Bird a Month 5/12 - Medieval Bird Locket

OK, so if you have been reading my blog recently my Bird a Month for May will not be too much of a surprise to you!

Here he is, my tiny little bird in the Medieval Bird Locket.

He sits inside the closed locket as a hidden secret for you to reveal...

... or he flies free under the locket when it is being worn, depending on how the mood takes you :)

I have started work on another hinged locket.

This one will be enamelled as well, so watch this space... ;-)

Enamelling Rainbows

I have been having fun this week making some new pieces. These include a new style which is set with a lovely sparkly stone and has enamel around it. These pieces are waiting to be made into pendants and earrings and then they will be off to London next week.

I was asked last week if I ever made seahorses, and since I never had I decided to make one. This is the result below. I could not decide what colour to enamel him so guess what... he ended up rainbow colour. No surprise there then!

He is really quite cute as you can see...

...and the back has a simple texture and my Joy logo. I think you could even wear him with this side facing out for days when you were in a less colourful mood :)

I shall be making more of these in various colours to list on my website and in my Etsy shop. If you have a request just email me ;-)

Teaching Away from Home

I often get asked if I ever teach away from my base in Hastings. Being right down on the South coast of the UK I realise it is not always convenient to travel here for a workshop.

I am pleased to tell you about two opportunities coming up.

On August 11th and 12th I will be teaching a two day Masterclass at Craftworx in Yorkshire. You can see all the details of this workshop over on the Craftworx website. This workshop is booking up fast so if you want to come get in touch with Tracey soon. It will be a great couple of days for you to make colourful enamelled pieces.

In September this year there is an Art Clay Festival in Switzerland. I am very excited about this as I have been invited to teach two one day pre festival workshops. The dates of the festival are 28th - 30th. I shall be covering different techniques each day so you can take both workshops and learn different things about enamelling!! My workshops will be taught in English but I already have a volunteer - thank you Susanne - to translate into German. I will also be demonstrating everything so I am sure any language problems will be easily dealt with!

All the details are on the Festival website, and there are Early Bird discounts if you register by the end of May.

As with all my workshops, I like to run things in a relaxed way. Creating should be fun!!

I would love to meet you at any of these ;-)

An Inspiring Time

Last week I was in Yorkshire to attend a workshop taught by Terry Kovalcik who came over from the USA especially. I was fortunate to be able to stay with my good friend Lynne Glazzard who lives on the edge of the stunning North Yorkshire Moors. This is the view from the window of their house. Beautiful isn't it.

The workshop ran for 3 days. Terry was a great teacher and made us all work really hard!

Just look at that concentration. Above is Lynne Glazzard and Lesley Messam.

The workshop was at Craftworx in Yorkshire which is run by Tracey Spurgin. As well as being host she dived right into making as well though!

Jane James, Chu-Mei Ho and Anna Campbell were also there. I already knew everyone on the workshop so that was lovely. It was amazing how much mess we all managed to make in a very short time! (especially me!!)

Here is my box at the end of day one. Still a long way to go.

Ooh look, a bird, fancy me making one of those ;-)

It might of been hard work but we all laughed an awful lot as well. Terry has a great sense of humour. Just as well with us lot!

Finally, by lunchtime on day three the first batch of boxes were ready for firing.

The one below is mine (and the bird, of course).

Fresh out the kiln and cooling down. Boxes!! It was very exciting. We did some work on the boxes before we all waved goodbye and made our tired but happy way home.

I finished my box back at home. The final polishing and patinating.

I added a simple wire as the closure.

Inside the box is textured and there he is... my little birdie!

There is a little groove in the back of the box so the bird can hang outside below the box when being worn as an option.

Finally, the reverse of the box. I was going to add more detail and do some enamelling, but decided in the end to just leave it as it was from the workshop. The finish is not as perfect as I would like, but hey, this was about learning techniques.

I feel my batteries are recharged and I can't wait to start creating more pieces putting into practise all the things I learnt from Terry. If you get a chance to take a workshop with him, I highly recommend it. Pop over to his website to see more of his stunning work.

Four A Month May - Retro Rainbow Pins

These are my Four A Month for May. I am actually back on time with a challenge!

So, you are thinking, but there are six of them! Quite correct. Once I decided to make them rainbow colours four was just not enough! These are all small pin brooches which can be used on the lapel, on a hat, as a tie pin, just about anywhere you can think of really! Bright and fun in a retro style they are all fine silver with enamel.

I enjoyed coming up with names for these. Below is Yummy Yellow and Perpetual Purple...

These are Rocking Red (my favourite) and Groovy Green...

and finally Outgoing Orange and Bubbly Blue (yes O was a tough one!).

I think they look great on their own or in a group. They are already for sale in my Etsy shop.

I am abandoning hubby and the cats and am off up north on Sunday for a workshop at Craftworx with Terry Kovalcik. It should be an exciting workshop.

I have not been to Craftworx before so it will be great to see it as I will be teaching a masterclass there in August so if you want to learn enamelling with keum boo pop over there now to read all about it!

It would be lovely to see you there ;-)

Bird A Month 4/12 - Copper Birdie

For my April Bird a Month I made another little sculpture. This one is made from copper using Art Clay Copper. He is not a particular breed! He measures approx 34mm from beak to tail by about 20mm high.

I do like the colour of the copper but I also find that working with copper does not really agree with me. It irritates my hands even when I use a protective lotion like Gloves in a Bottle.

I think it will be back to my first love of silver for me ;-)

Riveted Pendants

I have been having fun making a new range of jewellery. These pendants are all wood discs with metal riveted into the centre of each one. The one above and the one below are made using Bronze Clay and I used a texture stamp that is exclusive to Metal Clay Today. You can get your stamp if you take out a subscription for the magazine (which is a great online magazine by the way!).

The pendant above is called Sea Squidget and the one below is Ammonitus.

The next four are all made with fine silver, using Art Clay Silver. These are my Four a Month for April (OK so I am still just a tad behind). I treated the wooden discs with various colour wood dyes to compliment each item.

The one below is called Green Garden Bird.

This one is May Day Green. Talking of May Day I am doing a craft fair in the Old Town of Hastings this coming Sunday from 10am - 3pm. It is at the East Hastings Angling Club which is opposite the Lifeboat Station. Hastings will be very busy as on Monday it is our annual Jack in the Green Festival and there are always lots of Morris Dancers in town all weekend. Do come along and say hi if you are around.  

This pendant I called Midnight Flower and it has a lab sapphire in the centre and blue enamel.

Finally I called this one New Beginning. I think it is my favourite as I love the red marbled effect I managed to get :)

So where is April Bird a Month? I am working on it right now and I will post it soon ;-)