Plans for 2012

My plans for 2012 involve making more jewellery (duh).

I’ve got some neat ideas for using up a few of my seaglass pieces, which I’m going to document as I make them. Look out for glorious sparklies and subtle lustre.

Failing that, look out for another helpful booklet or two on obscure techniques and unusual jewellery…

Blog posts will probably end up being one a month, or every three weeks, so keep checking back.

Off to the beach now to collect some more!

Poisonous Gifts for Xmas

As if to underline my recent article in the ACJ journal, Findings, about the dangers of using found items in jewellery, the Daily Mail today has a piece on poisonous seeds being sold as gifts for Christmas.

Pretty things, in nature, are often dangerous. The seeds in question are brightly coloured red-and-black, half-and-half.

Red is nature’s danger sign. It says, “Don’t mess with me.”

This is what the seeds look like:

This is what they can do:

The symptoms of poisoning are acute gastroenteritis with vomiting, diarrhea, shock and potentially fatal kidney failure.

Nasty things. Get rid of them if you have any, and watch how you deal with them.

Going batty on Squidoo

I’ve gone a bit batty over on Squidoo and uploaded three new lenses.

In case you don’t know, Squidoo is a content-based site started by Seth Godin.

I’ve written some pages over there about jewellery-making, some of which are directly related to this blog, but because it’s on Squidoo, there’s more stuff to sell, which those of us who have ordinary WordPress accounts aren’t able to do (bless their little cotton socks, I prefer it this way – don’t have to wade through adverts to find what my wonderful acquaintances have been up to).

On Squidoo it’s virtually the whole point. The information is there, and then you get shown where to buy what you want.

I’ve uploaded lenses on seaglass, found items and the now-passé tube-bending. More to follow, I’m sure.

Case in point, the lens on found items was an extended edit of an article I wrote for Findings, the journal of the Association of Contemporary Jewellers, published back in Spring 2011, entitled “Found Items and the Ethical Jeweller”. The subject arose out of a book review I did for the same magazine and a couple of conversations I had with jeweller friends on the subject, including the use of dangerous and downright icky things you don’t want next to your skin.

There’s also the question of illegal items, not just things like diamonds and rubies but animal parts, plant seeds, things which might be contaminated with bacteria or germs that your country doesn’t want in its borders.

Reminds me of those news reports of people killed by their own bongos…

How To Bend Tubing: A (new) Guide

As it seems to be the most popular post I have ever written for this blog – and because there isn’t a widely-available resource out there (except mine) on the subject – I’ve made my guide on bending tube into an ebook.

It’s available on Amazon for Kindle, on XinXii for any reading devices, and on SmashWords for any reading devices. Once it’s churned its way through SmashWords it will be on the iBookstore and the Nook, plus Dieselbooks, Kobo, and Sony eReaders.

This is a single subject article with illustrations and step-by-step instructions. There are a set of handy hints & tips and a few illustrations of finished pieces with the technique.

Let me know what you think!

Amazon UK          Amazon USA          (Smashwords & Xinxii to follow)

Midsummer Break

It’s been almost two weeks since the Handmade in Britain fair in Bath and it’s time I took a break.

Since I began to do craft fairs just over a year ago, a number of things have become clear.

1. I enjoy taking part. One of the reasons for trying my hand at craft fairs was to see if I hated it or not. Yes, they are hard work – as is all retail – and it can be draining. However, it isn’t such a big deal. I’ve worked in worse places than Winchester Guildhall, Bath Assembly Rooms, and the Colston Hall.

2. I got in to the big shows to which I applied – Handmade in Britain, the British Craft Trade Fair, Desire.

3. I didn’t feel as if my work was out of place in those shows. The quality of my display could have been better, I agree, and it improved as time went on. My main concern however was about the quality of my WORK, and I have to report that I wasn’t ashamed of it in the company of people whose work I have admired since I was a year one student at Art School.

