the view from my window today
I love days like this. The cold rainy weather is outside and it makes my little attic studio feel all the more snug and cosy. It helps me drift off into my own little world, the one where the radio keeps me company and I happily potter about finishing off a couple of commissions and playing with some new designs. Before I know it it’s four o’clock and I have to brave the weather to collect Matilda from nursery. For now though I will enjoy the calm before the storm.
Tools!! It does occur to me that perhaps my love of making things is an excuse to indulge my love of tools. Here is the first of a series of posts about what I use to make what I make. And where else could I start but with hammers. I have far more than I need and am still collecting, but each one is different with it’s own character and it’s own uses. Especially the vintage ones. They have their entire working life imprinted into them and it feels like every time I use them this history is infused into the jewellery, they add texture, personality and for me a sense of integrity and reality to my work. They are objects which were made for a hard and heavy industrial life and now enjoying a gentler retirement with me in my studio. Here are a few of the ones I use most often.
Left to right.
1. vintage cross peen hammer. I use it for adding all the letters and numbers to my jewellery.
2. heavy vintage claw hammer. Good for shaping and forging thick sections of silver or brass
3. vintage tiny cross peen hammer. I use this one for flattening off rivets
4. ball peen chasing hammer. This one has a lovely weighted handle and a soft, smooth mat surface on it’s flat end. Perfect for planishing silver or brass to a perfect but not too shiny finish.
Left to right.
1. brass/nylon hammer with aluminium handle. Tiny and light it is good for when I don’t want to leave marks on the metal and for very delicate jobs like adjusting claw settings.
2. vintage blacksmiths hammer. Possibly my favourite, this one has a fantastic texture to the flat face and is the one I use most often for adding a texture to silver work. Despite having a wobbly head this one is really well weighted.
3. tiny ball peen hammer. Used for finishing tube rivets on the sparkler and button rings. The rounded end finishes the open ends nicely and is just the right size.
4. nylon hammer. replaceable nylon heads. I use this for round off rings and for when I need to reshape something delicate but don’t want to leave any hammer marks. The nylon ends can be unscrewed and changed when they wear out.
5. jewellery planishing hammer. The first jewellery hammer I ever bought. It has polished faces to give a bight mirror surface to the silver.
After the madness of the autumn/winter sales season and then the whirlwind of a family Christmas returning to the studio felt like a welcome breath of fresh air. But first it needed a good clean. My work space is generally in a state of organised chaos but after 3 months of solid making the mess was getting ridiculous. You can just see my lovely new velux window in the top left corner. It makes an amazing difference to the light in the studio but the installation left a fine layer of dust on top of the jumble of tools, materials and odds and end that littered every surface. So I spent a lovely, peaceful morning pottering, tidying, sorting, dusting, cleaning and generally getting ready for the new year and some new work. The studio went from this
to this
I know. It is still a mess. I spent hours tidying and by the time I had done an afternoons work it was chaos again. I thinks it’s reflective of my current state of mind – there are so many things going on that the best way to keep track of them is to have everything out at once. I have work in an exhibition at the Bilston Craft Gallery, I am making new work for the Lost and Found exhibition at The Beetroot Tree in Derbyshire and for the Love Letters showcase at The Harley Gallery in Nottinghamshire, I am planning a set of workshops at the wonderful Debbie Bryan Studio and Shop in April, I am working on a brand new collection and I’m teaching myself bead stringing and stone setting to add a bit of sparkle to this collection, not to mention preparing stock for my first selling event of 2012 – SOCK in Loughborough in March. And I though January would be a quiet month.
With only one fair left to go and a few orders left to finish I am starting my wind down for Christmas. It has been a fantastic autumn/winter and so I will say a big big thank you to all the wonderful people who put on events, exhibitions and of course to all my lovely customers who make this such a fantastic and fun job.
It’s such a pleasure and a privilege to help people find the perfect presents for the people they love and as I sit in the studio working my thoughts often turn to all the people who will be opening their little packets of jewellery on Christmas morning.
