It is cold and has done nothing but rain all weekend here so I spent the day at my engraving bench working on one of the elements for Future Legend. I'm fairly pleased with the way this came out as it is the first piece of scroll engraving I've designed and engraved myself all the way through:

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It's funny how one thing going wrong can eclipse everything else which went right!

I've had that happen today. I picked up working on Future Legend again, having given it a break to get on with Fashion:Victim for a while. (Fashion:Victim is at an impasse as I am waiting for a jet carving to be made for it and for some stones to be sourced!) 

Future Legend has been nearly completed for some time now, so it should be a matter of…

Brooch for current exhibition"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor" at Artisan gallery in QLD, Australia

Mild Steel, silver 925, steel: Martyn Nellie Constance was a pioneer business woman in steel industry and she was very successful despite her father’s initial doubt about her because she was a woman.  When…

Buda exhibition in Victoria, Australia- silver 925, onyx, coral

I left the workshop tonight, fully intending to spend the evening engraving but found, instead, that my bike had a puncture and, worse, that I had packed the wrong pump (Presta not Schrader) in my rucksack, so it took me almost twice as long to get home and now I have no time to engrave... Still, I've got the piece (a part of Future Legend) in the vice, ready for tomorrow, then I am going to have to patch my inner-tube. Bah!

The somewhat odd title of this…

more form variation on one necklace-2010…

Using different size of perforated mild steel and silver 925.

DO YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW POSSES MANY TALENTS?…

Over the course of the next nine months I will be living and working in Amsterdam. 

I am conducting research as a Kate…

Whirlwind upon whirlwind! Seems like just yesterday I was at the ACC Fort Mason show in my new "garden" store of LEGO® wonder! Well, this weekend you can find me for the first time at Artspan SF Open Studios for the Mission District Weekend 1. Ten members of the …

I didn't really get a lot done today. Too busy dealing with other things and the students!

I did make a mould of the pewter hawk's foot, using a 2-part silicone rubber compound and making it into a 2-part mould by a very rough-and-ready technique:

I used this stuff before and it is…

It struck me today that I have been using a tip bench trick for ages now which I have selfishly not shared with anyone, not out of malice or self-interest, but simply because I use it so very regularly that it never entered my head until one of the students mentioned today how unusual it was. The idea originally came from another one of my students who asked me why there are no tube cutters for jewellery of the sort plumbers use to cut pipes. Her partner is a plumber and he gave me a…

Just back from a long weekend in Brighton.

And back into the workshop for more on Fashion:Victim. Both the ball elements are nearly ready for development into finished pieces. The hinges are completely on one and the other has the main structural elements for the hinge in place - should be hinged…

Recently, I was a juror for an exhibition using CaFE for entry and for review of the submissions.

It was a real eye opening experience to be on the other side of the CaFE curtain discussed in previous posts here on Crafthaus and ASK Harriete.

In SEVERAL posts on ASK Harriete , I will make specific suggestions to help artists…

One of my students is so hard up just now that he is selling off his gemstones. Normally, I love buying gemstones, but this felt like I was doing something wrong. Still, I gave the (fair) prices asked, so nobody lost out. It is just sad that it has come to this. Hardly surprising as precious metal prices rocket, though I was amazed to see that silver was actually higher in 1980 than it is now, something I only just remember. It was 1980 when the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the market.…

Join 10 artists from the Metal Arts Guild for Artspans annual Open Studios

OPENING RECEPTION Friday September 30th 6 - 8

Open Saturday Oct 1st from 12 - 7

Open Sunday Oct 2nd from 12 - 5

If anyone is going to SOFA Chicago please stop by Urban Glass and check out Foster & Malone. That would be me and my fantastic colaborating artist/friend Charlene Foster. This is my first show ever and I'm sooo excited. I will post pics as soon as they are done.

<-----Logo (top- alchemy symbol for…

One of the other lecturers at work found this hammer in a cupboard in the engineering department:

It's a bit rough-and-ready, but I can easily dress it and make it into a decent raising hammer. I especially like the label on it:

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Recently I was a juror for a show. The jury submissions and review used CaFE, an online jury review service.

While I have used CaFE as an artist many times to submit my work for a juried situation, this was my first time as a juror using this service.

ASK Harriete will reveal the "behind the scenes" difficulties and…