IslaySpalding

Jigsaws For Friends

2012-01-15T02:06:00.000Z

Happy New Year and aw' that! I've hit the ground running this year with plenty of projects and jobs on the go and a head full of ideas! Just back from a late one in the workshop (which is thankfully not all frozen up this year) where I've been working on some kilt pin and wedding ring commissions. And here's some I made earlier, along with a couple of my other projects.

Skydiver Kilt Pin

The Munzer

Edinburgh Skyline Kilt Pin

Jigsaws For Friends

felt pen on pre-cut cardboard

Workshop Sounds

beatmaker 2, the ultimate procrastination tool

Workshop Sounds II by IslaySpalding

Triquetra Collection for Shetland Jewellery

visit their website here - www.shetlandjewellery.co.uk

This and That

2011-11-19T10:31:00.001Z

Why hello there! It's been a wee while, I've just realised my business and I have turned another year older since my last post, yay! So what have I been up to you may ask? This and that.... had a braw weekend in Germany performing with my pipe band where I got to open the show with a solo drum fanfare which was pretty exciting, made some cracking kilt pins (if I may say so myself), doing a bit of drum teaching....and learning, played my fiddle a lot recently which has been lovely and just sent some jewellery down south to the Chapel Gallery in Lancashire for their Christmas Exhibition - Objects of Desire

Biomorphs at the Chapel Gallery, Lancashire

And here are some of those kilt pins I was boasting about -

Drum Major's Mace Kilt Pin

Miners Pick Kilt Pin

Lotus Elise Father & Son Kilt Pins

Crabbit Midge Kilt Pin

Set Square Kilt Pin

SA80 Bayonet Kilt Pin

Germany was a pretty whistle stop tour, mostly on a bus, that fortunately sold beer, but we did get to see a bit of culture, as well as provide it of course! We stumbled across this brilliant house in Braunsheweig and a church with some amazing stained glass.

Happy Rizzi House

Stained Glass Window in St. Magni Church

A much bigger stained Glass Window in St. Magni Church

We also stopped off in Köln for a couple of hours, saw the massive cathedral, helped/annoyed some buskers and drank some beer.

Köln Cathedral

Gerhard Richter Pixel Window

Nice Mosaic!

Even some thistles

That's all for now! Is it too early?.... Probably not...ok here goes because I probably won't be back for a while.... hope you all have a lovely Christmas!

Gordon Duncan Kilt Pin and Necklace

2011-09-27T02:31:00.002+01:00

I was honoured to be asked to make a Kilt Pin and Necklace for the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust recently. They were presented to the compères Gary West and Fiona Ritchie at the fifth annual Gordon Duncan concert, A National Treasure V, on Saturday night. The design for the Kilt Pin was based around the Gordon Duncan skeleton logo (read here for the full story!), the Necklace for Fiona has a design based on radio transmission waves on the front and the logo on the back.

And here's the flyer I made for the occasion, hope you picked one up!

Biocubes at Black Box Boutique

2011-08-19T11:06:00.000+01:00

I sent a new collection of Biocubes down to Black Box Boutique in Edinburgh last week. If you haven't visited this wee gem of a shop yet then you must! It's filled with curious delights of the jewellery, textiles, ceramics and illustration kind and situated on West Bow Street in the Grassmarket. Run by jeweller Hannah Livingston the shop showcases not only the work of the talented makers but an interior created by Board Stupid furniture designers, branding created by Rydo and an in-house jewellery studio where Hannah Livingston and Sarah Brown create their work, all fellow ex-DoJers I'm proud to add!

Double Sided Biocube Pendant

Biocube Rings and Ear Studs

Biocube Earrings

Here's the Batman Kilt Pin I mentioned in my last blog, this particular Batman logo comes from Warner Bros Batman Beyond animated series in 1999. Did you realise there were lots of different Batman logos? I didn't! Great wee video showing the evolution here>>

Batman Kilt Pin

Managed to escape reality, and pipe bands, for a few days this week and spent some relaxation time in the cutest wee bothy on the shores of Loch Shieldaig under the impressive Torridon Mountains, I really needed it and I find it so inspiring to be surrounded by the Scottish scenery even if it comes with midgies!

Kilt Pins and Thritty Pings

2011-08-04T13:37:00.002+01:00

Hope you're all having a fun summer and are getting the time to catch some rays! I've been busy in my workshop, enjoying lunches outside in the sunshine and back competing with the pipe band again so it's all go! I've quite a few things to show and tell! Let's start with some Kilt Pins, four commissioned and a wee treat for myself.

Himalayas Kilt Pin

A client gave me this gorgeous big Citrine to set in a kilt pin alongside a hillscape of the Himalayas, as seen from Darjeeling. It is the biggest stone I've ever set and I enjoyed the challenge. This is something I love about making bespoke kilt pins, I'm always getting interesting requests which lead me onto learning new things down paths I might not have explored by myself. Whether it's techniques, working with different materials, history, geography or the evolution of the Batman logo (that one's coming soon!) it keeps my head buzzing with ideas.

Brindisi Column Kilt Pin

Banff Kilt Pin

Loch Trool Kilt Pin

Composition Kilt Pin

The Composition Kilt Pin was the wee treat for myself, to wear at my first pipe band competition of the season at the weekend there in Ireland, not that it brought us much luck! I hope to make more in a similar sort of way over the next couple of months and actually get something for sale online, they are really great fun to make, kinda like sketching in metal.

Kenmore Kilt Pin and Cuff Links

These cuff links were made to match this kilt pin, a commission from last year, the shape is taken from the bridge at Kenmore and they have the mottos from the Bruce and Hunter Clans etched into them.

I've been lucky enough to have the help of two interns this summer, Sheila who is just about to go into 2nd year at Duncan of Jordanstone, and Lizzie who is embarking on her final year. It's been a massive help to have them in the workshop and really fun to have new people around, I love my own space but a change is nice!

Lizzie hammering her ring

I've been having some fun recently with shrink plastic, a relaxing departure from expensive lumps of silver - think shrinking crisp packets in the oven when you were wee - making little earrings, kirby grips and brooches. They're called Thritty Pings and are available to buy at The Tayberry Gallery in Perth. The idea came about when I was struggling for something to put in my hair for a recent wedding, couldn't find anything that wasn't flowers or feathers! So I got out my pens and colours and made myself a hair clasp from a few pieces of shrink plastic I'd bought ages ago, this inspired me to see what else I could make with it and I'm really happy with the results and very grateful to my wee sister at The Tayberry Gallery for giving me shelf space for random ideas!

Lots of Thritty Pings

Right better head to the workshop, working on a new collection of Biocubes that will be heading to the Black Box Boutique in Edinburgh this month as well as some Strange Quarks and Melty Snarks bound for an exhibition and jewellery party hosted by the ACJ and The Tayberry Gallery at the end of this month. This month's a busy one! Pipe band competitions every weekend, two weddings, one I'm playing fiddle at so that needs to be seriously practised(!), a hill walk planned, kilt pin orders to complete so I'd better get on, stop talking about things and start doing! GO ISLAY GO!

Cheeripops!

On a side note.... look how my bedroom view has changed! (And the blinkin weather)

New Jewellery in Edinburgh

2011-07-10T14:50:00.002+01:00

Restocked Concrete Wardrobe and the Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh on Friday with colourful Biomorphs and Biohoops.

In Concrete Wardrobe I came across some beautiful wooden jewellery by Adrian Baird Ba Than, you can see more pictures and info over on the Made By Crafty Hands blog.

And here's a sneaky peek at some pretty wee things I've been making!

