New Designers

The time has come for me to exhibit at New Designers. This is a great opportunity for all design graduates out there to showcase their work.  We go down to set up on Monday and the exhibition is open to the public on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  It will be great to see what other jewellers have been inspired by and their creations.

If you are interested in visiting it is held at the Business Design Centre in Angel.

http://www.newdesigners.com/

The end or is it just the beginning?

I have neglected my blog a bit of late for which I apologise, however, I hope to concentrate a bit more on it now as I have finally finished my degree! Woop woop!  I seem to have had my head stuck in the degree particularly over the last couple of months.  Here is a photo or two of my latest project.

Based on disguising text and books this range of jewellery is made from fine silver, sterling silver and paper and is predominantly made by putting the silver through my old typewriter and typing directly onto the silver.

More pictures to follow.

Nora Fok

The main reason for doing the Applied Arts degree was because of my absolute LOVE of jewellery.   I am always fascinated by how people manipulate different materials to create something that was nothing into a stunning piece of jewellery.  

On Wednesday I went to Ruthin Craft Centre (http://www.ruthincraftcentre.org.uk/08bilinghome.html) to the Nora Fok exhibition.

This exhibition was unbelievably inspiring and definitely worth a visit.  The vast display of work is made with nylon microfilament which she knits, plaits and weaves to create delicate yet eye catching body sculptures.

The last day of the exhibition is on 5th June so still plenty of time to see it, even if you aren't a jeweller you will be amazed by the intricacy of her work. 

A good old typewriter

There is something so beautiful about an old typewriter. You can download many free 'typewriter' fonts from the internet but it just isn't the same!

I used a typewriter for my last project & it seems as if that is the way my next project is going but in a different way by removing the ribbon.  This gives paper a delicate imprint, I love it - to a degree it is a way of disguising a message as the text cannot be read unless it is brought closer to the eye.

...but what message to disguise?

Disguising stories

This weekend I went down to London.  I don't get to go there very often but I do love it when I do.  Whilst catching up with a friend we stumbled across Persephone Books.

I am trying to research as much about books and typography as possible and I didn't know anywhere like this existed.

Persephone books is a bookshop that prints mainly neglected fiction for women by women.  Each book has an identical plain grey jacket on it.  The stories themselves and the inside covers (which each have a beautifully printed pattern on) are what differentiate the books from each other.

As part of my project, the main focus has been disguising messages in different ways and this visit has inspired me further.

It was a great bit of research and somewhere where I would recommend going to.  

Book Binding

I want to learn the ins and outs of making books so today I went along to a workshop to understand the basics.

I came out with a pretty impressive looking book that I can write all my daily 'to do' lists in.  I now need to decide how I can make more book style jewellery!  Any ideas?

Therapy

I love typography.

In my last project I incorporated typography into my jewellery by making mini books.  For my current project I am going to try and carry on a similar theme.  One particular suggestion made to me was to buy some old books and fold them, rip them, scrunch them etc.  I have seen it done quite a lot before but thought I would give it a go.  

I love the end result but equally so I loved doing it, I found it so therapeutic.

Questions to challenge the mind

1. How important is the body?

2. Does jewellery need the body to make it jewellery?

3. Can jewellery be art in its own right?

Answers on a postcard please!

Making progress

I have mastered how to alter the image at the top of my blog - after 3 hours of driving myself insane with it last night I decided to ask a friend this morning & he told me how to do it within minutes so thank you to him.

I am at the very beginning of my new project so no photos as yet to show so I thought I would upload some photos of my jewellery from the project I finished a few weeks ago.  

This is a series of mini wearable books that explore the art of typography through the use of quotes by known writers.  Enjoy!

My very first post!

I thought blogging or at least setting up a blog would be a lot simpler than it has been.  I still haven't mastered how to resize the image at the top.  I will have to reattempt it tomorrow.

Anyway, I am Elle.  I have set up this blog to share my jewellery, what inspires me, what challenges I come up against with my designs and making and generally what I love in life.