Posts tagged ‘studio’

Back to business

24 August 2011

Finally my new studio is set up enough that I can get back to making jewellery. Hooray!

If you’ve had your eye on something in my Australian jewellery shop or international jewellery shop which has been out of stock in recent weeks, then it should be back in stock again now as I get stuck into making replacement pieces.

As for my studio, there are still a lot of loose ends to tidy up, but the room is now fully enclosed, insulated and (mostly!) painted. Below are some photos of where it’s all up to.

Jewellery bench in my new studio.

Here is my bench all set up and ready for work. Obviously proper flooring is still lacking! I’m hoping to source a plain, dark-coloured and affordable vinyl floor covering. The steel bars across the ceiling are yet to be painted bright red (they’ve been treated for rust and primed so far) and I need to do a bit more painting of the wood around the windows.

Jewellery bench and work table in my new studio.

Here you can see the two windows I get to gaze out of when I’m working at my bench. I’ve also set up a table for other work which isn’t ideal to do at a jewellery bench. I’m planning on painting this table at some stage.

The view while sitting at my jewellery bench. VIew of red and pink camelias seen while sitting at my bench.

Above are photos of the views seen while sitting at my bench through two of the windows. At this end of the room the studio is partially below ground level, so the windows look directly onto the garden. And at this time of year I get to look at stunning red and pink camelias, which is a bit of a bonus!

Back wall of my jewellery studio.

As you can see the back of the room still needs a bit of work! Along these two walls I plan to have sturdy benches with shelving beneath for working on, larger pieces of equipment and storage. There will also be a sink next to the back wall – the beginnings of the plumbing are there, but we still need to complete the installation. Having running water in my studio will be an absolute joy!

I’ll keep sharing images with you as I get closer to finishing the room. But for now I’m getting stuck into making, making and more making!

Posted in Handmade jewellery | 5 comments »

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My new blow torch

18 June 2010

I was very excited to pick up a shiny new blow torch from the post office! I guess that’s not something everyone would get excited about, but I certainly did.

I use an LP gas bottle for my jewellery making work in my home studio, which is less than ideal for what I do. However, it avoids expensive insurance issues and other complications were I to use an oxy-acetylene set up inside my house or something similar.

The biggest downside has been the torch I’ve needed to use with the gas bottle up until now – a big, clunky, heavy Primus torch with a fairly inflexible hose which results in a sore hand and wrist if I need to do a lot of soldering. It’s just not designed for jewellery making.

In addition, the flame cannot be varied – there’s no way to add or reduce the amount of oxygen in it, which is a useful thing to be able to do.


My old Primus torch and the new Orca one side by side.

However, I’ve been using this torch for years and have adapted to it and have tended to notice the problems with it less over time.

But finally I found a much better alternative after a friend told me about a new torch she’d discovered which is designed to work with LPG bottles and is intended to be used for jewellery making and other fine work. So I invested in one!

My new torch is an Orca and compared to my old Primus one it’s unbelievably lightweight, which makes me very happy. It comes with three different sized tips which are easy to swap around. And the hose is light and flexible.

And best of all it has an oxygen inlet which draws in an adjustable amount of oxygen from the air around the torch. It’s still not as good as having air pumped in to it by way of an air compressor or oxygen bottle, but it’s a huge improvement on having no flame changing ability.

So today I’m feeling very happy about my new torch and I’m very much looking forward to putting it to use!

Posted in Handmade jewellery | 2 comments »

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I’m moving!

3 April 2010

Just a little note to let people know that I am moving both my home and my business over the coming few days. The boxes are out and the packing has started!

I’m not moving far away at all, but of course I still need to pack up my entire personal and business life, have it all moved and then unpack it all again.

Customers should be aware that it might take 1-2 days longer than usual to turn around handmade jewellery orders. I do have all regular items in stock at this point in time, but only in very limited quantities. I will of course endeavour to post things as quickly as I can, but at some point my packing gear, printers, etc. will be packed!

Made to order items (such as rings) are likely to take longer than normal to be made as my studio will be packed up as of today and is unlikely to be functional again for approximately a week.

