Too Many Projects

Hands up, who suffers from wanting-to-do-it-all-nitis?  I have a goal to be an expert at a huge list of things (yes, expert - any old experience just won't do).  On my list:

• Silver etching projects - tried it and got a large quantity of iron nitrate some weeks ago for a lot of pieces, except it's sitting on a shelf, keeping company to the other chemicals
• Laser-cut projects based on my own drawings - [note to self:  'prioritise']  
• Keum boo - some weeks ago I mentioned I ran to the gold shop to buy gold sheet, right?  I did run, and I evidently have more ideas than time
• Resin - bought all the kit, tried it and put it all back on the shelf for later
• Engraving - ditto bis
• Making my own stone settings - ditto ter (though I do set my own stones)
• Making hinges, boxes, rivets, clasps, vessels, utensils - I so want to make a spoon, I really do!
• Other metal clays - I want to know all the ins and outs of all the other clays, there's copper, bronze, steel... and before I get to grips with them fully, someone goes and brings out a glass clay.
• 3-d CAD programmes such as Rhino - the fun I would have...
• Wax carving, and lost wax casting, delft casting (oh and broom, and cuttlebone casting - add those too)  
• Gemology and lapidary
• Glass - I loved making my own cabochons, and using dichroic glass in my silver.   'Must learn more' I thought at the time.  I'm still with that same thought.
• Enamels - oh lordy I love those enamels, but I'm not sure they love me back 

I have been on a very steep metal rimmed learning curve in the past couple of years, and I have taken in a huge amount of knowledge that I never envisaged would be there, but is it ultimately a positive that the more you know, the more you need to know, when this self imposed need to learn is actually just adding more things to your to-do list and therefore, pressure on yourself?    Is it better maybe to focus on one thing and be really really good at that, or is it preferable to have a little good first-hand knowledge of a lot of things?  

To be fair to myself, the list is huge and a large number of things are not included here because they are already ticked (in pencil - full "expert" capacity is a tall order), but in the course of this blog - I expect to tick off one of those every few months.   Unless I find something else to divert my attention, like oh bugs, Palladium.

Pssssttt....

... I passed!

I am now a qualified Senior Art Clay Silver Instructor.

It will probably take me a while to get sorted and start formally teaching, but how exciting is that?!

The Funkiest Wedding in All London

Two of my very best friends, got married this weekend, and I was honoured to be asked to make models of them to stand next to their wedding cake. 

They gave me free rein pretty much to do as I wished, so I had him as a mountaineering Indiana Jones complete with climbing spikes and compass, and she as a marathon-running bride with a bridal bouquet and diamond ring of course!  He does climb, she does run marathons, and they both do travel a lot - so the  suitcase was full of references to their life and travels, some of which are a bit too risque to reveal here, (bwa-ha-haa!).  The Oahu sticker on the suitcase is a reference to their honeymoon destination.   It was a beautiful day, the couple looked just jawdroppingly gorgeous and everyone had a brilliant time.   Happy days!  x

Birdie Love

I am fascinated by birds, always have been, so I couldn't have been more pleased when I started noticing more and more avian-stuff in fashion - suddenly birds were everywhere, from teacups to logos to jewellery. 

And I promise it is without an ounce of illwill to all those members of my family with a pronounced aversion to our feathered friends, and just purely as a tribute to this wonderful group of animals (now come on, who hasn't wondered how it feels to actually be a bird in flight, huh?) that I set out to create a few bird-related pieces:

A bird in a fountain ring in sterling silver.  He really looks like he's having a bath.

A selection of foresty charms of which one was, of course, an adorable little feathered creature:

And then this handsome fellow. 

This aristo peacock is a brooch, and at nearly 10cm long by 7cm wide, and made entirely in fine silver, there is just one of him.

I'll introduce him properly on a later post.

Hanging Out

We've just returned from France where we spent some days with family.   Out of all the beautiful and interesting things that France has to offer, and there are many, this little guy just stole my heart.

{If I'm really quiet, they'll never know I'm here.}

Click for a bigger view, and check out those little toes!

Saint George (Sant Jordi)

Today is Saint George's day.  Saint George is patron saint of England where we live, and he is patron saint of beautiful Catalunya, the place we will always call home.  In England there are moves to make St George's day an official holiday and a time for celebration in the same way that St Patrick is celebrated across the world by the Irish, sadly we're not quite there yet and poor St George is not revered in England in the same way as in other parts of the world.  In Catalunya (Catalonia to some), it is an important celebration - it is a day for celebrating love, much in the same way that St Valentine's Day is celebrated in other places.  La Diada de Sant Jordi, as the day is known, is marked with the giving of gifts between lovers, traditionally men give women a rose and women give men a book.  Here is my offering, a little homage to Sant Jordi, brave knight who slayed the dragon to save the king's daughter, a beautiful handcrafted silver rose.  Books in silver will be my next challenge.  

My Level II Adventures

I have - today - sent off my pieces to be judged by the Art Clay Guild for the Level II Senior Instructor certificate.

They're off and I can't polish them just one last time.   That is probably one very good thing, as my prehnite tree will tell you.   The poor tree was polished until he could shine no more, and then, the "one last time syndrome" that I suffer from made me overpolish the already thin bezel strip and a teeny tiny piece of bezel came flying off and I went from having worked with the tree for many days, to suddenly not being able to enter him in the talent show for his kind.  This tiny missing piece would be unnoticeable to most people, but the judges would spot it right away...

I did swear.  Probably quite a lot.

Do fellow jewellery makers find that every so often, they actually fall a little bit in love with a piece that they have made?  I think I just did with this one.  My default on finishing any piece is that I'm never entirely sure that anyone will like it, so I was definitely surprised by not caring too much if others do or don't like this one, just because I do.  When I realised my tree couldn't go to the ball, i felt really quite sorry for it.

So whilst the others are in the hands of the Guild gods, this little tree is staying right here with me.