Edinburgh jeweller

I am very proud to say that this week I took and passed the Rio Rewards PMC certification (PMC stands for precious metal clay). It was run in the UK for the first time ever - it had previously only ever been taught in the States. The three day course was taught by Patrik Kusek at the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery . On the course we had to make seven pieces to the correct standard - a pen, two pairs of earrings, two rings, a tetrahedron and a carved pendant. It was a lot to get done in the time but I learnt a great deal from Patrik and my fellow students on the course. By passing the Rio certification I also achieved the Higher Diploma in Metal Clay from the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery. I am very happy that these two dreams have finally been realised and I feel I can really develop my skills with metal clay now.

Ring, resin charm, domed earrings, leaf charm, bezel set pendant The final day of the intermediate course. Sandra and I arrived at about 9.10 and got started straight away. There was a lot of finishing to do! Everything had come out of the kiln OK which was a relief! I spent a lot of time on my bezel set stone pendant. I really don't like it! But at least it passed in the end. I had to raise the stone up slightly with copper wire to get it to sit right - such a nightmare! Took three attempts! It polished up pretty well and is slightly reminiscent of a peacock feather which was the plan. I don't think I'll be doing a bezel setting again! We had to make some domed earrings which was done by laying the clay over ping pong balls. I used a cuttlefish as a texture and I was quite pleased with it but unfortunately it didn't pass because the texture on the two earrings are so different. I then had a nightmare when drilling them, the hole is not in the right place. So I sus...

Carved earrings, leaf charm and ring from day one Today we made a bezel for a stone set pendant. It's not my kind of thing really! It hasn't gone well. We made our own texture from an eraser (the type that you stick on the end of a pencil), that was easy to do and effective. The bezel part was just annoying! And ended up going through the clay so I had to make another piece to stick the bezel in. Hopefully it will fire OK. We also chose a glittery glass cabochon to make into a pendant. I always pick blue! I can't help it. We made the pendant and I learnt how to catch the glass with clay so that it will stay on and also how to fire silver and glass. That was something new and I was glad to get a chance to try that out. We also learnt how to weave PMC paper clay. I was looking forward to learning this and then made a very basic error, cutting my paper clay the wrong way. This meant that I had loads less than everyone else. Undeterred I went for a complicated twill weavin...

I've had quite a busy creative week this week! Etsy UK I went along to the Etsy UK meet up in London on Wednesday 12th January. I went on my own but soon found people to chat to. It was interesting to meet some people who were new to Etsy like me and some old hands. I do recommend signing up for the Etsy UK mailing list as you do get info on interesting goings on and inspirational interviews Random quotes on my blog I have added a random quote generator to my blog which appears at the top of the page, below the banner. I am a quote collector and always enjoy art that includes quotations. I would love to include quotes in my own work but they will have to be short ones so they will fit onto jewellery! I have added over 100 quotes to my random quote generator so every time you refresh the page you should see a new one. This photo shows an example of the kind of art work I love that includes quotes. Unfortunately I am not sure who the artist is but this was on display, with other wo...