Oooh - just found one of my hare brooches has appeared on the Interflora blog as one of a top ten Paper Wedding Anniversary gifts inspired by William & Kate's first wedding anniversary.

Urgh! It's been so embarrassingly long since I've posted that Blogger have changed their format, which in the manner of changes have made things a whole lot more confusing to my simple artist brain.

Suffice to say, I've been a tiny bit busy of late but thought I'd squeeze in a quick post in case you thought I'd died or something.

So what's been happening?  Well, I've finished the initial resin jewellery ideas and all the necklaces have been put together with sterling silver (a foolish idea, as silver is SO EXPENSIVE at the moment) and I have already sold two of the heart ones, which is most encouraging.

The website has been fully updated with lots of luvverly new products and has a whole new page devoted to the resin.  Unfortunately I can't think of a more glamorous title for it, so 'resin' it must remain, unless anyone has any suggestions?!

Right now I'm preparing like mad for a charity craft fair held over two days in Walton-On-Thames next week, then as soon as I set my delicate foot back into Brighton on Thursday afternoon, it's straight up to 60, Florence Road to display whatever's left for the Brighton Festival Open Houses.  The house is open for four weekends commencing 5th-6th May from 11am to 5pm and is LOVELY (and has cake) so do pop by if you're in the area.

Another bit of news is that after contacting the IOSF to check that they were OK about me using their name and info in conjunction with my intention to donate to their Furget-Me-Not project, they were so impressed with my otters they asked if I would be interested in selling them through their online shop.  The arrangements are still ongoing, but hopefully they will appear there soon.  It's lovely to know that the commission they take will go directly to helping them in their work in caring for orphaned and needy otters.

Oh, and en route to a friend's wedding last weekend we dropped into the Cotswold Wildlife Park for a visit.  Sadly the weather was pretty grim and they only had four otters (who were actually awake and out, which was lucky) but we got to see a tiny fluffy baby meerkat and a baby ring-tailed lemur too.  Very cute.  No plans to immortalise them in felt yet, though!

It was so cold all the lemurs were huddled together

Donation, Donation, Donation

As of May 2011, 10% of sales from all Shark Alley otters are donated to an otter charity or sanctuary.  Last year, this was the wonderful Otters & Butterflies centre in Devon.

In 2012, it will be the Furget-Me-Not campaign run by the IOSF, which educates and encourages would-be otter hunters in Asia to help research and conserve otters instead of hunting them illegally for their skins.

The IOSF informed me today that their Furget-Me-Not website is currently being rebuilt, but you can click here for a bit more info if you like.

So, if you want to help out a little Asian Short-Clawed cutie like Nutmeg here, why not go and treat yourself (or a loved-one) to a gorgeous hand-made otter from either the Shark Alley hand-stitched page or Shark Alley's shop on the fab retail website Giftwrapped and Gorgeous.

Resin Things. 'Resings'

I'm slowly getting to grips with the potential of resin.

S l o o o o w l y.

This initial part of the process is exciting and frustrating in equal measures, as everything seems to take forever as I bumble around trying to work out what to do and how to do it.

I'm also not enjoying the finishing process of filing and endless rounds of wet-sanding for the cast pieces, but the finished results do look lovely and shiny. 

Fimo shapes used as the basis for a silicone mould

I'm experimenting with inserting vintage diamante and lace into the hearts, mixing transparent and pearlescent resins together, half mixing colour into clear resin and trying to create amber effects.  The idea of making hearts was inspired by a necklace I made from papier mâché, which didn't work as well as I wanted.

Super-pretty shells using transparent and pearlescent resins with inset resin 'blobs'

Free-form 'Zebra' bangle from a cast of a very thin bone bangle.
I can't see what I'm doing until it's finished and turned out of the mould, so every one is different

No chance of making it as a hand model

I'm also experimenting with embedding things in different layers of resin to make pictures, which I'm loving as I'm a massive fan of collage.  The animal ones below feature foil sweet wrappers, handmade papers, beads, sequins and, bizarrely, Barry M glitter dust. I've also tried 'painting' with the resin to make the fronds of weed, the patterns on the moon and the fox's chest fur.

British Wildlife pendants - otter with fish, hare and fox

The rather rubbish resin pendant from the course transformed into a fab foxy one

MEANWHILE I'm still beavering away and with the arrival of my exciting Dremel power tool, I hope to be able to actually make some of these things into finished pieces of jewellery.

Oh well, back to the sanding . . .

Come on, you know there had to be one.
But hang on . . . .

. . .  spot the difference

New Otts On The Blog

I've been tampering with the Original Otter Formula lately and thought I'd share a sneaky peek with you lot!

I've managed to get hold of the amazing fluffy felt in taupe and made two little cuties, Caspar and Boo.  However, one day I came across them standing around on the dining table staring rather intently at me and just for a moment they reminded me of a gruesome twosome from a classic movie . . .

With apologies to Stanley Kubrick

But they have asked me to tell you that they are very sweet really, and they wouldn't be seen dead wearing blue dresses. Huh huh huh.

