Edinburgh jeweller

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Me teaching at the Handmade Fair I was very excited to be asked to be a jewellery expert and teach workshops at the first ever Handmade Fair  spearheaded by Kirstie Allsopp. The three day event was held in the beautiful grounds of Hampton Court Palace .  The event wasn't just about shopping. As part of the ticket you got to choose a skill workshop, a session in the super theatre learning from the likes of Kirstie Allsopp and Cath Kidston and a ticket to a 'grand make'. Plus there was a lovely shopping village. The jewellery skills workshops were run by the London Jewellery School and over the three day event my colleagues and I taught over a thousand people!  I absolutely loved it! I got a microphone (a head mic!) and a camera that was focussed on what I was making and transmitted to a screen at the front of the tent. At any one time we had about 100 people in a class so we had one person on stage doing the demo and other tutors were helping individuals at the tab...

Gabrielle Bernstein

My partner and I enjoyed an inspirational trip to Rome. As usual for us, the trip was all about the architecture. I was particularly overawed by St Peters bascilica in Vatican City. The scale of it is so magnificent and it is designed so you don't realise how over sized it is. It was only when we went up to walk around the dome that you can see just how high up you are. My partner Gary is a photographer. He took over a thousand photos. I'm in none of them! Above you can see his choice of the best of what we saw.

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I love trying out new jewellery techniques and this summer was no exception! I signed up for the beginners wax carving class at the London Jewellery School . The process of wax carving With wax carving (also know as lost wax casting) you start out with a lump of wax which you cut, carve, file and sand down until it is the shape you want. Once this is complete, the wax piece is sent to a caster. You choose the metal you would like the piece to be made into (for example brass, sterling silver, gold). The wax piece is attached to a wax tree, along with several others, so that many pieces can be cast at once. The tree is then encased in a plaster-like substance called investment. Once this has hardened the wax is burnt out leaving a cavity in the mould. Molten metal is then poured into the mould. Once the metal has cooled and hardened the jewellery pieces are cut from the ‘tree’. When you receive your piece back it will still need a bit of work to polish up. It will have a sprue, a...

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My boyfriend and I got to enjoy one of our favourite pastimes this week - a visit to St Albans cathdral . We love the architecture of these amazing buildings. Gary is a photographer so I get to just wander around and take it all in while he takes all the photos! I love the carving and the stained glass windows in cathedral buildings and this was no exception. You can see the photos that Gary took in his flickr album .

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