Merry Christmas

and a very creative and happy new year to everyone

The walk to work

Ok, so first of all it is not really a walk at all as I only have to come out of the house door (the nearest one in the photo) and into the studio door which is just before the larger house, where my outdoor light is showing against the wall!  This is the view this morning though.  As you can see myself and my partner have already been backwards and forwards a few times - in his case this is to make sure my fire is lit and that the place is nice and warm.  I somehow just can't work at all if I am cold.  I have been in and made a couple of beads this morning but have spent the rest of the day back home doing stuff on the computer....... it is the last Sunday before Christmas anyway so I don't feel any great compulsion to produce a lot of work at the moment.  Having said that, I have lots of ideas for things that I want to try out so am hoping for a few peaceful days now over the holidays and if it keeps snowing like this I won't be able to go anywhere even if I want to.

Snow, ice and precious bones

Here is my bracelet inspired by the Scoresby collection in Whitby Museum.  The bracelet is call Snow, Ice and Precious Bones.  The glass beads are inspired by Captain Scoresby Junior's detailed drawings of snowflakes and the silver beads are based upon a number of pieces of whale bone that were on display in the recent exhibition on whaling.

Magic of metal clay

On her second day in the studio my student Margaret made a beautiful ring.  Unfortunately my photograph doesn't really show it to its full advantage.  It has two overlapping layers and beautiful areas of contrast in textures and polished highlights.  The stone was actually a very pale creamy colour and there is a second brilliant clear stone which hasn't shown up at all (sorry Margaret!)

Anyway, I hope she enjoyed her two days as much as I did.  She worked really hard and produced lovely work finished to a high standard - I'm sure that ring would fit me.......

New work, new student

I have had a lovely couple of days teaching an introduction to art clay silver to an enthusiastic student.  Margaret has produced some beautiful work.  The top leaf shaped piece is her first and is oxidised.  For her second project she chose to make these beautiful earrings which she then enhanced using the keum boo technique of applying gold to the surface of the silver.  The third piece is based on the pendant by Alcina Nolley in the new Metalclay Artist Magazine.  My magazine had just arrived and we were flicking through it during our tea break and both loved the look of this project which is the perfect addition to the selection of ideas I have available to my new students, so thank you to Alcine and to Metalclay Artist Magazine.  I can see it will be a very useful tool on my workbench.

Crafts at the Castle

I have been down to Warwick this weekend for the annual 'Crafts at the Castle' craft fair. This year the stands were all inside the beautiful rooms of the castle, so it had a great atmosphere. Here is a photo of the Great Hall taken at a quiet moment.

My sister Ceri helped me, so we had a lovely weekend away together too.

The first photograph with the Christmas tree has my stand to the right hand side of the picture with Ceri sitting behind it. We were place in front of a very large and dramatic fire place which gave us a bit more space than behind some of the other stands.

The second photograph is the view from our stand with a fabulous array of armour and weapons displayed on the wall at the end of the room.

It was a very impressive venue. Some stands were in other rooms, one of which had amazing chandeliers.

We had a busy weekend with good sales and finished off with a quick visit and lunch at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Monday on the way home.

Back to work in the studio today though.....