Well, after many trials and tribulations that I won’t bore you with here (as much as I am tempted so you can feel my pain!) … I think my exhibition piece for the Expeditions show may possibly be finished. Maybe perhaps sort of kind of …

After a lot of difficulty I’ve pretty much managed to get the finish I wanted, which is very shiny and bright on the inside and very muted on the outside. And, yes, there is much wonk as promised! It’s misshapen, it’s pitted, you can see some of the joins, it even has a teensy fracture in one of the windows … and it really does remind me of Istanbul!

And, yes, it was incredibly difficult to photograph, so I apologise for the images, but hopefully you get the idea. If you’d like to see a few more of them have a look at my Flickr photos.

However, I had a flash of further inspiration this evening and am probably going to take it to a plating place to ask about having it plated gold on the inside. I’m really not sure it’s possible at all, but you never know. And if it is possible then I think it will look just perfect.

A little group of metalsmiths has gathered together on Etsy as a street team - to market ourselves and Etsy more generally. And in the space of just a day or so we’ve got a load of excellent ideas bouncing around. Plus we managed to nab two Etsy Treasury lists … and one of them got picked for the home page!

So thank you to bcyrjewelry for making the list - and for putting my work in it.

If you’re interested, find out more about the multi-talented metalsmiths who are currently part of Etsy Metal. And if you’re a metalsmith on Etsy then think about joining in - so far it’s a very vibrant and enthusiastic group.

It’s been a very long evening of slaving away over a hot bench (literally!) after several days of doing much of the same. And I’m exhausted.

I’ve been working on various bits and pieces, but the thing devouring most of my time has been an exhibition piece which I’m going to submit to a show called Expeditions to be held in Sydney in November. The exhibition will be entirely jewellery and holloware.

My piece is a response to my own expedition to Istanbul earlier this year and will be a small, non-functional box.

Above are the panels of the box all etched and ready to be scored, folded and soldered. These highly decorative etched areas will actually be on the inside of the box, with the outside being very plain and muted.

I’m sure anyone reading who has made metal boxes before will know that this isn’t the ideal starting point for make one! However, I didn’t want to invest in a large piece of (very expensive!) silver, only to not use large chunks of it. Of course they would get used at some stage, but it was too much to outlay in one go.

However, this turned out to be a happy (non) accident - particularly because I had also skimped a bit more and bought metal which is really a bit on the thin side for making a box of this size.

As I started making it I knew I was going to have to be really careful to stop it going wonky … but then it suddenly dawned on me that so much of Istanbul absolutely isn’t about crisp, clean lines and perfection. In contrast to some of the spectacular mosques and interiors of Ottoman-era buildings, much of the city crumbles in a really elegant way, with things tacked together and new parts of buildings simply built over the remnants of old ones - there are some buildings that look like they’re literally going to fall down at any moment.

So I decided to embrace the wonk (which is a highly technical metalsmithing term, I assure you!) - and to even push it further.

The result - which is currently sitting in a bath of pickle - is one deliciously misshapen box! Which was a complete and utter nightmare to solder, I can assure you. But now it’s close to finished I’m very pleased with it - and it captures Istanbul for me far better than my original intention would have.

Once it’s done I will try to take a decent photograph of it to share with you - which will be tricky as much of the detail is on the inside of the box and is glimpsed through the windows, but I will do my best.

By the way, if you’re interested, I’ve put some of my favourite photographs of Istanbul up on Flickr, which will give you much more of a sense of what I experienced in the city - and perhaps why I seem to be developing urges to travel in the Middle East proper. I suddenly find myself desperately wanting to go to places like Iran and Yemen. Yep, really picked my timing to get interested in travelling to such places.

** Australian voters now accepted - yay! **
I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve contributed a prize to the Rare Robin Awards, presented by the lovely ladies at Rare Birds Finds blog.

There are over US$1300 worth of prizes to be won - including a gift voucher from me to the value of US$55 - if you participate in voting for your favourite online shop.

And of course I’d love you long time if you voted for me in the jewelry category! To do so, just put http://simonewalsh.etsy.com into the ‘funky jewelry’ section.

Quick! Go there now!!