Feb Blog Carnival - A Ring A Day

mmmm, so what is a "Blog Carnival" and what is "A Ring A Day"? I hear you ask.

Well, to begin with I belong to a small group of metal artists where we set ourselves little challenges every now and again. the group can be found here etsymetal.com

There is a diverse range of techniques and styles and we principally are there to help one another in our craft. It is great to be part of. The group grows slowly when we invite anyone to apply to join twice a year (Jan & June). The group votes on those who we would like to join.

So that is the group, and within the group we set ourselves little challenges. It is not mandatory to join in, but just fun to do so.

We then also organise a "Blog Carnival". This is where those wishing to particpate, blog on the first Monday of the month, on a given topic.

So this month's topic is "What is you favourite from the Ring A Day?" Now before I go prattling on, the "Ring a Day" challenge was nothing more than a creative exercise to create and record the efforts of making a ring. The given ring had to be neither practical nor useful and any material could be used in the making of it. The exercise was not to produce a commercially viable piece, it was more about getting the creative juices flowing.

My personal favourite from my own creations was turning one of my jewellery books into a ring. As you have probably guessed, it has zero practical use but just makes me laugh.

I have tons of favourites from the other talented jewellers on Flickr, but I haven't worked out how to link to their pics from this blog, so suffice to say you will have to go and check out the Flickr page or more importantly at the bottom of this blog entry, you will find links to other bloggers. Go see what they are chatting about.


We then shared our efforts on a Flickr page.

The most interesting thing for me on the "Ring A Day" challenge, was the number of ideas that came to mind. I now have bags of ideas to make, but the practicality of running my business, creating commissions and being a family man, have meant that I haven't created a ring every single day, I don't see that a s a failure, as I kind of knew that life would get in the way.



Initially, I was thinking how on earth am I going to come up with a new idea every day, but as time progresses, it actually becomes easier.

I never got around to taking pics of some of my creations, but all of them are helping me to develop new designs. You can think of the process of as doodling with materials. Sometimes a texture, a pattern, or the scale of a piece will influence the design of a piece of jewellery that can be made into silver, gold, palladium or platinum.

It is Feb nd I have lots of ideas to make some more "Rings A Day"

I'll be posting those ideas here and on my Flickr page, so feel free to pop by and have a look or drop me a line.


So here are all the Blog Carnival participants. Please do visit and see what they have to say on this month's theme. " A Ring A Day." There are some fab blog entries out there.




Alisa Miller http://alisamiller.blogspot.com
Colleen Baran http://seeseebe.blogspot.com/
Danielle Miller http://daniellemillerjewelry.blogspot.com/
stacey hansen http://wildflowerdesigns.blogspot.com
Chris Parry http://chris-parry.blogspot.com
kerin rose http://kerinrose.blogspot.com
Sara Westermark http://sarawestermark.blogspot.com/
Victoria Takahashi http://vtakahashi.blogspot.com/
Su Trindle http://quercussilver.blogspot.com/
Nina Dinoff http://ninadinoff.blogspot.com/
Maureen "Cosmo's Moon" BZ http://cosmosmoonjewelry.blogspot.com
Thomasin Durgin http://metalriot.blogspot.com/
Colleen Baran http://seeseebe.blogspot.com/
Beth Cyr http://bcyrjewerly.blogspot.com
Caitlyn Davey/discomedusa http://discomedusa.typepad.com
Catherine Chandler http://catherinechandler.blogspot.com/

Valentines fast approaching.

Only a couple of weeks until that big romantic day is here.

Pop into the shop to pick up a little gift for your dearest. Sometimes it's just the little things like the little ceramic gift tag ( pictured)


-- Posted From My iPhone. Blogging when I am not stuck indoors.

iPad - WOW

So they don't need any more publicity, especially little ol' me mentioning it on my blog !!! however, I do think they are about to put a rocket up the bottom of the laptop/PC market.

They have created a cross between an iPhone, a laptop and soemthing you would see in Star Trek or Minority Report, or come to mention it, someone in Avatar was walking around with something similar!!

To think only 10 years ago, to have built something capable of what the iPhone can do, using the tech of 1999, you would have ended up with something the size of a couple of house bricks.

So just imagine what will be available and the size of such devices in 10 years.

I confess, I was a mobilephonephobe. I had one, but hated it. Then the usability and versatility of the iPhone now means I can accomplish , see and do so much with my little phone. I can twitter, blog, check my orders, reply to e-mails, check on the news, check my bank account, play a game, listen to my fav music and gosh the list goes on.

There will be a stampede to get the iPad and I will probably be at the front somewhere. So apologies now if I trample you in the rush.

Ring A Day 18/365

Here is my "ring a day" for day 18.

If you are unaware of the theme, it is as simple as creatinga ring each day from whatever, in as much time as it pleases it you. The ring neither has to be practical nor serve a purpose. Think of it as doodling without paper.

So this one amused me. I was going to use a "how to make jewellery" book, then saw this on my shelf and had to turn it into a ring.

Marks out of ten for being practical 0 /10. Marks out of 10 for making me laugh 10/10

Ring a day 5/365

Love the naive and non-uniform nature of this ring.

I created this silver ring as part of my "Ring A Day " series. This is 5/365 and came about after a little doodling exercise.

Sometimes it is rather relaxing to make something on a whim.

Bespoke fingerprint cuff links with a heart.

Really pleased with how these turned out.

A bespoke pair of cuff links in sterling silver featuring the bride-to-be's fingerprint and a little heart that she had drawn onto her print.

This little pair went off to sunny America.

It is safe to say that this is the only pair in the world.

London day out.

Have been at the Top Drawer trade show today looking for some exciting new products to sell in my shop.

I'm really pleased with the orders that I've placed and can't wait to take delivery of the new items. Some will be with me in a week or two and other bits will take a month or two to arrive.

All very exciting. I'll post some more details when I have some product shots.


-- Posted From My iPhone. Blogging when I am not stuck indoors.