Also be aware that I’m slow in responding to emails and other messages at the moment as there is just so much going on! But I’ll do my best to catch up on that tonight and to keep up as the move progresses.

I hope to have some photos of my new working spaces to share with you soon.

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Back to the studio

10 June 2009

Finally last weekend (which was a long one in Australia) I was able to get back to my jewellery bench, now set up in the studio space in my new home.

Sterling silver blossoms

I spent the weekend completing an order for the National Portrait Gallery shop in Canberra, along with making some urgently needed jewellery for my own supplies seeing as I’ve been badly running out of the jewellery in my shops.

Above are just a few of the little silver blossoms I cut out in sterling silver on the weekend. Each of them were then soaked to remove the paper (with the shape drawn on it), sanded, filed, tumbled and then finally turned into finished jewellery which was then tumbled again.

I seem to spend half of my life making these little blossoms as they form some of the most popular jewellery pieces I sell, so it was no surprise to spend my first weekend of making since moving doing yet more of them!

My jewellery studio.

As for how my new studio is working out, well so far so good! The space is almost fully set up, but there are a few loose ends to tidy up.

The only issue I found on the weekend was that the three large windows let in so much light (in spite of the room being painted so dark) that heating or soldering metal can be difficult because I can’t see what I’m doing! All I need to do is remember to pull a blind or two down before I start and it’s fine, however.

This is not going to be set up as my ‘dream studio’ seeing as I’m still renting and things like fume extraction, heavy equipment which should be bolted to the floor or heavy furniture, etc. are currently out of the question. But soon enough I hope to be working towards just that!

Posted in Handmade jewellery | 5 comments »

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Farewell to my studio

8 May 2009

My studio is now fully dismantled and packed up, with everything ready to be moved to my new home.

My packed up jewellery studio

If you’ve ever purchased any of my handmade jewellery online, then this is almost certainly the room where it was made.

But with everything now packed, the very next piece of jewellery I make will be created in my new studio in the Blue Mountains! I hope to have some photographs of my new space soon.

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That’s it! I’m leaving.

24 April 2009

Glory tree flower in my new front garden. … Leaving Sydney, that is.

Yes, I finally do have a home to go to after months of looking and will be departing Sydney after over a decade of living here.

But I’m not going far – just up to the Blue Mountains, a bit over an hour’s drive from my current home in Sydney’s inner west.

I’ll be living in a town in the upper Mountains which is close to everything I’d like to be close to up there. Of course living in the country will be a big adjustment, but the Mountains has so many Sydney refugees in it that it’s a bit like an outpost of Sydney and is quite urban in some ways, so it shouldn’t be too much of a shock.

My new home is a mostly wooden cottage which is probably around a hundred years old at a guess. It’s quite large and potentially has a whopping four bedrooms, but I will be using just two as bedrooms – one for me and one for any visitors I may have.

The other two will function as a studio and office respectively. Finally I will have working space which is entirely separated from my living space – and enough room to work a lot more effectively than I do now. Can’t wait!

My new studio will be in a decent sized room with two big windows looking out over the very pretty cottage garden at the front and side of the house. And my new office has one good sized window looking out over the side garden. The photograph above was taken of one of the lovely plants in my new garden-to-be.

The room which will be my bedroom has a beautiful bay window with a seat in it which also looks out onto the pretty front garden. There’s also a big living room with a fire and a decent sized kitchen and dining area, plus a separate laundry. And the bathroom is a big space which has been beautifully done up – it has a big deep bath in it which I’m looking forward to spending lots of time soaking in!

At the back of the house is a garden which is so large I’m going to feel like I’ve suddenly got my own private park! It’s a lovely green space. And someone else will be caring for it, so all I have to do is enjoy it.

The house is going to be a challenge to get looking right as the walls are all painted very bold colours … but luckily I’m up for a challenge on that front!

So now I need to get into moving mode for the first time in a few years. I won’t get the keys for a couple of weeks, but there’s an awful lot to get done in that time, especially given how insanely busy I am even without the move! Keep your fingers crossed that I survive it all in one piece.

Once I’m in and have started to set up my new space I’ll share some photographs with you.

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Why yes, I am still alive!

1 April 2008

Butterfly wing pendant by Simone Walsh. 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.

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