Skip to main content

My creative week - hopes are sky high!

I've decided to blog periodically about my creative week as I know I find an insight into creative people's processes and activities really interesting!

Monday 13th November 2017
(I travelled down to London on 8th November. As part of my work for the London Jewellery School I need to spend two days a month in the office there and when I go I usually do some teaching too.)


Stone setting in metal clay samples from class at the London Jewellery School

Today I taught Stone setting in metal clay to one of the Diploma in Creative Jewellery groups at the London Jewellery School. It was good fun, we set glass, bezel set a stone and dry set a fireable stone.
Then I was off on the train back home! The train from London to Edinburgh takes around 4 hours 20 minutes and when there's an offer on I travel first class! I went first class today and had a lovely veggie risotto on board!

Tuesday 14th November 2017
I needed a bit of a rest day but in the evening I was working on a webinar for Jewellery School Online. It was a free webinar on preparing your jewellery business for christmas run by my boss Jessica Rose. I was doing support on the chat, dealing with any technical problems (thankfully not many!) and questions that arise so Jess can get on with her talk. It went very well.



Wednesday 15th November 2017
I am a member of a Creative Entrepreneurs group which has been so fantastic for me. We meet once a month and talk about our achievements for the month and then set goals for the coming month. Through this group I have started working with the Arienas Collective and will be teaching sessions for them in the coming weeks.
This evening there was a meeting of the group at the Arienas Collective and it was so great. One of the things that can be difficult as an artist, or anyone self-employed, is that it can be very isolating. It was really inspiring to meet more artists based in Edinburgh who all had a similar mindset, it felt great.




Thursday 16th November 2017
Today I saw in an email that there was a desk space available at 3 Hill Street Design House in Edinburgh! This has been my ideal place to get a desk/studio space since I visited for a Creative Edinburgh event a couple of months ago as it's a lovely location, close to home and also in the centre of Edinburgh so excellent for teaching. BUT there were no spaces available and one would only become available if someone left. So I was really excited that I might get the chance to get this much-coveted space. I messaged and was able to visit the space on Thursday.

Friday 17th November 2017
I went along to visit 3 Hill Street Design House and loved it (as I knew I would) and with a small amount of anxiety I asked the price! I'd had a price in my mind that I could go up to and thankfully (it was Thanksgiving yesterday after all!) the price was under that! Phew! So I told Hazel, who deals with managing the space, that I was definitely 100% interested, please please please! But tried to be a bit more cool about it. I may not have succeeded! And then I waited. I decided not to bombard her with annoying emails, who wants to share a space with someone needy? But I kept waiting to hear from her. I knew the desk space would be popular so I just had to hope that I'd made a good first impression.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...