Well it felt great to be back at Touchmark Studios yesterday, and my plans for this year are to be more experimental and learn some new techniques.

So saying I have been experimenting with patinas on brass and copper and silver.

I'm a sucker for surfaces that look old and crumbly, you know, as if they have been buried or lost at sea, and that goes for ceramics as well as jewellery. It can be complicated though and then if you get some great results what to make with them ?

Just before Christmas I moved away from my very 2D flat flowers shapes and came up with these delicate bell flower earrings,

I had some fun trying to make the copper turn red with heat treatment and just as a one off ended up with something that looked like Snake Head Fritillarys which we get in our garden sometimes. ( well if I remember to plant them in the autumn )

I've also been trying my hand at colouring Titanium. This can be done either by anodising or again heat treatment with a torch. I tried both ways without much success and have found it so fiddly I think I'll stick to aluminium, but heres the 2 best results, just about enough to make one pair of earrings !

Christmas came and went and as usual at this time (its New Years Eve )and you wonder what all the fuss was about.

I'd like to say a big thank you to all my customers last year for your support & I hope that anyone who woke up on Christmas day and opened a present that was a piece of jewellery that I made, liked it and felt that it was really special.

I havn't made any great plans for next year and I try not to make too many resolutions but I'm pretty sure that next year will be different, hopefully less hectic as I concentrate on my health and wellbeing. That will include doing other things apart from Jewellery so I'm looking forward to a year of experimentation and new experiences.

So HAPPY NEW YEAR  everybody.

Hi everyone 

Now Halloween & bonfire night are over its time to think of Christmas shopping.

Whether you love it or hate it most of us have to get some done and Craft fairs are the ideal place to find some beautiful & unusual presents. This year there seems to be more than ever. I am only participating in one, along with my friends in Touchmark Guild. On our stand we'll be selling our hand crafted jewellery. 5 designers with different styles. Hope to see you there !