It's snowing outside....

... but inside the workroom the floor is back down, the radiator is plumbed in and heating up, and the workbench is covered in half completed work.

We have received lots of responses to our requests for information regarding events and are filling in booking forms and writing cheques.

On March 17th we will be joining the Barnes Jewellery Collective at their Creative Jewellers' Market held at Rose House on Barnes High Street (SW13 9LD). More dates to be posted here once we've had confirmation.

And it was going so well...

The good news is that we've tweaked the website and hope to have some new work up on it soon.

The slightly annoying news is that due to a central heating incident, the floors are all up in the workroom and jewellery work has had to be curtailed for a couple of days until we finish some plumbing.

We are looking for events and hope to be at Waddesdon Manor on 5th and 6th May.

In the meantime, here's some work in progress.

Success

The workroom is clear and tidy with two sections of workbench ready for us to work at - we don't have to take turns anymore. Already there is some bronze laid out in preparation for one of our limpet-inspired pieces. And, on the other bench, there are the sections of a bracelet waiting to be drilled. Using a bow drill, and working up through bit sizes to the desired wire size will take some time.


The other thing to do during the quiet winter months is to do a stock take. We've printed off all the stock book and are working through the pages slowly, adding up what each piece contains and where all our findings have been used.


And we're still looking for dates and events later in the year... hopefully more on that soon.

Happy 2012

The Christmas/ New Year period has resulted in a deterioration in the state of the workroom. With the dropping off of fairs during December, the workbench has returned (temporarily) to its status as a space to dump stuff. Last week it was covered in: the last of the tape cassettes we have to convert to mp3 files; pots of paint and wood filler not yet put away after the building of some new bookshelves; and the odd electrical tool still awaiting re-homing after we wired in some extra lights. On the positive side, we have recognised and are starting to address the problem. ‘Zoning’ the room seems to be the most sensible idea at the moment – all the electrical tools in one place and so on, but that’s next week’s task. This week we hung a new radiator. Now all we need do is plumb it in and the workroom will hopefully be warm enough to work in during the deepest depths of winter.

We have stated booking up events already and on March 4^th 2012 will be at the Windsor Emporium, housed in the Guildhall in Windsor just next door to the castle. It’s a new event for us and one we hope to be involved in regularly. We are also looking to attend events at Twickenham Library (June) and Waddesden Manor (Bucks) in May. Organisers of the latter event are in the process of ironing out a potential double booking and, once we have the dates, we will post them here.

We hope to see you somewhere on our travels in 2012.

More posters

Here are our next events for 2011.

We're looking forward to both, one new ....

 And one favourite....

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Wendover Tomorrow

We're looking forward to going back to Wendover tomorrow - 12th November (Wendover Memorial Hall. Wharf Road, Wendover, Bucks, HP22 6HF. 10am-4pm). Hope to see some of you there.

We had a lovely time in Aylesbury last week at Queens Park Arts Centre. It was great to see Louise again - many thanks for all your hard work in organising the event. And it was good to spend time chatting to enthusiastic crafters we haven't seen since last year. It was also encouraging to see so many people though the door and for us to meet up with former and new customers.

We have had a good response to people signing up in person to be added to our mailing list, instead of through the website, and will be emailing them with news soon.

We have added a new page to our website - Frequently Fondled - with those pieces that have prompted most comment throughout our recent events. Have a look and let us know what you think of them.

And we're busy looking for events for next year. So far we've had a positive response, so look for new dates here soon.

Work in progress

Tomorrow is our annual trip to Aylesbury and we’ve been busy finishing off pieces to take along. The workshop bench is also covered in unfinished pieces that we need to get on with. This week we’ve spent a bit of time getting the solar panels on the roof to the optimum pitch to take advantage of the limited winter sun – we haven’t seen much of it today.

As well as making pieces to sell we’re in the process of making a ring for our newly 18-year old nephew. It incorporates a Georgian fork handle and the gold from one of his grandmother’s old rings. Never sure of how people will receive things we make them, we are pleased to report his was delighted with the semi-finished ring we showed him. Now all we have to do is cut it to the right size, solder up and send it to the assay office.