I have been so lucky to teach some wonderful workshops this year, and amongst these have been several mum and daughter workshops. Lovely Kady and her Mum Mandy came along and spent the day with me in the studio last month. The workshop came about because Kady and her husband are emigrating to New Zealand at the end of the year, and Kady's husband got in touch with me to gift the two of them a private day in the workshop with me to spend quality time together making some pieces of silver jewellery. They got completely hooked on making silver rings, creating a set of stacking silver rings each. The techniques they learned included soldering, hammering, polishing and ring...
I recently ran my first silver spoon making workshop for two friends Hannah and Charlie who travelled from Southwell, Nottinghamshire, for the day. They had great fun making two unique silver spoons and also treated themselves to lunch at Sweet Caroline at Sharpes, our lovely onsite cafe here at the museum. Hannah made her spoon with the phrase 'Av ya mashed the tea?' hand stamped in the bowl, affectionately recalling a much used phrase she grew up with. Her spoon is now being used daily, and has pride of place next to the kettle, as it is the perfect size for squeezing out teabags. Charlie made her design based on the oak tree, with an 'acorn' bowl and oak leaf...
My creative jewellery workshops are a fantastic opportunity to get together with your friends to celebrate a special birthday, just as these four friends (who were all at school together and have remained close friends ever since!) who joined me in the studio for a fun, creative day of jewellery making to celebrate Claire’s birthday! As you can see they thoroughly enjoyed working in both silver and copper and created a range of pieces, including silver rings, silver bangles, pendants and earrings. During the day, they learnt how to texture the metal by hammering, and using leaf skeletons through the rolling mill, and how to use number and letter stamps to personalise their pieces, they also learned how to solder...
Scotsman Andy (an engineer) had always wanted to make his own kilt pin. His lovely girlfriend Amelia emailed me and booked a workshop for Andy as a surprise birthday present. He had a super day in the studio, creating his bespoke kilt pin, with precise measurements and folding involved. We made a copper model first to make sure it would all work out and iron out any issues with the construction. What Amelia didn’t know at the time, was that whilst she was booking the workshop for Andy to make his kilt pin, Andy was also emailing me, as he wanted to come to the studio to make Amelia an engagement ring so that he could propose! It really made...
My creative jewellery workshops are the perfect place for you to create a special and personal piece of jewellery. Sue got in touch as she had some silver threepenny coins and wondered if it would be possible to turn them into a necklace. The answer was yes! We had a great day, planning and making up her design. We made all the links in between the coins by twisting silver wire, and planned out how the coins would lie so that there were a mixture of ‘fronts’ and backs. Drilling the holes in the coins required a good deal of concentration as we wanted them to be nice and accurate. We drilled with a very fine drill first, to get...
