Bead Table Wednesday

It's been quite a while since I did a Bead Table Wednesday post and I've also decided that I don't show you enough photos of work in progress, so here we go!

Cup of Gold earrings in progress - three of these pairs need to be posted this afternoon so they are my priority.

Sitting on my desk this morning are two different piles of work - one of made-to-order designs and one of more self-indulgent pieces. The made-to-order items have got to take priority, and I've got some more organising to do in my lovely lovely new studio, but hopefully I'll get some work done on the stone settings too before the day is done.

Three stone set pendants - look at the wonderful electric blue flashes in that labadorite!

 And if I'm really organised I'll have some photos of finished pieces to show you too!

Keum Boo workshop

It's been a busy weekend! A Halloween disco on Saturday evening and a birthday party at the local swimming pool today for Ben, not to mention the usual swimming lesson this morning. We've also go my God-daughter's birthday party tomorrow afternoon - my children have a better social life than I do!

On Saturday, however, it was the Keum Boo workshop, and lots of lovely things were made. For once I remembered to take photos of not only the jewellery that the students made but also some action shots! All of the students had made jewellery before, but none of them had used Keum Boo in their designs before - but all of them made at least two pieces of jewellery, mainly pendants and earrings.

My favourites were the simple two-disc pendant that Peter made and Caroline's pendant and earrings set. Caroline's designs started with a happy accident - when she domed the larger disc the doming punch slipped slightly and distorted the edge of the disc. So she flared out all around the edges of the discs to create a softer look with a random gold design. Peter's pendant, too, is a simple design, but the touches of gold turn it into a beautiful pieces of jewellery. All in all, it was a very successful day!

Keum Boo Workshop Saturday 27th October

There are, unusually, still a couple of places left on my Keum Boo workshop next Saturday. I love Keum Boo - it's such a magical process! And it's a beautiful way of adding a touch of warm 24k gold to your silver work without breaking the bank. The workshop covers all you need to carry out Keum Boo work at home, plus basic silversmithing techniques such as sawing and piercing sheet silver, simple soldering, and filing and finishing your work. A place on the workshop costs £100, a saving of £40 compared to the Keum Boo private tuition I offer. This fee includes a 4cm by 4cm piece of silver sheet suitable for pendants or earrings, any silver wire required for bails or ear wires (I'll teach you how to make these as well!), and gold foil valued at £20. Any gold foil remaining at the end of the day is yours to take home.

If you're interested in finding out more or booking a place, just follow this link, 

and if you enter the discount code "blog" at checkout I'll refund you 10% of the workshop fee!

All places are now booked, thank you! 
More workshop and private tuition dates for the New Year will be available soon.

BTW

 Another work in progress photo from me this week! It's been a busy half term week so far. I've just about recovered from the 4am wake up Ben and his friends kindly gave me on Monday, and we've been busy building lego models, sorting out Halloween costumes, playing with friends and, of yes, stripping the wallpaper off the walls in the lounge diner. As you do when you've got two children to look after and gallery orders to complete, but more of that later! These are some of the pieces I made this evening for a gallery.

Look what they made!

I thought it was about time that I showed you what some of my private tuition students have made this month. I've had three people come and see me for tuiton this month, and my tuition is becoming more and more popular. If you're interested in booking then you may like to know that the next dates I have available are in the middle of March, and April is looking fairly busy too. And there are only 3 reduced price/introductory offer places left for Keum Boo tuition - see here for details.

Anyway, the photos!

Starting at top left, photos 1 and 2 were made by Carolyn during her Keum Boo tuition. She's visited me for a couple of workshops before, and so already had some experience of soldering and working with silver. The teardrop shaped pendant was a present for a friend, and it's the logo for the UK Association for Milk Banking, of which Carolyn is the vice chair.
Photo 3 is the bangle that Paula made in her half day tuition - she hadn't made any jewellery before and was rightly pleased with what she'd made!
Photo 4 is one of the pieces that Lucy made during her day. Lucy already makes and sells her own jewellery and wanted to add silversmithing techniques to her repertoire. We managed to cover a lot, starting with a bangle, making chains, head pins, clasps and, obviously, this gorgeous leaf pendant. I love the natural 'twist' she put into the shape.

