Saltaire Makers Fair

I've just returned from a wonderful weekend at Saltaire Maker's Fair and am feeling humbled and incredibly lucky. Such a beautiful location, in Victoria Hall, part of the world heritage Saltaire Village, built by the visionary Titus Salt to house workers from Salt's Mill. Architecturally magnificent, the hall is a pocket of quiet splendour, with huge windows illuminating the space, it felt like a real treat to be part of such a special event.

I met the loveliest people, so generous with praise and insightful comments on my jewellery and display, people really took time to look and talk to me about my pieces. I was dazzled by the number of people who knew my work, recognising it after seeing it elsewhere or had bought pieces from galleries. I was also fortunate to meet people who follow my blog and Facebook page, and I even had a nudge from a very lovely lady who reminded me I haven't posted anything on here for a while! Posting things online can seem very remote and detached so it was heartwarming to think people do actually follow what I write.

The other lovely thing was the number of people who asked if I deliver workshops or teach classes, there seems to be a lot of people keen to learn making techniques. I do teach, I taught adult and community classes in Leeds before moving to Manchester, and have been teaching in a Sixth Form college for around 12 years. I believe passionately in sharing traditional craft skills, there is such value in time spent making, using your own hands and being absorbed in focused activity. I would love to look towards teaching adults again, there is a wonderful exchange in working with people who enjoy learning or who already make using other processes, and I find I learn as much from them as they do from me.

I used the natural objects that adorn my home studio and inspire my work as part of my display.  It was rewarding to hear people make connections between the shapes and patterns in the seed pods, acorn cups and lichen twigs, and the details they could see in my jewellery. People also shared valuable botanical knowledge about some of the more obscure seed pods I have, which has made me eager to get out and about and learn more.

My other exciting news is that whilst I was at the fair I learnt that I have been selected to take part in the Christmas fair at The Whitworth Gallery in Manchester, another award winning architectural splendour, I can't wait! Saturday 5th December 2015, I'll see you there!

bangles

I was having a sort through some photographs of jewellery I have made over the years and thought I would share some images of bangles. All are irregular shaped and hammered with a slightly beaten texture.

The shapes are inspired by the repeated forms seen in moss, lichen and bubbles. I love using simple forms and adding complexity using repeats. The elements are all moveable, I enjoy the way they jingle a little and rotate around the bangle.

I like the contrast between copper and silver, especially the way the colour of the copper changes over time. It varies from soft peach to deep rusty red, and sometimes goes speckled which is my favourite.

This 'Blip Bangle' was one of only a few that I made, with irregular arches on both the inside and outside edges. Wearing a few at a time worked really well, I'm thinking I may make more. 
At the moment I am working on some new pieces for the British Craft Trade Fair, I try and launch a new range there every year. Perhaps I'll release a sneak preview on here when the pieces are all finished!

Fossil fascination

The repetition of shapes and textures seen in fossils is something I always come back to for ideas. The basement in Manchester Museum has some incredible ones on display.

Knowing that these have been dug from the earth and are millions of years old gives them the fascination of buried treasure to me; rare, precious and valuable like the gold and silver I use in my work. There's something magical and mesmerising about materials that were formed when the earth was young, only to be revealed through careful searching and cautious extraction. 

The dots and dashes have inspired me to explore experimental hammered indentations in metal, simple raised lumps formed with texturing and doming punches and distressed surfaces, altered with heat and abrasives. And as always, I love to draw them, as seen in my earlier sketchbook blog post.

Textile responses

This week I've been exploring different constructed textile processes to capture texture. Weave is so time consuming but there's something nice about the pace, it's quiet and calming.

I particularly enjoy working in neutral yarns to focus entirely on texture. But knit and crochet are processes I always come back to simply because of the freedom and potential they offer.

I usually work with around 5 knitting needles at once, leaving stitches hanging on double ended needles, the way you do when creating cables. In this way I can create wonky rows and clusters of stitch by knitting back and forth mid-row.

The loops are made by using very large needles in and amongst smaller ones.

I get my favourite yarns from a lovely lady who runs Habu Textiles. She is based in New York and Kyoto and visits the UK occasionally for things like the Knitting and Stitching Show. I stock up on carefully selected unusual fibres like 'fique', from the pineapple family, kibiso silk and paper moire. 

They are so beautifully packaged it's almost a shame to use them, so I only use small strands to capture the effect I want. 

Texture

I was fortunate to be able to spend the time between Christmas and New Year in Mudeford, Dorset this year and took an early morning walk on the beach. It was frosty and bright, the colours and textures of seaweed and driftwood washed up by recent gales were heightened by long shadows from the low sun. Rich pickings, so many inspirational shapes and patterns, can't wait to get making.

I'm guessing these are types of seaweed,  really rubbery textures with gorgeous repeated patterns. 

These are some of my initial drawings. I love to draw, I find it deeply meditative and nourishing. One of my many New Year's Resolutions is to make the time to do it more.

Inspiration

A recent trip to Cornwall has my sketchbooks bursting with inspirational shapes, patterns, textures and colours. The cliffs and rock pools at Perranporth are covered in barnacles and mussels; always one of my favourite sources of inspiration for drawing and making.

These gorgeous rock pools can be found towards the left of the main beach access, reached by climbing down steep steps cut into the cliff face that surfers use to get to the waves.

 
The further you climb down, you will see barnacles and mussels growing on almost every available surface, creating a blanket of lumpy clusters as they all squeeze together. The striped banding on their shells forms rows of arched pattern, I can visualise them made from domed copper shapes, hammered and joined into links in a mussel-shell bracelet or neckpiece. I love the symmetry of their pod form, and would like to add to my 'Moss Pod' jewellery range with some new lockets inspired by mussel shells.

 There's something about the way that barnacles and mussels grow in clumps that I always come back to when I am generating ideas for my jewellery. They often appear in my mixed media and textiles pieces as very small crochet shapes or stuffed muslin balls.

I made these small textiles samples in response to the textures I saw on my travels in Cornwall. All the fabrics and threads are hand-dyed, using traditional fabric dyes as well as rust dying, where found metal objects are laid onto the fabric in shallow trays, and concentrated salt water poured over to speed up the rusting process. As rust forms it seeps onto the fabric leaving permanent marks. I like the authenticity of the colouration and the element of chance that comes from leaving the mark-making to chance. I often bury my work to enable it to become more earth-stained and distressed, nothing makes my work look more weather worn than the weather and there is something very exciting about digging it up again to see what effects have been created.