One of the newest pieces in the Shape Series is this brooch - the speckled pattern over the textured metal works well, I think.  Would like to find a venue to show these.

Two of my ex-students had a little Christmas preview of their new work tonight. For some very odd reason, it was held in a hi-fi shop... quite a strange location but the specialist hushed acoustics made for a really lovely feel to the show.

Ishbel Watson has been working on some new work based on Fritz Lang's "Metropolis":

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I wouldn't normally post a commercial link on my blog but I have to confess to having been practically salivating at this wonderful collection of Fabergé - and related - objects for sale. The reticulated gold picture frame is just incredible!

Not much else to report. I've had to make another two of those "Black Christmas" stars for Goldsmiths' Hall in…

Finished my decoration for the tree in Goldsmiths' Hall in London, "Black Christmas - A Punk Star for Poly Styrene":

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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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Time to allow myself the luxury of a weekend in Edinburgh with nothing to do but see some friends and go to the opening of Stephen Bottomley's first retrospective.

I always sleep very well in Edinburgh: I stay with friends and the room in which I sleep overlooks a graveyard! Much needed as the changing clocks, seasons and the travel to and from the US has made my sleeping patterns somewhat messy.

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(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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By Saturday, I had the programme sorted: I wanted to hear the talk about "Mr Imagination" at 4pm, had to meet a friend for lunch at 1pm and knew that I wanted to see a bit more of the city and the amazing architecture of the place. 

One of the things I love about American city architecture is the way that…

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,…

Things have been incredibly busy at work, setting up the new students, returning all the Diamond Jubilee work to the makers, making some new pieces, preparing for the "ENOUGH: Violence" show at SCC next August as well as helping a friend of mine - Wing Mun Devenney - write her new book, a technical manual on soldering. 

One of the aspects of my practice which I've not really thought about properly and which I don't document…

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…

These tension set rings were from casting class with MDB. Carving wax was pretty fun, I choose minimal design to create pairs. Stone setting was a technique that I was always interested in and I wanted to try tension setting. …

It is that time of year again... it barely seems like moment since I last shared some of the exciting things going on in the Art Schools in Scotland and the time has come to do it again, kicking off with the Glasgow School of Art show which opened last Friday. (Clicking on any of the images will take you to Flickr, where you can see larger versions.)

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Over the last few months, I have been inspired to make specific pieces in response to several "call for entry" postings on Crafthaus. First up, we have Loren Angulo's "Behind the Brooch", an exhibition and book about the way in which makers embellish the back of their brooches and how it relates to the…

I've been a bit distracted by family matters over the last two weeks and haven't really been doing very much of note, though unfortunately, I have had to cancel the "Scotland the What?" exhibition on Crafthaus, scheduled for the end of this month. Both Jeff Zimmer and myself have independently suffered a personal loss at the same time and have not managed to collate the show at all. The plus side of this, however, is that Brigitte has re-scheduled for October 2013 and this gives us the…

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been really busy with family matters as well as learning to use the new mill and the associated software, so I've not really had a chance to make any of my usual work. I've been forced to make quick projects and have also been using the products of the mill as it is always so much more encouraging and interesting to be teaching oneself something with a real goal at the end.

As a result of this, I've been working largely in more conventional…

The weather has turned and everything seems to be starting again. Over the last week - another week since my last post - I've completed a few things: some smaller "nut" rings, set with stones:

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One of my other "hats" is being the video editor at Metal Clay Artist Magazine but I've been a little lackadaisical with producing videos for our online library, so,  I'm going to try for two birds with one stone. For my last process installment of the month, and a much over due MCAM video, I thought I would introduce another one of my favorite homemade metal clay tools, a bail drying rack.…

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

H-Bomb…