Finished this brooch, which was an experiment in riveting. The perspex and brass were held together with temporary rivets while I filed and sanded the edges, then separated and cleaned up separately before assembling the brooch (see Bicycle Parts). The corners are held together with rivets made from small silver discs with fine silver wire …
All I want to say is that cutting and filing a wavy fold form made from thin springy copper to fit it into a square box tested my patience. And my sanity. I can’t remember whether there was swearing, but I hope not. The fold form came from a summer school course at Morley College …
Like the bicycle brooch, this pendant combines elements from several courses at Morley College. Paul Wells taught mokume gane in a Beginner and Intermediate class and promised us we’d be using scraps and offcuts for years to come (true); Annette O’Sullivan encouraged the Wednesday evening Contemporary Jewellery class to try kumihimo braiding and broom casting; …
If the riveting gods smile on me tomorrow, these components will become a brooch. The enamelled bicycle dates all the way back to 2011, when I first did an Experimental Enamelling Summer School course with Jessica Turrell at Morley College. For some reason Barbara Christie, former head of the Jewellery Department at Morley, was also …
I needed a project after leaving Reach plc, so I made this shawl. The colours are called A Hell so Scorched it’s Green (green), Dwell in Possibility (multicoloured) and Love has the Power to Change Everything (blue-purple), from Countess Ablaze via Knit with Attitude, and the pattern is Sea Swell Shawl by Stephen West. I’d …
I’ve joined a jewellery collective to get part-time use of a bench in a studio in Vanguard Court, down in Camberwell. It’s a commitment (eek), but it’s also a sensible first step. It was strange to be making jewellery again after more than a year, but also very satisfying. Most of my tools are still …
I’m two episodes in to this Netflix Limited Series (whatever the hell that means, and yes, I’ve Googled it, and no, I don’t get it). If you link your memories to things – in this case, clothes – the concept makes complete sense. People talk about items of clothing and the stories they hold. Some …
I’ve been listening to Sideways, Matthew Syed’s Radio 4 show/podcast. Each episode tackles a different idea, based loosely around stories about people seeing the world differently. I particularly liked Episode 1, which covers the origins of Stockholm Syndrome; Episode 5, about the work of the anthropologist Colin Turnball; and Episode 6, about Tony Hsieh, founder …
I don’t remember getting this mug, but I do remember my parents telling me the potter didn’t have a ‘Mary’ and had to make one. ‘Mary’ was already waning in popularity when I was born, whereas Sarah – the most popular girl’s name in New Zealand between 1954 and 2017 – was on the rise …
I’ve had this little cat since the 1970s. I think it came from the Van Helden Gallery in Days Bay, across the harbour from Wellington. I remember going to the gallery on family holidays, and again when I was visiting Wellington while I was at university in Palmerston North. I’m amazed the gallery is still …