Did anyone else watch Kirstie's Handmade Britain last night? It's so good to see craft on mainstream television. Particularly good to see Phiona Richards from Rare Notions who recently started following me on Twitter which was quite a coincidence as I'd been admiring her work only a few days before in Nicola Hurst's lovely gallery in Plymouth! Phiona makes the most exquisite jewellery and art from old and damaged books - who knows, maybe I can persuade her to be a blog collaborator in the future so that we can find out a bit more about her work!
What was a joy on the programme last night was seeing Kirstie Allsopp's total enthusiasm for the crafts she was trying. It can only be a good thing for the handmade movement that this programme is making it look cool and is trying to show that crafting is also loved by people of all ages and both sexes! I do hope that more programmes are made that look at handmade, not only as art forms, but as businesses. Theo Paphitis' programme focussed more on the business side when he looked at Liberty, Habitat and Boots, but it would be great to see a series that took an individual craft each week and looked at the experts, new businesses and novices within each discipline with a view to mutual support and inspiration. Any programme makers reading this???
On another front - this week I've returned to my part time day job which funds my business at the moment following my shoulder surgery. This has also meant a return to making jewellery and as I said last week I've been experimenting with deeper textures and combining silver with my aluminium as a signature range.
This piece was handpierced from a small amount of double-dyed aluminium which was textured with grasses and features a handmade silver toggle clasp and a reticulated silver component to the necklace. It sits beautifully at a the base of the neck at a choker length.
Right I'm off to try to push another piece of aluminium to it's limits and I'll let you know what happens!!
See you next week!
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