On holiday and in Brighton!

Last week was a bit of a rush as I had to complete both a piece for the Craftspace "Made in the Middle" show but also the piece for Boris Bally's "Imagine" show, as previously mentioned,…

I remember hearing an article on Radio 4's "All in the Mind" programme about how the definitions of mental illness were changing due to the re-writing of a single book which is generally used to define all mental illnesses. A psychiatrist who disagreed with the new definitions pointed out,



"most people in the west do not consider themselves to be fundamentally happy... because the majority of the population do not consider themselves to be happy, we could say that anyone…

I have finally finished my Alexander McQueen tribute piece, "Fashion:Victim" which comprises of the two spherical 'handbags' made from steel spheres which I found in a burnt-out factory in Kent some years ago. The…

At last the terrible weather and 'flu have abated and we've had a few decent days which, along with light for my bike ride to and from work, always raises my spirits!



I've finally completed the Verdura-inspired cuffs…

 Today was the last full day in the workshop before I shut for just over two weeks. I'll be in for the morning tomorrow, the workshop festive breakfast, the "Secret Santa" and then heading off to…

I've been on holiday and on either side of that holiday, I was exceptionally busy, so it is only tonight that I have managed to get some time to put together a blog post about what has been going on. I can barely believe that it is nearly the end of October and it seems like only yesterday that it was the start of the month and the Craft Scotland conference.…

What a week! There was a bank-holiday here on Monday, so it has been quick and packed and suddenly I find it is Thursday evening, nearly the weekend already.



Continuing with finishing off projects, I have completed my last "Tank" bracelet, this one more in my usual style and called "The Spoils Of War":…

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.

 …

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.…

It is only three days until I fly to Chicago to help out at the SNAG Stand at SOFA. Obviously, I am hoping that lots of Crafthaus people who are there will stop by to say "hello" and introduce themselves to me, SNAG member or otherwise.

I've been at a bit of a loose end for the past few weeks. After finishing some items to wear at SOFA, I was waiting on getting the go-ahead for a collaborative project with my friend and colleague, photographer…

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.

 …

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: 

 …

I can't believe that I've managed to get three weeks into the year without posting anything on here. It is not as if I've not been busy in the workshop, what with making a new spiky mace in silver and shibuichi:

1) A Christmas tree bauble filled with wax:

2) Hollowed out:…

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…

I wanted to have this piece finished for Hallowe'en but things got in the way, so here is my Spoon Skull Cross, a bit of fun made from iron wire from a building site in Brighton, a rusted bolt, some flat ground tool steel from a derelict workshop, a silver souvenir teaspoon, silver, copper, rubies, sapphire, garnets and carnelian:

 …

A flying visit to Birmingham for a meeting and the opening of Terry Hunt's marvellous "All Golds" exhibition. Terry has been one of the main educators in the jewellery industry in the UK for over 40 years, teaching at the jewellery school of UCE in the city at all levels of expertise. In his way, he has taught many of the current "movers and shakers" of the industry and to celebrate his retirement - it is hard to imagine how anyone could ever replace his boundless energy and educational…

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…

Working on my new project, the customised tattoo machine and associated jewellery pieces, "Beneath the Skin". This project involves a collaboration between me, a tattoo artist in the US, an Argentinian maker of tattoo machines and a metallurgist in Sheffield! It is going to be exhibited as part of the "Galvanize Sheffield" exhibition. 

This week, I've been converting the drawings into 3D forms by various manual and digital means. The original drawings from…