Strawberries and Cream.

Graduation was yesterday as you can see from the get-up in the picture above. We managed to gather together about half of the class in one go, it was so busy at the garden party after the ceremony that I think some people missed the call. However, we are all off to London in a weeks time so plenty time for a full group photo shoot. Anyway, just a quick one today to let you know I'm still kicking around and to say congratulations to everyone graduating this week and hope you all have an excellent time like we did yesterday. x

Jump and shout

Not been up to much today really, hung about and waited on some business cards to be delivered. Please be at home between the hours of 9am and 6pm to receive your delivery. Sound familiar? I'm sure everyone has had to put up with that at one time or another. Rather irritating but luckily they were delivered about 11am so I had the rest of the day to kill. By the way everyone www.studentartcards.com are excellent. Very good quality and so fast to be made and sent out. I ordered them online and 3 days later here they are. Also a very good price, I'll be using them again for sure.

So after they arrived and I had the rest of my day to fill I went for a little wander with Eleanor, you can see her up there jumping for joy at the delightful weather. Unfortunately the weather is turning a bit grey now but hopefully the rain won't come to much. Anyhoos, just a quick note today to say I hope you're all having fun in your respective weather conditions and I hope to hear from you soon.

Cheerio x

The Back of Beyond

A day trip to Dunkeld is in order, have you ever been? I've not, neither has Andy. No doubt we'll get lost. I have to drop of a piece I sold at the degree show, sometime on Tuesday I think. Random tours of Scotland A-hoy.

I'm feeling quite guilty, I haven't been in the workshop for about 3 weeks now...maybe more, time seems to be flying these days. So tomorrow I am going and I am making. Not really sure what at the moment, I'm thinking maybe some rings. It's strange now to think I can make what I like when I like and not a brief or a deadline in sight, unless you're counting commissions of course. It's a hard change to get to grips with, so easy to just do nothing. Lots of self motivation is needed so I shall pop off and practise talking myself into working hard before tomorrow rolls on in.

Speak to you all soon.

Midas Touch

This is my new toy, or it will be once it's delivered. As you may have noticed a lot of my work involves gold plating, and seeing as I have now graduated I felt I needed to find a way to still get this done. So it was either find a company to do it for me or get some equipment of my own. Guess which choice won. This little thingy isn't like any plater I've used before though, so I will need some time to work it out but hopefully it'll go well.

The plating machine in the university is like a bath, the whole piece gets submerged in the solution, and because I only wanted to plate specific areas this meant I had to play around a lot with lacquer to block out the areas I wanted to keep silver. This nifty little thing though, is a pen plater (ooooh, aaaah) which, theoretically, you turn on (its attached to a power supply as you may have noticed) dunk in some solution and draw the plating on where you want it. If that doesn't sound like fun I don't know what does! So hopefully that will work and all will be well.

I never did make a decision about the packaging logo that I mentioned yesterday so that job has been pushed back, I don't think there is a big rush at the moment so I think I will take my time to decide. I did however sort out everything to do with my hallmark so the final order form gets sent off tomorrow then I'm all set as far as that is concerned. I also did the most boring job on my list and cleared out my room of all the random junk I have so I can move over the next couple of weeks to my new flat. I couldn't believe how much stuff I have managed to accumulate over the past year. I've decided to give most of it to the charity shop around the corner from the flat I'm in now and then the rest to the recycling bank and the last dribs and drabs in the bin.

Making a list of jobs is definitely the way forward, I've never been a big fan of lists but with so many things to do just now it's helping me keep on track. So I shall be off for now to write yet another list.

Hope you're all setting up for a good weekend. x

Busy Bee

Well another productive week under way, as soon as I think I have everything done I remember something else. Mostly it seems to involve me phone some company or other so I never have much to show at the end of the day, and by the next day there is yet another list of calls to be made. Today I tried to sort out ordering my hallmark punch, I've managed to order the mark I want, I just need the punch made. However, the lady I was speaking to wasn't too sure which size I should go for (punch sizes range from 0.5mm - 6mm) because my work is jewellery and silverware. She thinks I could maybe end up needing 2 separate ones made, the same mark but different sizes. To cut a long boring story short I'm expecting a phone call tomorrow from a man who knows what to do. More time for me to have my phone attached to my head. I should maybe get one of these...

I could definitely rock that look.

My job for tomorrow is sending off the image at the top of the page to a company you can order packaging from, they emboss logos or whatever you like onto said packaging. I haven't really decided if I like it or not, tonight job is to make a final decision as well as general cleaning of my flat. I also have to go through my copious amounts of junk and decide what I will take with me to my new flat, what can go to charity and what is total rubbish. Exciting times I'm sure you'll agree.


Finally, I have managed to sort out a bench share here in Dundee, for the time being I will keep using the university workshop but come September, when term starts, I will move out and to a new space. Now those are exciting times.


Hope you're all enjoying the fab weather, see you soon.