Getting Going

2011-06-03T03:32:00.001+01:00

Had my first proper day of work again, through in Perth at my sister Sarah's shop - The Tayberry Gallery. Did more chatting than working but did manage to finish a necklace, on sale now of course in the aforementioned Tayberry Gallery, from peg to shelf in the matter of minutes, how satisfying! The necklace is part of me and Sarah's joint jewellery collection we've been working on together, I don't have a photo of it, but here's a couple of brooches and some cufflinks instead!

Went out for a wee walk (big walk for me right now!), Perth was beautiful today! Popped into meet Janet Eagleton, renowned sporran maker, to bend her ear a bit about sporran cantles, something I hope to start exploring soon, I've got some awesome ideas! Visited Boo Vake as well for a wee chat with the lovely Arlene and a browse of her quirky and colourful shop. Got all inspired by the worn sandstone with pebbles poking through on the Perth Bridge, ideas forming for my first box designs, another project for this year. I recently completed a commission for a set of boxes and I enjoyed making them so much and now I just want to make more, I like the lid thing, there's something so joyful about opening something up to see what's inside! And here they are!....

They were designed to celebrate the adoption of a couples two children, one box for each member of the family. The design on top is based on the landscape of Corrie Fee and Glen Clova, the centre point being the location of the couples marraige. The hilly ring holds the four boxes together symbolising the everlasting bond of the family.

Couple more kilt pins made recently too.... and of course! if you haven't seen it already! my (almost finished :/) scrubbed up kilt pin website!

Glen Brig Kilt Pin and Cufflinks

Arran Kilt Pin

Excited to be showing four pieces at Treasure, part of London Jewellery Week, next week with the ACJ! Here they are!........

That's all for now folks!

Sitting down

2011-06-01T14:14:00.002+01:00

What a silly few weeks I've had! After finishing a challenging commission for a set of four silver boxes I'd rolled up my sleeves up further and spent three days destroying a monstrous to do list culminating in playing at a Mess Dinner with the OTC band and then drinking too many sambucas in Liquid nightclub (I know, I swore I'd never go there), I was looking forward to my Thursday tootling about the flat and taking it easy! But my day off was ruined by a sore tummy, assuming I had the sickness bug my sister had a few days earlier I just felt incredible sorry for myself and did a lot of writhing. After a sleepless night my sister made me phone the doctor, I got an emergency appointment and hopped in a taxi in my joggys assuming it would be no worse than a trip to the pharmacy for a big box of laxatives. But they sent me to the hospital!! A long wait on an uncomfortable gynae trolley (actually at this point even a cloud would be uncomfortable), x-ray, CT scan and not forgetting the disappointing enema later I was told my right bowel was twisted and they'd have to cut a bit out and stitch it up again - a right hemicolectomy for all you doctors out there!

So while I was meant to be spending Saturday night celebrating the first pipe band competition of the year for us mighty Mac Cal's instead I was in surgery, luckily I found the whole thing extremely fasinating! I spent a few days in hospital when I was 5 with a fractured skull and have pretty clear memories of it (the only day I went to school dinners in Primary School I fell in the playground, it was mince pie, I didn't like mince pie) but I'd never even had stitches, never mind drips, cannulas, catheters and a down my throat. Fortunately the latter two got removed before I had hit reality, damn morphine's good! But the whole experience, although obviously I wouldn't want to repeat it, was pretty interesting!

I had a couple of days with my PCA morphine feeling dead perky, had lots of visitors, cards, lego and nice messages which I was sneaking a look at on my mobile, read magazines and books, had snoozes and did lots of people watching, a hospital ward is brilliant for this! Some interesting characters indeed! And I was lucky to have some great nurses and doctors, especially my sisters boyfriend Luke who works there as a doctor and popped in to give me the low down everyday and kept my mum informed during my surgery, that actually made a huge difference and totally put me at ease. It's scary how quickly the simplest things can suddenly become such a challenge, it seems a bit unreal now how pleased I was just to get into the chair myself. On the Tuesday they took my morphine away and a got my first taste of hospital food, some clear soup and jelly... bleurg! Bit of a downer that day and started noticing annoying things, like the lack of anywhere to put things down in the toilets and shower rooms - for the want of a shelf! Staff moving your table away when you've spent so long getting everything within arms reach and being left wandering about dragging your drip trying to find a nurse to hand your piss pot to! But I was recovering fast and two more days and wards later I was punted oot with a big bag of painkillers and lots of new lego to build!
So overall my hospital experience was pretty good, the nurses all seem to work so hard but it does seem they are short of staff, there's certainly no time for anything but the necessities when it comes to care and if you don't ask you probably don't get.

So now I'm at my parents house getting looked after and doing some convalescing, done a lot of film watching and lego building, some drawing, finally finished my new Kilt Pin website, no wait, that's a lie, the shop is still on hold... arg! Go look anyway! - http://www.islayspalding.co.uk/kiltpins.htm - gave the rest of it a bit of a scrub up to and uploaded loads of new jewellery photos, so that's something productive! Still got a couple of months accounts to do...(been putting that one off!) and some design drawings I should be getting on with, so plenty of sitting down type activities! This is one of those times I wish I had an employer to give me sick pay! Aim to ease myself into workshop next week, be ready for ceilidh dancing and a bouncy journey from Rum to Mallaig in a RIB by the 19th, and then paintballing by the first weekend in July, and of course be ready to wear a drum again for the European Pipe Band Championships in Ireland in July!

Right enough about me, sorry about the pure wall of text! Next post will be about JEWELLERY! Yay!

Oh, and moral of the story - Don't go to Liquid Nightclub or school dinners.

Me with my pal the morphine button and copy of Viz

The Tayberry Gallery

2011-04-18T01:55:00.001+01:00

Exciting news!! The Tayberry Gallery in Perth is open for business under the new management of my talented sister Sarah Spalding. After a month of hard work making the premises her own, finding new stockists, creating a website and moving her workbench into the gallery (that's just the fun stuff!) The Tayberry Gallery reopened on April 1st 2011. It stocks a broad mixture of jewellery (some of mine!), ceramics, painting, wood, textiles, photography and glassware, visit the website here

And the Courier did this great wee article all about it!

As well as some new stock on the shelves of the Tayberry Gallery I recently sent some pieces down to Franny and Filer in Manchester -

Been pretty busy over the last month trying to get a long overdue commission finished..... but more about that later.... as well as lots of marching about in a kilt. Got a (lucky) second place with Tayforth OTC Pipes and Drums at our inter OTC competition, Exercise Northern Lights, held at the glorious Stirling Castle, an excellent venue for prancing about with a mace. Had a speedy trip down to Warcop to visit the ducks and play at our Passing Out Parade for the first years. And I'm just back from a week up in Inverness teaching cadets at Cameron Barracks. So looking forward to spending some quality time at the bench this week, going to be hard to keep inside when the weather is so nice though, barbecue tonight and another planned for tomorrow! Well you gotta enjoy it while you can!

Oh, and I made some kit pins!

Hebditch Kilt Pin

family name, rose, yorkshire dales

Canna Kiltpin

isles of canna and sanday

Hunting Kilt Pin

pheasant shooting and hay bales

Not super happy with my photos just now, needed a lot of photoshopping.... stoooopidly managed to lose my fav wee camera. Thanks to ebay though I have a new old one coming in the post so that's pretty exciting, and I found my glasses so that's good news too. Right, time for sleeps, good night!