And, lastly:

4. People aren’t buying. The economic downturn is affecting us all, and across all three major shows since November 2010 the trend is the same. Visitor numbers are down on previous years. Retail sales are down. Trade buyers are concentrating on established sellers with a proven track record, and who can blame them? Shops across the high street are closing at an alarming rate, and luxuries like jewellery fall off the shopping list when groceries and fuel prices rise faster than wages. While I made some sales at the shows, according to others who have done the show circuit for years, it’s slow – much slower than it’s ever been. There’s no sign it will pick up any time soon, either, and the price of raw materials is still astronomical.

So, for the moment, I will pack up my tent, leave the circus, and head back to the workshop with the following aims:

• Cut more stones.

• Design more wildly, with no pressure to sell or promote.

• Produce more art that I can be proud of.

It’s been a great experiment. I’ve met some wonderful artists and jewellers, got my work out there, shared some learning experiences. It just isn’t the time right now.

Good luck to all of you who will continue with this, and maybe I’ll be back next to you in a couple of years. In the meantime I will still be blogging and working on my website. See you here!

Handmade in Britain – Bath 2011

In a week’s time I will be exhibiting at Handmade in Britain – Bath 2011.

This is the last big show I plan to do this year, before I drop back into the workshop and concentrate on cutting beautiful cabochons. New items will be put up on the website and made available in my retail stockists, but if you want to meet me in person, Handmade in Bath is the place to do so.

Plus, it gives you a chance to see the latest work, like this for example:

Pendant: Flame Agate

Hope to see you there!

 

Press. Here.

The latest issue of the ACJ‘s journal, “Findings”, popped through the letterbox at the weekend. Amongst the features is one wot I wrote on found items. I’ll blog the whole article in a few months’ time, but for now those of you who are ACJ members can find it on Page 9 of the Spring 2011 issue: Found Items and The Ethical Jeweller.

The article arose from a couple of sources.

A while back I offered to do book reviews for the ACJ (they asked subscribers to volunteer) and the book I was sent was a bright tome by Sarah Drew called “Junk-Box Jewellery: 25 Inspirational Budget Projects“.

After completing my review and sending it off to the editor, I found myself in conversation with Steve at Happy Island when I went in to change my display. He mentioned that another of his jewellery designers was also a sculptor who made figurines adorned with found items. And… one of them had the claw of a peregrine falcon attached. Apparently this chap  found the item while out walking on the beach, and thought no more of it as he slipped it into his pocket, and thus it became part of the sculpture.

Image via Wikipedia

Enter the lady from DEFRA with an eye for detail. Swift result – sculpture removed from sale due to said peregrine claw (and a lack of a license for selling protected species). The sculpture itself is still as good; it’s just a bit more special than even its creator expected.

So… from such a lucky coincidence, I thought I’d offer the ACJ an article on found items. The editor liked the idea, I rustled up 400 words, and hey presto! There it is!

Published!

P.S. I’m currently trying to iron out the last few details of my forthcoming craft fairs so stay tuned for more details!

Queen Of The Trim Saw

Mwahahahahhhh…

Have been at Lapidary Club for the past couple of weeks making preforms out of the slabs I bought over winter. Here’s a picture:

Preform Cabs

I am aware there is a bit of a ‘pink’ theme going on here, which for those of you who know me personally may come as a bit of a shock… however, it’s just the lighting in the photograph. Except for the two rhodonite cabs (pink, of course).

But the dino bone is red, and the amazing sunset-on-Mars jasper is red, and the leopardskin jasper is white-and-black-and-red (and huge!) and the other jasper is stripey blue and the amethyst lace agate is purple & lilac.

And you can’t really see it properly in this picture, but the cabs on the dop sticks are black with white streaks: a stone from A Secret Location, collected by hand last summer. It cuts like a dream, takes a great polish, but is soft as butter when it comes to scratches, sadly.

