Exhibitions

Evening all,

Here are the results of the exhibition I took part in that was held in Edinburgh over the weekend, apparently a very successful evening all round. I' unfortunately wasn't able to go because of work :( oh well, maybe next time.

Also, the sale in the university is going well for everyone involved. I've sold a few pieces (hoorah), I just need to go make them now.

Farewell for now kiddies, I'm sleepy and it's far past bed time.

Speak to you all soon. x

Ear rings

Evening folks,

From Monday there will be a Christmas Jewellery sale held in the reception area of Duncan of Jordanstone stocked with pieces made by my class. The top image is of a couple of ear rings that I made tonight to put in the sale, silver and garnet beads. The bottom two pictures are a Christmas gift for a friends mum (modeled on my ear [1st is a practice one, 2nd is a bigger real thing]), silver and a fresh water pearl. I hope she likes them! [Note : sorry for the poor quality photos but it's the best my phone can manage... poor little thing]

Also on Monday we have a visit from our external assessor who happens to be Jack Cunningham. We have to lay our work out for him to have a nose around and I realised this evening as I put things out how little I have done this semester. But fear not! The Christmas holidays are coming up and this is a perfect time to fill up my near empty sketchbooks.

Have a good evening x

Dissertation

is handed in

REJOICE!

Edinburgh

Festive cheer to you all!

These 3 prints will be on show in Edinburgh as of Saturday the 8th of December at Cafe des Arts 95 - 97 St. Leonards Street. How very exciting!

I'm very tired so there is not a lot to be said at the moment but here is my entry to a very important (so I'm told) competition that is being held in Italy. Enjoy!




Cheerio x

Christmas bits and bobs

Hello all,

I hope I find you well today. Not long now until Christmas, I hope you're all as excited as I am! Above are a few pieces that I have made recently, all are for a Christmas sale (apart from the cuff links) that my class are holding from the 10th - 14th of December in the reception area of Duncan of Jordanstone.

The top piece as a single small irregularly shaped fresh water pearl on a thin silver ring. Followed by cuff links that I have made as a Christmas gift for my Grandad, again with fresh water pearls, but much larger this time. After these we have 3 red garnet faceted beads set in silver cups and a silver bead to top them off mounted in an unusual triangular formation. Then we come on to some silver spheres with saw pierced bird silhouettes, the larger of the two measures about 5cm across and is oxidised then brushed to give a smokey effect. Finally, bringing up the rear we have a medium sized (about 1cm across) fresh water pearl set into a silver cup that is held in the middle of a thin silver ring. This piece was originally going to go on sale in the Christmas show but I sold it last night, so I guess I shall have to order a few more pearls and make some more in time.

Anyhoo, it has been a long day and it will be another long one tomorrow so good night to you all and see you soon. x

Cake

Greetings all,

Today has been a bake-a-thon. First I made a (very very) belated birthday cake for Brian. Eleanor, him and I will be having some with a drink of "tea" (read alcohol but keep it a secret) tomorrow night after work. I also made truffles (not pictured), individual cherry cakes and ginger and chocolate chip bread to take into the girls in uni. It was my turn at cake day but I didn't know this so this is also a bit belated. Cake days are Fridays, so not too bad.

If anyone wants to make any of these lovely things you can find the how to's here

Chocolate fudge cake
Cherry cakes
*this recipe is pants, I'll find a better one and post it soon*
Ginger and chocolate chip bread
(for the ginger bread I added half of the chocolate chips in and sprinkled half over the top of the mix before baking and didn't add any icing, also good to know it is still liquid when you put it in the tray so you really do need that baking paper) *this recipe is amazing, everyone loves it*

happy baking everyone x

go go go

So with the dissertation finally complete I now feel settled enough to get on with studio work. I've found it difficult to concentrate on anything for too long while the whole dissertation thing has been hanging over my head. However, with there being a deadline on Monday for a bursary entry I muddled on anyway. The piece above is what I came up with. Although this one is copper that has been silver plated and clay that has been painted gold the actual one will be the real thing...obviously.

