This year is flying by at an incredible rate already!! So much has been going on with all areas of the shop, workshops, new products, new members of staff and my own development. This week we are interviewing for a new member of staff - the position is for 20 hours and to help with keeping the shop running smoothly, setting up workshops, display and I'm sure much more. I'm very excited about somebody new joining the team and giving me more time to grow the business and set up new areas.
Copper Clay Workshop
At the end of January we had our first Creative Metal Clays workshop. I was very pleased with how the session went and everybody made some fantastic pieces. As the product is still very new, there is still a lot to be discovered and explored with it. I am continually making new samples and trying out new ideas. So far I have found that the fire scale (black oxidising on the surface) is proving difficult to remove and means that the finishing off after firing is taking much longer than the time it takes working with precious metal clay. There are ways of minimising the fire scale - I will be writing a post on Copper Clay, my experiments and what I've discovered.
Steam Punk
We have some Steam Punk parts in the shop which seem to be creating quite a stir with our customers. This is a pendant made during some private tuition. We used one of the more ornate watch parts and created a sterling silver setting which set but didn't detract from the watch. I think it worked really well and made a very interesting pendant.
Valerie's West Dean Explorations
These pieces were made by Valerie who visited West Dean College to participate in their Anti Clastic Raising course. Specific tools and hammers were used to create these wonderful pieces. AntiClastic means that you have a curve running in two directions. It seems to be a very popular technique at the moment. Last week I visited The Spring Fair trade show in Birmingham and some of the tool stands had a new product they were demonstrating that enabled you to make these fabulous curves...obviously I can't refuse a new gadget so watch this space. I'm going off to West Dean this week to learn Non-Traditonal Stone Setting for Jewellers...can't wait to get started with a new technique. I do a little stone setting but have never had any training so am very much looking forward to see how others do it. I have realised that I haven't actually been in any type silversmithing/metal work training since I graduated in 2001!!
Too catch up with all that's been happening visit our Facebook page for new stock and workshop images.
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