Trying different pebble jewellery things

 I have been thinking about the jewellery I make and at the moment I am still very happy making pebble-inspired jewellery. I don't have a need or a hankering to head off and try other forms just yet. And anyway I still have things I want to improve and get better at with these ones.

And so it was that I snaffled an hour the other day to try and see if I could use up some random, small pebble forms that were lurking about. I had this notion about soldering five pebble forms together to make a necklet of sorts.

And maybe some earrings, and then what the heck there were three left over so maybe a drop pendant as well? I had laid out the pebbles in the best form I thought and simply traced around them so I could remember what I liked!

The soldered pendant piece.

And the others...

And sitting on the couch one night I collected some silver chains to see what might work.

And with what...

 

And then I had another hour or so where I could file and polish and attach - and here they are.

Time well spent.

More refining to do - every time I do something I learn something. But I think these ideas are worth pursuing...

A Big Weekend

 Well, we have made it through another Big Book Club weekend. A ever, it was a great day, with folk sharing their thoughts on books and listening to our special guest Kate Evans from Radio National's weekly fiction show The Bookshelf.

We discussed James by Percival Everett; and its predecessor/antecedent Huckleberry Finn; and then in broader terms what it means to re-write the Classics; the different ways it can be done; why it is done, and even what makes a book a Classic?

It was a great meander around the world of re-writings and re-imaginings and back again. We all learnt so much!

Here the two of us are having a chat and then me listening intently and wearing the pebble earrings made in Scotland recently on their first outing.

And the two of us after the show - relaxed and smiling.

Earlier in the week, in line with my attempt to promise myself to make some art each day (which nobody will be surprised learn failed at almost the first hurdle...) I decided I would use some odd moments to think about re-working a bunch of pebble forms that were lying around in packets.

Some of them were attached to earrings which I thought I could dismantle; others were just there, and I wondered could they all be re-imagined into something else perhaps?

Personally, I was a bit taken with this lovely arrangement  of forms.

And I played around and found some possible earrings, and some possible pendants in the mix.

I showed them to a friend, who thought they looked a bit dark, so in another moment that I found, I decided to buff and polish them and make most of them silver again... leaving just one oxidised one.

So there was some artiness this week. Also - Kate and I managed to spend some time in the workshop on Friday and she is the first person I have ever shown how to make pebble forms from silver wire and she made her own pendant (which you can see in the photo of the two of us together). What a talent she is!

It is now heads down and bums up this week as Barry and I prepare for our Studio Garage Sale!

We will be selling lots of things we no longer need or use, at very excellent prices! 

Next Saturday 26 July there will be cutting mats, bone folders, calligraphy pens, paper, some inks, rollers, book cloth and oh so much more for sale at the studio from 10am - 4pm.

We aren't in a position to provide detailed information or imagery about individual items, so it really is a case of come along and see.

Pebbly bits and Celebrating Books

 I have been working in a small notebook I made and designed in Scotland a few years ago. Its funny how it takes a while to realise how those wobbly pebble forms have been working away slowly in the back of my brain...

I  had a couple of commissions for large pebble pendants to do when I got back and this week has seen it all happen. 

I soldered six pebble forms, rolled them, oxidised a few and then got them onto cords. Now to catch up with their prospective new owners for a cuppa and a handover.

We are also busy with preparations for our annual book event - The Big Book Club. This year we are looking at re-writing the Classics - what it means to take a tale well known, and re-imagine it. 

We have focussed on James, by Percival Everett, and Huckleberry Finn. James tells the story from the perspective of Jim, a black slave in the original book. James was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, and won the 2025 Pulitzer along with the 2024 Kirkus Prize for Fiction and the 2024 National Book Award in America and a wonderful book on its own; but better because of it's re-telling I think

We begin with small, facilitated group discussions about both books and then gather together as a larger group for the plenary session, where I will be interviewing Kate Evans from ABC Radio National's book program The Bookshelf.

Always a challenge interviewing a highly skilled and talented interviewer!

We will be discussing what re-tellings and re-imaginings do; how they work; when they don't work; and what it means to take somebody's story and tell it again, differently.

