(I'm just back from a weekend in Edinburgh, which is why there was a hiatus.)

The last day in Chicago was one of pure tourism. I woke up very early and as the show opened at 11 am and my airport  shuttle was at 11.30 am, I thought that a walk around the area to see some more of the city would be in order.

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Time for spooky things, so I finished my second Spoon Skull Pendant with Antlers today:

The chain is made from silver and chunks of the EPNS cutlery which I've butchered to make other spoon skull things. I really like the fake hallmarks on these and two of them feature on the sides of the chain.…

I have no idea where the weeks go. It is now two weeks since I last posted a blog entry and the end of September is upon us; the wind and rains, the chilling air, herald autumn without even the good grace of the last few warm days that September usually brings, Keats' "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness".

Spent last weekend in Brighton, recovering from the 'flu which always accompanies the start of term... all those viri travelling distances with students from far away,…

SO busy! All my first, second and third years have started for two weeks now and the degree final year students started today... In between, I've been packing up the Diamond Jubilee exhibition and finishing my "Macbeth Brooch".

The hackle is raven feathers. It is traditional in Scotland (I read, but have never…

After the pleasing and welcome enthusiasm for the unfinished bombs, here are the finished ones!

H-Bomb…

I received an email from Sharon Massey earlier this week, inviting me to submit some pieces for the third "Charmed" exhibition at the SCC in Pittsburgh, to which I happily agreed. Some time ago, Bob Ebendorf and I had been talking about me making a series of charm bracelets which I started but which never got anywhere as I couldn't get over the hurdle of creating a complex piece with essentially no "narrative". (The original plan was to create 10 bracelets and 100 charms which would be sold…

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…

Fairly easy day today. Spent the morning in the workshop and the afternoon with my students with learning difficulties, all of whom have studied with me before: gratifying to know that they wanted to come back again! A lovely group to end the week with, I think. The workshop is proving a little bit frustrating at the moment, as I am between several projects, all of which need some serious time spent working through the details on paper, or 3D models need to be made or I am waiting for…