Neo Design - Dundee

2011-03-17T05:02:00.001Z

I now have a collection of Biomorphs, Treasure Rings and more in Dundee's newest jewellery boutique, Neo Design on Whitehall Crescent. The gallery is run by fellow Duncan of Jordanstone graduate and jeweller Tracey McSporran, and is a welcome addition to Dundee's city centre hosting an eclectic mix of contemporary jewellery from UK and international designers, fine art exhibitions and a slick interior complete with original features.

You can visit their facebook page here>>

Here's a wee preview of some of my jewellery now for sale -

Quark Bangle, Purple Biomorph Earrings and Green Biohoop Brooch

Green Biomorph on Dyed Freshwater Pearls

Treasure Rings with Ruby, Garnet, Peridot, Amethyst and Topaz

Go and have a look!

Kilt Pins and Cuff Links

2011-03-12T12:12:00.004Z

Oh! Hello! It's been a while! First post of 2011 and I feel I have a bit of a back log already, it's been a busy start to the year. So to start you off here's images of some of the kilt pins I've been commissioned to make over the past few months. If you'd like your own Islay Spalding Kilt Pin specially designed for you then please visit my website for more details.

Pour Christophe Kilt Pin

Bist du bei Mir Kilt Pin

McKay's Polka Kilt Pin

Rugby Ball Kilt Pin

SK Kilt Pin

I was also asked to design a pair of cuff links for a previous client for his 21st birthday to match the kilt pin I made for his 18th.

That's all for now, off to Perth to help my sister with her new shop, that's right! New Shop! Whoo! She's taking over the Tayberry Gallery in Perth, opening on the 1st of April, you can check out the website here - www.thetayberrygallery.co.uk

Bye Bye 2010

2010-12-31T11:00:00.006Z

Well here it is, the last day of 2010, it's been a funny old year, lots of ups and downs, things gained and things lost. I'm sitting at the table in front of the window just now looking out at the harr upon the Tay, it's a beautiful last day and I'm looking forward to the drive across to Skye soon to spend Hogmany with some dear old friends. So as a wee end of year blog post here's my three favourite creations this year.

Paua Shell Kilt Pin

Ruby Flower Power Necklace

Green Small Worlds Pendant

I hope you all had a good Christmas and all your presents made it through the post, and if not, hey you have some to look forward too! I was very pleased with the response to the christmas decorations I emailed out this year instead of cards, many of you indulged my decorating desires and sent me your photos of it in situ, it pleased me greatly!

Now, must go pack a bag, there's plenty of adventures round the corner and the sun is shining outside, all the best for 2011 and lang may yer lum reek!

New jewellery in galleries in time for Christmas!

2010-11-09T18:49:00.005Z

I recently restocked four galleries with jewellery for the Christmas season. (Can't believe it's that time!)

The Victoria Sewart Gallery in Plymouth now have a collection of Biomorph Rings, Brooches and Necklaces a well as jewellery from over 40 other designers, the gallery also runs jewellery making classes from their workshop.

These pieces went to my local stockists, the DCA Shop in Dundee, Biomorph Rings, Brooches and Earrings and Biodrip Pendants. The DCA is well worth a visit for Christmas presents, as well as jewellery and ceramics they have a range of inspired gifts, magazines and notebooks.

The Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh received a collection of Biomorphs and a couple of the popular Biocube Rings which sit alongside an exciting and ever changing exhibition of contemporary fine and applied art.

And last but definitely not least with it's wonderfully sparkly floor, Jewel Thief in Brighton have a new collection of Sweet Sweet Chains and Bracelets as well as Biomorphs and a Biohoop Brooch.

If you live near one of these galleries what are you waiting for? Every piece of jewellery I make is completely unique so if you see a piece that you like you'd better snap it up soon!

Trip to Shetland

2010-10-10T11:45:00.005+01:00

Last week I spent two days on the beautiful Shetland Islands, it was business but just as much pleasure!
I flew (got blown) up to Sumburg from Aberdeen in a tiny two prop plane early on Tuesday morning and driven over the runway and up through the main island to Weisdale, home of Shetland Jewellery. After a tour around their workshop and showroom I chatted to the staff and makers and learnt a lot about how a jewellery workshop of that style runs, quite different to my own wee business but I have come away inspired with lots of useful ideas on how I can improve the running of my own practice. Then I visited the companies shop in Lerwick, J G Rae's, and had a nice wee walk about the town, I particularly liked all the tiny wee streets and sandy inlets near the harbour.

That evening I was treated to some home cooked fresh Shetland salmon, yum! On Wednesday after another morning in the workshop I had lunch at the Weisdale Mill (more salmon!), which houses the Bonhoga Gallery, unfortunately it was in between exhibitions but I had a good root around their very well stocked shop! Then back to Lerwick for an afternoon in the Shetland Museum, I could have easily spent the whole day in there! There was lots about the geology of the islands and early life which I love learning about and the next morning (with my hangover from the Lounge) I managed to squeeze in a visit to Clickhimin Broch to experience one of these early settlements for real.

Outside the Shetland Gallery there is an interesting installation called the Shetland Receivers which is made up of four dishes on posts made from local materials each containing a speaker which plays clips of conversation, sound and music recorded in Shetland or sourced from the Shetland Archives. An anemometer controls the recordings so that on a calm day long sections of the clips can be heard and on a really windy day the clips merge into one another. There are also lights on top that illuminate a box of shetland wool blue and turn on and off in response to the wind speed.

I didn't take many photos of this as it started raining pretty hard so I had to hide in a pub :)

I met loads of brilliant folk, saw some crazy Norwegian accordion playing and found a place I loved and know will visit again, topped off with a drive back to Sumburg in the most glorious sunshine and the most thorough search at an airport I've ever had!

Skol!

New Jewellery

2010-08-31T18:09:00.004+01:00

I've just sent some new jewellery to two galleries down south. These silver Rope Rings are now available to buy from Artifex in Birmingham and the Biomorph earrings and necklaces from Franny and Filer in Manchester.

My Biomorphs are inspired by the forms and colours found in the surrealist art of Desmond Morris, Wassily Kandinsky, Yves Tanguy and Joan Miro. Each one is made individually from sterling silver and filled with resin, which is dyed, shaped and finished by hand so every Biomorph is unique. The word Biomorph was coined by Desmond Morris who used it to descibe something which is not quite plant but not quite animal either, something in between. Please visit my website here>> to see more Biomorph designs.

I have an evening in the workshop to do now, with pizza, getting some kilt pins, cufflinks and bangles ready for posting to the assay office for hallmarking. And then a couple days to get lots of other odds and ends tied up, bags packed, shirts ironed and shoes polished for I have a busy couple of weeks ahead of me!

On Friday I'm off to Helmsdale with a few members of the ACJ for a day of gold panning on Saturday, then returning on Sunday to go straight to Edinburgh for five days on the Drum Major course at the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming (hence the show polishing and ironing! should perhaps add 'buy port' to that list too) then home again on Friday night to change kilts for Pitlochry games on the Saturday, really keen to camp in Pitlochry since it's the last competition of the season but that I'll decide when I see the weather forecast, then back to Edinburgh for another five days of drum majoring! Phew! And already the 'to do' list for my return is looking rather daunting!

Stand at ease, Stand easy!

Long Overdue

2010-08-21T12:13:00.015+01:00

How time flies when you're having fun! I feel like I've been chasing my tail all summer, managed to pack a fair few things into the last couple of months though! Camping, walking, out on the boat at Castle Sween, Piping Live, pipe band competitions and of course, making lots of kilt pins and even some Biomorphs for the first time in ages!

And some exciting news! I am now featured in the Who is Who in Gold and Silver Goldsmiths Company Directory on the Goldsmiths website, go and have a look!

