Pledging to buy handmade

I have this in turquoise, from 7071 design

I have read some very interesting and thought-provoking blog posts recently about the benefits and joys of buying handmade items. I would recommend the mindful spending posts on the fantastic Scoutie Girl blog.

Serotonin necklace from molecularmuse

I particularly love the idea of creative tithing, choosing to spend a percentage of your income each month on handmade and/or locally produced items. This idea really spoke to me because I can see the benefit to the artist and to me. The artist has the thrill of knowing that someone valued their design and work enough to invest in it which does wonders for self confidence; I know having perfect strangers buy my jewellery on Etsy has always made my day.

And of course, as a buyer, I love having beautiful things that have been hand made and not manufactured.

Feather necklace from MijuandYou

So I have made a point of buying something handmade each month. I don't tend to have an amount of money in mind as I suppose the tithing idea would suggest, I just buy something I love.

Here are a few images of things that I've bought from talented designers over the last few months.

Earrings by Joy Funnell

Comments

Silver clay on the BBC

If you are reading this blog then you probably already know that I make jewellery with a material called metal clay. It's not a well known material so I was really pleased to see it featuring on a programme on BBC1. The programme is called Countryfile and a metal clay artist called Emma Mitchell was featured, interviewed by Anita Rani. Emma talked about the mental health benefits of getting out into the countryside and getting inspiration from nature and natural surroundings. They picked leaves and other natural materials and used them to make moulds and silver jewellery. It's fantastic that silver clay was featured on TV as it raises awareness of the material. The metal clay world is quite small but I haven't met Emma yet although she is also teaching at the Y ou Can Make It metal clay conference in March so I am looking forward to meeting her there. You can watch the programme here on the BBC iplayer until 6th March 2018 (but only if you're in the UK unfortun

Ring a month theme for February 2019

I've been overwhelmed by the number of people being inspired by the Ring A Month challenge. At the time of writing, we have 351 members in the Facebook group and 300 followers on Instagram. If you'd like to join in there's still time! Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/makearingamonth/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ringamonth/ I have decided to announce the theme for the coming month a week before the start of the month. This is to give people time to think about their designs, particularly those that are busy and have a lot to fit in. The theme for February 2019 is .... music and lyrics Here are some ideas to get you thinking about how to interpret the theme Be inspired by A song/piece of music you love A specific lyric from a song A style of music e.g. classical, metal, rap, funk etc A musical An instrument/s Music artwork (CD/LP sleeve or music video) A concert you went to (or wish you went to!) A music festival Choose a

Business matters article for Making Jewellery magazine

As part of my role for the London Jewellery School I've been writing the Business Matters column in Making Jewellery magazine for six months now. We've been doing an interview series with jewellers on different aspects of jewellery business. However, this month I am actually featured! I wrote an article on getting press coverage which would be relevant for all small businesses. The magazine is available from Smiths and larger supermarkets so do check it out! It's issue 116, March 2018. This image is shared with permission, copyright GMC publications

Edinburgh jeweller

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