Anniversary and Enamelling

It's been a while...months in fact...so I thought it was about time that I put in a bit more effort into keeping my blog up to date.

What's been happening...well, Saturday 6th of April was the first year anniversary of ARC Jewellery and what an amazing year it has been...yes, I did celebrate with something bubbly.

During the year I have opened my own online shop www.arcjewellery.co.uk, plus one on Etsy and Folksy and set up my wonderful home workshop (I love it!).  I have attended numerous art & craft fairs only one of which was a complete disaster (have learnt a lot from that experience and won't be doing that one again!).  I've been featured in Making Jewellery magazine, had my work in local galleries, obtained my hallmark and lost track of how many commissions I have worked on.  I have met some wonderful (and extremely talented) artists and crafters along the way, many of whom I have become good friends with.  I feel a real sense of accomplishment when I look back at photographs of the work that I've created and sold during the last 12 months, I sometimes can't quite believe how much I've achieved in that space of time.  It has been an extremely busy year but very worthwhile and I have enjoyed every minute of it.

So, on to the next year and I thought I would start by learning a new skill.  I have wanted to learn the art of enamelling for some time and was lucky to be able to attend a workshop last weekend run by the lovely and very talented Sheila Mcdonald - check out her website, her work is an amazing explosion of colour http://www.sheilamcdonald.co.uk
It was an intense weekend, as a complete beginner there was an awful lot for me to take in and I was exhausted by the time I got home.  I was also buzzing with enthusiasm and am inspired to take it further.  I created some sample tiles during the workshop using various enamelling techniques, stencilling, using foils & leaf, transferring designs with pen & stamps, wet packing enamel and Cloisonné.  I would love to have a go at Plique a jour but having seen it demonstrated I think I need quite a bit more practice before I tackle something so skilled and delicate.

So, perhaps in my next blog entry I will be able to show you some of my new enamelled pieces of jewellery but for now here is a selection of my recent work...

All of these are available to buy from www.arcjewellery.co.uk