I will also be using this design in another competition my class has been asked to enter. Although none of us are too sure what we should actually be doing because the event is based in Italy and the instructions came in Italian. We're trying our best.

Happy weekend everyone :)

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

Greetings to you all!

By this I of course mean hello Gregor, hello Iain.

A note to say I'm not taking part in this blog, so everyone (both of you) should go have a look.

I also would like to congratulate myself for finally finishing my dissertation, I just need to go back and fix bits and pieces then it's all done. Does everyone get to the stage that they have looked at and read something so many times it just sounds like complete rubbish? I hope so, I am a tad worried about it *eek*

Anyhoo, off to visit the hospital, or more correctly, someone in it.

Cheerio x

Time goes by.

Greetings to you all.

This week is reading week, apparently we are already half way through this semester. I've been looking at what I've done in the last 6 weeks, and I can tell you that it seems to be pretty much nothing. Where does time go? Things will have to step up a gear for sure!

On a less depressing note, I'm going on a trip with the University, to Munich in February, the week before my birthday. Something to look forward to for sure.

The picture above is of the piece I made for the recycling project we did for Fe and showed in the DCA. It's made from two novelty pins and a 5p piece along with some new silver just as a setting. Simple but I quite like it.

Just a quick note today as you can see.

Hope everyone is well.

x

Snap happy

Greetings all,

This is the camera I ordered today, I've been trying to save for quite a while and it wasn't going too well so my grandad very kindly gifted the funds for it. Many thinks to him! I'll also be buying a Macro lens once I work out exactly which one I should be getting. Once it's all arrived then there will finally be pictures of work. Hoorah.

Just a quick note to also say that everything is going well in the workshop and studio and there will soon be a more interesting update.

Hope everyone is well and having a good week.

x

Recycling

In the DCA at the moment there is a display of work completed by my class, all of the pieces are made of recycled jewellery. The work will be there until the 16th of October so have a wander along if you have a free minute.

The project was to help Fe with her dissertation, and the results are quite impressive. She asked members of the public to hand in old jewellery that they no longer wore and we had one week to make what we could, to see if old "rubbish" could be made into nice wearble pieces without using [too much] new material.

So if you have any time, go down, have a look, and let me know what you think.

Hope the rest of your weekend is a good one

x

Clock watching.

REJOICE!

It is now just past 2 o'clock on Monday afternoon and the workman has finally arrived. I could be wrong but I did not think mid-afternoon counted as "first thing". However, I will shortly have a handle and lock on my bathroom door so all is well.

I matriculated today, I think the lady in the office lied to me. She said I had to use a university networked computer, however, after looking online from home I was able to matriculate just fine[I think... I hope].

So just a quick note to say good luck to all the newly matriculated first years and I hope they enjoy their time here. Welcome to DoJ Josh!

[update : the new lock doesn't seem to actually lock {very stiff} but at least I have a handle, Rece {sp?} said he would be back later in the week to see if it had slackened and was working better. I assume that means I'll see him sometime in the new year]

Happy days to all.

x

Celebrate.

A quick note to say that the workman came today, rejoice!

However, he didn't have the right type of handle with him to replace the old one so he has to come back on Monday [sigh]. He also said he had only been told I needed him to come fix something while he was riding a roller coaster for 10 hours yesterday [despite me reporting it on Monday] to raise money for charity.

BUT at least I now know when it's being fixed, and he was raising money for charity so it's all good.

Rejoice once more!

Hoorah!

Happy weekend everyone. x

Glow

Good day everyone,

Well after saying yesterday that Dundee was happily settling into more pleasant Autumn weather it was like the sun was suddenly turned up by a thousand degrees today, I thought I was going to melt, was not a nice feeling I assure you. So from now on I will try to not make any assumptions on British weather as it [as we all know] is highly tempremental.

Still no sign of anyone coming to fix the bathroom door so it won't be until at least Monday now. Oh well.

