Today I headed off to Edinburgh with one aim: to see the show of work by the wonderful Judy Clark and her twin sister, Christine. I've written of Judy before - commissioning a…

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Harriete Estel Berman & Betty Talbott spoke  about the "grassroots" collection on Jay Whaley Metalsmith Bench Talk.

Betty Talbott is the Director of the …

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Some readers might remember that in February of this year, I spent an evening in Dundee for the launch of Kate Pickering's fantastic project, Vanilla Ink, a shop, a community, a support network, a workshop. Today was the first day of the workshop project going live, the first intake of real graduates into the year-long mentor-supported world of…

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End of another academic year, I've cleared my bench of everything to allow the summer-school lecturer to use it. As some of you already know, I am off to PITTSBURGH next week and will be at the SCC for a short while. I'm always keen to meet other metalsmiths: feel free to get in touch if you are able to meet…

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I've been working intently on a couple of projects for the last few days. As I sit at my bench, late on a Sunday evening,my perspective changes from the very focused 3 x 3 inch window of my optivisors to the full scope of my bench. CARAMBA! What happened!?

I had to go to Ormskirk yesterday, a lovely little town in rural Lancashire, from where I was buying a new CAD/CAM mill second-hand. The workshop which housed the mill was tiny and appeared to only seat two setters. I particularly enjoyed one of the setter's benches:

 …

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As mentioned in the fist tutorial, for the second installment of my 4 processes/projects a month (4PAM) is about how to keep kinetic metal clay components from fusing together in the kiln. If you aren't familiar with metal clay, in order for the clay to sinter, burn off the binder, and become solid metal, the temperature will range from 1100F to 1800F. Often this means touching components won't move after firing, or the surfaces where they were touching will be marred. This simple solution…

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Well, the students are back and their usual daft fun has begun. I came into the workshop today to find this on my benchpeg:

A present from Sweden. Unfortunately, the new students who don't quite have the same…

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Now that I am a full time artist and am not in school I have decided to post my research, experiences and goings on in relation to my art, design, photography, jewellery etc on here, for you the people. I have always enjoyed researching but found it a nuisance to organize my research in a way that teachers, professors, and academics in general could follow my thought process. Now that I am 'free' I am finding myself wanting to record my research in a way that the public…you….can enjoy it. So if… Continue