In an octopus' garden

I made these little guys a while ago now, but just realised they hadn't been included. So yet again, I'm not sticking to the rules of using my mum's stuff...but she liked Fimo, and that's what they're made from. The one on the left was my first go, I think I like him best but I hadn't put a hole in for the necklace string.













I love octopuses (and I did just have to google to find out whether the plural was octopi, it seems either goes) - it's the tentacles that get me, they're fun to make 3D as well as making for a nice bit of illustration...

Made from scratch

Being a few weeks into my Jewellery Design & Making course at the art college in Plymouth, I thought it was about time I showed off my only (half finished) piece. The first five weeks have been all about techniques, so we've been looking at soldering, wire work, using a rolling mill to create texture and a few other things.

The rolling mill was great fun, and I found that it was a great way to combine my love of hand drawn type with jewellery - you can basically emboss designs on to metal using a paper template, so cutting words out of paper and rolling them between sheets of metal works really well. My friends Ami and Jonny had just had their first ever little person, so I was playing around with her name, Beau. This was just a little experiment (hope you like it Ami & JK, shame I didn't get it made into anything more finished).

Using paper and the rolling mill again I made this little fella for my Gran. When it's finished it'll be a brooch - she loves owls, barn owls in particular, so I can't wait to get it finished and give it to her! I think she'll be chuffed.