Jewellery

So proud of myself today - I managed to work out how to change the photo behind the heading. Feel quite light-headed. Celebrated by finishing a couple of necklaces and making some new ones - from some beads I made out of PMC (Precious Metal Clay - i.e. silver in this case). I'm hoping some are going into a mini-exhibition to sell, but no idea what to charge. Fun to do, and am into doing themes - beach and woods, sweets, and cakes! These three photos are : 1. A walk in the woods (using stone-inspired beads, birds-egg beads, silver acorns, silver sycamore, silver leaf. 2. Seaside (using stone-inspired beads again and silver shell beads. 3. Liquorice allsorts necklace (using some sweet-like beads and silver beads coloured afterwards).

Poetry

For some strange reason I am compelled to try and write poetry as well as voraciously reading it (Billy Collins being one of my favourite poets). This is a vice that should be kept secret and locked up in an inaccessible mental cupboard. So that I don't frighten anyone with too much on this subject, I will just say that I am in permanent pursuit of writing, one day, The Perfect Poem. I wish. So here's a thought...


THE PERFECT POEM

Will I be discovered dead
in bed, covers folded neatly
under my chin, the golden hair
of my imagination
spread out on the pillow;

and will I, before then, write
at last the Perfect Poem;
a nugget in a jewelled bag
produced at the drop of a hat
and read to admiring audiences,

or a beribboned gilded medal
awarded for Services to Literature?
Will it be so startling, so great
that pigeons hurl themselves off roofs
with a flag-waving of feathers,

and will the earth hesitate
for a moment, stunned with awe,
while the sun winks knowingly
as metaphors slink for cover
like rats down an alliterative alley?

Will it be so wonderful
that you, after my funeral,
heads bowed, say in hushed tones,
'No, I don't remember HER at all.
But I remember her Perfect Poem'?

(written on 15/6/09)

Summer School - Printmaking (Collagraph and Drypoint)

Another year, another summer school! This year I learnt drypoint, collagraph and monoprinting. Well, in fact I did this course last year and enjoyed it so much I did it again! The talented and very patient Christine Tacq inspired us all, and every night we went home tired, happy and very paint-covered... Intaglio and relief printing were confusing to start with, but soon prints were rolling off the press... I am now wondering whether I could try etching, as I love the amount of detail that can be achieved, and many more prints can be run off, as the drypoint was etched into board, whereas etching is into metal.

In the pictures, the one with three sections is a mixture of drypoint and collagraph and was done after going to Giffords Circus (a lovely, family-run circus with no creatures that should be in the wild). The fish on a plate is drypoint, and the butterflies picture is collagraph (material, sand, etc., glued onto a card).

Automata

Another moving toy - this one has a handle to turn, is of two children skipping, with one rope up when the other is down, and vice versa. I meant to put this with the other pictures but haven't worked out how to go back and do that!!! Anyway, here it is, complete with small boy with back-to-front baseball cap in the corner, reading a book.

Oh, and while I'm at it, here's the heron who is trying (and never does) to catch a bug - you just pull the bead below his wing (there have been some unkind suggestions as to what that represents, but believe me, it just represents something to make it work!!)

Summer School - papier mache

Another year I went to Summer School and did papier mache with James Cochrane, who was delightful, and is a brilliant illustrator. I made a very large green tree frog, which has now hopped its way over to Canada and lives there, and also a lady which I called "Ermintrude shows off her new hat". Her nose and her breasts are made from clay which are cooked in the oven, and when I made the breasts I wasn't sure how big to make them, so I made two pairs. I asked James whether he thought she was better suited to the 34B or the 36C, and we decided the smaller ones looked best. Later that day another lady, who was making a very large hippo, found that she was running out of time and needed eyes for him. I leant over and handed her the 36C breasts and lo and behold! They fitted EXACTLY into the hippo's eye sockets....

The other comment I have to make about this is, you might see from the closeup that she looks uncannily like a certain ex-Prime Minister (sorry, no prizes).

Summer School - Moving toys

Every year I try and go to Summer School to either learn a new craft or to improve on one. One of the earlier ones I went to was on 'moving toys' (automata) with Robert Race taking the class. It was fascinating to learn the effects of lead weights that swing to make parts move, or to turn a handle to make something move. I made one of two birds that look at each other, then when you lift it they look away, then look back when you put it down - the big bird looking rather aggressively at the little one.

Summer School - papier mache

Autumn glories

I have been given some lovely windfalls, and another friend brought round some cob nuts (note to self: buy nutcracker). Last weekend I picked blackberries and made an apple and blackberry crumble, and picked sloes and now have jars of beautiful deep claret colour sitting on my worktop and being shaken but not stirred. This means autumn has arrived.

More chandeliers

When the sun shines into my room it creates patterns with the prisms

The beginning

Firstly, I'll explain the sub-title because, apart from the obvious play on my name, there is another reason (or two) why I chose it. When I was at school one of the teachers was always on my side, and said that I was never to worry because 'every Macleod has a silver lining'. Secondly, I do silversmithing and Precious Metal Clay (which is also silver) and the other day I licked my finger when I had some silver clay on it, so I really do literally have a silver lining. Anyway, this is the beginning of my blog and I'm not sure how long I'll do it before I get fed up. It's really more for people who know me, so no need for any of the really personal stuff. Enough to say that, since a serious illness three years ago, I have made the most of life (well, I think I did before actually). Due to not being as agile as I used to be, most of my interests and hobbies are fairly sedentary.

So, to add a bit of interest I'll try and paste in a photo to get me going.

Nearly every year I go to a brilliant craft summer school, and one year I learnt to make wire chandeliers. I chose this because I had already started doing them, but wanted to learn more techniques rather than inventing it all. I had a wonderful time, and have sold quite a few.

Every Macleod has a silver lining

This is the beginning of my new venture. I have no idea how to do a blog really, so am blundering in the dark. I want to do this so that my family, who are scattered (and possibly scatty) can have a look if they wish.