Here's some of the jewellery I've created in the last wee while -

Skiers Kilt Pin

Lerryn Kilt Pin

Necklace for Willa - made from parts of a gold ring and amethyst

Dark Isle Kilt Pin and Cufflinks

Dark Isle Kilt Pin in Action!
Photograph by Steven Seymour

Kildrummy Kilt Pin

Bike Wheel Cufflinks

Ring for Ann-Marie

So lots done and lots more to do! Away to crack on!

Happy Customers!

2010-06-16T01:15:00.004+01:00

I recently made these three kilt pins for the Groom, Best Man and Father of the Groom to wear on the big day. As you can probably tell they are avid Dundee Football Club supporters!

I thought this was a good photo of surprised faces!

And on Sunday, at Strathmore Highland Games, this finely dressed young chap was spotted sporting an Islay Spalding Kilt Pin. I was commissioned to make this a couple of years ago by hs girlfriend and was inspired by his love for rock formations. The blue resin was coloured to match his kilt.

It's a beautiful day in Dundee today, not going to waste it so going for a wee walk up a hill with a picnic and a camera.

Cameron Barracks

2010-06-08T01:31:00.004+01:00

Just back from a week of Summer Camp with the OTC, up in Cameron Barracks again and I took some photos this time! It was a week of guard duty, band practice, learning stick drill, doing kit and fun times in the mess. Also some great gigs, played at the Atholl Gathering with the Atholl Highlanders which was a great honour and something really special to me and at Stirling Castle with the Glasgow OTC and the Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Plus the weather was awesome!

Now I need to switch my jewellery head back on!

Changes

2010-05-02T17:52:00.005+01:00

Well it's been a wee while since my last post and a month of changes and new things, also my first month of being single in 6 years. So although it feels like time is constantly whizzing by, when I think back to the start of the month it seems a long time ago now.

I spent the first week up in Inverness teaching army cadets the side drum at Cameron Barracks, which, for aesthetics and history, is my favourite army camp I've visited with the OTC (nothing beats Cultybraggan for pure kwality!) That's maybe a kind of un-armyish way to look at things but it's what I find important! And also probably a good qualification for a Drum Major. This is one of the new things....... I am training to (hopefully!) take over as Drum Major when our current Drummy retires this summer and last weekend got thrown in at the deep end at the last minute and was Drum Major at our unit's Pass Out Parade. This was a pretty big step for me, it's very very different being at the front of the band and being responsible for what they are doing and where we are going as opposed to hiding at the back and following the person in front! So I'm glad my first parade is done and looking much more forward to the next one!

Another new thing is a new flat! Got the keys just after I came home from Inverness but still not moved into it properly, stressing me out a bit being between three places now and really looking forward to moving in proper, especially for the 10 minute walk to the workshop! Hooray! But stupidly I thought the time it takes to move stuff and first of all build my amazing but slightly ambitiously designed platform bed, shelves and desk plan to put everything in would magically appear, but it hasn't and already I'm feeling the pressure a little to get a big bulk of work done before I'm away again for a week of Annual Camp at the end of this month. But hey, at least the OTC are paying us again! You can just see our beautiful view of Dundee and the Tay out our living room window in this photo -

Ok, enough typing, some pictures of lovely Kilt Pins perhaps??

This Kilt Pin was based on the shield and spear design on the Kenyan flag.

This Kilt Pin was a first for me as it was made exactly to the customers specifications with very little design input from me, this is the drawing he gave me to design from -

I've also been doing some more work on a garden sculpture I've been working on for a while now, it's going to be a large copper version of a french onion plant and there's a smaller silver version on the way too. Here's some shots of its progress -

And to finish off, my jewellery bench today, better get back to work!

A few finished pieces

2010-03-23T00:05:00.003Z

For your pleasure, some photographs of jewellery I made last week -

Roch Rings - with a bit of bending one size fits all!

Dunkeld Doctor Kilt Pin - commissioned as a leaving present

Ruby Treasure Ring - I will be sending this to Artifex Gallery soon

along with these earrings set with citrines

and this a ring made for a friend, it's set with a piece of shell from the beach where she got married.

Loads going on just now so not going to start blethering too much or I won't know when to stop! Going to do a week of drum teaching with the Army Cadets up in Inverness on the 3rd April and feels like I have a million things to cram into the time before, including moving into a new flat, going to Mull for three days, going to see the amazing Treacherous Orchestra in Glasgow a well as all the jobs I have on just now and kilt pins to make! Ahhhh!!... Need to speed things up a notch, I'll be pretty relaxed in Mull after all!

Franny & Filer Collection

2010-03-11T18:06:00.006Z

Posted another collection of jewellery away today to a shop in Manchester. Franny & Filer is a unique contemporary jewellery and craft gallery, set up by jewellery designers Frances Stunt and Abby Filer. Situated on Beech Road in Chorlton, Manchester. Please visit their website here - www.frannyandfiler.com

Navy and Blue Biomorphs on Chain

Biocube Rings

Small World Pendant

Miro Ring

This is the first time my jewellery has visited Manchester, let's hope they get on well together!

Concrete Wardrobe Collection

2010-02-26T17:42:00.004Z

A just sent a scrummy wee collection of jewellery through to Concrete Wardrobe in Edinburgh, Sweet Sweet Necklaces, Bracelets and Earrings and some chunky funky Biomorph Rings.

All wrapped up and ready to go!

Sweet Sweet Chain

Leaf and Flower Collections Pendant

Biomorph Rings

So go and visit! It's a lovely shop full of fun things, 50a Broughton Street, Edinburgh. And you can visit their website here - www.concretewardrobe.co.uk

Right off to band practice now! Looking forward to tomorrow, going to see my friends new brewery and sample some of its delights! You can read about it on his blog here - Inveralmond Brewery.

Ruby Flower Power Necklace

2010-02-19T19:27:00.006Z

I was recently commissioned to make a very special 'flower power' inspired necklace for a 40th wedding anniversary. It is made from silver and each flower is set with a ruby. You can follow the design and making process in the photos below.

Joint Jewellery

2010-02-05T17:32:00.004Z

These necklaces are the first pieces of jewellery Sarah (my sister) and I have designed and made together. We used grid structures and squares from Sarah's designs and resin shapes from my designs, combining them to create these distinctive pendants.

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-26T15:04:00.005Z

This has probably been about the best Christmas ever!!! Check out my present!

I realise to most people this is just a big lego set and a very excited girl who is possible too old to be this excited about lego. But it's not just a lego set, it is THE lego set, the biggest in the world! 5197 pieces (mostly grey!) in a box I struggle to carry. Not even joined any yet, still in the sorting out phase but it's soooo much fun! I'll write a whole post about it when it's finished!

So onto more jewellery orientated stuff! I had a fairly successful Christmas period selling my jewellery at two craft fairs in Dundee, thought I'd keep it local this year to keep costs down. One which myself and some other members of the Association for Contemporary Jewellery organised, you can read about it here>> and the other in the Caird Hall. Thanks to everyone who came to see and buy!

I also had a few kilt pin commissions, the finished products you can see below -

Still in the middle of a website redesign for the kilt pins section of my website so haven't uploaded any new photos on it for a while, well not worked on the website for a while either so will crack on with that in the New Year.

Right, off to enjoy more Christmas stuff, and it's snowing again yay! Hope everyone has a fun and boozy Hogmany, and Santa, if you're reading this, THANK YOU!!!

Jabberwocky Necklace

2009-11-14T03:25:00.006Z

I've just sent some exciting pieces of jewellery down to Artifex Gallery in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands. It's a mixture of some older Jabberwocky pieces and Treasure Rings with a new Jabberwocky Necklace and collection of necklaces, bracelets and cufflinks inspired by my imaginings of pirates and shipwrecks.

