Buoys-a-Dear!

The first set of my buoy inspired jewellery has hit the shop! 

Spending lots of time on the coast the brightly coloured or weathered and faded buoys always caught my eye and earlier this year I started to make jewellery echoing these coastal sights. 

Enamelling round silver and copper discs to create earrings, necklaces, bangles and rings with a pop of colour I offer these in a shiny new-buoy or matt been-in-the-sea-a-while-buoy finish.

So join me in exclaiming in fine Norther Irish fashion, buoys a dear* would you look at those colours!

*'boys a dear!' = a common mild exclamation in  Northern Ireland along the lines of 'Oh My goodness!'

January 2016

2016 started with a bagpipe accompanied (really!) stroll along Cocklawburn beach, a time to refresh and prepare for the year ahead.

Our first task was to tidy our workroom and it is now rearranged with extra storage and I've moved all hot work to one area. This is great as it frees up space on my main bench and I've been enjoying using the Efcolor enamel stove Rich gave me for Christmas!  Little stud earrings were the first experiments and I've a head full of how I'd like to use these cold fire enamels in my work.

We've had storms, rain, wind, floods and even snow which has made getting back and forth to the gallery not such a pleasant drive, however, one Sunday did allow us to get out for a bright walk in crunchy snow.

I spent some Christmas money on Daughter's new album 'Not to Disappear' which was released this month; it is wonderful, 'Doing the Right Thing' has walloped me since first hearing it last year, a song expressing much of what is a shared and difficult experience for many of us.

Web Shop

Good afternoon!

I am pleased to share that my online shop right here on my website is live again! The tab on the top menu bar will take you there whenever you fancy.

It is still a bit echoing at the moment but will be filling up over the next few weeks starting with the half finished ring in the picture which is indeed being pickled clean ready for glass setting. When daylight returns it will be finished and ready for photographing and listing.

For those of you who sell online you might be interested in Blomming; I signed up with them to make my web shop running quicker and easier than fighting with coding!

Number Four Gallery, St Abbs, Christmas Show

This week I've been working on new pieces for Number Four Gallery's Christmas Show. I will also be working at the gallery on the preview weekend on the 16th and 17th November so come and see all the beautiful work, have a glass and a nibble and say hello!

Rings

Good evening and happy weekend to you all!

I've been hard at work making rings and helping R sand our floor boards back. A hefty job but we are nearly, nearly orange varnish free.

And I have more rings than I did at the start of the week.

Last Friday we took a jaunt to Peebles where you can see a display of my jewellery and Rich's fine, witty and wonderful drawings at the Eastgate Theatre.  We also made it over to Moy Mackay's gallery which now has a new selection of my jewellery in its lovely cabinets of splendour!

It is Friday evening and I'm done for the day and heading for the sofa for a glass of wine and some Monty Don, good night!

Learn How to Make Jewellery in the Scottish Borders

Good afternoon!

After a summer of fun jewellery making workshops my last series of 2013 are about to start.

I can hardly believe it's October already!

If you are based in the Scottish Borders or Northumberland and would be interested in learning how to make jewellery I will be teaching a seven week evening course at Allanbank Arts commencing on Wednesday 23rd October and finishing on Wednesday 4th December.

Each session starts at 7pm and finishes at 9.30pm.

You will learn about the main components and techniques in bead and wire jewellery making allowing you to resolve your own designs from initial inspirations to finished pieces. The later sessions will also include working with sheet metal.

You can sign up for the whole course for £125 (£115 if you book and pay before Wednesday 16th October) or you can pay £20 per session if you can't make them all.

I will be posting the schedule next week with an outline of what will be happening each week.

To book your place you can email info@allanbankarts.co.uk
or phone Gill on 07702811374 or Liz on 01890 818459 / 07899903429

New Jewellery

Work in progress for the upcoming Art Trail! Lots more on the go! These photos all resulted from having to take a thumb break before carrying on making, shaping, filing, sanding... Always seems to be my poor left thumb gets a battering, although I did stab my middle finger with my new, very shap file the other day, right under the nail, ouch.

Sea Glass Pendants and Sumer Jobs

Hello, hello!

How are you all?

Things are rolling along well here working away on new pieces for the Crossing Borders Art Trail including a host of bezel set pendants like these ones which are in various stages of completion:

The blue on the top left is going to be oxidized so the texture on the copper stands out. I did a repair on a bracelet last week and forgot how much I love the blackened, textured look when you oxidize silver so there will be more.

The bracelet to be repaired was a very pretty Macintosh inspired piece and the roses were originally oxidized, however, after soldering and pickling as part of the repair the whole surface was back to silver. With a bit of liver of sulphur (pongs!) followed by polishing the bracelet was returned to its owner.  I dotted the liver of sulphur onto the roses directly(that's what you can see in the picture above) and then put the whole piece in warm water. This meant the whole bracelet became patinated, however it was more concentrated within the lines of the rose and then easy to buff off where the patina wasn't wanted.

So, yes, more textured, patinated work is on the way.

In other news I have a summer job! I will be working at the beautiful Number Four Gallery in St Abbs on Wednesdays so do come and say hello!  If you are longing for the sea and are on fb, following the gallery page might help with some beautiful pictures of St Abbs and the fabulous Art work too!

Berwick Arts and Crafts Festival

Hello, well, wasn't that a rather swift and busy month!

So, here I am for the first time in weeks back to my own work, hooray!

There is lots happening which you might be interested in; first up for anybody in the Borders/ North Northumberland area is the Berwick Arts and Crafts Festival on Friday 26th to Monday 29th July.

Mainly based in the Granary, this year's festival has taken recycling and upcycling as its theme and there will be workshops, demonstrations, activities, open studios and stalls throughout the weekend.

