My musings on the week!

This week has been a bit up and down.

Blogging

I went to a talk on blogging. It was held by the Journalism department in the university I work in. I kind of snuck in as I'm not a Journalism student! But, in my defense, it was after work and the invite was tweeted! It was interesting. There were some well known British bloggers talking about how they got started.

Jewellery

I fired all the pieces I'd made during the week. I'm generally pleased with them. My main bugbear at the moment is taking photos of the jewellery. I really want the photos to look good and clear, buyers need to know exactly what they're getting. When you get close up with most cameras it gets a bit blurry, like the filigree earring picture below. I'm pretty pleased with the teal flower earrings picture though. I just want to get a set up I like with the photos and I'm finding that I get frustrated when I can't. I guess it's just not my thing, I'd rather be making the jewellery that thinking about all that stuff!

Teal flower silver clay earrings/pendants

These have come out really well. I bought the vitrea glass paints from Metal Clay ltd this week and this was my first try with them. I'm really pleased with the way they have come out. I think the key is to go for deep texture as it really settles in well

Pear shaped filigree silver earrings

These are really striking. I could definitely make them smaller but they are really light and show up well when you're wearing them. I may have to keep these ones! (I'll never sell anything at this rate!)

Heart shaped pendant with purple cz stone

This is also quite large and striking. I made a bail out of silver clay on the back so it tips forward slightly, catching the eye. Also, the bail doesn't protrude and spoil the line of the heart.

Other stuff

Twitter

I am following some really interesting artists and crafters on twitter. I have followers myself and had some direct tweets this weekend which was lovely. I find it annoying when some people only tweet their products, I unfollowed two people this weekend because of that. I want to get an idea of who the person is not just what they make (although of course I'm interested in that too).

Blip

I'm back on blip! http://www.blipfoto.com/acc

Blipfoto is a great free website where you can post one photo per day. I did it every day for a long time (just tried to look how long, I think I made 200 in a row) but I found it was becoming a chore rather than something I looked forward to so I stopped for a few months. Looking back on it now I see it was a good way of documenting the every day. Now there are a few months where there is a blank. Ordinary days can get lost if there's nothing to remember them by. So, I'll give it a go and try to blip every day again. I do recommend it.

Etsy

I just this minute got an invite to join the 'We make London' team on Etsy which is lovely. Glad to be aboard!

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...

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

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 ...

Edinburgh jeweller

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