Goodbye 2012

With only 5 days until Christmas Day, Ruth Gordon Jewellery is shutting up shop for the holidays. Normal service will resume in the New Year after we have travelled from Leicester to Perthshire to Leicester to Saltash to Leicester. That is 1228 miles!

This year has been great both in my business and personal life. I have made some great new contacts with galleries and clients, I was featured ion insideKENT Magazine, I have set up the ACJ East Midlands group, I have helped organise the first ever ACJ East Midlands exhibition, I have three new stockists, two new online shops and a brand new rolling mill! There have also been some low points to the year but I'll focus on them in a later post.

This year I have been to some very inspirational places. I have visited France, Spain, Andorra, Czech Republic and many beautiful places in the UK including the wonderful Burgh Island. I have also attended two very motivating talks, one at the LCB (see A helpful evening in Leicester) and the other at the Leicester Print Workshop (look out for a blog post about this talk in the new year).

For a large part of the summer and autumn my attention was turned to organising my wedding so I didn't have as much time for my business as I would have liked but now I no longer need to make endless amounts of paper pom poms and pinwheels or rubber stamp luggage tags to make place settings.

My 'to do' list for January is already massive! I owe this blog about eight posts, four of which are sitting in draft form on my blog menu. I need to pick up the paperwork trail and sort out my inventory and contracts, I will be getting some brand new business cards which is always fun and I need to have a January sale!

But for now I'm going to sit back and relax. That is after my AAT Level 2 Accounting exam tomorrow! Just a small side project I've got going on, I go to college once a week to learn book keeping and accounting skills. Very handy when you are self employed!

Ruth Gordon Jewellery can be found in several galleries over the festive period and I would like to thank these galleries for their continued support over the year. I would also like to thank Amanda Charteris and the Gift Wrapped & Gorgeous team for all their support over the past seven months. They have a wonderful selection of online boutiques and sell gorgeous products.

Focus Gallery in Nottingham are holding an ACJ East Midlands exhibition where my work is featured until 15th January 2013

 

The excellent Peter Potter Gallery in Haddington has a great selection of work from all my ranges for sale.

Hung Gallery in Inverness are stocking my work with everything from cluster rings to acrylic bracelets for sale!

In Leicestershire the wonderful Wistow Gallery is currently stocking my work. They have a great range of my cold enamel pieces from rings to brooches as well as some nylon pieces too!

Thanks to all my customers, suppliers and galleries.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

See you in 2013!

 

Christmas stockists

Is it really only three weeks until Christmas?

Ruth Gordon Jewellery has taken the Christmas fair season off this year but you can find my work scattered throughout the country and online.

Focus Gallery in Nottingham are currently having an ACJ East Midlands exhibition where my work is featured.

 

The excellent Peter Potter Gallery in Haddington also has a great selection of work from all my ranges for sale.

Hung Gallery in Inverness are also stocking my work with everything from cluster rings to acrylic bracelets for sale!

In Leicestershire the wonderful Wistow Gallery is currently stocking my work. They have a great range of my cold enamel pieces from rings to brooches as well as some nylon pieces too!

If these stunning galleries are too far afield for you then don't despair as I have two online shops too.

The fabulous Gift Wrapped & Gorgeous where you can buy classic pieces such as my Fluorite and Silver Range as well as firm favourites such as my Cluster Bangle and Acrylic Cupcake Brooch.

And last but not least, I have a Folksy shop where I sell work starting at only £10, perfect for stocking fillers!

Have a look at these galleries and, indeed, the online shops if you are stuck for someone's Christmas or just to treat yourself.

All my work is completely unique and many of my pieces are completely one off. I use Sterling Silver in my work and my pieces are hallmarked at the Edinburgh Assay Office.

To get regular updates on my work please see my Facebook page.

Have a wonderful time Christmas shopping!

Gift Wrapped & Gorgeous

It's been a busy few weeks for Ruth Gordon Jewellery with lots of hours in the studio, new ventures, a weekend away to Lords and even some home baking!