I will be taking commissions right up until Christmas and my next tasks are to get some more things onto the online shop (it is looking a little bit sparse at the minute) and then start preparing for some the exciting things that are happening next year – starting with a New Year showcase at Bilston Craft Gallery in Wolverhampton followed by exhibitions at The Harley Gallery, The Beetroot Tree and Unit Twelve. And today I have been accepted into my very first event of 2012 – the brilliant SOCK craft market in Loughborough in March.
Thank you for being part of a fantastic 2011 and here’s to 2012 being even better. Merry Christmas. xx
Buying presents for people is always tricky – even when you love something it’s hard to be sure they will like it too. So, I have finally got round to doing my little bit to help with that particular dilemma - Alys Power Design Gift Vouchers – Hooray!!
Available on the website in £5 £10, £20 and £50 ( or any combination) or in any amount if you buy them in person, they can be redeemed against any piece from my existing stock or against a commission. You can spend them in the design studio or at any of my craft events or you can use them to order a piece to your own design – you can even use them to buy items from my website – more details online.
I really enjoy the craft fairs and art markets I visit through the year. Spending so much solitary time in the studio is a luxury but it is so valuable to get out and talk to people, see them looking at and trying on pieces and get some feedback on the things I’m making. At this time of year I do as many events as possible and each one is always exciting and a little bit nerve-racking too.
The events list for Autumn/Winter is now full, I am out and about over the next few months and coming to an event near you. If you are looking to treat your nearest and dearest (or yourself) to something gorgeous this Christmas this is where you will find me and that perfect gift.
My work is also in three Christmas exhibitions in The New Brewery Arts Centre, Whisby Natural Worlds Centre and Rugby Museum and Art Gallery (more about them later) or you can find it in all the usual stockists.
See you soon… xx.
This is a commission for a really lovely lady called Rachael. We first discussed it in March and it rattled around my head for a good long time before I made anything. She gave me a great brief and I knew straight away how I wanted it to look. But the trouble with using found materials is that sometimes you just can’t find the ones you want!!
I spent months collecting little bits and pieces - a piece of a vintage brooch, some Edwardian black glass beads, and some folk art style charms – I even drew out the shapes I wanted the wolves to be as I couldn’t find anything that fitted my idea of the wolf in the story. But without the centre piece it just wouldn’t come together. Eventually I found this lovely image of red riding hood on a Victorian Christmas card and she was exactly what I wanted and definitely worth waiting for. And we all lived happily ever after…
You can see more images here and find out more about commissioning your own piece here.
I’ve never been a big fan of yellow. Or orange or even many shades of brown. I’ve always been more drawn to the cooler end of the colour spectrum, teals and turquoises, mossy greens and dirty greys. They feel more like my colours – faded, muted, quiet colours that make you nostalgic for things you can’t remember. But then I saw this saplings wallpaper in sunflower from Miss Print
and this bag from Anthropologie
and this lovely picture from the wonderful parcelpost blog.
so I bought a new yellow t-shirt and put it on and made this. A vintage enamel primrose brooch and enameled Russian butterfly pin with two vintage yellow glass beads on reclaimed chain.
Maybe it’s the unseasonably hot weather or perhaps I am warming to yellow after all.
At the moment I am becoming increasingly obsessed with Pinterest. Pinterest is a virtual ‘pin board’. You can use it to create photo boards of all the things you find and like online – or even upload your own photos of stuff from the real world!!
I’m really enjoying using it to create visual inspiration boards for my jewellery collections, it gives a new purpose to hours spent idly browsing online and when I find something that clicks in my head I can add it to a pinboard and hopefully build up a visual reference of all the things that influence my work. I also use it as an online notebook to store interesting and inspiring images to come back to later for things I haven’t even though about making yet.
You can follow me on pinterest here.
…over the last month or so organising this…
…with the lovely Vicki from Love U More. It has been a while since I organised something like this and it has been great fun so far, if a little manic at times trying to fit everything in. We have some amazing sellers lined up for the event and of course I’ll be there too with lots of new jewellery and a few bargains to be had as well.
The doors open at 7pm and the first 50 guests will receive a free goody bag and I’ll be putting in a little gift from Alys Power Design as well as a voucher for some very special discounts. I will also be giving away the vouchers with every purchase made on the night so make sure you pop along to claim yours. Find out more about the event on the eclectic presents blog or find it on Facebook. xx
