Thursday 19 June 2008

There's a huge spider living in my workshop. He's been crawling his web for a couple of weeks but lately he's been disappearing. Yesterday he was on the wall outside my door then back in his web later on. Just now I don't know where he is. I tried to catch him in a jar when he was on the wall but he ran away, he can fair move when he needs too! So I don't know if I maybe scared him a bit? Perhaps he's waiting to pounce!



I'm very excited! I'm going to Barcelona and Zaragoza in Spain on Monday! My Dad and I are spending a night in Barcelona then getting on a train to Zaragoza where we will spend three days visiting the Expo. Then back to Barcelona for three days of sightseeing. I've always wanted to visit Barcelona, I'm a big fan of Gaudi (who isn't!) and I can't wait to see his buildings!

So this week I'm just trying to get everything to a stage where it can be left for a week. A couple of kilt pins to design and some jewellery to finish. I'm working on a little collection of bangles and rings with silver and black resin. Below are some pictures of work in progress. I'm really happy with how the rings are turning out and I think I'll be happier with the bangles when they are more finished. Sometimes it's hard to tell what a piece will look like when it's finished. I will often change a design in the making process, unless it's an agreed upon design. I find you have to work with the materials rather than tell them what to do to make the finished item a success, however well drawn it will always have a different quality when turned into a 3D object.



I shall also be dropping into Hanna's Gallery in Dundee with some of my jewellery. They are holding a 'Ladies Day' for people to come and see jewellery, meet the jewellers, eat, drink and have fun! And there will be a charity raffle where you can win pieces of jewellery. I was really looking forward to participating in this but the date has changed, it is on Sunday 29th June, I will still be in Barcelona :( & :) But I will be exhibiting some jewellery with them that can be bought or won of course! Please contact the gallery manager, Jen Robson, for more details - info@hannasgallery.co.uk

Wednesday 4 June 2008

Dundee Kilt Pins

Sunny again today! I'm in the garden in my pants trying to get rid of the tan lines across the top of my thighs while I type this. When are they going to invent a screen that you can see easily in the sun??? Right now I have an umbrella over the laptop to try and give it some shade, seems to be working a bit.

There was an opening at Hanna's Gallery in Dundee (my umbrella just blew away!) on Friday. I usually have some jewellery displayed with them but the gallery manager, Jen, was asking me for kilt pins. This was only last week so I quickly designed two kilt pins inspired by Dundee. These are the first Kilt Pins I have made for a gallery, the rest have all been to commission, so I'm looking forward to seeing if they sell.

Unfortunately I only managed to get one finished in time for the opening but there was a wee write up in the local newspaper mentioning the Kilt Pin which is excellent.









I was in Markinch on Sunday playing in a pipe band competition. We got 1st in Grade 3 and 2nd in Grade 2. Last week we were at the Scottish Championships in Dumbarton, we got 4th in Grade 3, here is a video of our preformance. I'm third from the left (if you are in the band) in the back row. Ok, adding a youtube video to this is a wee bit more complacated than I thought so here's a link instead!