One-Day Workshop Coming Soon : Canberra

For those of you who are wishing to get some hands-on jewellery making experience, good news!

I will be holding one-day workshops in Canberra in the very near future. You can make a fully-finished sterling silver jewellery item in just one day.... One project is the Flower Ring pictured on the right side of this page. Set with a cabochon garnet, this delightful ring will certainly impress your friends. Why not enrol and make it for your Mum.....Mothers day is not too far away. Better still, enrol WITH your Mum and spend an enjoyable day of creativity together.

Other project options will include sterling silver pendant with cabochon Jasper, or two tone earrings using sterling silver and copper. If you have something particular in mind, let me know. Classes will run with minimum of four students, so why not get a few friends together and make a day of it.


More information will be coming soon, but if you are interested in attending a workshop, email me now and let me know your preferred day (weekday or weekend, day or evening) and any preference in terms of projects.

Stay tuned for more details..........

Turning over a Silver Leaf.....

It's been funny lately... seems I'm doing dribs and drabs of all sorts of things, but not getting anything finished. Don't you hate that feeling ?? So today, I sat down at my bench, determined to do something from start to finish without getting sidetracked.

A few weeks ago (maybe longer..) I made a few wax pieces. There was no urgency to get them cast, so I gave them to a friend of mine who has a casting set-up at home and whom I know does a good job. Last week, he returned my waxes in silver. Yayyy !

When the silver model comes back, there is still quite a bit of work left to do cleaning up and polishing, so I spent this afternoon doing just that.

Here's a picture of the waxes. The one on the left is the one I had cast.

The wax comes in thin sheets.

I heat the wax gently until it's just softened and then press a real leaf into it and allow the wax to reset. Then I carefully cut around the leaf with a scalpel. The leaf is then peeled away and some strengthening pieces are added to the back if needed. This leaf is actually a tomato leaf out of my garden.

When the cast leaf comes back, it needs a lot of work smoothing edges, shaping, adding a bail and polishing, but the end result is amazing.

I'm really happy with how this one turned out. It looks great on the leather necklace.

Another job I started and finished today was a sample for an upcoming workshop (see pic below). This class is specifically designed for beginners. It incorporates all of the basic silversmithing skills and comes together quickly once the components are made. By completing this project, students will have learned the basics of sawing, filing, soldering, shaping, texturing, polishing and design skills, in just one day....Phew!! Sorry the picture is not too good, I was running out of daylight by the time I was ready to photograph. All of the silver components of the bracelet are handmade, even the fancy silver bead!

If you're interested in paticipating in a beginners workshop, drop me a line. I'm also looking at holding some open day workshops (bring your own project, or something you're having trouble with) and also some set-project workshops in Canberra in the coming months, so once again, if you're interested, let me know and I'll send you details and dates once they're finalised.

Well, that's about it for this entry. Must be wine o'clock by now !!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back soon.

Happy New Year !!

Wow, 2009 already.. Where does the time go?
I had a wonderful Christmas with my family and made my very first Gingerbread House. To be honest, it may well be my last too. Don't get me wrong, it was fun, but so time consuming. Of course, I am perhaps a bit too fussy when it comes to this sort of thing. Well, I was at first... but, being Christmas, the champagne was flowing, so after a while I became somewhat more 'relaxed' about the whole thing.

Everyone got in on the action. Mum helped with the design and construction, Dad added the reindeer in the chimney and assisted with the 'disposal' of unused licorice allsorts and freckles. My boyfriend, Phil, made toffee for the windows and we had little lights inside. It looked spectacular at night. When it came time for the demolition, the boys got to work, rigging up a golf ball on a string pinned to the roof....a miniature, dimpled wrecking ball!


Anyway, Christmas over, it's time to get back into things. My creativity seems to be on overdrive at the moment, although getting all that 'stuff' out of my head and onto the bench is another story. I'm developing some new workshops, which I hope to be holding in both Canberra and Moruya at some point in the first half of the year. I am also looking at moving house, with the aim of setting up a permanent workshop for regular classes. Of course, Grafton Artsfest is on again this year as well.

I have also been working on some new Snake Jewellery designs and have been doing some wax-carving, which is a lot of fun.

The Australian Frog and Reptile Expo will be on again in May and I hope to be there again this year with a whole bunch of new designs.


Well, I think that's it for this post. I'll leave you with a photograph I took recently of a big moth that took a liking to a red t-shirt on my washing line. Being a keen, but very amateur, photographer I had to take his photo before moving him to a more appropriate spot. I'm amazed at the macro shots my digital camera takes. This moth was about 8cm long, quite large and he was the hairiest little thing I've ever seen!