Here's some close ups of the Jabberwocky Necklace. It is the first stanza of 'The Jabberwocky' by Lewis Carroll that really inspires me, along with the description given of the three creatures mentioned by Humpty Dumpty in 'Through the Looking Glass'. This first stanza is also published alone in 'Mischmasch' under the title 'Stanza of Angelo-Saxon Poetry' with slightly different translations of the words. I use both the descriptions to help visualise these words in the form of jewellery.

New Kilt Pin

2009-11-05T14:25:00.001Z

I've just finished making this striking Kilt Pin inspired by the clients guitar. It is to be worn on a black kilt so the design needed to have a bold outline and incorporates a piece of turquoise, inserts of wenge and photo-etched music (Bob Dylan's 'Forever Young').

Here are some of the photos I worked from and some of the designs I came up with after deciding on the overall shape.

And here's some photos of the making process -

New Collection in the DCA

2009-10-29T15:28:00.004Z

I now have a collection of jewellery ready to buy in the DCA Shop in Dundee. The collection includes some Biomorph Rings including the fabulous (and slightly dangerous!) Monstro, two Biohoop Brooches as well as colourful Biomorph Pendants, Studs and classic silver bangles.

Monstro

Green Biohoop Brooch

Turquoise and Purple Biomorph Pendant

Silver Bangles

Sketchbook to Finished Piece

2009-10-09T15:19:00.004+01:00

I recently finished this commission for a friend of mine, a Kilt Pin for his brothers 60th birthday and earrings for his nieces. It was inspired by the Iona cross and has a Lily of the Valley motif in the centre. I've taken photos of it in different stages of design and making.

Another Year Older

2009-10-06T12:13:00.006+01:00

It was my birthday on Friday (yay!) I love birthdays! It rained all day so my workshop buddies and I went to a cave in Glen Clova where I used to go when I was wee. We brought a picnic and had a game of scrabble (Sarah won, bah), I would definitely recommend a cave as a good place to play scrabble, you just have to watch and not drop a tile down a gap in the rocks! I got some good presents including a speedometer thingy for my bike and a beautiful bunch of flowers from my man, thanks interflora!

My presents!

Locket and Mushroom Houses

2009-08-25T03:06:00.000+01:00

I was commissioned by a friend to make this locket for the mother of his new baby boy. It was a really good commission to get as I haven't made a hinge for AGES and this is the smallest I've tackled, it took me two attempts to get it right but I am really pleased with the end result!

I took this photo today on my way home down by the beach, you can see the two jack-up oil rigs in the distance. I almost went and worked on an oil rig as a stewardess after I graduated, did the survival course and everything! Thought it would be a good job to combine with making jewellery. But I didn't get a job immediatly and I was torn between putting more effort into that or putting more effort into the jewellery, so I decided to start my business properly, which I don't regret, but still I really like the idea of working on an oil rig, I don't know why (money?!?), so I always think what it would be like when I pass them.

These were growing on the side of a big tree that was leaning over into Loch Tay, found them on a camping trip, they're like little houses!

It's stupidly late, or early, depending how you look at it! So I think it's time for a sleep, night night.........zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Time flies when your having fun!

2009-06-30T22:04:00.000+01:00

Ok, Who stole June? Can't believe it's almost July! And I'm sitting outside in the mist, the other side of the Tay has vanished, really hoping the weather gets better for the weekend, having a party on Saturday in the garden! (Fingers crossed!!) Just having a wee reflection on what I've done this month and I suppose quite a lot has been done when I look back. I was in Castle Sween at the start of the month, it was heaven! I was sooo chillaxed! Haze and I painted some stones with red enamel paint and left them on the beach, hoping to see where the tide would take them but it was so calm.... and peaceful....... and still.... ahhhh.... that they didn't move, just sat there in the sun enjoying the water lap over them.

I wonder where they are now?

Then there was a bit of a mad week finishing wedding rings, going to the wedding with the rings (they fitted hooray!) and visiting Edinburgh and Glasgow Degree Shows to pursued the new graduates to join the Association for Contemporary Jewellery. Oh and saw these amazing bags at Edinburgh made by Sophie Turnell.

The Association for Contemporary Jewellery is an organsation set up to help promote and encourage contemporary jewellery and I have just started helping Genna Delany co-ordinate the Scottish group which is exciting! We had a meeting Dundee with some other members at the start of the month which went well and was encouraging to find out that so many people were on the same wave length. Working away on your own a a maker gets quite lonely and it's easy to forget how many of you are out there doing the same thing. So we have agreed that meeting reguarly and staying in contact more is the most helpful thing for us at the moment, a place to ask questions, get feedback on new designs and try out new ideas.

Then I was off to Barcelona for the Sonar music festival (amazing fun!) and to check how they were getting along building that church. I think they've started a new tower since last year!

Somewhere between all that I finished some commissioned Kilt Pins. Here they are!

At the weekend I was in Ireland for the British Pipe Band Champs, we didn't play our best, I think everyone made their own mistakes which was a shame but we made up for it by having a brilliant two nights staying in Ulster University Halls, drinking in Belfast and eating chips (and a bit more drinking!) on the ferrys!

And now I'm just trying to get organised again! I think my work is now on top of and planned out for the next wee while but my clothes and belongings are all over the place! You see my room is very small and I have a sort of office/drawing space in another room and I use the spare room to pack stuff and is where I keep all my band uniforms so everything is spread out over three rooms! So that's tonights task!

Adios!

Broken Hammer

2009-06-05T12:20:00.000+01:00

My riveting hammer broke :( I just opened my drawer and there it was, all broken and sad, I don't know how it happened! Maybe it just got fed up banging?

So I'm just waiting on the postman coming with a new one! I use a rivet to attach the pin onto my Kilt Pins and this little hammer is used to tap down the ends to hold it in place. I have quite a few Kilt Pins on the go just now and some interesting designs, here's one I finished recently. This was designed for someone in the Scouts, I was asked to include the fleur-de-lis emblem with initials, some rope and a thistle.

I am also working on a garden sculpture just now. It's going quite slow at the moment because I'm having to learn new techniques, although it's not huge it is quite a difference when I'm used to working micro! The sculpture is to look like a french onion plant, made from copper with moulded resin flowers and a concrete base. I want the base to be patterned as it will be half buried in the earth and I want the earth to fall into all the lower areas to bring out the pattern. I'm not sure whether to go with something quite rough and textured or whether to make it a really sharp clean pattern. I've done a few samples of a rough texture, they look ok although my concrete mix wasn't brilliant! I'm going to get this drawing, inspired by the plant, laser but from mounting board to make some moulds and try out this design.

Going to the caravan tomorrow! Soooo excited, the weathers looking not to bad either!

Transform!!

2009-05-08T13:40:00.001+01:00

I have just finished making a ring...... from two other rings! First time I've done something like this but I think it turned out rather well!

Dundee Degree Show 09

2009-05-02T01:30:00.000+01:00

The Duncan of Jordanstone Degree Show is coming up soon! It runs from the 23rd May until the 6th June in the Vision Building, Dundee, check out the website to find out more here>>

And fellow jeweller and little sister Sarah will be exhibiting! She's done really well so far, winning the Victoria and Albert Museum Student Jewellery Design Competition with a necklace and earrings set influenced by the South Asian collections and colours in the Nehru Gallery at the V&A and the Goldsmiths Precious Metals Bursary. Here's a photo she just emailed me of three new rings, hot off the benchpeg!

