even despite the fact that no-one reads this, i still every now and again, feel the need to write a bit. having had a great summer work-wise last year, i am keen to promote the business this season aswell, the hopefully by next year the season won't control me so much! i am currently trying to promote myself and my work by getting people to book me for jewellery parties-this should enable not only a format for sales, but should also spread the word about what i do and give me the chance to discover what people really want from me, and what i should focus on....sort of like an on-going critique from my customer base.
having no formal tutor or advisor to help guide me, this seems like the bestt idea. i am consiously attempting to move away from the pieces i have, up until now, been making-and focus more on alllowing my own style and methods, and exploring how i feel most comfortable working. i shall continue to work to specifications for commission pieces for the time being, so as not to discourage custom too much, but will most definitely be putting my own spin on things from now on!
i have no idea if i told you about the test party i threw back in the autumn, but it went very well, and i got some great feedback to allow me to perfect the idea, and gave me the chance to ask people what they really wanted from the experience. following on from this experiment, i encountered a lot of problems with my pregnancy and have only just been able to get back to work, unfortunately not as much as i would like yet though. but i am hoping to work things out over the next week to peermit me to get to work more, and hopefully pushing the parties will pay off, and the business from that will aid this.

anyway, in the mean time, i have made a very nice prototype for a pair of orchid brooches i have been asked to make, and have taken this chance to play with some japanese enamels-which turned out very well indeed, and a pair of guitar picks that came out nicer than expected, but i'm having trouble getting up the nerve to do the engraving-which is making the project take a lot longer than expected, and i will now feel quite bad about charging for the work.

i am looking into beginning a range of 'organics' -simple to quite elaborate explorations into natural influences and images. this will involve a lot of paste work at first, and hopefully may lead to something...