By the way, I'm really pleased with myself for putting together that photo collage as it's taken me ages to find out how to do it!

More lovebirds

I had a new toy, or rather set of toys, arrive in the autumn - sets of letter stamps (both upper and lower case) and a set of numbers. I bought them from a US etsy seller, NextofKenn after hunting for a font that was a little bit different from the standard but still easy to read and not too fancy - I think that these were well worth the wait!


I didn't have the chance to do much with them before Christmas, but I've had the words "personalised? stamped? dates on back?" written next to my original sketch of my lovebird pendants for months, so last night I finally finished and uploaded my new and improved personalised Lovebird pendants to my website and to my noths store!



I've combined the original separate silver and gold lovebird listings into one to make life a bit easier to everyone, and you can choose whether or not to have any personalisation, and what wording you would like. There is room for approximately 8 characters.

And, while I was on a roll, I've also made matching Lovebird earrings! I am so pleased with these. I don't usually wear long earrings any more, I got out of the habit when B was a baby, but I've been wearing a pair of these since I gave them their final polish and I love them! They are so comfortable! I've got a pair with sterling silver wings coming shortly too.

Keum Boo Tuition

Yes, after mentioning it months ago, Keum Boo tuition is finally here!

For those of you who haven't come across this technique before, let me tell you, it is magical! Keum Boo is an ancient Korean technique that literally translates as 'attached gold'. 24k gold is bonded to fine silver through a combination of heat and pressure - no solder is used, and the process really does look magical! It is a beautiful way of using gold in your designs without breaking the bank. I've been planning on offering Keum Boo private tuition for several months now, and I thought that the New Year was a good time to start, so here it is!



A day's tuition costs £130, including the first £10 of silver, gold foil valued at £15, lunch and refreshments. There will be enough foil for you to be able to take some home with you at the end of the day. I've worked out that a day's tuition will allow most people to produce two simple or one more complicated piece of jewellery, and like my silversmithing tuition, the idea is that you make a piece of jewellery that you like in your own style. There's no point in paying for private tuition if you can't choose what you'd like to make!



There are information sheets to take away with you, and the day will cover lots of general silversmithing techniques as well as the Keum Boo and I could go on, but for more information see here! But one of the most important things to tell you now that, just as when I introduced the silversmithing tuition, I've decided to give a discount to the first five people who book Keum Boo tuition - instead of £130 it will cost £120 - but you will need to be quick as the first five silversmithing places went very quickly when I offered this before!

And if you'd like a go at Keum Boo but you're not sure about the whole day, I'm also running a Keum Boo taster workshop for 6 people on Saturday 13th March at £35 per person - see here for details!

And for those of you who like your silver without any gold, I'm running another hammered chains workshop on Saturday 13th February - and you can find details of that here!

I'm in love....

....with my new earrings! I don't usually show you a picture of new earring designs being worn, but I've decided to keep these ones for myself for once, so what do you think?


I love the soft sheen of the gold, and they are really comfortable to wear. I'm already planning stud earrings, a couple of pendants and a pair of cufflinks along the same line! Can you tell that I still really love doing keum boo?


If you fancy a pair for yourself, have a look here. They are included in the sale on my website which ends on 14th August.

P.S. If you like the look of the keum boo technique too then you may like to know that I will be offering keum boo tuition days as from the autumn. Watch this space for more details!

A sneak preview

Just a very quick post to show you one of the new designs I've been working on recently. The flower in the middle of the pendant is 24k gold, bonded to the silver using a process called Keum Boo, the process I mentioned I've been teaching at college recently. The way the gold bonds to the silver is almost like magic! I've got several other designs to show you, and some work-in-progress photos too, but you'll have to wait until the weekend for those! The new designs will be on the website in the next couple of days.

By the way, if you live in the Southampton area and fancy learning you to make your own jewellery then follow this link. As from September I will be teaching a new jewellery making/silversmithing evening class aimed at beginners and those with a little bit of experience. I'm teaching it for Eastleigh College (who I teach the advanced course for) but the venue is Bitterne Park Secondary School in Southampton.