Caspar and Boo - "We think we are nice"

They made a special trip to Londinium on Friday to go on sale in the very wonderful Oak Studios in Perrins Court, Hampstead.  Here they are in their glamorous carriage.

The sharp-eyed amongst you may have noticed some otters with accessories.  I have bowed to commercialism and produced a limited range of loving little otts just perfect for Valentine's Day.  They are much smaller (around 12cm high) and are brandishing either a big felt heart or a bouquet of roses.  They are not currently listed on my website, but contact me if you would like one, or see my Facebook page for details.

Messin' with resin

I have long been thinking about making jewellery in a material that might be considered more acceptable than papier mache by the general public (what do they know anyway, huh?). I tried silver in 2010 but knew pretty quickly that it wasn't for me as it lacked the potential for colour and pattern that I love and would require too much specialist equipment.  Plus I work in a quiet studio where everyone else uses Macs to design and illustrate, and they probably wouldn't relish me getting busy with gas flames and hammers on a daily basis.

The next choices were acrylic or enamelling but I couldn't find any suitable courses in Brighton and was ready to give up until a chance conversation with Paula Eastman of Feather Fancies revealed that there was a resin one at the London Jewellery School that she was also thinking of attending.

We duly signed up for 19th-20th January and spent two busy days having our minds blown with all the creative possibilities that were suddenly revealed.  YOWZA!

The resin is easy to use and very versatile.  We got started on about four pieces simultaneously, as whilst you're waiting for one layer to dry on one piece, you can start on another. The possibilities for including stuff in the resin really inspire me, as I love using found objects, and the 3D effect you can get is very new and exciting to me.

My first forays into the medium - pendants

Our tutor didn't set limits, so we were encouraged to experiment and take risks, with the upshot being that Paula and I elected to try and make complicated bangles using animal forms.  I had previously drawn out some otter designs and found some gorgeous brown marbled paper that I wondered if I could use, so these were incorporated into a shape marked out in string which was glued to acetate and wrapped round a curved surface.

When finished, this would be unpeeled and then 'float' in a bangle mould formed by two cylinders of acetate and filled with resin, which I didn't have time to complete.

Note hideous leakage as resin breaches the glue barrier

This probably was too ambitious, especially in terms of the time available, but I do intend to finish it (just as soon as my materials arrive!) even though I fear it will look totes rubs.  Learning curve, learning curve!

I can't believe how incredibly tired I was after both days, what with all the concentration and creative stiumulation as my mind started pondering all the exciting possibilities.  I shall, of course, be sharing the results as soon as they are done!

Some of Paula's lovely things

2011

So 2011 is past and 2012 has begun.  No deep musings or resolutions to be found here, simply some pictures that remind me of an exciting year for Shark Alley.

This was the year I ventured into the world of the craft market.  Some were good and some were bad so I'm gradually learning which ones to go for and which to avoid!

Here I am at one of the good ones - the very lovely Craftaganza Christmas market, held at the Fabrica gallery here in Brighton.

The Landmark Crafts Fair was held in a spectacular venue in Teddington (close to where I grew up) and it was the first time I'd had a proper booth with back and sides.  I certainly didn't make full use of these, having never had them before, but will know better next time!

It was a great success for me because it felt like a vindication of everything I have worked so hard for since I started Shark Alley in January 2010 and this was reflected both in sales and the positive reaction to my pieces.  I met some lovely people too.  A lot of publications selected images of my work to publicise the event, including CRAFTS - the magazine of The Crafts Council, which was incredibly exciting and a huge boost to the morale.

2011 also marked the year I began to sew things as well as make jewellery - the first of hopefully many excursions into different products and projects that will come under Shark Alley's crafty little banner.

The hand-sewn otters have already been well documented in this blog, but I also really enjoyed making bird decorations as well as designing and putting together kits to enable others to feel the love!  Sewing is soooo (sew?!) therapeutic for me and although it can be time-consuming and not that cost-effective, I really enjoy it.

Elsa, a friend's eight year old goddaughter, used her kits to make the decoration and the key ring above.  Excellent work, eh?  I'll be outsourcing the otters to her soon.

A competition launched on Shark Alley's Facebook page yielded lots of lovely 'likers' and a chance to win four of the felty bird decs.  Here is one of the four on a lucky winner's Christmas tree!

Speaking of the otters, I haven't been able to confirm the full totals as yet, but I reckon I've raised around £50 to donate to the Otters and Butterflies sanctuary in Buckfastleigh, Devon, which I'm dead chuffed about (10% of all my otter sales go towards this).  I'm going to continue fundraising this year for another ottery organisation yet to be confirmed.

Plans for 2012 include moving Shark Alley jewellery into a different medium and I've got loads of ideas for lovely, unusual Christmas products using mostly recycled materials, something I remain passionate about.  I'd also like to try more 3D work using birds and animals as my inspiration as usual.

So HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you who've managed to read this far!  Thanks for your interest and support and let's hope that 2012 is going to be a good one. xxxx