Progress...

So this morning at physio I was allowed to hop and, wait for it...JOG ON A TINY TRAMPOLINE!!! This is a pretty big step (no pun intended) for me considering I haven't been allowed to do any high impact exercise since breaking my ankle in February...

Anyhoo, I feel I have a lot to say to update you on what's been happening since my last post.
I'm still working away at the forge three days a week and attending a special ankle group twice a week with a fantastic physiotherapist who is unfortunately leaving next week because she got a lovely new job at another hospital...
I'm very happy for her but can't help feeling a little sad that she's leaving.

I'll tell you all about what I've been up to at work, but for now I want to share some other news.

I have had an amazing weekend up in Inverness where I saw Karine Polwart (a fantastic and highly praised Scottish singer/songwriter) performing a solo set which was absolutely beautiful. She usually performs in a trio but it was really interesting to hear her singing and playing on her own. After the performance I had the chance to chat with her and then found out there was a short songwriting course the next morning. Of course I thought it was full, but ended up checking anyway and found there were still tickets available, so after a long, long, long time of consideration (I'm very nervous about things like this) I bought a ticket and then didn't get much sleep because I was too excited...
On the Saturday morning I went along and it was amazing. I came away with a lot of tips on how to be a bit more confident and how to collect ideas and information to create songs. I think the best quote which has stuck with me is 'Pursue the ideas that make you care'. I really liked that and since the weekend I feel re-inspired to start (and more importantly for me, finish) writing my own songs.
I think my problem is that I begin an idea and then get disheartened and feel it isn't good enough and I give up. I store it away unfinished and somewhere at the back of my mind it's just waiting there...another unfinished project amongst hundreds. So my goal is to start sorting through all of my notes and finish at least two songs by the end of the month.
I feel this is pretty reasonable although since Saturday I've already written down three new ideas which consist of about three lines and moved on to a fourth...but I'm hopeful I now have the right motivation to finish them!
If you have the time, check out Karine's website here.

So...on to what's been happening at the forge.
I did a couple of pretty small projects recently which were nice and simple. This is a tool for stretching canvases which basically involved a little bit of welding and I got some practice at using the tig welder (which I don't use very often).

The next project was a little wall mounted bracket for a chandelier. It involved tiny forging and for the wrap I used a length of tig wire which turned out very nicely.

I also made a hand rail which was pretty hard to do with a sore ankle. I didn't realise how much pressure goes through your ankle when using your arms to create a simple square twist...
For now I only have some pictures of the scroll ends.

Next are a few pictures of a butterfly and feathers for one of the bigger projects I helped with. This is now finished and will hopefully be installed in Motherwell tomorrow (so fingers crossed for some sunshine please!!). I will add some photographs of the finished pieces in the next post.

The butterfly was pretty difficult to photograph after it was in place, but hopefully the last two photographs give you an idea of where it's sitting. Here are a few photographs of the work in progress...

This is the lecturn which will hold a book of memories for a dimentia garden in Motherwell. It was all designed by Jim and I made the leaves, feather and forged the wings for the butterfly. I'll add more photographs of the finished piece in the next post so you can see it after it's been galvanised, painted and installed. We were also commissioned to make a bird bath so I'll get photographs of that as well.

We're currently working together on some pieces for the Boarders Council and Jim's been finishing off some gates which will be installed after we both get back from a wee Summer holiday. (I'm away to the Isle of Lewis to work at the Hebridean Celtic Festival which will be a first for me! I've been many times but never been behind the stage!!)

So...I have a lot more to say but I'll leave that for the next post. For now, I'm feeling more positive than I have done in months and actually feel like I'm making progress!
Thank you and take care of yourself!

Summer, Autumn and Winter 2012

So after New Designers I packed up my things and headed out of Hereford to work at my summer job on the Isle of Lewis. It was very hard to say goodbye to all the wonderful friends I made (and all my houseplants) as well as the great tutors, but I will keep in touch with everyone as we all try to move on and use what we've learned to set up our workshops or start our own businesses!
I feel very privilaged to have been able to complete the blacksmithing course at Hereford and work alongside such great characters who have taught me so much and really inspired me to work harder and learn as much as I can about the art of blacksmithing. I think it was a fantastic experience and I feel that my confidence has grown so much in a relatively short amount of time, so thank you to all who helped me along the way, you know who you are!!

