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Penny: Posted on Thursday, December 29, 2011 2:15 PM
The Power of Making is still on at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, it's free to enter, but it closes on the 2 January, so it's the last few days now for you to head over to see it! I went to see it yesterday and loved it, the exhibition is designed to highlight the skills involved in creating items from everyday household items to unusual art works. The focus is very much on how the items were made, which as a maker myself was fascinating. There is everything on show from a dry stone wall, oversized knitted 'Aran Rug', carved wooden masks to a cardboard table, ceramic eye patch and some really fascinating desktop sized 3D modelling machines that can create your own designs in a variety of plastic and other materials... A true showcase of highly skilled craftsmanship from all around the world, both amatuer and professional, with a collection of the highest quality and most fascinating of traditional, but still very relevant and valuable skills, to unusual spins on everyday skills and the growing array of cutting edge techniques, both completely new and adapted from traditional skills. If you get a chance to visit the exhibition, I'd very much recommend it; make sure to look closely at the exhibits and their labels - they take on a whole new life once you look closely and start to think about the process and item on more than a surface level. You may well come out looking at the objects around you in a whole new way and excited about creating your own artworks, whatever your chosen techniques are, or about learning new techniques yourself. I loved the exhibition and found it very inspirational - it's given me an added impetus to continue improving my own skills. |
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Penny: Posted on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 8:34 PM
I had a really lovely day out today, visiting Goldsmiths Fair, and Origin - two of my favourite jewellery / contemporary craft shows. I can't begin to describe all the beautiful jewellery I saw today, but i thought I'd share here some artists that stood out in my memory today - click their names to see their own websites and galleries; - Catherine Martin - I always look out especially for Catherine's elegant and intricate braided wire jewellery -absolutely stunning pieces on show as usual
- Teri Howes - Teri's intricate crocheted wire-work is also stunning - some lovely silver spirals in the collection that i hadn't seen before
- Gilly Langton - Gilly makes big, bold and colourful pieces which I really love - using hand dyed elastic and silver, she creates gorgeous woven and looped shapes
- Lesley Strickland - Lesley creates beautifully subtle yet bold bangles that i love, using her trademark cellulose acetate and silver - i particularly loved the new translucent purple colour she's added to her range
- Joanne Bowles - Not a jeweller, but i loved the stunning shapes she creates and the contrast between the steel frames and delicate porcelain dishes in her sculptural vessels.
- Jill Devon - I was very excited to see Jill's stand at Origin - it's the first time I've seen stitched bead work displayed alongside more traditionally 'precious' jewellery and it looked fabulous - a lovely colourful mix of intricate work and a great showcase to bring bead work to the attention of jewellery collectors - fantastic
- Carol Mather - i have to admit, Carol's animal sculptures would not normally have grabbed my attention, despite being beautiful and skillfully made, but Carol had a little rat amongst her silver menagerie, and as I'm a little obsessed with my own (rather poorly at the moment) pet rat, i fell completely in love..... absolutely gorgeous
- Yen - I'm particularly intrigued by the necklaces, almost spiky (spiky always gets my attention) but with round pin heads - they give a lovely unusual and tactile look to the jewellery - you just want to pick them up and play!
- Wally Gilbert - again not a jeweller, but this time a silversmith - creating the most lovely vases, goblets and silverware - just ready for any medieval feast - beautifully heavy and intricately detailed
- Chris Knight - another silversmith, this time creating spiky vessels (did i say i can't resist spiky?) gorgeous and perfect in their spikiness
There were of course many, many more fabulous artists and artworks, you can find full exhibitor listings on the Origin website, and Goldsmiths Fair is still open for another week, with a change of exhibitors at the weekend. I'm looking forward to see what treats are in store when i go back next week! |
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Penny: Posted on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 10:20 AM
Well i'm still running rather behind on my challenge, but here's my latest update - with this gorgeous deep chocolatey red necklace. Made from a combination of flat oval Brecciated Jasper beads, smaller round Garnet beads and a mixture of black glass beads.this necklace is extra long, so no clasp is needed. It is strung on a black tigertail (flexible beading wire) and is on two rows, which creates the unusual style. Jasper is a beautiful and varied opaque gemstone, coming in a wide variety of colours and styles, often incorporating beautiful patterns and banding within the stones. I particularly like this type of Jasper because of it's warm colour and love the combination with the subtle deep dark red Garnets and the mixture of black glass to add a further contrast in shape and texture. |
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Penny: Posted on Thursday, August 25, 2011 2:10 PM
For this week of my challenge, I created bracelet using a mixture of gemstone beads from my stash. I used Rose Quartz , Picasso Jasper and Agate beads to create a bubbly pastel bracelet using silver chain and silver plated fittings.  I'm not usually a fan of pastel colours, which is why these gems have been in my stash for so long waiting to be used, but the Rose Quartz - with its translucency, and the lovely smoky textures often found within it is beautiful and contrasts beautifully with the opaque pinky cream Picasso Jasper. I added in a few of the mottled Agate beads for another layer of contrast which I think creates an interesting balance. The bracelet was made during a teaching session demonstrating how to create wrapped loops to attach beads like these to chain or other elements. The wrapped loops create a more secure attachment than standard loops and add an extra level of decoration at the same time. They form part of my Jewellery Making Intermediate Day. Rose Quartz is a stone that has properties traditionally liked with increased self worth, bringing the wearer peacefulness, a strong sense of love and some say lasting youthful looks. I also made a matching necklace and earrings to go along with this bracelet during the same class session, which make a pretty set for anyone who loves their pinks. |
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Penny: Posted on Thursday, August 04, 2011 9:56 PM
 Although I'm a working jeweller and jewellery making teacher and I've been studying and working in this field for almost 20 years, I still love learning new techniques and working to improve my existing skills. I love adding to my stock of techniques whenever possible, so that when I come up with a design, I have the skills to be able to put it into practice to turn my designs from ideas to real pieces of jewellery. There are a huge range of skills and techniques used within jewellery making, so there is always something new and new teachers and artists to inspire and teach me. With this in mind, over the last few weeks, I've been having a great time... - I am in the process of challenging myself to complete the Level 2 (senior) Art Clay Certificate, (taught by the fabulous Joy Funnell in Hastings) - I did the four day course and completed all my required pieces and they all passed. I am now working on my three independent pieces to send off later this month for marking.
