Penola Workshops & Studio Update

I recently travelled to Penola, South Australia, for the Penola Arts Festival. I was invited by Rachael Messenger to do four jewellery-making workshops over two days. It was a great success and a lot of fun!

The classes were aimed at beginners, but seeing the final results, you'd never know that most of the ladies had never made any jewellery before. Each class ran for four hours and students completed a matching set of two jewellery items made in Sterling Silver, with a couple of pieces also incorporating copper.

Rachael was a wonderful hostess (she even cooked us scones!!) and we really had a great time being creative and making lots of noise.

Sterling Silver rings made in class.

Looking forward to doing it again next year !!

Studio Update
Still making progress on the studio, slowy but surely. I have so many workshops planned that I am just dying to get it finished. Still, a good thing takes time and it is looking good.....

The ceiling is up.....lookin' nice

Makin' Progress

Just a quick update on the studio. Gyprock is up and it's looking more and more like a real studio every week. Still a slow process but it's getting there....

It's been getting cooler and we've had some rain...and when there's rain, we get visitors...

Well, like I said, it's just a quick post today. 

See you soon !

Rediscovering Inspiration

Wow, I've been busy....and not in the fun way! Seems there has been so much going on lately that I've been barely able to spend any 'fun' time at the bench. Until last weekend that is..

It's kind of a long story, so stick with me. A few months ago, we had some rain. Not just some rain actually, a whole LOT of rain. This brought out the cicadas, big time. Phil called me outside one day when he found a cicada emerging from its shell on the side of our house. It was fascinating. The wonders of nature never cease to amaze me - how beautiful and complicated some creatures can be. Over the next three hours, we watched the cicada transform from a dirty, creepy looking thing into a stunning, if somewhat alien, creature. Of course, I was there with my camera......

Meanwhile, I'm guessing millions (OK, maybe not millions) of other cicadas were doing the same thing.....and what's a cicada to do after emerging from a long sleep in the ground? Sing, of course!!!

So for weeks, we were driven nuts by the sound of cicada love...really, really nuts...(but let's not go there). Anyway, while walking back to the house from my studio just after Christmas, I found a perfect cicada wing on the ground. The shape and the glimmery iridescence of it really caught my eye and I just had to pick it up and bring it inside. I placed it on my bench, just knowing that this shape would inspire something creative in me. But there was work to do, matters to attend to, the usual day-to-day stuff, and the wing sat there on my bench for weeks.

Last weekend, I was planning some jewellery-making workshops and was working on ideas for non-soldering projects for upcoming classes in South Australia. I saw the wing and sat a while, trying to use the shape for inspiration. Then it hit me. It was perfect just as it was, there was no improving it, no stylising or tweaking neccessary. So I scanned it, actual size, saw-pierced it and came away with the most gorgeous pendant. Sometimes you can try an try to come up with something creative only to find it's been right in front of you the whole time.

I'm so happy with this piece and very pleased to be able to offer it as a half-day workshop, so you too can make your own cicada wing pendant. The project is designed for beginners and will really get you used to using the jewellers saw. Not to mention the compliments you will receive wearing this little beauty, trust me, I've been wearing mine and people comment all the time.

The back plate is brass, but looks just like gold (it will be our secret) and it looks great on a leather cord.

 If you're interested in attending a workshop, or getting a few friends together for your own group session, drop me a line and I'll be happy to give you some details.

Help a Great Cause....

One of my Grafton Artsfest students, Sally, who has also become a good friend, is taking on a massive challenge and riding a push-bike from Sydney to Surfers Paradise. Now, I know what you're thinking.....she's mad!! Well, maybe, but she's going all out for a great cause and that is a wonderful thing (and it kind of cancels out the craziness).

 The Macsim Sydney to Surfers Charity Bike Ride is in its 13th year and raises money for Father Chris O'Reilly's Youth Off The Streets.

Sally leaves on 30th April for the 7 day, 1,000km ride and is hoping to raise $3,000 for Youth Off the Streets. It's a great charity and a huge effort by Sally, so I'm asking you to please be generous, show some support and make a donation. 

Just visit the website and be sure to enter "Sally Spillane" as the supported rider, so the donated funds go to her tally. Let's get her to that $3,000 goal, she's certainly working for it! 

Good luck, Sally.......

I'll post some updates soon on the studio as well as some possible classes that will be available soon.

Thanks for visiting and please check back soon. 

Back for 2011

Well, a slightly belated "Happy New Year" to you. Now that it's mid January, I guess I really should take down my Christmas tree.

I've been working on upgrading and updating my websites these last couple of weeks. Wow, websites are going to be the death of me for sure. As a temporary measure, I have built one of those free websites that are quite easy to deal with while I try and decipher Joomla. Oh my head hurts just thinking about it! Please have a look at the new site here and let me know what you think. Once I get my head around the whole uploading and hosting stuff, hopefully, it will run smoothly, un like the current sites which give me constant grief. I know, you're wondering why I have such problems....well, it's a long story, the short version of which is that I had a lovely lady doing my site building and maintanence. She did a great job, but moved away and due to her explanding business was unable to continue with me. She assured me Joomla was easy and that I could maintain it myself......she overestimated me and now I'm in this pickle. 

The studio is coming along quite well, still a lot to do but it's certainly getting there. We now have bathroom walls and a floor! It's starting to look good, I can't wait.

Workshop Tip:

  When I'm finished using my saw-frame, should I take the blade out or leave it in?

I get asked this fairly often and I have come across many forum discussions about it with both options being pretty evenly recommended. So, I'll put my two cents worth in here and give you my opinion.

Definately leave it in... You'll notice that if you take a blade out of the frame that you have been using for a while, it will have a big bend in it. While the blade is in the frame, it stays straight due to the tension, but it warps once the tension is gone for any length of time. Now, if you put that warped blade back in the frame to use it again it never seems to get back into its right shape and you will find that although the blade looks straight in the frame and "pings" the way it should, your cuts will go off to one side. You'll think you're just having a bad cutting day, but really, it's your blade that just got too used to being relaxed (kinda like us when we get back from holidays!)

Speaking of holidays, we had a great Christmas. As usual we totally pigged out on oysters.

Who pinched the one in the middle???

 

And here's one of my latest jobs, a remodel of an emerald engagement ring.

My client had a traditional claw-set cluster engagement ring with a plain wedding band against it, but wanted to remodel it into something more modern that combined the two rings into one. Protecting the emerald was a big factor as they are quite fragile. I used her original gold, diamonds and gemstones and added a new baguette diamond on the side of the bezel, creating a "secret window" as an quirky design feature.

Thanks for visiting. 

This year I promise to blog more often!! 

Tracy