I made my way straight to the island and set up in my wee caravan for a month before travelling back to Hereford for graduation! It was a great day, although I only had enough time to graduate, say a few hello's and then a few more goodbyes so I could catch my flight back to Stornoway.
I think the highlight of that day was when John Makepeace (who was made a Fellow of the university earlier that day) shook my hand on stage and said that he loved my work and was excited to see what I would do next. I had been to a seminar he was running a few months before and I was awed by the quality of his work, so to get a compliment from him made my day that much more special!
If you don't know his work, you should have a look here http://www.johnmakepeacefurniture.com/index.html

After travelling back to Stornoway I worked for another few months then headed back to mainland Scotland for a wee while. Then I was off again to Denmark to look at a couple of forges where I might have the chance to work for a while.
Let me just say that Denmark is very...flat! There are hardly any hills which is very strange after coming through the Highlands of Scotland!! It is a very beautiful landscape though, and I must say the architecture I found was absolutely amazing.
While I was there I went to quite a few different places and all of the wee towns were very quaint and had cobbled streets and very old buildings. I think that there is a lot more 'craft' work going on over there because if you walk through any town you will find a blacksmith or a woodcarvers workshop which just doesn't happen in Scotland.

Anyway, I saw quite a few places which were very interesting and I even got a quick tutorial on how to make a special punch which will be useful for hammer making! I only had a short amount of time there so it was a shame I didn't get enough time to do some real forging but it was great to see the places I had researched.

After coming back from Denmark I started to work at my old college and get on with some commissions and my own portfolio/gallery work. Since the end of the summer/early Autumn I have been working happily and will continue to work there until I feel I should move on.
I managed to make it to two Christmas markets after a horrible week battling illness and made quite a healthy profit selling little decorations and I also got a few commissions. In all they were very enjoyable and I will definitely try to get a stand next year at both of the markets.

So far 2013 has been great and I hope to update the blog a lot more frequently, so watch this space! I have recently been working with the freelance artist Michael Doig to give my blog a more professional look, so if you want to check out his work, here is the link http://michaeldoigart.blogspot.co.uk/

I will add photographs of the work I've been doing after graduating in the next post so take care for now and have a good day!

London - New Designers!

Okay, so I'm going to apologise for not updating this blog in so long, but I have been here, there and everywhere since June!

Firstly there was the trip to New Designers in London which was absolutely incredible. Basically all of us made our own way to London to set up in one of the biggest design exhibitions for graduating students in the country. It was a great opportunity and I for one was very excited to travel to London, having never been before.

The day of the set up was pretty stressful and there was a lot to organise but everything turned out okay and we made rotas so that every day each person had a two hour shift. I have to admit I did not enjoy the heat in the building because there was no air conditioning in our area! Luckily the business design centre is in a pretty good location so during the week I went exploring every day using the underground.

Every morning started at 6am in a lovely wee hostel which I shared with three of my friends. I was out the door by half past and on the underground by 6.45am...
I made a plan at the start of the week to visit as many places as possible and used a map to figure out which line I had to go on and where to change. It turns out it's a lot easier to navigate than I first thought.

I went for a walk in Hyde park every morning and had breakfast before heading out to one of the locations on my list which included the Royal Albert Hall, Kew Gardens, The Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral and lots more! Every day I took a handful of my contact cards and handed them around places which I thought might be interested in my work, including the Royal Albert Hall where I managed to get a full tour. This was probably the best place I looked around while in London because I have always wanted to visit but have never had the time. The interior was incredible and I learnt a lot about the history of the building which was very interesting.
My second favourite place had to be St. Paul's Cathedral because I love the architecture of old cathedrals and churches as well as all of the ironwork. I also went on a tour there but this time the information was on an ipod! Basically you could walk around the whole building and select the area you wanted to know more about and then listen to the recording. It was a beautiful day when I visited, so the view from the top of the roof was incredible. I also counted the steps on the way to the cathedral and the way back, and in total I climbed over 3000 steps that day!!!

When I was on my shifts at the Business Design Centre, I had a lot of good feedback from everyone who took an interest in my work and made quite a few contacts at the exhibition. I also managed to get a few commissions from people and was accepted into the Society of Designer Craftsmen, so on the whole it was a very good experience.

Here are some pictures from London and thanks to everyone who was involved in the exhibition and made it happen!