revalue

Yup, these posts are just like LRT buses - except the 11 which runs only half a service to my area - anyway, you're spoilt for news this evening.

REVALUE is an important if very new blog that myself and Jaimie MacDonald are trying to kickstart in our guise as the Ethics Committee for the Association for Contemporary Jewellery. We don't have all the answers, although Jaimie's been researching recycling in jewellery for the best part of a year, and need others to post their adventures in ethical making too. We are interested in suppliers who are trying to source their products ethically, in makers who are thinking about the processes they use, and in outlets who seek to pass all this on to our customers as an added value. Please spread the word and add your tuppenceworth :)

Small Treasures

This is nice. A necklace I made last year just won a competition for the creative use of Precious Metal Clay. Jewellers will know that this is a strange alchemical product that is worked like a clay, but hwen it is fired, either in a kiln, or using a torch at the bench, the clay fires out to leave assay quality metal. For a silversmith to create directly in a malleable material is a challenge, we are so used to constructing from sheet and wire. For this piece, I used fairly child like forms but tried to be quite strict about what it was that was making them work. I used 18ct yellow gold and also experimented with enamel through the PMC.

If you are in Scotland, there is a new shop in Brunstfield, Edinburgh selling PMC and a similar product, Art Clay, which I haven't tried, or if they are still there, you can also go to Fenton Barns in East Lothian, who run great introductory courses very cheaply (or at least they used to - I can't find any links online right now). I'll be using up the supply I received from the PMC Guild as a result of my happy win, and developing the work further hopefully through a course next year in Par, Cornwall.

In the meantime, I have taken a two day Picasso inspired ceramics introduction course with the amazing Frances Priest just to get my hands on some clay. Thanks Fran!

HUG

OK, I am supposed to be flaking out over getting my thesis in this month, but I couldn't resist the Travelling Gallery's call for interactive works earlier this summer, and was thrilled to be asked to contribute to their Access All Areas show. Therefore, we have HUG, a big woollen ball with embroidered reactive patches - it purrs, it has a heart, it likes you.

Why? Well, when travelling on public transport in America, things happen. I was handed a flyer in a mini van by a lady coming off the night shift on my way to Moody Gardens with the family, and in it she proposed that hugging was cheap, healthy and tax free. She's right.

Access All Areas has just started touring, and I'm not sure the balls, one very large, one small, will stand up to the wear and tear. Still, the drivers were keen to help and took my little sewing kit with them - cheers guys!

I definitely see further work here, in the development of three dimensional conductive embroidery.

goto10

Spring also saw me heading through to Glasgow to take part in goto10's Pure Data workshop at the CCA in collaboration with the Electronclub. Pure Data being the (some would say superior) freebie (and therefore more politically relevant) version of Max MSP. This was with a view to me being able to understand how to collaborate effectively in future projects using sound, or even to begin tinkering with sound myself in the workshop. Two intense weeks with teachers Frank Barknecht, and Chun Lee allowed us to get to grips with some fundamentals not only of sound, but also image manipulation through this amazing application.Watch this space for new work, and see Lindsay's blog entry on mundungus.

ensemble lite

Long time no blog!

Following the successful full installation of ensemble at The Scottish Book Trust in March, I have to report that a smaller, more portable version was developed with a view to carting it off to festivals. The first opportunity came in the form of New Craft - Future Voices, an international conference in Dundee, Scotland, in July this year. A fantastic curatorial and exhibition team made this as pain free as possible, and a multitude of techno-craft projects and objects were brilliantly displayed. Thanks to all involved once again. Extended abstracts for the exhibition proposals can be found in the proceedings published by Duncan of Jordanstone and available online from Lulu. Go their web page and choose to preview the books.

ensemble lite, if you like, comprised two working nodes and two spot speakers, allowing gallery staff to maintain the installation, and simplifying the acoustic feedback for audience participants. I was able to transport the whole shebang in the back of the car by myself, and with instruction from Vangelis, was able to set up the Max interaction parameters to suit the space.