The beeswax smells amazing when melting and holds it smell once formed. Honey bees, bumble bees …and wasps, love it too.

And candles. Beeswax candles in silicon and lately acrylic molds. Seems all yellow beeswax is not made equal. Initial attempts had a lovely, hard, glossy surface. Second lot came from a different source and finish is yellower, more tacky, with lots of imperfections coming out of mold. Have order more of the former and am…

Studio now filled with drawers filled with wax, wax working and forming tools. Initialling trialled different wax recipes for a durable, stable product made up of various ratios of paraffin, beeswax, carnuba wax, calenilla wax, pine resin, microcystalline wax and colourings. Also trialled a range of techniques for putting image onto wax including oil paint,…

This last session started with a show and tell of our Session 5 necklace homework and finished with some post-workshop reflections on where to from here. Started by gathering together all photos, objects, photos, reflections and decide where to direct efforts next. Thinking about our gifted words, material explorations, concepts. My chosen framework – impulsive,…

Show and tell material trials. Then a 15 minute exercise to make a necklace using one of your sample techniques. Melt/pour. Homework. Develolp a few of your more promising samples and make 5-10 necklaces.

I missed this one – on a road trip down south, destination Routeburn – so I tuned into the recording after the fact. Session started with a show and tell of ring trials. Then a short exercise to explore the potential of your chosen material – with Richard Sierra action verbs there as suggested prompts..…

Present clay objects. Select one to base next exercise on. Estela proposed this one… Quick response exercise – 10 minutes to make a metal ring based on this object. I made two… Homework – make another 10 rings each out of a different material… We also need to identify a material that we have never…

Visited this exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery. A few works that got the mind rolling…

A presentation of collage homework (see previous entry), followed by a quick response challenge – 10 minutes to make a 3D sculpture (30 x 30 cm), using our collage word and materials to hand. Another gifted word ‘Precarious’ and homework. Make a series of clay objects (10x10cm) embracing your collage and sculptural outputs and words.…

Great to be part of Jewellery LAB a cohert of 10 makers – with Raewyn Walsh, Sharon Fitness, Keri mei Zagrobelna, Elfi Spiewack, Amelia Rothwell, Justine Fletcher, Nina van Dujinhoven, Lisa van Hulst, Sandra Schmid – a professional development and exhibition initiative, for jewellery artists ready to ‘challenge, reimagine, and expand their practice’. The programme…