Saturday, September 25, 2010

Concert @ Fremantle Arts Centre

Ruth and I went to see Angus and Julia Stone at Fremantle. It was an open air concert in the grounds of Fremantle Arts Centre. It was great evening. I really love their music.








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Saturday, September 11, 2010

9/11 - 10th Annivesary

An anniversary can be sweet or solemn, but either way, it is only the echo, not the cry. From this distance, we can hear whatever we are listening for. We can argue that Sept. 11 changed everything—or nothing.
Nancy Gibbs - Time Magazine



Ground Zero - Time Magazine





These last two photos are ones that I took on my visit to New York in 2008. Although I was unable to go on to the site of Ground Zero I took thes photos and was deeply moved by being near to the site where so many innocent people were needlessly killed on September 11th 2001.

Great Video on Reconstituting Metal Clay

Lisa Cain of Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery,  has just posted this excellent video on You Tube on how to reconstitute metal clay. Basically you save all your projects that haven't worked in a jar. Then grind them to a fine dust in a coffee grinder. I always have used a mortar and pestle, but a coffeee grinder would be so much easier. Then put the powder in container and add a little water, mix till the powder and water begin to clogg together. Then put the lump of metal clay in some cling wrap, roll very thin and add a spray of water if necessary.



Last year I visited Lisa at her Jewellery School in Cornwall UK. I took her Diploma Course. Lisa is a really good tutor and has a great sense of humour.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Polymer Clay Workshop - New Studio

Choose a Technique
I'm having the first Polymer Clay Workshop at my new studio on Sunday 19th September. It's titled "Choose a Technique" and I'll be demonstrating a few techniques so that students can pick and choose what they would like to work on.
If you'd like to come please contact me.



These are just a few tasters.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Enamelling with Linda Darty

I've just returned from Melbourne where I had a weeks course on enamelling with US tutor Linda Darty. It was a great opportunity as Linda is a world authority on enamelling. She is a first class teacher and was willing to share her knowledge with her students. The course was run by Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). I shared an apartment with two friends Cindy Durant and Jen Tattum which was within walking distance to the University Campus. Enameal is powdered glass that is fused by firing onto metal or ceramics. Linda showed us many samples and we spent the week trying out the different techiques. I particularly like the cloisonne technique where thin ribbons of wire are fused to a metal base. The enamel is packed around the wires until flush with the top of the wires. Here is a photo of my sample that I started in class.
These are some photos of Linda's cloisonne pieces.



The week went really quickly as the course started at 9.30am and finished at 4.30pm although we stayed working until 5 or 6 p.m some nights. Here are some more photos that I took during the week.

Jen and myself working our cloisonnes.

Class photo
When I booked with RMIT there were supposed to be 12 students in the class. However there were 15 students working in the room and there wasn't alot of space.



Student's samples
I'm looking forward to using the enamells on my fine silver jewellery.