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June 2023 -

This weekend sure was an adventure! It felt very much that the universe did not want me to be there - my car ended up staying at the garage Monday and Tuesday at the beginning of the week; the aircon had given out. However, I needed to get all of my stuff to Oxford at the end of the week so needed it back! After an afternoon of teaching, shortly followed by an evening of the same, interspersed with finishing three new pieces, Wednesday evening (the day before set-up) saw an email explaining that there were unprecedented delays and we wouldn’t be able to get to set up first thing in the morning at 8am as planned. That’s okay! These things happen! On Thursday morning, we headed up to Waterperry a few hours later than originally planned and set up in the midday heat after another wee selection of delays. Thursday evening I headed back to The Colour Factory for the last evening of jewellery course and Friday… well, Friday certainly was a treat! Friday morning, I set off on my adventure back to Oxford to start the weekend. By some miracle, each morning I had been ready to go early too!

Ten minutes into the adventure, the car goes pop, churns out grey air of some kind and having no idea what it was, I immediately pull over to try to get out of the busy dual carriageway traffic. I’m on the side of the road for about an hour as I wait to be towed out of immediate danger. The lovely highways team arrive, wait for me to calm down (tad stressed) and tow me to the nearest lay-by. The lovely lady stood behind me to protect my dignity, as I frantically searched the car for the tow screw thing, in a dress that I can promise you was far too short for such activity. Another hour later and my maw-in-shining-car-mour arrives, we quickly shove all of my belongings into her car, abandon my shit heap (affectionate term for car), and make for Oxford. Rosie, in the meantime, had called and we’d talked through the laying out of my work so that when I arrived, nearly four hours later than planned and considerably more frazzled than I’d anticipated on being, I could just put the things that I was carrying away and dive straight in!

Thankfully, that was the last of the universe’s attempts from keeping me from Oxford and I have to say, this past week has really taught me something about my determination to persevere! Nothing was going to stop me! Which was a good thing too, as the rest of the weekend was a blast - the @handmadeinbritain team were so relaxed, brilliant and adaptable to all of my chaos. Piyush and Alis, who organise the event, are so kind, present, attentive and make sure to check in with everyone personally. They were always available to help in the lead-up too! I got to engage with loads of really interesting and charming people - both visitors and other artists - and got to see and hold such beautiful pieces of work. I ate delicious ice cream and had many doggo cuddles. Both evenings that I stayed in Oxford, I came away to experience a different evening out experiencing some truly wonderful places - pizza and pimms by the river, a brewery/music venue hidden away in an industrial estate. Wholesome days, lovely warm evenings and a curious event with an incredibly long queue of ducks swimming down the river.

What a week. Certainly a memorable one! Now, universe, that was a bit intense; please can you leave me alone for a little bit - I need to recover, thank you.

Hope you all had wonderful weekends, wherever you are too!

May 2023 -

The latest newsletter is all about ‘Make Jewellery Not War’ - or for this month, ‘May-ke Jewellery Not War’!

Here, we dive into the stories behind my favourite project. I talk about how it started, the thoughts behind the materials and introduce a couple of new pieces, among many other facets of the collection.

CLICK HERE FOR MAY NEWSLETTER

**April 2023 -**
’April Flowers’ is the wordplay of the month! This newsletter focuses on my bespoke workshops and gives you a look into workshops that have been before, and what could come! Click here to take you to the April Newsletter.

**March 2023 -**
The ‘Chaos//Catharsis’ Collection is the talk of March. A walk through the pieces, the beginnings, the stories, the charity - everything you might want to know! Click here to take you to the March Newsletter!

**February 2023 -**
February was a little different to the usual - a little insight into my thought processes and display choices. Behind the scenes! Click here to take you to February’s Newsletter.

**2022 Round Up & the First Newsletter of 2023 -**
January 2023 saw the return of the regular newsletter! It began with a round-up and reflection on what 2022 had to give. Stockists, shows, commissions, creativity, workshops and new work! Click here to take you to January’s newsletter.

**2021 Round Up -**
What a year! With it comes the introduction of the ‘Chaos//Catharsis’ Collection, the raffle which raised £350 for Sane, the finishing of the Hand Medal Project, the beginnings of the workshops, participation in the Making Matters pop-up and a whole bunch of lovely commissions!

Support the 'SANE' charity raffle-2.png — **11/07/2021 -**
The raffle is here! We’re going to spend the next two weeks trying to raise as much money for ‘Sane’ Charity as we possibly can. To enter or to read more, click the photo!

25/06/2021
My latest adventure to share with you is within the realm of a little film making and editing! I’m not quite a Hollywood star, but I’ve created a handy guide to getting your size right when purchasing rings online. Click the thumbnail to start watching; enjoy!

11/04/2021 Stockists!I am super excited to share that I now have work on display on the Cluster Crafts website! — 11/04/2021
Stockists!
I am super excited to share that I now have work on display on the Cluster Crafts website!

08/03/2021
’MARCH’-ING ON IN THE FACE OF A PANDEMIC

Maybe the subject is a little deceiving; I don't want to witter on about the pandemic. I think we've all had enough of that.

I do want to touch on it briefly though. I want to firstly acknowledge, that for the most part, it's not been great. It has been traumatic and a time of real struggle for many. I hope I don't sound smug in saying that I'm truly grateful for my circumstances; whilst others have had to work harder than ever, my creativity was gifted with the opportunity to slow down. Something I am incredibly grateful for.

This time last year, I was tearing my hair out trying to prepare the ‘Make Jewellery Not War’ collection for Munich Jewellery Week. For weeks, I was in the workshop from about 10 in the morning to 10 in the evening. Right up until the first lockdown was announced. Then everything stopped; I think everyone noticed how spooky that was.
But it was also a gift. It allowed me bonus time to finish these pieces, to pay attention to the little details and make sure everything was completed well, rather than rushed just to be finished. It gifted me the opportunity to create new pieces and expand this collection. The piece (or pieces) I wanted to focus on today is a particular set of earrings.

Now they may not look like much, just another pair of hoop earrings, but there's a little more to it than that!
These earrings, much like the rest of the collection, take their brass from a spent shell casing. Instead of the more common choice of wire, I decided to go with a slice of tube. I start to manipulate this to the shape I want, and tidy it up before my favourite step. (Keep reading!)
You may be able to see in the picture, a little swatch of metal between the ear post and the brass. This is silver. With all of the earrings in the 'Make Jewellery Not War' collection, I have acknowledged the fact that a lot of ears don't appreciate being exposed to metals like brass. So by putting a little chunk of silver between you and the brass, this greatly reduces the chance of your skin turning green. Much thicker than plating, and will last a lot longer too! Now this does add a little bit of time to the process, which understandably bumps the price up a bit. You may think that £40 is quite a bit for a simple pair of brass earrings. But then you take into account that they're hand made, then the fact that extra time has gone into designing (and making) to protect your ears, then you spot that similar earrings in gold would be at least £250! And it all seems a little less scary after that! Another, super important feature of these earrings, and all the other MJNW pieces, is that 10% of each sale goes to Medecins Sans Frontieres, a charity supporting really special humans doing some incredibly heroic work.

So to sum up!
-Made of brass shell casings.
-Silver in place to protect sensitive ears.
-The warm glow of gold without the hefty price tag.
-10% donation to charity.

Click here to go to the earrings!

(Please note, sterling silver isn't hypoallergenic and it still contains a little bit of copper, so if you usually react with silver, you're likely to with these. If you're fine with silver, scroll to the bottom to find the link to these in the shop!)