Edinburgh jeweller

I wrote this blog post for the London Jewellery School and I'm pleased with it as it brings together my psychology background and my jewellery business. You can read the original post on the  LJS blog here It is the end of another year. I hope you have had bumper sales this November and December. Now is a good time to spend some time taking stock (metaphorically speaking!) to consider what you have achieved this year and what you want to achieve with your jewellery business in 2015. What has gone well? We often spend a lot of time focussing on the next thing to do and don’t give ourselves the pat on the back we deserve. Give yourself some time to think about 2014. What has gone well this year? What have you achieved? This could be new designs, new skills, sales, social media, pr - anything that has worked well. How do you want to feel? Danielle LaPorte, author of the Desire Map , suggests that when we set new goals we do it backwards. We shouldn’t focus on the goal so ...

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Examples of the types of pieces you can learn to make in the class The silver clay classes are one of my favourite to teach. It’s so magical when someone torch fires their clay for the first time and it turns into silver. One of the things I have noticed while teaching and talking to our students is that many of the metal clayers have no silversmithing experience. It isn’t necessary for making basic metal clay pieces. However, once the metal clay is fired it can be treated in the same way as any silver including hammering, shaping and soldering, so understanding what you can be done with the silver can really broaden horizons. Soldering is a traditional silversmithing skill that take a bit of practice and know-how but once you’ve got it you can make much more complex pieces. So I pitched a new one day class to the manager of the jewellery school and she has agreed to try it out!  In this new one day class, you will learn how to solder earring posts onto stud earr...

Own-It I have recently had a request for some one to one jewellery business advice. Most of the request was pretty straightforward but I was asked something quite complex about copyright of digital images purchased and used in jewellery. This was a little above my legal knowledge (!) but a colleague recommended I check out Own It . Own-it is a UK based site that has a large knowledge bank of FAQs and factsheets for commonly asked questions, podcasts and videos about intellectual property and the creative industries. If your question is not answered on any of these you can register with them for free and ask an expert. You submit your query along with photos (if appropriate). This is what I am going to recommend my client does. It's a straightforward useful resource for those difficult questions. Take a look

Source After a break of a few months my sweetie jewellery is back on sale in the We Make London  boutique in Camden Lock market . The shop is open every day from 10.30-6pm and also features some gorgeous goodies from lots of lovely British-based designers. If you are in London Camden is quite a place to visit so I hope you can pop in! Address: 3 Camden Lock Place, West Yard, London, NW1 8AF

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I've been blogging for the London Jewellery School again. This is a reblog from a couple of interviews I did with some students. Click here for the original blog post   I am a tutor and mentor for the one year  Diploma in Creative Jewellery  here at the London Jewellery School. The course is taught one day per week over three terms. In one of the groups that I mentor, men outnumber the women 3 to 1. This group are currently in their third term and will be finishing the course and exhibiting their work soon. I spoke to Andrew Tills, one of the students in the group. What attracted you to the diploma course? The course touches on several styles and concepts which can be used in making jewellery – no matter what budget you’re targeting What work were you doing before starting the course? I was a catering manager/chef. Which jewellery medium/s do you prefer working in and why? Both glass fusion and silver work. Glass brings colour to my work without breaki...