For a full list of happenings see the Berwick Arts and Crafts festival website and facebook page.

I will be teaching a beach finds workshop on Friday 26th July between 10am and 12pm where you can learn wire wrapping skills to produce pretty and wearable jewellery from sea glass, pottery or pebbles.

 

There are only two places left on this workshop and you can book directly with Berwick Arts and Crafts Group on 07501 863 065.

If you are interested in arranging your own jewellery making workshop do get in touch to discuss your requirements. 

There is loads going on over the weekend including two great open studio opportunities:

Tower House Pottery (Friday and Saturday, 10am -4pm) 
Foldyard with painting and printmaking demonstrations from Dave Watson and Morag Eaton ( Saturday and Sunday 10am-4pm)

Enjoy!

Green Sea Glass Earrings

New in the shop! Pretty deep green sea glass and recycled sea glass earrings.

I love green. Even though I spent my formative teenage years forced to wear a bottle green uniform to school I ended up loving the school and green! It is on my list to make a pair of sea glass earrings fro myself and I might go green. Also on the list is to make a weeny stacker ring to wear with my wedding ring when I feel like being a bit fancy but which colour of glass. Hmm, I'll see which find takes my eye! R and I are having a road trip down the coast this weekend and I'm hoping for some interesting finds.

Blue Sea Glass Jewellery

Hello!

I have been listing a number of blue sea glass jewellery pieces in my shop including

 A blue sea glass and recycled sterling silver bangle

 and this pendant which features a deep blue piece of sea glass set in recycled sterling silver. It's one of my favourites of late, probably because I don't often find such well smoothed blue sea glass. I created a circular hole in the back of the silver setting so the light shines through showing the depth of the blue colour.

Lastly my large blue sea glass and recycled sterling silver ring sold in the week and I'm very happy it's gone off to its new home. Am also slightly relieved by an online sale meaning that after all the tinkering things are working, phew!

Laura Johnson

The name changing continues and during the website re-design my main shop is over on Folksy at http://folksy.com/shops/byLauraJohnson.  

Today I've been trying out polishing silver using polishes and mops. I have been put off going for this due to standard polishes having animal products in them and, as a vegetarian I wasn't going to use them.  However, I found a range of polishing compounds which contain no animal and so far so good.  Once I get the better control over my multi tool and avoid nicking the metal with the actual tool I'll have super shiny silver suitable for vegetarians!

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Blue Sea Glass Rings

Two ready-to-polish blue sea glass and recycled sterling silver rings.  I love them stacked together like this and have been sorting through glass to make more in greens and aquas.  Yum.

Garden Pottery

I was approached about making a pendant using a piece of blue willow found in the customer's garden.  A really lovely piece and I wish I had taken a decent picture!

I've used a solid silver back for greater stability and as, unlike the glass, there is no benefit from letting the light come through the back.  Working with sheet silver is great and I've started two little bezel settings for sea glass rings which I'll get the chance to finish later on in the week.

Sea Glass Jewellery Workshop

A few Saturdays ago I ran a workshop teaching a great group how to make jewellery with wire and sea glass; no drilling required.  It was fun and each participant made a pair of earrings and a pendant using wire wrapping techniques.

Thanks to Berwick Arts and Crafts Group for organising the festival and for some of these photos, I'm looking forward to seeing what's next from this new and exciting group!

Bracelet Chain

Today's work in progress, all scruffy and ready for the pickle pot.

Looking forward to seeing how this cleans up with the combination of silver and copper.  Again I'm playing with the shapes of seaweed and in particular the lovely rounded pods.  I was really hoping to get this completed today but soon it will be revealed in its finished form.

New Jewellery: Recycled Ring

Good evening!


Since coming back from honeymoon it has been tough to get time at the bench for all sorts of reasons but today I was free to crack on and it felt great!


I've had designs brewing for a good while now, echoing shapes of seaweed pods and strands.  These first came to me when I was melting copper just to see what happened and on our trip around the Scottish coast I saw lots of seaweed and it all sparked off in my mind again.  I even got the chance to introduce my beloved to childhood seaweed games my siblings and I inflicted on each other; mainly tangling seaweed around the legs of whoever you are paddling with!

So, back to today and the first image of the pod range.  It's not actually called that yet, ideas are still formulating and a rather interesting chain is half done, but for now a little stacker ring.  It is made using recycled sterling silver and copper.  Even the solder is recycled which pleases me greatly. This little one is ready for a tumble and final polish to bring out the sparkle in the hammered surface. 


Both time for my own work and the sunshine have been seriously lacking these last few weeks and it is great to have them back.

New Tool

Day 117

I ordered a new tool and when it arrived I got quite a shock to open the box and find what looked like a recently removed organ wrapped in layers of blood filled plastic.  Many on facebook thought the same!

Day 118

Despite the grim appearance and red oiled hands which resulted from unwrapping it my new disc cutter is great.  This is a fairly cheap model but I've been really impressed with it so far and had made cutting circles of metal so much swifter!  

Day 120

The first in for a penny necklace featuring hand stamped faith, hope and love copper discs on sterling silver chain.  I have loads of ideas for these and am really pleased customers are wanting personal stamps on their necklaces; initials or names of loved ones being the most popular.  These will be available online in the new year.

Day 70 - 72

Day 70 - The damson harvest! So far this lot have gone towards many litres of damson gin and the rest are bagged up in the freezer.  I feel a crumble coming soon!

Day 71 - The last day of September and little Mog came to investigate why I was lying on the grass with my camera.  I was going to post some sunny sky, bright flowers against autumn trees to document the record breaking temperatures but, well, Mog is just too cute not to share with you all!

Day 72 - New jewellery fresh out of the tumbler and nearly ready to go to photographer Ian Oliver's Tweedside Gallery.