Friends, Awards and Getting Organised!

Hello everyone!

Well the first week of 2013 has come and gone and what have I achieved?

My good friend via Twitter, Sarah S L Jewellery and I decided back in 2012 that we were going to take over the world, the jewellery world anyway - oh well, ok then, we were going to be a bit better organised!! We email each other regularly (she lives in Wales, I live in Devon and we've never met) with ideas that we need feedback on and other stuff and it really works for us. Sarah told me that she'd made a target plan for the year and I thought I would do the same and so that's what I've been doing this week (as well as my accounts - groan). Organisational stuff is still pretty much all I can do as my splint is still in place, however, physiotherapy starts this week and I have high hopes and lots of painkillers!

I mentioned last week that the Craft & Design Magazine Selected Awards were going to be under way soon and they are now live.  If you like my work, then of course I would appreciate your vote, but there are lots of talented makers featured and several categories to vote in. You can vote for me here. SlickSilver Jewellery Just scroll down my page and then click on the banner to register your vote. Thank you!

So what shall I be doing this week?  Well supplying new work to some of my stockists who are, happily, running out and I'd like to tackle using a computer programme I've been meaning to try for ages - sounds like a fun time - I'd rather be making but hey ho!

This gorgeous long necklace in shades of gold, silver and bronze and inspired by last summer's Olympic Games is available from my Signature Collection. It's the only one of it's kind and looks lovely on so why not become the only person to own it?

Look forward to chatting next week!

Updates and News

It's raining, the wind is howling, the cat is wet, it's Sunday, the coffee's on, the bread is made, scones to be made later, so all of that means it's update time!  Does anyone else set aside a particular time to do their updates?

On my Facebook page last week http://www.facebook.com/SlickSilverJewellery?ref=hl#!/SlickSilverJewellery I mentioned that I had a heap of finished jewellery ready to be photographed, so yesterday my husband did that for me.  That means today I have a load of lovely pics to play with, hence the updates!! So, this morning I feel I've achieved quite a lot.  I started off by updating my LinkedIn profile which was something I've been meaning to do for ages, followed by my website, then my Facebook page, Twitter and then finally here I am, all ready to blog! It does take time to manage it all, but it's worth it.

Those of you who've followed my blog will know that I left my day job in March and since then I've been fully concentrating designing (and selling!) my jewellery.  I'm sure that some of my old colleagues must think that all I do now is sit around at home chatting on Twitter, but believe me I work much longer hours now than I ever did before and I do find it really hard to take a day off in the week because I really do love what I do!

So what's new?  Well both my husband, artist and composer David Muddyman, and myself have a new stockist.  You can now find us at West Gallery, West Putford, Holsworthy, Devon http://www.westgallery.co.uk/index.html which is a lovely tranquil place to visit and to have a chat to Rob and Belinda.

I've also been working, as I said before, on some new collections which have been added to the Signature Collection today. I really hope you like these - they are some of my favourite pieces so far. Mermaid's Tale only consists of the three pieces shown - a very limited edition!

Summer Dreams

This long necklace is in the Summer Dreams Collection and slips easily over the head as it's 25 inched long.  You can wear it whichever way you want, with it's off-centre rings and uneven circles, it has a contemporary feel.

Mermaid's Tale

The Mermaid's Tale Collections consists of just these three pieces which makes it a very exclusive set of jewellery.  The colours are just gorgeous and the deep texture gives it an iridescence. Again it is entirely made by hand from anodised aluminium and sterling silver.

Watermark

This stunning collection is called Watermark and the three dimensional quality of this piece means that it turns slightly when it's being worn and it always shows a glimpse of hidden pattern of colour - trust me, it's gorgeous!! There's also matching earrings and cuff for this one.




You can find all of these new pieces on my website in the Signature Collection.  Why not treat yourself? http://slicksilverjewellery.co.uk/userimages/Signature-Collection-Shop(2625802).htm

That's all from me this week as I really should go and make scones, after all, I have jam and clotted cream so it would be rude not to..................

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!

Launch of the Signature Collection!

Well, hello again!

This week my husband's been away working so I've been cracking on with my list of things to do and working on my new designs.  I've also added a Signature Collection to my website although it needs a little tweaking here and there when my better half gets back.  I'm lucky to be married to someone who has a great eye for design and  website stuff!

I've also been on the search for new blog collaborators and have approached a couple of really exciting artists so we'll just have to wait and see if they want to be involved here.

So, last week I showed you one of my new designs and I promised to show you more as I developed the idea. So here we go, these are the latest explorations of my theme of 'Heart of the Matter', a kind of lateral thinking from Valentine's Day! These two pieces will be part of my Signature Collection as they are handpierced, forged, rivetted and completely finished by hand using all of my silversmithing skills.

Today I've been in the studio making jewellery for Valentine's Day. I'll put up some pics of those hopefully next week and you let me know what you think of them.

See you next week!

A New Direction!

Hello everyone and hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  I also hope that everyone who received my jewellery as presents were happy with it.

Well, we had a crazy, but wonderful Christmas Day with 9 of us gathering at the home of my daughter-in-law's parents who are very good friends of ours for a lovely family day.  As is usual for any family gathering Jeff managed to set light to something, however, this time it was only a paper napkin in the bin! The indoor fireworks left us all staggered by their beauty.........

New Year was very quiet and saw me writing lists of things to do in 2012, mostly for SlickSilver Jewellery as it will be a period of change and hopefully growth as I plan to spend more time working in the business, funds allowing.

So on to some changes - I shall shortly be adding a Signature Collection to my website where you'll be able to see the highly individual pieces that form a crossover between my silver and my aluminium work.  I shall be featuring, as part of the collection, some new designs I've been working on which explore simple basic leaf shapes with handpierced centres.  The following design started as an idea for an alternative to hearts for Valentines Day, however, I feel that the shape lends itself to further exploration which I plan to do.

This example would make an ideal gift for Valentine's Day or at any other time of the year so don't forget to point the relevant people in the right direction!!

I had a week off this week from my day job and it seems to have vanished into a pile of paperwork for my tax return, however, it's all done now, but I have had a lovely treat to cheer me up.  Those of you who read this blog regularly will know that I often feature other artists in my collaborative items and you may recall that I featured Phiona Richards of Rare Notions with her exquisite recycled books.  I was thrilled to received this from her in the post the other day and I'm really looking forward to wearing it - thank you Phiona - do make sure that you check out her website http://www.rarenotions.co.uk

Ok I must get on with finding some more lovely artists to feature on here - suggestions anyone?