Edinburgh jeweller

This blog post was originally written for the London Jewellery School blog I often find that inspiration can come when I am away from home and without my jewellery making equipment! When we travel we see new places, people and things that can inspire us. We may also stumble upon a beautiful bead shop as I did recently when we made a trip to Murano, Venice. So, to capitalise on this inspiration I take a small sketchbook and pencil as well as taking lots of photos! I also have a little travel kit of jewellery making tools and supplies that I take if I want to make while I’m away from home. It consists of Tools Pliers Chain nosed pliers Round nosed pliers Cutters I tend just to take these pliers. If I have space I also take flat nosed pliers as they are really best for opening jump rings. The little case I put everything in is the smallest sized packing square from travelon, you can find a link to it here .   I only work with full sized tools. I know you...

This post was first published by the London Jewellery School  on their blog If you’re not familiar with publisher Lark Crafts ‘ 500 series ’ of books then you’re in for a treat. Each book features 500 gorgeous pieces of contemporary craft following a theme and with titles such as 500 rings and 500 pendants and lockets (among others) there are lots (and lots!) of gorgeous pieces to inspire. The latest book gives us even more - 1000 beads . Beads have been made and worn for at least 40,000 years with many beautiful examples being found at archaeological digs. The importance of jewellery and adornment through the centuries has been demonstrated with beads being found in graves and featured in art including sculpture. The latest offering from Lark Crafts is an enchanting book to flick through or pore over featuring beads made from artists from all over the world (including Lynne Glazzard from Yorkshire whose silver clay, enamel and glass lampwork beads feature on the f...

As I teach on some of the business courses at the London Jewellery School  I was asked to write a little piece on blogging for Make and Sell Jewellery magazine . It has now been published! I am looking forward to getting a copy of the magazine for myself.  The London Jewellery School is running a business week promotion this week and are offering 20% off all day and taster business courses:  http://buff.ly/1dq8CTL  - plus the Business Bookcamp:  http://buff.ly/1dq8CTM  if you book between 2 and 9 February 2014. To get your discount call 020 3176 0345 and book your class quoting BIZWEEK20. Find out more here:  http://buff.ly/1dq8B24

I've been playing around with a free online photo editing programme called  picmonkey . You upload your own images, play around with them and then add quotes (like the one above). It's a fantastic, easy to use tool, particularly for blogging and pinterest . This is a photo taken by Gary  in my home town. I love it and am pleased with the quote I chose. It's actually harder that you'd think to choose quotes to go with an image! My tip is that I have found it best to find the quote first and then find an image to go with it. Do have a look at picmonkey. It's free (although there is a paid option we haven't used it for this image). We've enjoyed an afternoon playing with it! Let me know what you create by adding a link to the comments section below.

I have written a blog post for the London Jewellery School blog entitled Your January jewellery business to do list See the full post here

I am pleased to be one of the guest speakers for the London Jewellery School Members Networking Event on Friday 29th June, 6.30-9pm. I will be speaking about using social media to boost your business - no matter whether you are just starting up or an established jewellery business. The event is only available to members but there is still time to join. The cost is only 22 pounds and you receive a lot of benefits including - a free taster class gift voucher (worth 42 pounds) - tickets to networking events (like this one!) - members listing on the LJS website and more Hope to see you there!

I am a tutor at the London Jewellery School , teaching on the PR for your Jewellery Business course . The class has been really popular and I'm proud to say there have been some very positive comments from the students that have already attended. In fact, the LJS have already added an extra date to the calendar because of interest from jewellery entrepreneurs. The class runs for 2.5 hours and covers how to promote your jewellery business using a variety of methods (mostly free!) including twitter, blogs, facebook etc. The dates that are currently scheduled for this year are Monday 28th May Tuesday 24th July Friday 26th October Monday 3rd December The class runs from 6.30-9pm on the above dates. For more information please click here I wrote this blog post for the LJS blog about setting up a jewellery business  with some hints and tips for setting up a jewellery business cheaply. I'm pleased to say that the blog post was published on the London Jewellery School blog t...

 I am sharing this really interesting blog post written by Alison Lee of Craftcast . 'CRAFTCAST™ is the number 1 leading website for hosting LIVE online classes with the top workshop teachers in their creative fields, as well as offering complete class recordings for sale as an immediate download. CRAFTCAST, the podcast, has had over 750,000 downloads with thousands of people attending the live online classes.' I have taken a few Craftcast classes and I love the amount that is covered in them and being able to watch them again. The link to the original blog post is below.   CRAFTCAST: 5 Things the Artist in you can stop worrying about right NOW!

PR for your jewellery business course The London Jewellery School has a new tutor - me! I am really excited to announce that I will be teaching PR for your Jewellery Business for the London Jewellery School this year. Last year I taught Social Networking for Artists at the Mary Ward Centre. The course was full and will be running again. Social networking and pr are very popular subjects with business owners and, with some helpful tips, you can improve how you promote your business and connect with your customers. So if you want to know how to write an effective press release and who to send it to how to use a business twitter and facebook account effectively to connect with your customers how to promote your products and website Do please book onto this evening taster class. I look forward to meeting you