A wee catch up

I realise I have been quite quiet recently, so I thought I would write an update with what is going on at Ruth Gordon Jewellery at the moment.
I am currently preparing for 'Crafted', a craft fair organised by Creative Hinckley. I haven't taken part in a craft event for years due to the demands that the 'day job' previously made on my time, so I'm really looking forward to it. It's really great to speak to the public about your work and meet other makers. I'm looking forward to setting up shop on my 6 foot table!

Over the past few months I have been working on some pieces that have no colour in them at all, which is a great departure for me. I have always worked with colour in my jewellery, whether it be enamel, cold enamel, acrylic or nylon so it feels strange to see plain silver pieces in my range. The work does have texture and many of the pieces use the familiar dome shape from my cluster range, so it's not a complete u-turn in design!

I will have some work in the Focus Gallery's next exhibition, starting on 22nd June. The idea of the exhibition is to showcase some of the best work in the East Midlands and I'm honoured to be included.

Ruth Gordon Jewellery has a new stockist this summer. New Brewery Arts in Cirencester will be stocking a collection of Ruth Gordon Jewellery in their craft shop. The arts centre has a gallery, craft shop, cafe and theatre and they also offer craft courses and have on-site craftspeople working in media such as ceramics and stained glass.

Throughout June, I am celebrating summer by offering 10% off anything in my Etsy Shop! Have a browse and use code JUNE2013 at the checkout.

Make - a meeting

One rainy Thursday evening I showed up at Ruth Singer's studio, which was packed with creative people from Leicestershire. This was the evening that 'Make - a meeting', organised by Creative Leicestershire was taking place. Ruth's studio is amazing and throughout the evening I found myself getting distracted by all the bits and pieces she has scattered about her wonderfully bright and colourful creative space. 
I met lots of people that I have been connected with on Twitter for some time and even made a few Association for Contemporary Jewellery connections. I also was asked to do a little bit of a talk on ACJ which I nervously fumbled through (I'm not a public speaker and the word 'um' seemed to crop up a lot!).

We all made paper name badges and heard some information about Creative Leicestershire, Makers Yard and Ruth Singer before getting down to brainstorming ideas for Creative Leicestershire and having a chat with other makers.

We also got the opportunity to go to the large studio upstairs, which was full of rubber matting and shotgun shells! 'Love Bullets' are a jewellery company who are building the walls for a nightclub at Glastonbury Festival using the rubber matting and 1 million bullets. I wish I had taken my camera to the event as what 'Love Bullets' are doing is amazing, it really was beautiful!

After a bit more networking and eating cake the evening wound up and we all disappeared back into the rain.

I thought the evening was great and would love to go to another one. 

My only regret was that I didn't get to meet everyone I would have liked to. Time just ran away with me.

Creativity - making things

I have always loved to make things and being creative, my mum still has the jewellery box I made by painting a Maltesers box, throwing glitter on it and sticking a sponge inside it.

I think it's important to feed your creativity constantly. I am always making something outside of my jewellery whether it be something knitted, sewn, drawn or baked. I keep up to date with artists, designers and crafters in all fields and I am very keen on learning new skills. I am currently trying to learn to crochet.

I think if you are creative outside of your working practice it flows back into your work and your creativity stays fresh, so your designs are better and your collections can move forward.

I grew up in quite an artistic household. My parents are both keen on photography and my mum has a City and Guilds qualification in Textile Art. I remember not being able to eat our tea at the table because Mum had her embroidery work all over the kitchen table. Interesting things happened in our house, Mum had water soluble fabric, air soluble pens, fabric paints and metallic thread! 

When I was little, Mum, Dad and myself used to sit on the links at Birsay, Orkney and each paint our version of the Brough of Birsay.

I was also reminded recently by my dad of a 'guidebook' I started to make during one holiday to Orkney.

For my wedding last year I decided it would be nice to make lots of the elements we would use, from the invitation to the decorations. With a lot of help I made nearly a hundred pinwheels which were used as cup cake toppers and buttonholes, hundreds of paper pom-poms, all the invitations, place settings, table names, the wedding rings and my wedding jewellery.

Making all these beautiful things with the help of our friends and family made our special day all the more special. To me everything looked pretty much perfect and I was proud of what I and my friends and family had achieved.

I was recently reminded just how much I love making 'things' whilst making my mum's Mother's Day card and a birthday card for my new sister-in-law. I have countless boxes of crafting and art supplies which I periodically dig out and mess about with.

I also recently finished knitting a cowl style scarf which I am over the moon about. I couldn't follow the pattern (but neither could mum - a seasoned knitter!) so made it up as I went along! I also knitted some ear warmer head bands last year.

For several years I taught evening classes in jewellery and felting. This was great in keeping my creativity fresh. Jewellery assembled from safety pins, buttons, Fimo, chain mail and felt beads that we made were popular classes to teach. The felting classes where we made purses, bags, needle-felted objects and bowls were great fun too. I found myself being inspired by the objects of craft made by the class. My students would use different colours together that I wouldn't have thought of or they would try to make something in a different way. It was great, I miss teaching and would like to do more of it.

Shrink plastic ring

Felted purse

Chain mail bracelet

Felted bracelet

I think making things other than your particular craft is very liberating and helps with the creative flow. Let me know what extra crafts you do and if you think they help you in your day to day work.