New Work

These past couple of weeks I have been concentrating on raising and making small, wearable vessels. Today I finished 2 bracelets, the first one has 3 bands which I have hammered to give texture. I have then attached the tiny vessel using a ring which also holds the 3 bands in place.

 

Close up of the vessel

The second is only one band using a thicker piece of silver, I have hammered it to shape and flatten certain parts to give it an interesting look. This one also has a tiny vessel attached.

I have really enjoyed making these and getting back in to raising, I will be continuing along this path and in the next few weeks I will be making more as well as designing some larger vessels like my previous condiment sets.

Time flies!

Where has July gone? Time has really flown by since new designers. It has been a strange month, with no more uni I have been working more and not really making, the need for regular money coming in has pushed making to one side. I have now sorted a fairly regular working pattern if that's possible with shift work and will now be able to do 2 or even 3 days in the workshop a week. This makes me feel better. 

I have made a start with some simple earrings, here they are, nearly finished 

I have also been out and about looking for inspiration, there are a lot of seed pods around and really interesting forms, I do live visiting the gardens in Cornwall.

So I am looking forward to getting back into the workshop next week. 

Right now however I am on the way to the airport, as I am off to Rome today :-) very excited :-)

Home sweet home

So I am back home in Cornwall after a rather hectic week in London for New Designers, it was an amazing experience and I met some great people and made some good contacts. 

I was really happy to find a letter with my work from New Designers saying that they liked my work and inviting me to apply for 1 year on next year.

I will share some of the amazing makers I met in the next few days 

Xx

Update!

So I haven't been very active on here, where does time go?
I handed my final module in at the end of May, then I had to prepare for a presentation about my work. After that I think we were meant to relax. I forgot! I've been working (my normal day job), spending some time in my workshop, making and have squeezed in some time at the gym!

Well, here is my work all handed in

Oh well!

So I haven't posted for a while as I have been really busy making. With only 8 workshop days left I'm putting everything I can in to the final pieces. Unfortunately today my bowl I was raising developed some air bubbles, after a chat with my tutors they think it could be caused by contamination. There's no fixing it so it will have to be abandoned. This makes me sad yet quite relieved, one less thing to be worrying about! Will post some new pictures soon :-)

Bowls

I'm a little behind in my making at the moment as I had a few issues when raising the silver, I have only ever made one tiny silver bowl so I'm learning how far I can push the silver when raising. So a few holes and splits and a little frustration later I have 2 almost finished bowls. 

Quick trip to London!

I caught the night train up to London last night so I could visit the Festival of Silver exhibition at the Goldsmiths' Centre. There are some amazing silversmiths' work being exhibited. It's good to see the work up close instead of images on the internet. I know I have a long way to go before I'm as good as these guys!  

Here's some of the work of Rebecca Joselyn. She is interest in unwanted throwaway packaging and its negative impact on our environment and has developed a range of tableware for the home. 

I love her little spoons, they are so perfectly made. 

progress

So I've been working hard to get all my work done. We have deadlines every 3 weeks where we need to have between 3 and 10 pieces made. for the last deadline I had a 4 pieces made that have been inspired by something I found in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park.
Here it is....

A lot of my pieces have been inspired by this find, it was the only one in the whole of the grove that I could find. By using fold forming and doming I have created my first range of jewellery pieces.

                          

Silver bullion grant

A couple of weeks ago I submitted some designs to my tutors and was chosen by them and the Goldsmiths' Company to be given the Goldsmiths' student silver bullion grant. This means they give me £400 to buy silver and pay for hall marking to make my designs. This is very exciting, my work will be on display at New Designers in London with a special sign to say that I received the silver bullion grant and a representative from the Goldsmith' Company will come to see me on the evening of the private view to talk about my work. 

So this week my first order if silver arrived :-)

So nice to be able to make so much in silver at one time. I would never have been able to buy all this without the grant. Now I had better get making!

Getting in the swing

So having set this up so long ago I have finally decided to start blogging! Thought it would be a good idea as I am in my final year at uni. With only 4 months to go the pressure is on. Dissertation has been handed in so the next 3 months will be solid making which makes me very happy :-) 

Here's a couple of things I've made so far this year.......

I fell in love with raising, which is when you start with a flat sheet of metal and using a raising stake, hammer around in circles to shape the metal into vessel. It's incredibly satisfying to see what you can make from a single flat sheet. These 2 bowl are tiny, as you can see, they fit in a bit of a conker shell. I am in the process of developing them in silver and they will be used to hold herbs, spices and other condiments. 

This necklace has also been made by raising, I am developing a range of jewellery as well as my silverware that will be made with a combination of raising and fold forming techniques.

So watch this space!