I have a bit of a disc-shape theme going on at the moment. This is why I decided to cut my own cabs – I couldn’t find any HUGE round cabochons for sale elsewhere. And I do mean HUGE – the leopardskin jasper in the picture is 50mm in diameter.

Wait and see what I’ve got in store for these beauties! (Back to the workshop for me…)

Save The Hallmark!

News from the latest Assay Office newsletter:

Hallmarking as a legal requirement is once again under scrutiny and threat

The UK Government’s current drive to reduce regulation was launched on 7th April under the banner of The Red Tape challenge. http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

The Red Tape Challenge has started by examining the Retail Sector and asking the electorate for their views on topics as diverse as “Sunday Trading” and “Trading with the Enemy”.

You only have until 5th May 2011 to reply. PLEASE ACT NOW!

The Red Tape Challenge aims to reduce regulation which stifles enterprise and industry. The message from the Government appears to be that every regulation highlighted will be abolished – unless visitors to the website express sufficient good reasons to convince Ministers that this particular regulation must be kept.

Hallmarking is among the eight key topics on which the population is invited to air their views from now until 5th May 2011. There are other important topics there too, of huge significance to retailers and consumers.

We believe it is imperative to the British consumer for the current and future UK Jewellery Industry to maintain hallmarking as a statutory independent service.

We urge you to visit Red Tape http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/hallmarking and express your views now – before Hallmarking is deregulated and 700 years of even handed consumer protection is brought to an abrupt end, not because people don’t want it, but by default.

Consumers Protected
While in principle we agree that red-tape is a bad thing, we don’t believe that Hallmarking is a red-tape regulation. The Birmingham Assay Office believes that Hallmarking has never been more important to the British Jewellery Trade and to the consumers it was always intended to protect

All items sold as gold, silver, platinum or palladium in the UK must be hallmarked, unless they are very lightweight, regardless of where they are made.

Hallmarking has survived for over 700 years because it genuinely protects the UK public from being cheated. The precious metals market is an asymmetric market where the industry knows a lot and the consumer very little, making them vulnerable to deception. Asymmetric markets must be regulated.

With 85% of jewellery sold in the UK now being imported from countries with no properly regulated hallmarking regime, and where counterfeiting is rife, UK consumers need a strong Hallmarking regime to protect them from dishonest activity more than ever

In some countries it is widely accepted that gold jewellery may not contain quite as much fine gold as it purports to. With gold prices at a record high of £900 per ounce the dishonest trader stands to gain a huge amount by slightly reducing the gold content of an 18ct article – which should contain 75% fine gold. To adjust the gold content of a 10 gram ring to 70% by adding slightly more copper would increase the copper price by a few pence and decrease the proper retail value by around £60. Without a hallmarking system in place the consumer will never know their gold is under carat. But they will have been cheated.

In the last two years millions of people have cashed in on the high gold price by selling their scrap jewellery for cash. The hallmark means they know exactly how much fine gold they are selling and, again, provides protection from cheats.

Traders Protected
Without an independent Hallmark, even those jewellers who want to sell items in good faith cannot be sure exactly what they are buying or selling. Honest traders will be at a disadvantage.

Small companies in the UK Jewellery Industry are still thriving, producing high value beautifully made items. They already have to compete with lower labour costs elsewhere, but if they have to compete with articles which are under carated as well, the Jewellery Industry will have no future.

We believe it is imperative to the current and future UK Jewellery Industry and the British consumer to maintain hallmarking as a statutory independent service.

Please visit http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/hallmarking and express your views NOW .

Sparklies Part Three

Part Three in a continuing series of posts where I share links to other sites with images of cool stuff that inspires the designer in me. Here’s the latest: African Art & Sculpture. Jewellery, textiles, wooden sculptures and masks – beautiful stuff. For example:

Simple, but gorgeous nonetheless. Anyone have any similar links  they’d like to share?