Edinburgh jeweller

I popped along to Made in Clerkenwell  at Craft Central  on Friday. I went along in May of this year and blogged about it here  so I was looking forward to going along again. It was their christmas handmade show. I love poking around in people's studios and reminding myself that there are some people designing and crafting for a living! So what follows are a few of the things that I really liked There is so much going on in this print by illustrator  Ulrike Bygge , I was captivated by it. The more you look at it the more you see. I was really impressed by the work of Sonia Cheadle and her students. She has a jewellery school that I am very interested in learning more about. I loved Sarah Hallowes use of coloured thread in her silver pieces. Nice to talk to her as we are both from the same county! I absolutely love the style of Birita a Myrini . These rings are so fabulous

By Albee on Etsy

The shortlist for the prestigious Saul Bell design award  2012 have been announced. The prize, now in it's tenth year, awards innovation in the following categories of jewellery making; metal clay, enamel, gold/platinum, silver, hollowware and beads. There is a lot of competition for this prize and to be shortlisted is a real achievement. These are my personal favourite pieces from the shortlist (the full shortlist can be found here ). We'll have to wait until June 2012 to see who wins! Emma Baird Metal Clay category Emma Baird from Edinburgh is the only person from the UK to be shortlisted this year. Metal Clay category Christi Anderson Christi actually has an impressive two pieces in the final this year. I love this piece. It's so intricate, there's always something more to see Metal clay category Shannon Kennedy What a fantastic ring, such detail Enamel category Kristen Holeman This is such a beautiful piece, I really love the d...

A friend of mine is in the middle of chemotherapy for breast cancer. She just posted 'Am in need of something to make me laugh and smile. Please post here' on Facebook. I was in a 'Sunday night getting ready for the week ahead mood' but finding some things to try to cheer her up made me laugh. It was an important reality check. Anyway, I ended up sharing loads of things that make me laugh. Some of them are below (in case you're also in need of cheering up and share my sense of humour!) Michael McIntyre and his man drawer Bill Bailey singing about love and loss I don't watch any of the talent shows but my Dad made me watch this audition and I absolutely love it Ricky Gervais and Elmo

 It is always lovely to be featured in other people's blogs. This week my licorice allsort necklace (it is always that one I find!) was featured in EtsyStalker 's blog post on licorice .Thanks Violet

Mary Ward Centre, London I'm in the middle of teaching a nine hour course called Social Networking for Artists at the Mary Ward Centre, London . This is a new course that I proposed myself at the beginning of the year. I think there is a gap in education for artists and crafters who have not grown up with computers. Often they know what they want to do but not how to get started. Thankfully the head of Art, Sharon Fuller, agreed with me! On the course I am covering setting up a blog (using blogger because I think it is user-friendly for those that are not so computer literate), a facebook fan page and twitter account and what to do with them! I started teaching it last week and I was really pleased to see that the class was full and that there are so many different areas of the arts and crafts represented in the group. I really enjoyed teaching this class and I'm looking forward to the next one. So my question is this. What advice would you give artists and crafters j...

Yesterday (1/11/11) Mitsubishi announced that they are going to start retailing sterling silver clay . This is an interesting and welcome development in the world of metal clay. Up until now silver clay from all manufacturers has been 999 fine silver. This means that 99.9% of the silver is made up of silver particles, the rest is copper. 999 fine silver can be hallmarked but in the UK 925 sterling silver is still the most widely recognised form of silver. The Metal Clay Academy website is an excellent and impartial resource if you are interested in finding out more about this fantastic material.  The recipe for sterling silver clay was made available earlier this year through the experimentation of Lisa Cain, director of the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery . The full recipe was made freely available when it was published in Volume 2 number 2 issue of Metal Clay Artist magazine . It can be made by blending the correct combination of fine silver clay and copper clay. However, t...