I am really looking forward to it but am still beavering away trying to make the interview flow...

I am sure it will be great event on Saturday 19 July 2pm - 4pm (doors open at 1.30pm for afternoon tea delights). Bookings here...

Learning and making new things

 When we spent time with Lindsey, I also wanted to learn how to solder small pebble forms side by side...

I had made 6 or seven small pebble forms here and my goal was to try and link them up to maybe make a pair of earrings.

Playing with layout and which pebbles went where.

Learning how to solder side by side.

Soldered. 

The thing I was wary of is that if you have already soldered once (to form the pebble) if you solder again too close to that join, it may well melt. So that is a good thing to avoid if possible. 

Success.

 

And then rolled through the rolling mill.

Then polished and made up into earrings just to see if they might work. Pretty happy with the results, although I think I might change the earwires to a stud, to make them not quite so dangly.

And I finished the commissions! I was able to access Lindsey's rolling mill, so put all of the pebble forms I had made through the mill which looks a whole lot nicer than the effect I can achieve simply by hammering. And then they were all oxidised in the workshed and put together.

Then two reminders of the beauty of nature... a seagull and a field of bog cotton.

The Pop Up and other bits

We were too tired to post on Sunday - that quiet, warm, tiredness of gentle satisfaction and contentment. We had a marvellous weekend and chatted with so many folk; had lots of people help us out in so many ways, and talked art and making and creating; and sold our work. The best kind of weekend.

So a quick recap of some of the things...

I nearly seared my eyeballs writing on this fluoro card! It took a bit of shaking and blinking to clear my vision, laugh.

But the signs on the borrowed A -rames worked well and caught a few people's eye.

Some of my wee hoosies on the windowsill.

B doing a few final tweaks. My jewellery is on a borrowed black cloth on the middle table. Grateful for friends and neighbours who supplied so many things - as well as baked and served and tidied up!

Some of B's wee hoosies and stones and things...

And some of his watercolours - one sold before we opened.

And some of my jewellery. I had made 18 pairs of earrings, and only have seven left. And both Barry and I have plenty of commissions to go on with!

We decided that Monday should be known as Pop Down Day, and we took our time sorting paperwork, wrapping and packing artworks for delivery and sorting.

And watching bumble bees at work on the flowers...

We are full of gratitude for the friends and neighbours we have, and the support they provided us - just wonderful!

Prepping for the Pop Up!

 We are holding a Pop Up Art Show at the Armadale Village Hall this Saturday and Sunday. We are excited at the same time as uncertain about what might happen and how it might go, but looking forward to it and to chatting with folk and talking about art!

The show is mostly about Barry's small watercolours of buildings and boats along the North Coast of Scotland; and my sterling silver pebble and stone-inspired jewellery; but we decided to also add in a few more pieces that we have made (and are making!).

I have been testing out my jewellery-making capacity in our shed and this week completed three pairs of earrings. I was able to texture them and oxidise parts oft them, so I feel right at home now!

Different display options are available...

My inside art-making space is quite the clutter!

At a lunch a few weeks ago I chatted with a woman who had previously seen our work at markets here and she said" I love your cards, I hope you have some more". So I thought, right I had better make some more! This one became Welcome to the World when I completed the Letraset.

One of the birds was coloured in on these ones

The latest stash of cards. I bought the envelopes in Bergen!

I also have a few of my black and white photographs. This one is called Safe Harbour.

I have matted up the 6 collages working from the imagery of the fishing sheds here.

Our kitchen table is multi-functional that is for sure - currently typing on the laptop here, but we also do art finishing here as well. Oh and we eat at it too!

I have called these pieces Moments of Memory I-VI.

And last but not least, in line with my love of the house/cottage form that I always seem to end up playing with as I travel back and forth, the form that keeps me pondering what home means, and the form that just makes me feel good when I look at it, I have worked with B to to create these wee hoosies. I selected the timber and the size and the shape and B cut them for me and did an initial sand; but I have done the finishing sanding and the wire brushing and will add the varnish once we have bought it! They just make me smile. 

It feels like we are almost ready for whatever happens, and we look forward to hopefully sharing time with folks we know and people we will meet...