Edinburgh jeweller

Fancy bezels, prongs and bails online course, Jewellers Academy It's Black Friday again and even before the day arrived there were lots of deals around (and surely more to come). Black Friday is fairly new to the UK but it's always good to look out for a deal! Here are some of the best I've seen for metal clay artists. Do share any I've missed in the comments and I'll add them in Clay, materials and tools Cookson Gold has discounts on clay and tools I haven't seen any other discounts on metal clay but there are a lot of discounts on gemstones and beads out there including Beads Direct and Kernowcraft . Elsilver  also have discounts, it's worth checking out their 25% off offer on dies. Online courses Jewellers Academy has 50% off their courses including 3 metal clay courses. Tip: buy the bundle with Julia Rai's metal clay charms course and my stone setting torch fired course as it's the same cost as my course on its own! There's al...

The lastest issue of Making Jewellery magazine is out now and it’s a metal clay special. I’m really pleased to share that the editor Sian commissioned me to write an article for it on hallmarking metal clay. It is a topic I have spoken on at the You Can Make It residential conference organised by Metal Clay Ltd . To research it I visited the London Assay Office to take a tour (definitely worth getting a tour of your Assay Office if you get the chance, it’s very interesting). My article is on pages 30 and 31 so I hope you have a read! This special issue of Making Jewellery magazine is absolutely fantastic for metal clay artists so do get a copy of it if you can. It’s available from the larger WH Smiths and some supermarkets. If you're not in the UK you can still purchase a digital copy . Artists featured include Anna Mazon , Joy Funnell , Julia Rai , Lisa Cain  and  Tracey Spurgin  and they share some fantastic techniques and projects. Well worth a read.

It was fantastic to see silver clay being featured on Make! Craft Britain on BBC Four this week. In case you missed it, the series showcases two main crafts per episode and this week it included cross stitch and silver clay. Silver clay is a great craft to feature as it is an easy way to make silver jewellery from home with little need for equipment. Jewellery artist Lisa Cain taught the silver clay class from a gorgeous location in Newcastle and it was lovely to see beginners so excited about their work. If you missed it and you're in the UK you can watch the replay on BBC iplayer here until 27th April 2018. Unfortunately, it isn't available to watch outside the UK (the BBC is paid for by a licence fee and you have to be a fee payer to watch). However, they have released this clip of the polishing and burnishing of the final pieces which is available worldwide and you can watch it here (click the link below). How to burnish silver clay   I hope that seeing silv...

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.

There have been a couple of very welcome developments for silver clay artists here in the UK in the last few days. Firstly, Aida have announced that silver clay prices are to be cut between13-14% with immediate effect. This follows an increase of 30% that came into effect on 1st June 2012 (see my blog post on this here ). Art clay is not at the price it was pre-June this year but it is still pleasing to see that prices can go down as well as up! The best price I have found online in the UK today is at www.metalclay.co.uk but make sure you shop around. The other piece of very exciting news is about the Rio Rewards PMC Certificate . It has previously only been available in the US. However, Lisa Cain and Julia Rai from the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery have arranged for it to be taught in the UK in May 2013 by Rio Grande senior instructor Patrik Kusek . Many serious silver clay artists have taken the Art Clay certifications available in the UK but this well recognised PMC...

Yesterday (1/11/11) Mitsubishi announced that they are going to start retailing sterling silver clay . This is an interesting and welcome development in the world of metal clay. Up until now silver clay from all manufacturers has been 999 fine silver. This means that 99.9% of the silver is made up of silver particles, the rest is copper. 999 fine silver can be hallmarked but in the UK 925 sterling silver is still the most widely recognised form of silver. The Metal Clay Academy website is an excellent and impartial resource if you are interested in finding out more about this fantastic material.  The recipe for sterling silver clay was made available earlier this year through the experimentation of Lisa Cain, director of the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery . The full recipe was made freely available when it was published in Volume 2 number 2 issue of Metal Clay Artist magazine . It can be made by blending the correct combination of fine silver clay and copper clay. However, t...

The metal clay community is very excited about the development of sterling silver metal clay. Lisa Cain, who runs the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery, worked hard to develop a sterling silver clay from commercially available silver and copper clay. In the press release Lisa Cain said 'My motivation for developing this new option was the very real need for this type of clay, especially here in the UK where hallmarking laws influence the materials we artists can use credibly in our commercial work.' The recipe, firing schedule and test results will be published in the April edition of Metal Clay Artist magazine (volume 2 issue 2). Lisa has said that she is not interested in making money from her discovery and that her 'interest is set firmly on innovation' and 'artistry in metal clay'. As a student at the MCSJ I was fortunate to see a few pieces that had been made from this clay last week. I am looking forward to reading the full article in the magazine soon. ...