Silverware for 2012 #3

so, back at the bench today and fitting the base on this little beast proved rather a tricky manoeuvre. What works in card and sticky tape does not always work in metal and it needed a lot of shifting, filing and re-measuring to eventually get a neat fit.

With all the pieces lined up:

I bound it altogether, though I’m running out of the good, thick binding wire that I bought in uni so this is rather a Heath Robinson affair:

and the nice recessed base looks super:

I think I’m getting there with this piece, it’s a really cute size, so I’ll let it hang around the workshop for a day or so while I think about it, tweak it and draw etching patterns on it in sharpie!

Visit: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

I had a spare moment last week and snuck off to have a look at the silver collection at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.  The collection covers many centuries and each time I visit I seem to spot something that I hadn’t seen before.

How did I miss this?

Jewel Box by Alex Telford in silver 1974-5, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

I love the pebble shapes on the lid (it isn’t exactly clear how it opens …) which are beautifully, asymmetrically smooth and quite inspirational for the fly pressing I’m planning to do later this week. I would love to know exactly how it was made.

Detail of Jewel Box by Alex Telford in silver 1974-5 at Birmingham Museum and Art Galler

The only other example of Alex Telford work I’ve been able to find is in the V&A:

Coffee Pot, Sugar Bowl and Milk Jug, 1974 by Alex Telford at V&A

the gorgeous mix of silver and flawless enamel is here again – plus the bulbous, pebble-esque shapes in the handles of the vessels. I really like how clean and modern the enameled body is, it sits really well alongside those polished handles.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for his pieces in museums in the future …

Silverware for 2012 #2

… remember those silversmithing thoughts from the other day?

Well – I went from paper model to copper model this week:

which is always interesting. There’s less than 1mm of difference between the thickness of the card for the model and the thinkness of the copper sheet but my, does it make a difference! Seeing something in metal gives it a whole new dimension and really made me realise quite quickly that this piece was just way too big.

So, a quick trip down the road to the photocopier at Delta Pi and voila! A new, smaller piece:

I made a few alterations to the basic shape, just to change the outline of the curves and the next copper sample is now ready for soldering:

more pictures soon …

Facebook Finds #1

Facebook steals hours of your life. Snooping through old acquaintances photographs at 3am is something everyone does but no one talks about. Right?

Recently though, I’ve started using my Facebook time a little more constructively by exploring Facebook pages. Pages allow businesses and organisations to have a kind of Facebook profile and stay in touch with people interested in what they do. Folksy has done some super articles on how to use them to promote your handmade business (like this one here) and I’m really starting to love mine.

This recent exploration has turned up some lovely, lovely things that I thought I’d share:

1.

Bekki Churcher here is from Glasgow and her gorgeous, almost fragile looking work is inspired by urban decay – she uses some beautiful textures to evoke the broken buildings that inspire her and her ‘geomatric granulation’ is especially wonderful. It reminds me of Ruth Tomlinson somehow crossed with Elaine Cox …

2.

Hannah Livingston is based in Edinburgh and her fascination with hidden secrets and quirky little containers makes her work beautifully intricate and utterly tempting. Many of her neat little lockets contain folded paper – forming a story of your own just that’s just waiting to unfold.

3.

Rebecca Little is another Glasgow resident whose work is both deceptively simple and fiendishly clever – as the best things often are. Delicate twists in precious metals are all lined up neatly to form textile like structures that would, I imagine, flow through your hands rather nicely and defy the solid, mathematical look of them.

I’ll keep hunting through Facebook in the small hours – though if you’ve got a suggestion for a page you love do leave me a comment!

Planning some new silverware for 2012 …

I used to loathe making models at University but now I find it really helps to focus on the practicalities of making a piece with sheet metal. Here’s what I’m thinking about this week:

The Centrepiece Christmas Decoration

This year Centrepiece decided to celebrate our Christmas exhibition by getting everyone to make a Christmas decoration in their own special style. I’m really excited to see what so many talented makers have come up with – it’s going to be a really diverse bunch!

I spent today making mine, inspired by the holly tree in my garden which we always take clippings from at Christmas. This one is silver and pearl and really in keeping with my Flotsam range, here’s how it took shape:

Drawing the Holly

Planning the layout

Making the band

First leaf goes on!

