

In other news I had an amazing birthday present towards the end of last year from my daughter and son-in-law - a mother and daughter photo shoot.  I cannot begin to tell you how much fun we had! My facial muscles were aching from smiling and laughing so much.  We settled on a date which turned out to be a very stormy day, outdoor shots were out of the question so Kinga, the lovely photographer suggested a cosy coffee shop with some shots being taken from outside in the dark and the rain looking in on us having our coffee. Do you like them? Photo courtesy of Kinga Burakowska Photography.

I've also been nominated for a Selected Award from Craft and Design Magazine, so if any of you lovely, lovely people would like to vote for me here's the link. Val Williams Thank you for voting for me! See you all soon!