curate's egg

Strange day today: some things good, some bad, "good, in parts"!

Bad: my microwelder (hydro-flame) broke down; someone stole my tube-cutter; one of the students has hacked a coil of wire into multiple lengths as they were too lazy to look for the end.

Good: I finished a bangle -



Made from iron nail, silver, found washers, an old key, the tang of a file and set with sapphires, blue topaz and carnelian agate.





And received a lovely present of some Tanzanian alluvial "Umba" sapphires:

Trouble With Lichen

I've been making a piece based on the corroded piston rods sent to me by some time ago by Janos:



It has turned out to be one of the oddest pieces I've ever made:



To be polished and set.

Hymn To Amun-Ra

Finally completed the collar:





The large citrine was cut for the project, which caused the delay in finishing it.

earrings and another collar finished

A Voyage to Arcturus earrings:






2000 Years of Mental Torture collar:

another one down!

Finished another piece this evening, which brings the total of finished new pieces for Wales to 6! Only 9 more to go, which fortunately includes some partially-finished pieces.

Today I bring you "An Englishman's Home":










Made from discarded gas-pipe, the head of a cold-chisel, silver, garnet and diamond.

finished another two!

I've been working non-stop in the mornings before my classes arrive and in the evenings, afterwards too. It seems to be paying off. I managed to finish two more pieces today and started another two:





Little Richard III



To Rococo Rot

gold panning

The Scottish goldrush is on!
There have been gold-panners working Scotland for years, but as the price of gold has rocketed over the last year or so, it has been hitting the media. The ACJ (Association for Contemporary Jewellery) ran a trip - organised brilliantly by Islay Spalding - to Helmsdale, almost as far north as it is possible to go - this weekend and we had a great day in the hills, panning for gold:






We found some minuscule fragments between us, but nothing we could work with. Some of the other panners we spoke to had found several grams and some in quite large nuggets.
A great weekend, though. The weather was superb and the company good. We stayed in the Helmsdale youth hostel, which used to be SYHA but which is now an independent. Not sure I would do that again, what with rigorous curfews and narky signs telling you what you can and can't do, especially as it was £16 per night and the B&B was only £20!