Then the others …

Quick balance check

Before soldering the fittings

Then a good sanding

Followed by a polish

and a wash

a little ribbon to finish

Et Voila!

Gorgeous 2011

I’m off to Ironbridge this weekend for Gorgeous, the Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Craft’s aptly named Autumn Fair. It showcases some of the best local craft (including the wonderful Emily Richard on the flyer) alongside some pretty scrumptious local food producers too.

I’ll be doing a little talk about etching on silver and they’ll be demonstrations and presentations from other makers through the day too.

Have a peak at what’s coming up here on lilac sky’s blog

Goldsmiths Fair 2011

I find it hard to describe Goldsmiths Fair to my non-silversmithing friends. The closest I’ve come so far is saying that it’s like New York Fashion Week. There are hot new designers, old favourites stunning you with their new collections, new heights of genius and always some starring talent that you somehow missed on a previous visit who’s ready and waiting to astound you now.

I suppose, in reality it’s just a fair, like any other, but somehow it manages to eclipse all those others and shine as the countries finest annual gathering of silver and jewellery talent.

I love it. The thought of aspiring to it terrifies me, but I love it all the same.

It inspires me and makes me realise again just how passionate I am about this industry.

Some of the things I saw which made an impression on me this year are:

Samantha Moore makes small silverware, she’s a lovely person and was happy to spend some time showing me her wonderful little tea infusers. The two halves of these snick together so easily, look so neat and are so beautifully funstional that I was awed.

I first saw William Lee‘s work at Collect a couple of years ago, the photographs of it totally don’t do it justice. All those little stripes on the surface are tiny verticle rows of hammer marks and vase itself is almost the size of a beachball. You know, one of those giant stripey ones you had as a kid?

Looking into it is marvellous, it’s hard to image how the thing was raised – just turning the weight alone must be a challenge, but clearly one that’s worth it.

Then, way down on the other end of the scale, is Vicki Amberley Smith. Her work is exquiste, all precise detail and clever use of materials. All her work is wearable, which is an unusual touch in something inspired by something so three dimensional.

So that was Week One at the Fair. I can’t make next week, sadly, which means I’ll miss seeing work like this:

but then there’s always next year …

Photographing Jewellery (playing with the light tent)

Photographing my work is something that I really struggle with. When you work in such a visual medium it’s very easy to be let down by poor photographs – and I’m always paranoid that mine don’t do the details my work justice.

In the past I’ve taken my own (which I can never get a perfect white background on) and paid for photography (some of which I love, others of which I was horribly disappointed with). So, it’s a very tricky thing – made more difficult by the highly reflective nature of silver.

Then I spotted this blog by the lovely Eileen Moylan  , an Irish Silversmith, who’s been using a light tent to photograph her work  . It looked like the ideal solution so I headed on over to eBay sharpish and bought myself one for the princely sum of nine pounds ninety-nine.

It looks like this:

 

Cute no?

Images of it in use on Amazon seemed to suggest that you needed high power photographers light too – but I just shone my daylight lamp through the top of it and the effect seems remarkably similar:

 

It came with lining sheets – presumably to provide a nice smooth white background but I struggled to iron the creases out of them and instead opted for lying a good old fashioned sheet of card inside the tent:

 

and, after a little photoshopping the images came out a lot whiter than I’ve achieved before:

 

it’s by no means perfect but I reckon that a little more work on Corel (and maybe just snipping the item out of the background too) would get these magazine ready.

What I really like about the tent is the little ‘door’ for the front with the slit in. It cuts down on the chance of the work reflecting your surroundings (and, in my case, reflacted my bright green camera too) and gets the tone nice and even across the object.

Photographing my necklaces was a little more challenging – in hindsight I probably should have turned the tent on it’s side and photographed them from above – but contructing a necklace hanging trapeze type structure was bags more fun:

 

though I’ll try the other angle soon to improve the results:

 

Today in the workshop …

… has been a day of experimenting with some new ideas. It’s always an exciting time and, chances are these will evolve into something totally different, but here’s what I got through today:

a little drawing

some press form making

followed by press forming

cutting

and assembling

to be followed shortly but some etching, texturing, and maybe even a little drilling …