Drum roll please!

2009-03-19T12:06:00.000Z

Boo hoo, I failed my driving test on Tuesday. Although as to be expected, I only did a day of training on Monday since my last week in August so I think, if I had passed, I would a bit of a dodgy driver! Had a great big stall and panic right in the middle of a roundabout on the Kingsway, ahhh!!!

Good news though! Check out my sexy new drum!!! I've always wanted a pearl drum, sooo shiny! The colour is amazing, the camera doesn't do it justice, it's more purple near the bottom and top and kind of iridescent. mmmmmmm...........

Another new addition to the workshop by master builer Adrian, a coffee cabinet! So we can keep all our cups and things dust free, and a place for our magazines and games!

I'm currently watching the boyfriend laying out some bacon to grill for me, he's also doing poached eggs, yum!

Do you live in Brighton?

If yes then get yourself down to Dukes Lane to a sparkly gallery called Jewel Thief, I've just sent them down a collection of exciting jewellery, go look!

If no then check out their website and book a train to Brighton, or you can see a new collection of jewellery in Hanna's Gallery, 30 South Tay Street, Dundee. And I'm coming soon to Concrete Wardrobe on Broughton Street in Edinburgh.

Right, I'm away to eat some bacon! Byeee!

New Shelves!

2009-02-27T00:42:00.000Z

Yay!

At last I have put my new shelves up!

Snow!!!

2009-02-12T12:51:00.000Z

At last Dundee gets some proper snow! Whoooo! Unfortunatly as I've waited in until lunchtime for a parcel to arrive (what happened to post coming in the morning???) the buses are now off and I can't get to my studio. I'm not too bothered about that actually, plenty to do here! And now I don't feel guilty about building a snowman!

Broughty Ferry looks soooo pretty in the snow!

'The Kiss' Necklace

2009-02-04T02:14:00.000Z

I have designed this necklace specially for the Love Showcase at Hanna's Gallery in Dundee, opening February 14th.

It was inspired by Gustav Klimt's 'The Kiss' and is made from oxidised silver and cultured pearls.

The Kiss
Gustav Klimt

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009-01-09T01:49:00.000Z

I hope everyone has had a good festive season! I had a lovely Christmas at home with my family and a bit different this year as Sarah (my sister) and I made the Christmas dinner. The usual turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes affair but with slightly different recipes and flavourings than we usually have thanks to the good food website. Sarah was head chef and was wonderfully organised with a detailed time plan and lots of prep done the day before. And I made a lovely trifle!

Santa was very good to me and brought me a bike for my journeys to the studio as well as paniers to carry all my stuff about in. Yippeee!! It goes fast!

I spent Hogmany and New Years Day (Ali's birthday) in Pitlochry at the aforementioned Ali's house. It was so nice being in the countryside for the New Year, she lives out near Edradour so we could see the fireworks in the town at midnight but were far enough away to see the clear sky absolutely covered with stars! There was piping, drinking, food and jenga, everything a good Hogmany needs!

Here are photos of some of the Kilt Pins I've recently made.

And look at this picture my sister found! A house made of caravans! I would like to live in a place like this!

MADE08 - Brighton

2008-12-01T12:21:00.000Z

Last weekend I was exhibiting at MADE08 in Brighton. My sister and I went down together on the train on the Wednesday for set up on Thursday. We had ten items of luggage to control including two shelves which was a bit crazy, especially with a hurried train change in Edinburgh because of a broken engine. We stayed in a Youth Hostel right by the pier which was lovely, coffee on the beach every morning.

The show was held in the Corn Exchange which was only a 10 minute walk from the hostel, handy! The set up went well, all to plan, and there was a private view on Thursday night. The show continued over the next three days.

I had a really good time, met loads of nice people and some new customers. It was an expensive trip but I think it was worth it, you really have to travel if you want to get your jewellery known and there's a lot more people down there than up here! Although I think I'm going to look at craft shows a little closer to home for next year, a little less risk!

Here are some photo's of some other people's designs that I liked -

Alexis Dove

Angela Kerkhoff

Barbara MacLeod

Dan Stafford

Helen Noakes

Joanne Tinker

John Moore

Laura Anne Marsden

Lesley Stickland

Lindsey Mann

Rachel Darbourne

Sarah Herriot

Tanja Ufer

New Workshop!

2008-10-19T04:30:00.000+01:00

I'm well established in my new workshop now! It's great, the sink may be up some stairs but I've got used to the basins of water again pretty quickly!

As you can see it's just as messy, creative chaos!

I've been working on Christmas kilt pin commissions and jewellery for exhibitions and craft shows since I got back from the World of Walt. Also been doing a great job of ignoring my self assessment tax forms, boooo! Meeting the accountant tonight though so hopefully I'll get it all sorted out pretty quickly.

Here's a couple of close ups of my desk covered with lots of half finished jewellery, I'm really good at making half finished pieces!

I'd really like to do a wee write up of my time in Disney World but so far I've not found the time and I think keeping it short would be the biggest challenge. I've got such a huge amount of photos it's just silly. Makes you wonder, when you're old and showing photos to the grandkids it'll take years to get through them all at this rate!

Bye Bye Garage

2008-09-12T05:40:00.000+01:00

Tonight was my last night working in my garage workshop :(

I've stayed up far too late (it's quarter to six!) finishing a kilt pin, rings for an exhibition, a ring for a friend and a bunch of stuff to be hallmarked before I go away to Florida. (Still hasn't sunk in I'm really going yet, seems mad) Got a bit more to do tomorrow and a visit to my old school with a last minute jewellery order, yay! Thankfully providing some much needed dolla for holiday fund!

Here is my studio earlier on tonight, as you can see by the mess I've had lots going on!

I will miss it, I will especially miss the proximity to my bed! It's been a great workshop. But I am really looking forward to sharing a space with friends, I've been on my own for 3 years now and it feels like time for a change. Also, they have tools I can borrow! Cal, if you're reading this, buy that laith!

Fun times ahead me thinks!

7 more days till Disney!

2008-09-07T14:07:00.000+01:00

Been a while! Lots has happened since I last wrote!

- Won Champion of Champions with my pipe band at Cowal! Whoo!

- Got a massive blood blister on my finger, hit it with a hammer :(

- Finished a long overdue necklace for the girl across the road to match an existing bangle.

- Started building our new workshop with my friend Adrian, getting better with an electric screwdriver!

- Started selling jewellery in a lovely wee shop in Perth called Boo Vake, here is their website.

- Went shopping in Glasgow and bought a pair of hareem pants for when I'm in Florida! I think they look fab, many would disagree!

- Confirmed two more exhibitions for over Christmas in Ferrers Gallery in Leicestershire and the Designs Gallery in Castle Douglas.

- Finished a beautiful kilt pin styled on the Iona Cross, probably the most traditional I've made but also one of my favourites.

Lots to do this week in preparation for trip to Disney World, so excited but this is not the time of year for jewellers to go on holiday! I'm also aiming to get my tax return done before I leave, ahh! Can't wait until I'm on that plane! Mickey! Here I come!!

Gold Ring Kilt Pin and Pendant

2008-08-25T22:24:00.000+01:00

I finished these fabulous pieces last week, they were commissioned as a wedding present for the Bride and Groom. The left side is a kilt pin and the right a pendant, and when they are joined together they complete the gold ring. The notches represent the date of the wedding.

2008-08-18T15:51:00.000+01:00

We did it!!! We won the Worlds!! Whoooooo!!!!