I moved into my 4th year desk today so I'm all set for when the semester begins. I say move in, I actually just dumped all my junk on the desk so no one else can claim it (there is a distinct lack of desks in the 4th year studio, I very much doubt everyone will fit in). So the first job for the new year will be tidying up and making it a space I'm able to work in.

The picture above is from the Glow festival in Newcastle last December.

"David Bryant brings the festival colour of magenta pink
and original programming to a broad range of signature
buildings, spread around the main route: sometimes
highlighting small and hidden elements, at other
moments emphasising monumental panoramas. Light is
used to bring continuity to both the festival route and
the diversity of architectural styles which give
NewcastleGateshead its unique character, locations
including BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, The Sage
Gateshead and the Swing Bridge."


The whole thing was very good, except for the never ending and torrential rain, we were soaked to the skin within 5 minutes. One of the more peculiar instalations was by the Glasgow based partnership of Stephanie Smith and Edward Stewart. At 19 Dean Street they installed lighting inside the empty building that faded between full brightness and total darkness (sadly though not in magenta) which faded in sync with the sound of breathing. While spectacular to see it was also quite eerie. If the festival was to be repeated I would be sure to go again, but hope againts hope that the weather was better.

Hope everyone has a jolly weekend.

x

Amazing O'clock

Happy Thursday everybody,

I've been stuck in my flat for the 3rd day in a row now. The repair man has still not arrived. You see, the bathroom lock broke at a party I had last Thursday and we had to remove the whole handle to get poor Laura out. So I reported the damage on Monday when I was paying my rent and the person that was manning the desk said someone would be round on Tuesday but lo' and behold, no one has yet appeared. I called him at lunch time and he said someone would be here today. Sigh. To be fair to him though, I had little faith that the boy behind the desk in the landlords office would report the damage to the repair man so he wouldn't know to come, I really should have called on Tuesday afternoon to be sure he was on his way round. My fault really.

I really am in the mood to knit at the moment but all my needles and yarn are still at my mums, I think I shall have to go fetch them soon. I find knitting to be more enjoyable in Autumn and Winter anyway, I find it very comforting. I think we are getting ready to settle into Autumn here in Dundee, the mornings and evenings are more crisp and the light seems softer. So long to the (in theory) sticky uncomfortable days of Summer and welcome back to the home made soup and warm blankets.

I think I'll go call my landlord again to see if I'm any closer to having a lock on the bathroom door, I guess it's not so important right now because I'm here on my own for another week yet, until my flatmate gets back from her 4 months in France, but still it would be nice if everything was working.

Farewell for now

x

Long time no speak.

Greetings to all!

I hope everyone is well. My my my, it has been a long time but things seem to be under conrtol again so I think it best to get this thing up and running again. 4th yeart starts on the 17th, and I've been assured by a friend that I will die of stress by Christmas, I really hope this is not the case.

The picture above is of my first designs towards 4th year, these aren't very well made and are just maquettes in aluminiun and paper but the real thing will be Silver and Lazertran, once I can source the Lazertran of course. They will hopefully be Brooches and Charms and I already have some interest from people in buying them. Fabulous!

I have been working on other designs, they are locketts in small house shapes that will be photo etched and enamelled but they are more difficult to make so I'm still working out the kinks, I will be sure to take some photos soon, once I have something worth taking a photo of that is.

Anyhoo, farewell for now and I hope everyone has a nice day.

Hollie x

Holiday Wishes

Hmmmm, what to say? what...... to........... say?

Not very much if I'm perfectly honest. Currently I'm living on £3.29 till loan day, innit grand being a student? I've just been hopping along as usual, getting my work done, doing sketchbooks, thinking about my dissertation, should really start doing that and stop thinking about it....... moving on swiftly I think :D

I was in Barcelona for a week at the start of the year, I loved it there and I'd really like to go back some time later this year if finances allow.

I'm relly just rambling tonight, I will think of something interesting (ish) to say in the next few days.

Hope everyone is well and had a good bank holiday weekend. x

Let them eat cake.

Good day all.

Well this week has already been far more productive than last week which is certainly a good thing. I have to admit I was beginning to worry about how everything was going to be done on time but things are once again under control. Fear not!

