Yes, I am finally finished the big web-related job I’ve been working on since late last year, along with another small one.

And finally I can get back to jewellery making and all sorts of other things for myself – until a couple of other lurking web jobs come to fruition, anyway! There is also the possibility that I’ll be moving up to the Blue Mountains in the next little while, which is exciting.

But this weekend and early next week I plan to spend a lot of time at my bench catching up with making work and attending to a whole lot of neglected bits and pieces. And once I’m caught up I’m keen to get to work on some new handmade jewellery!

If you’re interested in what I’ve been working on, the smaller project was for an exhibition of contemporary jewellery called Luminaries, which was organised by the Jewellers & Metalsmiths Group in NSW and shown from 2006.

There are plenty of photographs of some wonderful work by some of the luminaries of Australasian contemporary jewellery.

The much larger project was for the Corporate Responsibility Index in Australia. This was a complete redesign and rebuild of a site that I first created years ago and which was badly out-dated.

Although the front end of the site isn’t particularly complex, the new site runs on a content management system, which is what made it a much larger job to set up. But the good news is that most updates to the site can now be handled by the Index staff.

A lot of people in Australia and elsewhere have been wondering what they can do to help victims of the terrible bushfires in Victoria last weekend, which may have seen the loss of up to 300 people and over 1000 homes – not to mention businesses, schools, community centres and much more.

If you’re interested in making a contribution, have a look at OzBushfireAppeal.etsy.com, a shop that a number of indie designers have donated work to, including myself. All proceeds are going to the Bushfire Appeal. At the time of writing, almost $3000 has been raised.

You can also make a direct donation to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal.

Additionally, if you’re a local, there’s a long list of information about financial and practical ways you can help on Our Community.

But wait … there’s more

If you’re in a giving mood and can afford it, I’d encourage you to think about matching any donation you might make for the bushfire victims and sending it to another cause which desperately needs financial contributions.

All around the world there are people dying of extreme poverty – from malnutrition, treatable diseases, unclean water. In places like Palestine, Somalia and Afghanistan there are communities torn apart by war. In many such places there is often no welfare system, no effective government bodies sorting things out, no insurance.

So while you’re thinking about those who have suffered from the horrors of the bushfires in Australia last weekend and have lost everything, also spare a thought for those others who also have nothing, whether from poverty or war, and who are in desperate and often ongoing need of the kindness of strangers.

If you’d like to do this, of course it’s up to you to decide where your contribution goes, but if you’re not sure and you’re in Australia, I highly recommend Care Australia who will accept regular donations, but they also run a great gifts catalogue – perfect for the person who has everything!

Finally, if you’re interested in thinking about the ethics of giving, I’d suggest you have a look at what Peter Singer has to say on the matter – it’s confronting and provides a lot of food for thought.

Before I take myself off to bed I wanted to let you know that I am alive and (kind of!) well.

I’ve been working hard on all sorts of things, including a web project which has eaten up vast amounts of time over the last month.

Plus I came very close in the last several weeks to packing my whole life up and moving it to another city … only to realise that right now simply isn’t a good time to be going anywhere for complicated economic reasons.

So that I can help myself to feel okay about staying put, I have also managed to do some sorely needed re-arranging at home. In particular I wanted to have far more functional working spaces, seeing as I work entirely from home. I’ve found spending so much of my life working in one little and very cramped room isn’t really doing me much good.

I’ve now successfully separated my office from my jewellery studio by moving the office into the lounge room … which probably doesn’t sound like I’m heading for a more balanced life as I’ve been intending!

However, so far it’s working really well and surprisingly the lounge room – which previously had a lot of wasted space – actually looks better for it. Plus I’m finding it great to leave my work on my desk and go and sit on the couch in the other part of the room if I want to take a break, rather than taking work with me to the couch as I have in the past! It’s making me feel more functional and now that my little workroom/studio is vastly less crowded, I can easily open the curtains and window and that makes working a lot more pleasant too.

As part of changing and reorganising things, I’ve also painted some furniture, bought new cushion covers and art for the walls and in all home is looking more homelike. Although there is a lot more of that sort of thing to do and I also have to organise for a painter to come in to repair and paint the walls, which unfortunately are worst of all in my jewellery studio. I see a messy and irritating few days in my future …

Anyway, I hope to have some photographs of my new working spaces once I have everything finished. If you’re interested in seeing my bench and workroom as it has been in the past, you can find some images on Flickr.

