Saturday 12 October 2013

Exciting Times...


Well here we are on a bright and sunny Autumn Saturday morning and I find myself with a little time to catch up with some blogging. My posts have been a bit few and far between of late for which I apologise...I have so much on my to do list at the moment it's hard to fit everything in but, I must try.

It's almost 4 months since I moved into the new studio and I can safely say getting that done has proved to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. It's just so liberating to have the space to work on different projects and in different mediums concurrently. I have a low boredom threshold so I'm much more productive when I have several things on the go and there is so much cross pollination that my head is buzzing with ideas. I'm even thinking of abandoning my note book and using one of the big blank walls for writing my ideas down...creative graffiti if you like!

My studio Manager Cleo at her work station...
 If you follow me on Facebook or the Art Jewelry Elements blog you might have seen my debut ceramic pieces earlier this week. I've wanted to have a go at this for ages but was limited by space and so I thought, a low temperature kiln. But my AJE team mates put me right on this and persuaded me to give it a go and I'm so glad I did - it's just so much fun and I'm completely hooked and now want to try so many things in this medium...

First firing of ceramic beads...
Because my kiln limits me to low fire clays I went a bit mad and splurged on a new higher temperature one that will allow me to work with porcelain and stoneware and so I've been told, get some really exciting glaze effects. Even better - it comes with an enameling collar so that's another technique I can do more with. Only problem is I have to wait 2 weeks for it to ship from the US which is going to drive me nuts!

Paragon Caldera A
I've also been doing a bit more traditional metalwork lately, practising my long neglected soldering skills and trying out some fold forming...

Fold formed earrings available in my ETSY shop
You'll probably have seen that I got myself set up for etching a few months ago too and that's also so much fun with so many possibilities.

Etched copper vintage illustration pendants
So what you may ask, am I going to do with all these new found skills. Well as I mentioned I get bored easily and need variety to keep me focused so I'd really like to do more original and one off work with less reliance on commercial tools. I will of course be continuing with my metal clay work but will be selling other mediums alongside it and am hoping to come up with some combined offerings too. And of course, I want this to feed through to my jewellery design...I've not done a lot of that lately either but it would great to have mixed media pieces with everything made by me.

Recent bronze component work...
It's very early days yet but I'm very excited about the possibilities that lie ahead and I'm looking forward to having something to share with you here.

For now though I hope you have a great weekend in the offing with lots of creativity in the mix...

See you soon,

Lesley




8 comments:

  1. Oh Lesley you are a bad girl tempting me with more more more!! I so love your ceramic heart....can I have one please? Your new ideas are amazing xx

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  2. Every last thing you made in this post is absolutely gorgeous! I'm glad it's all so exciting. And Cleo is pretty cute as well. :)

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  3. Really excited to see where you're going next! Your ceramics are fantastic, along with all the other mediums you're working with, a combination of them all sounds amazing :)

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  4. Can't wait to see where you go with with your new kiln! I ordered a new one last week as well but haven't even considered mud. Hubby's going to kill me!

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  5. It's exciting to see all of your new work. Beautiful things. What kind of kiln did you order? Be careful. They can be addictive. At one time I had 5 :-)

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  6. Is it there yet ? is it there yet ? (new kiln)... well??????

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  7. Lesley, you are amazing! So talented. I love your ceramic beads and your bronze leaves and your earrings and your vintage etched pendants, I guess you get the message, I love all your work. So, save to say I can't wait for you to get the kiln either, so I can see what beauties will you make with that

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  8. How lucky for us that you get bored easily! I love my recent set of beads from you .... the etching is simply lovely!! what a fantastic idea to have creative graffiti .... hmmmmm, perhaps something to think about for my studio and get rid off all the random piece of paper with designs scribbled here and there! Cleo must be very busy indeed in your studio!

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