Degree show 2011

Just to let everyone know I will be exhibiting my degree show collection this week alongside my classmates on Level 7 of the Mathew building at Duncan of Jordanstone in Dundee. We had a very successful opening on Friday night followed by a very busy couple of days. As a year group we have received a lot of positive feed back on how varied and dynamic our show has been. Come and have a look at the jewellery and objects made from salt, plastic, enamel , glass, precious metals and more. Here is Sanna wearing one of my pieces enjoy!

Guild of Enamellers Conference 2011

Last weekend I attended the annual Guild of Enamellers conference which this year took place in Canterbury. It was a wonderful few days of meeting lots of fellow enamellers from beginners like myself to others who have been enamelling for years. Along with the workshops there were talks and discussions along with opportunities to purchase supplies. It was fantastic of all these makers to meet in one place and I'm already looking foward to the next one next year! Here a few photos of pieces made in the various workshops such as Introduction to printing on enamel using photographic transfers with Tamar De Vries Winter and garden enamels with Carol Griffin.

The day the cow got cast.

Yesterday I started casting a cow to add to my Indian street scene, the base for moulding this creature was an old Victorian lead toy which was a British model of this animal . With a little help from the magic of Milliput the cow was given an Indian make over with a hump and horns . The next stage of this process is to clean him up with filing and then to gold plate the little chap. Thanks to Kerrianne for showing me the ropes and helping with the creation of this farm animal.

Degree Show Preview

Here is a sneak peak at whats to come in May . My first piece is a mixture of gold leaf, enamel, pencil and copper. Very excited about the next few houses that are being constructed watch this space!

Noah's Ark

These are images of early 19th century toys made from wood, tin and lead that have been an inspiration to my current enamelling project. This Noah's Ark (1830s) was the only toy allowed to bought out of the play box on a Sundays due to it's religious connotations. Tin toys began to make an appearance on the markets, shops and stalls in the 1880s. Germany in the early 20th century was the leading country in tin toy production this came to a halt when war began . Lead was used in toy production although it was halted to a stand still in the 20th century due to the damaging effects the metal can have on one's nervous system which can cause blood and brain disorders.

Enamelled Temple.

So this is my first piece almost complete (finally!) for my degree show it just needs a few more tweaks and it should then be finished. It been a learning curve with mixing stone settings with the different enamels and keeping the copper shapes underneath the colours as I would like them.

Hoop Bird

This piece was designed and made for our recent Christmas sale. It was one out of the three necklaces I created for the event along with a single bird on a chain and another bird sitting inside a cage with semi precious stones attached.