Edinburgh jeweller

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It is buy nothing day today in the UK. We are all consumers to a greater or lesser extent but perhaps a day like today helps us to consider what we buy and why

Milk chocolate fondue from Haagen Dazs A year ago I decided to start a diary of goals and to log things I've done related to my creativity. I chose thanksgiving to start this as it is a well known date but as I'm not American it means nothing to me specifically so it was great to create my own day around it. This week I took a day off work as my thanksgiving day. I travelled into London (I do this every day so it's not a big deal!) and went for lunch. I sat and read my diary over lunch. I wrote a summary of what I've achieved started teaching at the London Jewellery School completed my PGDip in Academic Practice with a merit won best paper presentation for the second year in a row at my university was commissioned to make jewellery for well known people had a piece of jewellery worn by an actress in a BBC interview was a co-author for a published journal article attended a masterclass run by Terry Kovalcik and learnt to make a box pendant learnt how ...

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On Saturday I did my first We Make London  handmade market stall at  Spitalfields market , London. I have previously only been selling online via Etsy or to people I know but I thought it was a good chance to see how well I could do at a market this close to christmas. I decided to display my  sweetie shop jewellery  rather than make a lot of silver jewellery as I'd visited the market a few weeks earlier and found that cheaper items were more likely to sell. It was a cold day but Spitalfields is under cover so there's no worry about getting rained on! It was quite a busy day and We Make London ensure there is a diversity of different handmade products available to attract customers. I was really pleased with how it went and I was very happy with my takings at the end of the day.  It is an expensive market to have a stall at but I would do it again by sharing a stall with another crafter.

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Country Living Christmas Fair For the first time I visited the Country Living Christmas Fair in London this week. It's one of those things that I keep wanting to go to but then find I'm too late! I was so amazed at the sheer number of stalls that kept going onwards and up the stairs! There were so many christmas decorations, gifts and home items - it was fantastic! Here are a few of my favourite things - things I bought or wish I had! Limited edition print by Emma Hardicker I LOVE this print from Emma Hardicker . Given that I am doing up my kitchen this month I couldn't quite stretch to it but I think I will get it if I can in the new year. Cashmere wrist warmers from Bantam Knits  I am selling at my first market on Saturday (10th November). I am expecting the cold and have been looking out for some fingerless gloves so when I saw these cashmere wrist warmers from Bantam Knits I had to buy a pair - in purple! They are gorgeously soft and very warm (...

I don't need saving

Sweetie shop jewellery by light boat jewellery , photo by Gary Ullah of craftywebsites  In 2012 I have noticed more and more interest in classes on how to use social media to promote fledgeling businesses. I've been teaching people at the London Jewellery School and at the Mary Ward Centre about how to set up an online business or an online presence for a 'bricks and mortar' business. I am also starting to teach these skills to individuals (for Crafty Websites ), charities etc. As a result of this interest I decided, along with the press officer from the London Jewellery School,  to write a series of blog posts for their  blog on preparing your jewellery business for christmas. I found it helped as a useful checklist for me and the feedback from readers is that it has been useful for others too which is fantastic. The links to the blog posts can be found below. Do you have any advice you would give jewellery makers on preparing for christmas sales? Please add ...