Above is a piece I made just before Christmas which I'm using as my starting point for 4th year. It's supposed to be tiny bottle caps but a lot of people think they look like little cake cases. I suppose it depends on where your priorities lie as to which you agree with ;p Sorry for the not so great picture quality, I will do better next time, I promise.

Hope everyone had a good weekend x

Rockin' out in the workshop.

Evening all (assuming there is anyone out there of course)

I don't really have much to say today but thought I'd pop up a few lines anyway.

Well it is now the Easter Holiday at DoJ (Duncan of Jordanstone) and I don't know of anyone who is actually taking the time off, everyone has far to much to do. Saying that, 4 weeks till final hand in, I think everything is under control. I hope!

This semester has been a strange one, lots of interdisciplinary projects, theory work and written things to get done so I've personally not settled into the designing and making side as much as I'd have liked to or expected to. Today however I got down to it and decided to make a brooch, just for the sake of making something and in the hope that the design side of things would all flow back into place after some hands on in the workshop. I was the last one there tonight so was in charge of the gas supply being turned off, Roger [Morris] the head of department kindly reminded me before he left that if the place goes up in flames over the weekend it will be my fault. Nothing like some pressure for you! Making the brooch was a case of killing two birds with one stone, not only did it get me some time in the workshop but I decided to make something I can give to my mum because she is forever harping on about me making something for her. Something I find a lot of art students have a similar experience of with their own parents. I'll be sure to pop a picture up when it's all done, should be early next week :)

Also, because I was the last one in the workshop I had the radio up full blast and was dancing around quite a bit, I do hope there is no CCTV in there ;p

Have a good weekend everyone x

Bone Idle

Today has not been a productive one at all.

Since my doctor gave me a week of work I'v done pretty much nothing. Isn't it always the same? You are so busy that your exahusted but you get on with things anyway but as soon as you have a rest you cant get going again. By the way, im not diseased, I'v just sprained a tendon in my wrist but working on the checkouts wasn't helping it at all so my GP very kindly signed me off of work for a week, wey hey! no Asda for 7 days.

So the plan for today was to get on with the the dissertation because thats the next big hand in, aside from the end of year assesments of course, but things didnt go quite to plan. I'v more or less just messed around on the internet and MSN all day. I came online first thing to check my e-mails and it all went downhill from there. Although the problem could be that I'm becoming nocturnal, I work better at night, less noise and distraction, or that's what I like to tell myself. Anyway, there are 4 weeks till the end of term so plenty of time to get everything done!

So while I was messing around not doing very much I thought I'd catch up on what the current issue of Knitty has to offer. For anyone who doesn't know about this website and enjoys knitting it's well worth a look. Issued quarterly it is full of free patterns sent in by readers and links to their blogs if they have one, the nice thing is that often the people who send things in are proffesional knitters and sometimes have books of their work published so the patterns are always high quality. There is also an archive of past patterns and every issue has articles relating in some way to knitting, be it on hand spinning, felt, or new techniques. Anyway, if anyone enjoys knitting and didnt know about this site I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and for anyone who is interested in learning to knit and doesnt know where to start have a look at this site, it helped me loads and the videos make so much more sense than reading a load of instructions where you dont understand the pictures never mind the instructions.

Have a good day whatever your doing. x

500 Pendants.

Well hello, I thought it about time I got one of these things going. After all they seem to be the way of the future and Sandra, one of the tutors here in Dundee who is very keen on the idea of everyone having a blog of their own, has never lead us astray before.

So what is there to say?

Well...

Today I found out about a competition to have a pendant published in a book by Lark Books as part of their 500 series. Well worth some consideration I'd say, not only are the other books on jewellery in the series beautiful and always full of inspiration but if any pieces were published it would be some welcome advertising and recognition from peers. However, its near the end of term here in Dundee so course work has to be considered first but it's deffinatly something to think about.

A few other people in my class have blogs so I will try to find them and add links to them on here, aside from that there isn't much to be said at the moment.

Have a nice day.