The Drum Corps

Me and my Mum

So happy! It was a fantastic day! The forecast was for rain but it managed to stay dry which was also a bonus and I had an advert for my kilt pins in the program! My first advert! For the rest of the results look here >> Our novice band came 8th in their grade.

Also that day the Courier, our local newspaper, published a feature on me and my jewellery. Please click here to read it. I am really pleased with the article as I was quite nervous about what was going to be written but I think it's a brilliant piece and the photos look really good too.

The band were at Crieff Games yesterday, I was so tired after my week of early starts doing my driving lessons and the day before (winning the Worlds gives you a hell of a hangover!) I managed to fall asleep in the shower trying to get ready in the morning. But it turned out to be a fun day, I had a lovely cheeseburger, some snoozing on the bus and dodgy judging! We got 2nd in Grade 3 and 1t in Grade 2.

So I'm having a bit of relaxing day today and a bit of a tidy up/sort out. My little sister is moving out today so I'm going to be moving my 'office' out of my tiny bedroom into her old room, well half of it, it's split in two from when my other sister, Sarah, and I stayed in there. I'm also moving workshops soon to a place in Dundee that I'll be sharing with a few friends. Starting to get a little bit stressed as I have all this to do plus making jewellery for up and coming exhibitions and craft shows and the Christmas rush, and my kilt pin commissions which are proving quite popular before I go away on the 15th September for two weeks. Although I am feeling quite postive about everything just now. Ahhh! Can't wait though! Going to Disney World in Florida and I'm sooooooooo excited, it's annoying when you want time to go slow and fast at the same time!

Driving and Para-Gliding are fun!

2008-08-15T16:33:00.000+01:00

I can drive!!!!

I've just finished a five day driving course! Although I've not sat my test yet, I'll be doing it sometime next week rather than tomorrow like the girl I did the course with as I'll be in Glasgow at the World Pipe Band Championships! Whoo! We have a good chance of winning grade 3a so I just hope we play well and it doesn't rain too hard!

This is me on my first day driving to Arbroath on the duel carriageway! Broooom Broom!!

Other exciting news, I was para gliding last night! Well, evening! My sister, Sarah, got a voucher for a para gliding lesson with a friend for her birthday and we've been meaning to go for ages but not been available at the right time. So after my day of driving yesterday we got a call from the guy saying it was good to go now of we were ready! So it was all very exciting and random! So we went up a hill between Perth and Dundee somewhere and did some gliding! It was great fun, a really nice smooth feeling, sort of like flying a nice big stunt kite but you're hanging underneath it. Stomach muscles a bit sore today though and I got dragged through a cow pat!

Weeeeeeeeee!!

I finished this Kilt Pin recently, it was commissioned for a birthday present. The circles are inspired by a camera lens.

I've got a couple of other Kilt Pins on the go and I've just finished putting together bracelets and necklaces made from resin shapes and chain. They are really fun and colourful! They are getting hallmarked just now so I'll put a photo up soon!

Right must go, band practice!

European Champions!!

2008-07-29T01:06:00.000+01:00

Whoooooo Hooooo!! MacKenzie Caledonian Pipe Band - European Champions 2008!!

I've just spent the weekend in Lisburn playing at the European Pipe Band Championships where we got first in grade 3a! Bring on the Worlds! (16th August, Glasgow Green)

Other stuff I've been up to this month....... spent a week in Nice, very nice! Did an interview for Made08's Maker of the Week Blog, cracked on with some more Kilt Pin commissions (couple of new photo's on my website) and finished these rings and bangles called Biocubes.

Barcelona and Zaragoza

2008-07-04T02:13:00.000+01:00

¡Hola!
I'm back from Spain! I've had a great week, lot's of sun, Gaudi, jamón y queso sandwiches, cerveza, espresso and walking! So here's a quick (!) rundown of my holiday and some photo's.

My dad and I arrived in Barcelona at lunchtime and after dumping our stuff at the hotel and changing into our summer clothes we headed out for the first of many coffees. Found a nice little cafe round the corner from our hotel which also had a good cocktail menu and selection of tapas. Then we set off in the direction of Park Guell, I've been a big fan of Gaudi for ages so I was really looking forward to seeing his architecture and designs. It was a fairly long walk from our hotel but that's how I prefer to see a city, it's the best way to get a feel for it and you always see unexpected things. Barcelona is one of these city's were all the buildings have something interesting about them, also the streets are wide and there are lot's of trees about, really nice to walk about in.

Found this guy playing an instrument called a Hang at an entrance to the park......want one!

The park is beautiful, full of nooks and crannies that we didn't have time to explore properly, some day I will definitely be back though and spend a day adventuring.

Some windows on buildings by Gaudi at the park.

Mosaic tiles on Gaudi's famous bench.

On our first evening we stumbled across the St John's Eve celebrations. We heard loads of fireworks going off and followed this huge crowd of people and ended up on the beach which was jam packed with all sorts of people! Everyone had fireworks and bangers which were going off all over the place, you really had to watch your feet! There were samba bands, fire jugglers and people in costumes with big sticks with sort of catherine wheel style fireworks going off on the end running about. It was totally unexpected and the atmosphere was electric, everyone was having so much fun and we saw no trouble, it was the kind of celebrations that just couldn't happen in the UK without some drunken yobs ruining it all.

On our second day we headed to Zaragoza where Expo 2008 is being held. Expo is also known as the World Fair, the first being held in Crystal Palace in 1851.

I didn't really know what to expect from Zaragoza but it's actually a really beautiful city, full of nice churches, shops and a nice leisure complex beside the river with outdoor pools and sports pitches. Not many people spoke English but thanks to my friend Katie I had a Spanish phrase book with me and quickly figured out how to ask for a beer! In the square there is a gorgeous church with towers and colours tiles on the roofs called Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar (Basilic of the Pilar), it's a magnificent building.

Fountains in Pilar Square and nice buildings.

The Expo was amazing! Full of clever and imaginative design, ideas and displays. I would recommend to anyone if they ever get the chance to visit one. The theme was water and sustainable development and there are over 100 countries participating (rather disappointingly no UK). Each country had it's own section of the pavilions to exhibit what they wanted which ranged from state of the art technology showing films and animations to creative interior spaces featuring water features and objects to dance and gastronomy. There were also exhibition spaces in buildings and structures that tied together the overall theme, plenty of decently priced eating places, stages for concerts (Bob Dylan is playing there in July) and three bridges built for the event.

One of the bridges.

Expo at night. The place was beautifully lit and there was entertainment and food well into the night.

The main structure of the event, an internatianally renowned bridge complete with exhibition space and space age sliding doors.

After spending three nights in Zaragoza we headed back to Barcelona. By the way Spanish trains are nothing like here in the UK. They are so clean, efficent, spacious and every seat comes with a pair of earphones as they show films although they are more expensive and they have a pretty strange system for buying return tickets!

Over the next three days we visited our rooftop pool, Casa Milà, the fort on Montjuic by cable car, the beach, Sagrada Familia, Casa Batllo, Palau Guell, Le Ramble and saw the Font Magica from Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, and Spain winning the European Cup.

The interior of an apartment in Casa Milà in it's original 1920's style. Ths building was designed by Gaudi on the request of Pere Milà and his wife Roser Segimon so they could live in the bottom apartment and rent out the rest of the building.

Chimneys on the roof.

The two courtyards let natural light into every room.

Casa Batllo, another Gaudi classic.

There were a lot of scooters in Barcelona, looked like so much fun!

Looking up at the Sagrada Familia, that's Jesus sitting up there on the bridge between the towers.