Gift Wrapped & Gorgeous is a wonderful collection of online boutiques showcasing the very best of British handmade products from handmade jewellery and unique artwork to personalised wedding gifts and gardening accessories. I was first introduced to Gift Wrapped and Gorgeous at the Creative Leicestershire event 'Selling Art and Craftwork Online' and I am now part of this wonderful collection of artisans.

Ruth Gordon Jewellery has several exclusive pieces of jewellery on Gift Wrapped and Gorgeous.

Silver Charm Bracelet

Silver and Cold Enamel Earrings

Silver and Nylon Bangle

Silver, Amazonite and Pearl Earrings

Silver, Amazonite and Pearl Necklace

Silver, Fluorite and Rose Quartz Earrings

Silver, Fluorite and Rose Quartz Necklace

I am really pleased with the way my boutique looks and more pieces will be added very soon including cluster rings and bangles and nylon necklaces so keep an eye out for updates on Facebook, Twitter and on the Gift Wrapped and Gorgeous website itself.

In other news I was featured in the latest issue of Craft Business Magazine in the 'Take Stock' section discussing my last months trade. Hopefully a link and or image for this will follow.

I will shortly have a new outlet where I will be Maker of the Month which I will hopefully reveal in my next blog post!

However for now you can see my work at the wonderful Wistow Gallery in Leicestershire and Hung Gallery in Inverness.

More news soon and look out for blog posts analysing my necklaces, wrist wear and rings!

Brooches

 Brooches. I absolutely covet brooches! I rarely wear them but I love them!

The first brooch I made for my degree show (all those years ago!) was this acrylic, silver and cold enamel brooch.

I just about cried when I sold it! This and the other three original brooches in this range were nearly the end of me at University. Those of you that were there will remember the blood, sweat and lots of tears! I still have the 20 or so pieces of acrylic that I lovingly shaped by heating in my oven then bending over a jam jar only to then drill them slightly wrong!

I now do a slightly simpler version of these brooches without the silver corrugation element. I am planning to make smaller versions of these brooches, probably about half the size. I always receive positive feedback about these brooches but I feel that mini versions would appeal to a wider audience.

Also for my degree show and over the past few years I have made corrugated silver brooches with cold enamel elements. These are fun and playful and have become one of my signature ranges.

I vividly remember doing the sketches for these brooches, it was in an Art History lecture on a Thursday morning! I came up with some of my best designs on scraps of lined paper during those lectures.

I am going to continue to make these brooches but, again, on a smaller scale. I feel fashions and my market has changed and I will change with it.

My range of nylon brooches is very varied! 

I have had a great response to my nylon brooches as a whole but as the May master plan states, I must streamline. The framed and enamel with loops pieces probably win in the popularity stakes for my customers and for myself.

I made a small range of 'Sampler' brooches a few years back. The idea behind them was that I made several brooches of the same dimensions using different techniques. It was interesting to do. These are more one off pieces than work that sit in a range so maybe more will be made in the coming months and years as a wee artistic release!

And so to enamel. Vitreous enamel. It's been a love hate relationship between myself and my kiln. I realised not so long ago that it probably was because of my lack of knowledge so I am looking into some courses. I wont be making any more enamelled brooches until I get my skill level up but I enjoyed looking through images of pieces I have made in this medium.

I have found over the years that less is more when it comes to designing and making brooches and I am going to follow that philosophy to the letter from now on.

I am finding it very useful to think through all my designs and write down my thoughts. Still to come - necklaces, wrist wear and rings.

Also don't forget to check my Folksy page for jewellery starting at just £10.

I also have a Facebook page that I update regularly with news.

You can follow me on Twitter.

And you can find more information about me and my jewellery on my website.

If you are out and about you can find my work at the Wistow Gallery in Leicestershire, Hung Gallery in Inverness, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich and Rosie McKenzie Art in Edinburgh.

Thanks for reading!