In other news, I will soon be taking some time out from other projects to get to work on a new range of handmade jewelry that I have had bubbling away in my mind and have been idly sketching in my notebooks for ages now. I’m really looking forward to sitting in my revamped space and getting to work on some brand new pieces. So keep your eyes peeled!

And now it’s goodnight from me … and goodnight from … me.

Today I’m getting a fair bit of traffic from MySpace, Friendster and Hi5 users, amongst others, due to the fact that I have disabled hotlinking of images from my blog.

I am now referring any hotlinked image to another image which informs visitors that the user is stealing my bandwidth (quite apart from the fact that they are breaching my copyright!) … which causes layouts to look a bit like this:

It appears that a number of visitors are here to try to find the original image in order to copy it and upload it elsewhere instead. However, even if you are able to find it (many have been removed), this would be breaking the law and leaving yourself open to being penalised by your host, your ISP or even being pursued legally.

Instead, be aware of my copyright policy. Many of the images used in this blog are all rights reserved – meaning you cannot use them at all without permission. This also goes for all of the text of the blog and the design elements it uses.

However, the images of the jewellery I sell are covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

This means you must give me clear attribution (including a link) for any such image you use and the image must not be used in derivative works (this includes background or general layout images used in web page designs). Additionally you cannot use my images for any commercial application. If you are hosting a site providing free MySpace (or other) layouts and are earning money from advertising revenue, I consider this a commercial application. If you wish to do any of these things, you need my permission.

As for bandwidth theft: it sucks. It’s also risky: the person you are stealing from can very easily replace the content you are stealing with something deeply unsavoury which will cause great offence to your visitors and may even get your site shut down. I am currently considering what this might be if the theft continues, even in spite of my current referral image, so consider yourselves warned!

If you have up until now been unaware that you have been stealing or have simply been unaware that this is even a problem, it’s time to educate yourself about it. Copying and pasting code from elsewhere without looking at it is no excuse.

For those of you who are worried about falling victim to this sort of problem, I strongly suggest you have a look into Creative Commons licensing for your images. This doesn’t prevent theft, of course, but it does give you a clear policy and – depending on the license you choose – can leave the way open for people to legitimately promote what you do without breaching your copyright or needing to spend time getting your permission.

Additionally I suggest you have a look into hotlink protection for your blog or for the hosting package you may have.

I confess that I’ve been a bit slow to set up an email list for my business, but it was one of the jobs I managed to complete when I redesigned my website recently. I plan to use this mailing list sparingly, but will let subscribers know about new work, subscriber specials and any major developments for my handmade jewellery shop and business in general.

You can sign up on the home page for my website at www.simonewalsh.com (the form is on the right-hand sidebar).

I’m using a professional service to manage the list, so your details will most definitely be kept private and of course you will be able to unsubscribe if you wish. And I promise not to be spammy!

I’m now safe and sound back at home in Sydney – and despite still being unwell, I’m pleased to report that I’m mostly feeling much more clear-headed and refreshed after my trip to Bali. Phew!

This is the final in my series of mostly photographic blog posts featuring images from Bali. The images below are all from the wonderful and quite new Botanic Garden just outside of Ubud.

I spent a wonderful few hours roaming the six hectare site – and decided that I’d be doing so regularly if I lived there! The Garden has a wonderful diversity and plenty of dense, hidden spots to explore – and lots of shade to help keep you out of the piercing sun. There is an impressive collection of beautiful orchids, a very peaceful meditation space, a lotus pond, a great hedge maze, an Islamic garden and much more.

Also, unlike many other sights I visited in Bali, the Garden is very well organised and even features useful signage – but not in a way that is at all intrusive. All this and the Garden has been open for just a year!

Plus I enjoyed a delicious, fresh lunch in the Botanic Garden cafe which featured a number of veggies and a tall glass of juice from passionfruit all grown in the Garden itself.

So if you go to Ubud, the Botanic Garden is a must see! It was definitely a major highlight of my trip.

Finally, if you’re interested in seeing more images from my visit to Bali – or at least larger versions than I’ve posted on my blog – I’ve created some sets of them on Flickr, including a collection.