The interior of the main section of the church. Gaudi's idea was that it would look like a forest with tree like pillars supporting a roof of leaves and holes of light. As you can see the builders are still hard at work! They estimate it should take another 25-30 years to finish, I can't wait to see it again and I really hope I get to see it finished, it's easily my favourite building in the world!

The Nativity façade which features story's from the bible and a wee baby Jesus above the door with Mary and Joseph. The walls are also covered with words, animals and plants, half from the land and half from the sea. The pillars on either side of the door are supported by turtles, one a sea turtle and one a tortoise. Everything means something and is there for a reason, the whole building tells a story and the really exciting bit is there's still more to come. Eight of the twelve bell towers are already built and are over 100 meters high and there will be two more huge towers, the 170 meter high central dome in honour of Jesus Christ and the tower of the Virgin Mary standing at 125 meters plus others to make eighteen in total. A whole block of flats will have to be destroyed to create a park outside the main entrance (the Façade of Glory, this has still to be completed) which will be reached by a bridge over the road and provide a point from which to view the whole building.

Detail on doors.

It’s such an interesting building I could go on about it for hours but already this blog is way to long! So, amazing holiday, thanks Daddy! And now I’d better get down to some serious work and drumming practice, I’m off again to Nice in eight days, I don’t think I’ve ever had holidays so close together! Speaking about drumming practice, my pipe band MacKenzie Caledonian won the British Championhips (grade 3A) while I was away! Whooo hooo! It’s the European Champs after my trip to Nice so hopefully we can do the same again!

2008-06-19T03:13:00.000+01:00

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

Dundee Kilt Pins

2008-06-04T13:09:00.000+01:00

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!

2008-05-28T02:20:00.000+01:00

Good news!!! I passed my driving theory test today! Full marks for the multiple choice bit! Whoo Hooooo!!

2008-05-06T13:34:00.000+01:00

Whoooops! Just found a blog I meant to post a couple of weeks ago but failed to actually post it! Here it is!

The sun is here at last! It's a gorgeous day and I'm taking advantage of the weather by doing some drawing outside today. I've got quite a few designs to do for some commissioned kilt pins and other pieces of jewellery after an article was published on pipesdrums.com last month.
You can read it here >>

I've also recently been accepted to exhibit at MADE08, a craft fair in Brighton on the 21st-23rd November. It'll be the biggest craft fair I have done and it's open to public and trade so I'm quite excited. It also means I'll have to put a proper display together and buy a jewellery cabinet or some sort of display unit for my work.

A favorite commission completed this month for me has been these kilt pins. They were made for twins with the initials A and D which gave the inspiration for the shape. The notches down the side represent the date of the wedding which they were bought for, one twin was the groom, the other the best man.

And here's a photo of them in progress.

I'm sitting outside just now, there's a frog hopping about!

Castle Sween

2008-03-17T19:40:00.000Z

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I'm back from a relaxing trip to my favorite place! I spent a few days at my parents caravan situated at the Castle Sween Holiday Park on Loch Sween in Argyll with my friends Claire and Adrian. It's a beautiful place and is so quiet and removed from the world, The nearest shop is a 45 minute drive away in Lochgilphead which gives you a real sense of being cut off from everything. Normally the site has a wee shop and a pub but they were still closed for the winter. The site surrounds the castle which is a ruin dating back to the 12th century and looks over the loch, on a clear day you can see the Paps of Jura peeping out over the hills. I have been coming here since I was little and it holds lots of happy memories for me. Adrian had been before but it was Claire's first time which was exciting as I love showing people the place and watching them fall in love with it.

The weather was a bit of everything as usual. It was forecast for storms but we managed to miss the worst of it and the sun shone in between the rain and clouds. We walked up the hill behind the campsite which is where the first three photos are taken from. The hill was a lot easier to climb without the usual covering of bracken that is there in the summer. Being there at this time of year is interesting as the landscape is quite different without all the bracken and leaves on tree, you can explore places that would normally be hard to reach.

In the first photo you can see the castle at the bottom of the picture. It has some scaffolding on it at the moment, Historic Scotland are doing what they do to hold the thing up for a few more years.

The sun came out for the second photo, we are eating our sandwiches now! I love how the light has brought out the colours in the hills and how it lights up the the piece of land across the loch.

You can see the rain coming towards us over the loch in this photo. I love the brightness in the water as the sun shines through a gap in the clouds and lights up the loan cloud.

Down the coast a couple of miles there is a little place called Kilmory. There is a few stone cottages that recently have been converted, I think they are holiday cottages now and an small medieval chapel which houses some of the old grave slabs found in the area. It also has a sandy beach which is great for swimming and sunbathing, in the summer of course! We cycled down here one day and had a picnic in the chapel to shelter from the rain which was now horizontal. Here's a few pictures of the stones and Claire taking some photographs beside the MacMillan Cross.

After looking at the stones we headed down a very muddy path to the beach. The tide was up really high and the normally clean white sand was covered with seaweed. We walked towards the sand dunes at the north of the beach and continued round to the rocks to watch the waves crashing off them.

The sky was doing funny things again on the way home.

Since there was scaffolding up the side of the castle we decided to use this to our advantage and climbed up to the battlements which are unreachable since I lost my youthful fearlessness.

It was great to be on top of the old thick stone walls and get a different view of the place. I love the castle and feeling the history inside it, it would be amazing to see it as it was when people lived there.

So I'm now well rested, so well rested it's taken me three days to put up this post! Back to work work work!

It's Friday!!

2008-03-07T17:20:00.000Z

I spent the day in my workshop making bits and pieces to send away for hallmarking. I send the pieces away half finished. This makes them easier to hallmark and prevents a finished piece getting damaged, especially the pieces with resin in them. I find this quite a distruption in the making process but I suppose that's just the way things are. It does mean that loads of pieces get finished at the same time which is always fun!

I'm going out tonight to see my friend Sam playing some techno in the City Function Suite in Dundee. Looking forward to a dance! But first I have to go to band practice so must dash!

First Post

2008-03-06T18:49:00.000Z

Well here goes.... my first post, a bit like the first page in a new sketchbook!

I suppose I should start by introducing myself. My name is Islay Spalding and I am a jewellery designer and maker based in Broughty Ferry, Scotland. I studied Jewellery and Metalwork at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design graduating in 2005 with a Bachelor of Design Honours. I am now living back with my (very supportive!) parents in Broughty Ferry while I try and making a living out of my jewellery. I play the side drum with the Tayforth UOTC Pipes and Drums and have recently joined the MacKenzie Caledonian Pipe Band. This will be my first year playing with a competing pipe band since I started university and I'm really excited about getting out to all the contests and (hopefully!) winning lots! I also play the fiddle which came in really handy throughout my student years. Thanks to the people of Dundee it meant I didn't have to get a job, I went busking instead!

The aim of this blog is mainly to let people see what goes into creating the jewellery I make. I find it so interesting to see other jewellers workshops and how they work and I'm assuming other people do to. It's also a diary for myself, I used to keep a diary but now I feel I never have time and when I do I can't be bothered. I'm also very fussy about the kind of notebook I like to write a diary in and have yet to find the perfect one. Even if I did I would probably change my mind or decide I wanted a different pen! I suppose I've got very used to typing on my computer as well. I have an apple macbook and it is my baby, it makes me really enjoy using a computer and even inspired me to learn HTML to build my own website. The internet still amazes me, I don't know how I would go about doing what I do without it. Another aim of this blog is simply to get me writing more, something which I've never been much good at. I've always found it really hard to find the word or way of putting things I'm looking for out of my head and down onto paper or out of my mouth, but practice makes perfect!

I think that's all for now, I will post some photos of the jewellery I'm working on tomorrow, once my camera battery is charged!