Monday 22 November 2010

Open Studio Down, 2 more events to go.......

It's going to be a busy couple of weeks! Without really registering I have managed to book 3 events in 10 days..... glutton for punishment? Maybe, but it's a great time of year to be out meeting people.

Tidy for once!
This past weekend, we had the Second Floor Studio Open studio event. If you have read previous posts you will know that most of last week was spent getting myself, the studio and most importantly the jewellery ready. By about 3pm on Thursday I figured that there was not much else I could do so went to see if anyone else needed anything. Chaos reigned, but luckily we managed to get everyone sorted for the 5pm deadline.
This year's display
This time I did get to have a wander round and see who we now have on site. The project has grown immensely since the last open studio in May and in addition to my cake-eating friends Lisbeth Lund and Miles Campbell, we now have fabulous crafts people such as stained glass artist Sophie Lister Hussain and Milliner Katty Janneh.

Many thanks to everyone who came down over the 2 days especially Sid from Syddenham and the lovely Mo Thompson. Hope to see you again at the next one in May 2011.

In the meantime, I'm only 2 days away from the Christmas Market opening at Greenwich Market

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Getting Ready.......

Well the Second Floor Studio Autumn Open Studio event is this weekend and I'm just getting everything ready. Table and display is up and now I've just got to finish off the new stock and do an AWFUL lot of cleaning. No matter how much you try to contain it, polishing dust gets everywhere!!!!

We have a preview on Thursday night and the we will all be open from 11am to 6pm on 20th and 21st. Please pop in to visit us.

Monday 15 November 2010

Leaves on FIRE

Well not actually, but the colours this year have been amazing, I think you'll agree. Sadly the strong winds and rain have stripped a lot of the reds and oranges this week but I've definitely been inspired.

I've been looking at new materials and techniques, partly because the silver price has gotten silly and partly for the new challenge. Copper sprung to mind because of the autumn like colours, it's (relatively) low cost and because it's more pliable - perfect for revisiting Fold forming. This is a  technique of folding and hammering metal that I have toyed with before, but didn't really have the room to fully explore.

Firstly I tried a Romero fold leaf. I made one for myself as a brooch ages ago and it always gets comments so I had a go at another. Really please with the result and polished it to within an inch of it's life to get that lovely orange glow.




Spurred on I went for a simple folded and hammered crescent shape. To get the metal to continue to curve you must keep annealling the piece between sets of hammering. At the time this seem a chore, but it has an unseen advantage. When you open the fold the copper has gone lovely reds, browns and even black on the edges. Absolutely gorgeous!! Got carried away and did some earrings as well!