Another two-week hiatus between posts and it is only because I've been too busy to be able to find a moment to write things down. So much has happened, from being asked if I were "eligible" for inclusion in a list of "eligible bachelors" - my non-bachelor…

I've been in the workshop for two whole days now, finishing up my "sautoir/parure" which imagines the jewellery which Chanel (probably with the help of Fulco Verdura) would have…

Since I last made an entry here - eleven days ago, which is, I know, remiss - so much has been going on, with my birthday right in the middle.



The aftermath of the Scottish Style Awards was one very unstylish bump on the head when I took a box of the top of a cupboard and a roll of steel-reinforced kevlar fell from it. The edge caught me and I ended up scuffed:…

Last night was the event of the "Scottish Style Awards" for which I had been nominated as Scotland's "Most Stylish Male". I am really glad to be able to…

I don't know what has happened over the last few months but there seems to be an unstoppable maelstrom of creative energy centred over Scotland. Perhaps it is the fact that I've become more active in the creative culture around me but I feel that there is something amazing brewing here and I am not exactly sure what it is. Everywhere I go, I'm surrounded by people who are not only sparking with ideas but who spark ideas in me. There is a creative synergy which is driving everyone to new…

This last week has been a whirlwind of activity and has left me feeling drained but exhilirated. I may as well not beat about the bush and say that I have been nominated as "Scotland's Most Stylish Male" at the bi-annual Scottish Style Awards. This came as a genuine bolt-from-the-blue shock and intially, I thought that one of the students was having a joke with me about my generally dishevelled workshop appearance but it turned…

A while back I received an unusual commission from fellow-jeweller, Poppy Porter, to make a piece using some titanium components from an F1 racing car. The pieces are beautifully-engineered and milled from solid blocks of metal.…

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.…

I completely forgot that I spent some time during the conference over the weekend speaking to Rachel Skene - a friend and colleague of Patty Niemann's in Caithness - talking about her project "You Love Local". This is a scheme which aims to promote handmade and craft products by not only tracking products from start to finish but also to by giving them a "narrative", something of their back-story. She is also planning a level of managed quality…

I have just returned from Dundee where I attended the Craft Scotland conference for 2013. As I have blogged before, I have a lot of time for Craft Scotland. I don't…

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":…

Many years ago, I realised that Alexander McQueen was not a couturier in the usual sense of the word. It was his commission of the collar from Shaun Leanne for his 2001 catwalk show which drew my attention to his work - the collar is a stunning assembly of lethal silver spikes and grey pearls, seen at 7:40 in the video below - and the show just blew me away. From that moment on, I never thought of McQueen as a clothing designer but as a sculptor, a critic, an historian, someone with a…

I was so excited about the "Tank" bracelet that I made in a minimal style last week that I have started to make three more, two in the ultra-minimal style of the first, using only silver and one large…

Continuing with my determination to finish all the unfinished work in the workshop, today saw me start on one of the pair of knife/pendants made from a pair of broken vintage scissors. I originally got the idea for…

Last night was the opening of Jo Garner's amazing conception for a jewellery exhibition, "Bring Back The Dead" which only runs until Sunday night in the Whitespace Gallery in Edinburgh so…

Surely some joke?

Well, not really... I have to confess to having created something so minimal it surprised even me when it was finished:…

What a few weeks! Ever since Madelyn Smoak reminded me that some years ago - 2009 - I had started to make a set of Chimæric cutlery, I've been working furiously to finish all the work which, over the years, has been started and left incomplete. I am determined that there will be no unfinished work by Christmas!



There were a few projects which I knew about, having put them aside to work on commissions or exhibition work…

Continuing with my resolution to clear the workshop of unfinished projects, I finally completed my piece "Twisted: For Annie Ross" today.

Made from a piece of cast-iron which I found on a bit of derelict…

In case anyone didn't see my little conversation on Twitter, I have decided to complete all the partially-completed projects in my workshop, including…