Somehow it is approaching the end of January and looking at my last blog post, Christmas and New Year seem so far away. I've been incredibly busy working on lots of small projects - largely re-stocking after pre-Christmas sales both…

I think the whole arts world knew about the fire in the Glasgow School of Art, the functional art-school building by Charles Rennie Mackintosh which was SO fit for purpose in the early 1900s that it is…

Further to my last post, I now present some work by Stephanie Mearns, visible on the left of this shot of Andrew and Anita Neilson:

Her work uses biological…

Lots going on in the workshop in the last few weeks but I'll start off with the completed pictures of Fashion:Vitcim by the incredible Andrew Neilson at…

Since my last post, spring can definitely be said to have arrived and the Easter break saw sunshine all day and every day except the last. It is great to be seeing the sky still slightly light at 9pm and to feel the warmth in the…

Over the last week, I've just discovered two amazing resources for jewellers which are based in Scotland.

I've been working - as many of you know - on my "Fashion:Victim" piece for the ACJ…

Another two weeks has passed since my last entry. I envy those people who manage to make time to blog regularly and always feel slightly guilty when I realise that I've not posted for a week,…

What a crazy ten days! The highlight of which was definitely a long weekend in Rome, a city I have not visited since I was in school, aged 15. I went to Rome for the weekend to see the impressive exhibition "Il Tesoro Di Napoli", a collection of objects from the Museum of San Gennaro in Naples…

People familiar with my work may be surprised to learn that I use CAD (Rhino, primarily) as a design tool and that quite often, elements of my work are made using CAM processes, such as 3D milling of wax which is then cast in precious metals. My own approach to these technologies is not unique and while I don’t use them as a primary method of production, there are many makers who do – Janet Huddie,…

My first inkling of the impending festive season... I've been invited to make a precious decoration for the ACJ show at Goldsmiths' Hall! The Goldsmiths' Hall already have their own line of decorations. Mine will be somewhat different, using some of my beloved sewing-machine needles: 

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I have no idea what happens to my time. Another two-week hiatus since my last blog post, during which time I've been invited to help with writing the "definitive book on soldering for jewellers", found out that one of my pieces is featured on the cover of a new book on stone-setting, bought a new CAD/CAM mill, sold several of my show-pieces and continued to put together the collection for the show in Wales.

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What a fiendishly busy few days! I've been working hard to make my work for the exhibition in Wales recently but between that, I've been getting quite a lot of odd commissions, largely for repeats of my older work - things like three-skull rings and wolf and bear rings. I've also been working with "humble doodler", Zook again (we worked previously on "Beneath the Skin". He asked me to make some 3d silver versions of his drawing: 

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I made a piece today from bits left over from Supercollider and a boar's tooth:

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Finally finished the Supercolliderpiece today. Not really in my usual style, but I'm fairly pleased with the way this worked out. Off to the photographer now!

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Nice day today; the students were either busy working on their Christmas sale or they were held up by the snow, so I spent a very relaxing day chatting to them and setting stones:

One of the students said that this looked "like something to control a spaceship"!

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Disaster...

Trying to cast the last - and largest - in the series of spheres made from old sewing-machine needles, I had to use a gigantic flask which I had never used before and which cooled down too much before the full vacuum could be drawn under it, so the metal chilled and the…

The Supercollider piece is progressing apace. I managed to cast the central torus element today:

I got really fed-up cleaning it! Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this, though it still presents the problem of how I am going to get all the investment plaster out of the inside of the hollow…

On Friday, I was sent to the most annoying meeting I've ever been forced to go to. It was given by a moron, an idiot who thought that it was enough to pompously declaim his unvalidated, ill-researched opinions on things relating to "sustainability", yet was hypocritical enough to brag about his "frequent visits to Greece" and his "two weeks in the Maldives", presumably all involving flights. Well, it is nice he can afford these things by selling his services as an advisor on…

Having now had a couple of weeks where a combination of loads of things on my plate and general late-autumn lethargy have conspired to prevent me from making any blog entries, I'm back to it after a week in which I saw an opera featuring a depressed singing egg and created a seriously dangerous structure.

Having seen the Call for Entries on Crafthaus for the "Hot…