Beads Beads Beads !!!

Its time for The British Bead Awards !! Last year I entered two categories – The Metal Clay Category which I won, with my “Pod Ring”, and the Lampwork Beads Category. My beads named “Liberty” are pictured below and made it into the finals.

I am looking forward to setting aside a little more time to spend on my lampwork beads, which I’ll use to make my favorite style – DOTTY beads!!!

Ive also got a rather long tube of silver which needs to be put to good use! So I think I  shall also be making more of these

Wedding Fever

Well, its a weekend full of weddings for me. Today – like so many others I watched the Royal Wedding on TV and was actually really touched by the whole thing. But that’s not the only reason that weddings are on my mind at the moment. A while ago I was commissioned to make the wedding rings of a dear friend of mine and her partner.  They are to be married tomorrow – and in fact I am giving their rings to them as a gift.  Here they are ……….

Now the only thing left for me to figure out is what on earth to wear. I am wondering if I would have been able to get away with any of the incredible head gear that was on show in today’s Royal Wedding …… my guess is probably not…….    but it would have been fun trying My bag will be packed with tissues – as after welling up today I’m not confident I’ll keep the tears at bay tomorrow!!

These rings will be added to the Flickr Ring A Week pool – which if you havent seen you really should check out ! I was a late joiner – but am so glad I joined the pool. My last ring was my first attempt at playing with Resin after wanting to play with it for so long ! Here it is (please excuse the blue tack)

I need to thank Deanne Holden for finally taking the plunge into resin as she had been playing with it for a while…..  and if you haven’t checked out the stunning work on the Ring a Week Pool you can do so here.

Holly Gage is coming to Edinburgh

Its a stunning day here in Edinburgh and the sunshine is making me think of the summer….. when the fantastic Holly Gage will be coming to Edinburgh to teach two amazing workshops in Metal Clay!

 

On the 25th & 26th of August she will be teaching her Repousse Effects in Metal Clay. Ever since I’ve been working with  metal clay I have been a huge admirer of Holly’s work, and I remember marveling at her stunning pieces of jewellery and thinking “how did she do that?”.  In this course Holly will share exactly how she transforms a picture of photograph into stunning focal pieces like these……….

 

Then on the 27th & 28th of August she will teach her “Elegant Meadow Pods” course, showing us how to make  beautiful silver pods like this one….

 

Its become something of a tradition now to have a guest Artist come and teach for Art Clay Scotland. Back in 2008 Sherri Haab visited us teaching her Image Transfer Techniques. She returned later to teach the UK’s first ever workshop in BronzClay

Then in August 2009 Robert Dancik came to teach how to use his Faux Bone…

and in the December Hattie Sanderson came to teach her first ever workshops in the UK to a full house…

 

returning to us last July …….

and then last October the fabulous Gordon Uyehara came all the way from Hawaii just for us . Here he is with one of our team – Deanne Holden.

I am so excited that Holly accepted our invitation to come to Edinburgh, and cant wait to meet her again.  Four days of learning new techniques with one of the most highly regarded artists in the field…… roll on August !!!

 

My blog has been a little neglected, but as it has been mentioned again in the free online Magazine “Metal Clay Today” I thought now may be a good time to get back into blogging    If you are not familiar with the magazine then you can check it out here.

If  you follow my Art Clay Scotland face book page then you will know that quite a lot has been going on, but if you haven’t then I think the most exciting news I have to share is that “30 Minute Rings” by Lark Jewelry Books was finally posted through my letter box a little while ago.  Not so exciting I suppose, until you consider that one of the projects in the book IS MINE !! I ripped open the package filled with nervous excitement and was thrilled to see my rings! Of the 60 projects there are two featuring metal clay – here are mine ….

and the other by Lora Hart…. 

Both Tonya Davidson and Lorena Angulo have posted book reviews, and I am really proud to be in such a great publication! 

There I did it! First blog post in a long time!! Now back to my day, which will be spent  trying to ignore the wind and horrible rain as I finish off a wedding ring commission….

First Place in the British Bead Awards!!

I am thrilled to say I came first place in the Metal Clay category of the British Bead Awards 2010 for my Pod Ring! Last year I was placed second with my piece “Shield of Light” so I really felt nervous this year so when I heard on Saturday that I came first place I was really chuffed!! I still had to wait to see it up on the British Bead Awards Web site to really believe it!!

 

Second place in the metal clay category went to Melissa Lee and third place to Karen Irwin. All the details can be seen here.

I believe that Issue 24 of Bead Magazine will feature all the winners. Congratulations to everyone who won an award, and to those who entered!!

 

Master Class with Gordon Uyehara

I’m still recovering from a fantastic weekend with Gordon Uyehara. Hosting the course and having a house full of friends staying over meant it was a busy weekend, and I loved every minute of it!

Gordon landed in Edinburgh, after a very very long journey from Hawaii, early on Thursday morning. I took him on a little tour of Edinburgh to stretch his legs I was thrilled to have been blessed with a beautiful day after a week of rain. I’m not sure Gordon was so impressed with the Scottish weather, mind you, it was a bit chilly in the shade…. I showed Gordon the Castle, the Royal Mile (where we found a very aptly named restaurant), Holyrood Palace, Scottish Parliament & Arthur’s Seat.

Friday was spent setting up the workshop which kicked off on Saturday morning at 9am.  I’d asked Gordon to teach his beautiful Naupaka pendant after falling in love with it as soon as I saw it! The course was fully booked and excitement levels were high as Gordon started to demonstrate.

So off we all went to start on our own pieces. It was a challenging project, taking two days to complete but everyone did a great job. The concentration levels were unlike any Ive seen before in a workshop, with us all holding our breath at one stage or another as we joined the piece together.

On Sunday afternoon Gordon began to fire the pieces that were ready. All of them came out beautifully. The majority of us chose to oxidize the pendant after a brass brushing, to give it that “Gordon” finish. Here is a shot of most of the finished pieces.

I have always loved Gordon’s work and I am so thrilled that he agreed to come to Edinburgh to teach for us. Thanks to everyone who came along and made it a really memorable weekend.

All the pictures from the weekend are up on my face book Art Clay Scotland page which you can find here.

Holly Gage’s Calendar

I am totally thrilled to be included in The Art and Design of Metal Clay Jewelry 2011 published by Holly Gage.

This year Holly was joined by 3 prominent jewelry and metal clay artists: Lisa Cain, Robert Dancik, Julia Rai to jury the publication. Erin Meharg, Holly’s apprentice, assisted in the process as well.  Incredibly Holly received more than 300 submissions. 41 artists were chosen – I share a page with Gordon Uyehara !!!! Here is a screen shot of the page..

I have to admit that this ring is one of my favorite things Ive ever made…… it means alot to know that other artists who I respect and admire so much like it too!! Here is a bigger picture of the ring…

And I wasnt the only one from the UK to get in, my friends are in there too!! Lesley Messam, Tracey Spurgin, Nicola Calllow, Joy Funnell and Laragh McMonagle all have stunning pieces of jewellery in there too!! The Calender is released at the end of October. Check out a sneak preview of it and pre-order it from Holly here http://www.hollygage.com/pages/theartanddesignofmetalclayjewelrycalendar.html