I didn't really get a lot done today. Too busy dealing with other things and the students!

I did make a mould of the pewter hawk's foot, using a 2-part silicone rubber compound and making it into a 2-part mould by a very rough-and-ready technique:

I used this stuff before and it is…

It struck me today that I have been using a tip bench trick for ages now which I have selfishly not shared with anyone, not out of malice or self-interest, but simply because I use it so very regularly that it never entered my head until one of the students mentioned today how unusual it was. The idea originally came from another one of my students who asked me why there are no tube cutters for jewellery of the sort plumbers use to cut pipes. Her partner is a plumber and he gave me a…

Just back from a long weekend in Brighton.

And back into the workshop for more on Fashion:Victim. Both the ball elements are nearly ready for development into finished pieces. The hinges are completely on one and the other has the main structural elements for the hinge in place - should be hinged…

One of my students is so hard up just now that he is selling off his gemstones. Normally, I love buying gemstones, but this felt like I was doing something wrong. Still, I gave the (fair) prices asked, so nobody lost out. It is just sad that it has come to this. Hardly surprising as precious metal prices rocket, though I was amazed to see that silver was actually higher in 1980 than it is now, something I only just remember. It was 1980 when the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the market.…

One of the other lecturers at work found this hammer in a cupboard in the engineering department:

It's a bit rough-and-ready, but I can easily dress it and make it into a decent raising hammer. I especially like the label on it:

 …

I finished another bell today and made a video of how they sound.

Apart from that, I didn't do too much except for making another corroded nut ring to see how it would sell on Etsy:

 …

Not that it is that time already, but after posting a request for information about bells, I finally took on board the advice I was given and coupled it with snippets found trawling through online fora and made a falconry bell. It actually rings, looks the part and is probably light enough that it could actually be used for falconry though it is actually going to end up on my falconry-inspired "Fashion:Victim" piece.

In case anyone is interested in such matters, here is the progress…

But not in a bad way. 

I received an email from the editor of 18kt website today. The editor, Marta Sanchez, had just written an article on my excellent friend and colleague in Italy, János Gábor Varga and he recommended her to contact me, which was generous as well as flattering, so there will soon be an interview on the…

Hmmm... I do like Crafthaus, so it was most alarming to me to be unable to access it for a whole day yesterday due to my ISP finding a routing issue relating to it and me having to wait until it cleared. Fortunately, it is cleared now. The good side of the whole event is that I finally persuaded our network manager at college to unblock it, so I have access there too, as do my students. 

Been really busy with the new students, so I've not had much time to do my own work:…

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…

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…

Just back from another weekend at the Edinburgh Festival and a whole new raft of students who arrived on Monday, eager to learn. Always a bit daunting, but after the first full day in the workshop, making a simple polished brass ring (!), they mostly seemed pleased. Long may it continue.

Festival fun, as ever, with a series of events I didn't plan to go to. Started on Friday night with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment playing some music I had very mixed feelings…

It is so good to finally be back at the bench and working on things again. I managed to get quite a lot done on two projects, cutting open the iron balls that will become "Fashion:Victim - In Memoriam ALMcQ" 

And also getting some bits and pieces together for "Future Legend", a…

Back in the workshop today and back to work on things. I've had an idea for a piece using some iron balls I found in a burnt-out warehouse in Kent four years ago:

The balls are about 100mm across and hollow.

 …

Still not really settled since returning to Scotland. From getting in on Friday, I had to go to work for half a day and then headed off to again to Edinburgh, from where I've just returned, having enjoyed the festival madness there. In short, went to see the Yogyakarta Court Gamelan, which was phenomenal, the David Mach show at the City Art Gallery and wandered around the High Street and the West End Craft fair.

I also met with a friend of mine who works on the Tattoo and got my…

In Leeds, Yorkshire, for a training course in using Gemvision's "Matrix" software for jewellery design. Matrix is a kind of super-sophisticated overlay for Rhino, which is aimed squarely at the commercial and retail markets but which has enormous potential for the less traditional maker too, having tools which allow the laying out of pave settings on any shape, the ability to calculate how many stones of a given size it would take to…

Further to my last post, please note that I confused two pieces in my head! Kevin Coates made a Magpie Brooch which was shown at Goldsmiths': the Magpie Neckpiece to which I referred was by Charlotte de Syllas. Apologies to both makers.

The neckpiece can be seen on her website: http://www.charlottedesyllas.com/

Just back from the incredible exhibition of work by neo-Renaissance artist-goldsmith, Kevin Coates, Time Regained at The Wallace Collection in London. I love Coates' work and have done since I saw his Magpie Brooch at Goldsmiths' Hall some time in the early 1990s, so it was an absolute joy to be able to view a large selection of his works, some older along with 12 new Penumbrae, which make up the main part of…

As discussed in the previous post, the recent break took us to New York City as well as other places. I'm probably going to annoy a good number of people with this comment, but both Dingo and I much preferred Pittsburgh to NYC!

In NYC, we met up with Stevie B and his partner Tabitha and spent a lovely day with them at the Museum of Arts and Design, followed by lunch and a walk in Central Park. The exhibition at MAD was the highly engaging "Otherworldly", which is an…

At last! A moment in this mad summer break to get a few words down about what I've been doing. Some of you will already know that I spent the last three weeks in the USA, visiting New York, Pittsburgh, Erie and Edinboro, which was quite easily the most productive and fun break I've had in years. Not so sure that Dingo appreciated being drafted in as my PA, though!

It all kicked off with a talk at the Society…