- I went back to Hastings last week for a one day course learning about Joy's specialist Enamelled Accents technique - adding colour to silver clay jewellery with traditional enamels - lots of fun, but definitely needs lots more practice to get a nice even colour and coverage! The image shows one of my pieces from this day.
- A second wax carving day course at the London Jewellery School - lots of fun, i was concentrating on working to create neat joins between pieces of wax, so that as well as carving wax, i can start to add bits together to build up designs if i need to. Wax carving is used to create masters for lost wax casting - a model is made in wax which is then used to create a copy in precious metal.
- This weekend i am attending an Etching course at the London Jewellery School. Unlike wax carving and enamelling, this is something i know the principles of but I've never tried before, so I'm intrigued to see this in practice and see what i can come up with! Looking forward to Saturday!
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Penny: Posted on Sunday, July 24, 2011 9:07 PM
 This bracelet is one of my new teaching projects, but i made this sample as part of my gemstone a week challenge - using Jasper and Marble gemstones strung on a mixture of polyester, cotton and hemp cords, with decorative knotting creating an adjustable closure. I love the patterns within these gemstones, but they aren't a colour i'd normally use, so have sat in my store for a while, waiting for the right project to come along. The colours of the gemstones and the cords work well together for a summery, natural look, and i've had fun mixing around and deciding the best arrangement of bead sizes and knotted sections. This bracelet uses a simple half hitch knot (in the dark brown) and a square knot (in the beige) made in just one direction to create the twisting effect that i think works nicely. This bracelet now forms part of my Knotted and Braided Jewellery Day - next running on August 16th. |
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Penny: Posted on Saturday, July 23, 2011 8:07 AM
 Ok, so i've got a bit behind with my blog posts and my gemstone a week challenge to myself, so here goes for a delayed week 5 of my challenge! This time i decided to use a cute little 8mm round snowflake obsidian cabochon. I matched the mottled colouring of the stone with a mottled texture on the silver to make this pendant. I used paper cutouts made using a craft stamp to add details to the texture as a trial of this method, which worked nicely i think. I think if i did it again however i would use thicker paper to get a more defined shape. This silver pendant uses a ready made bezel cup for the gemstone and a ready made bail attached to the back. I cut a hole the size of the bezel cup in the flat clay, then cut a disc slightly larger than the hole and stuck this over the back to give support to the gemstone area, which worked well. Lots more gemstones and blog updates to come!! |
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Penny: Posted on Sunday, June 12, 2011 9:57 AM
I made two necklaces and a bracelet; - Necklace one useed amethyst nuggets with smaller mottled snowflake obsidian stones, which made a simple, but i think effective necklace. Necklace two used a number of red jasper nuggets, alongside a mixture of coloured marble beads. The bracelet mixes some lovely rainbow fluorite with gorgeous textured lava stone beads. I love the bright colours, and patterns in these stones and like to use very simple necklace styles when using them, to ensure that the focus is on the gems. |
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Penny: Posted on Sunday, June 12, 2011 9:23 AM
 So this post is a little out of step, but i have finally taken some photos of the cute ring i made in week 2. I wanted to continue the style from the ring I made in week 1, but using a different technique to create the stone setting, so made a textured lace band, and used bezel wire to create the setting for this lovely cloudy blue agate stone. I love the little teardrop shaped stone and was really pleased with the ring, until it had a small mishap and somehow managed to become chipped while I was setting the stone. I still like the ring though, and rather than fixing or recycling it, I cleaned up the damaged area and am going to keep it to wear myself. |
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Penny: Posted on Tuesday, June 07, 2011 11:40 PM
 So, i know i'm out of step, but here aresome images of last week's gemstone project, that i took as a test of my new photography lighting tent.... This is a lovely Labradorite gemstone pendant from my collection, with sterling silver wire details and bail, held on a hand braided toning necklace cord. The photo doesn't really show the lovely reflective colours this stone has - i'm still working on how to capture these better, but here goes for now! |
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