Happy New Year......

.....it's time for a change!

Firstly, an apology needs to be made for neglecting the blog a little over the last few months! It has been an extremely busy December which saw Graceful Deviant selling in Bath during the Christmas market they hold annually along with improved internet sales and some different selling venues throughout the year.

So this post isn't really to speak about my silversmithing journey other than to say that there are a few New Year resolutions! The first being that there will be a new illustration each month that will be transformed into my jewellery along with a lot more one-off stone pendants. The second is that Instagram will be used solely for studio behind-the-scenes shots so that you can see before, during and after photographs. Lastly, I'm going to try and select slightly fewer events to attend but choose larger ones as regular fairs didn't seem to work out quite so well.

But the main news for 2016 will be from The Blue Starfish point of view as I have been realising some valuable lessons over this past year of market and fair selling. Ultimately it boils down to the fact that my jewellery making designs and materials have not progressed as much as they potentially could have done and with the surge in people beginning to make their own jewellery mine just doesn't cut the mustard any longer!
And that's ok! I had been trying for a while to incorporate more handmade elements and artisan beads but the jewellery still wasn't attracting the eyeballs when out and about at fairs and so I guess the design element is still 'simple' or too 'commercial' looking.

Having said all of that I don't want to stop having a second jewellery line (especially as I have a huuuuggggee stash of gorgeous beads) plus Graceful Deviant is quite monochrome so it gives me a chance to explore colours and different metals. With that in mind I have decided to have a complete clear out of The Blue Starfish side of the studio and restock with some simple basics - copper and brass sheet, artisan glass and some precious metal clays.

Most importantly comes a rebrand. I have thought long and hard about this but as soon as I'd made my decision I was filled with excitement and itching to get started so I know it is the right thing to do.

-> So, The Blue Starfish will cease trading at the end of January 2016 <-

What will follow is a brand new website filled with new designs that have a rustic, earthy element but most importantly, a more handmade element. It will launch as 'Metal Mountain Jewellery'.

The decision to change the name has also been heavily influenced by the fact that I am consistently being mistaken for an eBay store called Blue Starfish Design who claim to hand make sterling silver and copper jewellery for very small prices. I certainly don't want to be associated with eBay wholesalers! Did I say that 'out loud'?! It appears I did :)

The launch date for Metal Mountain Jewellery is yet to be decided as time is required for design and development along with sourcing some new artisans that I'd like to incorporate. That said, the domain name and website building is already underway and I am very excited about being able to bring something different to my markets and fairs.

I hope you are all looking forward to 2016 and it would be great to have you on board to keep following my handmade journey :)

Venetian Delights!

....and a shake up for Graceful Deviant!

Having had a mammoth lack of motivation following my Canadian road trip (holiday blues doesn't quite cover it!) I was surprised by my boyfriend with a trip to Venice for our anniversary!
It was exactly what I needed to grab some inspiration and yet again, some awesome handmade goodies! On the morning we were due to fly home we took a boat over to the island of Murano, renowned for its glass making. I was in heaven and could quite easily spend a few days let alone a few hours especially as you could walk into factories and watch the makers creating their beautiful masterpieces. Here's some of my haul!

Silver lined glass drops, hollow formed beads and traditional millifiore rounds

Say 'hello' to my little friend!

Plus I had to get a little addition for my Christmas travel tree!
This stunning glass sculpture also makes a great pit stop for the birds!

So one of the reasons I think I was finding motivation difficult was because I was finding my work heading in too many directions and this was the case for both Graceful Deviant and The Blue Starfish. For Graceful Deviant it became simple - create work in collections. I have previously asked my Facebook following how they prefer to shop and the overriding feeling was by type, i.e necklace, earrings etc. So nothing changed on the website in terms of how you could search. But I have increasingly felt that for some it may look too diverse and so rather than change to shopping by collection only, the choice will be available! Having had a think on collection titles this is what will be available so far:

Plus there will be an additional 'Simply Silver' and 'Simply Gemstones' coming soon too as I seem to have underestimated the demand for things like simple hammered silver rings or just one gemstone as a pendant!
For The Blue Starfish jewellery I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly what my direction was after having recently tried my hand at a lot of new techniques which didn't seem to 'fit' my look.
It was only after seeing a lot of talk about autumn and the seasons combined with a comment a customer made to me at a handmade fair that I realised where I stood! The comment (and thinking back I get a few along these lines) was that the colours I use are so bright and complimentary. That's when I understood what my niche was - great colour combos that didn't necessarily follow the seasonal or high street trends! So that is what I will strive to continue!
The next blog post will feature a lot of new work for The Blue Starfish so I hope to see you then :)

Never miss an opportunity....

...to buy handmade!

I'M BACK!!! For those of you who were unaware I'd even left, I've been travelling Canada for the last month! To be more precise it was a road trip around Western Canada starting and finishing in Vancouver and taking in the glorious Rockies. In a nutshell it went something like this:

Highlights from The Rockies Road Trip 2015!

If you'd like to read more about what I got up to on my adventure I have a travel blog here. The last couple of days still need to be written up but consisted mainly of lazing on the beach and shopping for goodies!
One of the many goodies that I wanted to share with you is this stunning silver bangle I picked up in Vancouver.

Hummingbird bangle handmade by Robert (Bob) Cross

My road trip buddy and I first discovered The Silver Gallery in the gas town district of Vancouver on our first visit to the city and fell in love with pretty much everything!!! We left empty handed though as we were so overwhelmed with the choice of native artists styles and meaning behind each creature portrayed on the many bangles, rings and pendants. So, instead, we spent the rest of our trip researching the symbolism, discovering more about the culture during trips to museums and figuring out what type of jewellery we might want. I was instantly drawn to the hummingbird after reading that they help you focus on the positive in life, that despite their size they travel vast distances and that they can hover in one place, fly sideways, backwards and forwards. They teach us to look back to our past, but not to dwell, instead to move forward. 
I also loved reading a legend from the Kwakwaka'wakw says that Dzunuk'wa (the mythic guardian of the mountains and Wild Women of the Woods) loved this little bird so much, she let him nest in her hair, in return the hummingbird looked like a jewel pinned in her hair.
After narrowing it down to a bangle I then kept my eyes peeled each and every time we stumbled upon a jewellery shop but I never quite found the right one as I knew I wanted the engraved pattern to be symmetrical and meet in the middle.

The two hummingbirds meet in the middle with their beaks in a flower

 So after 2 weeks on the road we returned to Vancouver and headed straight for the Silver Gallery but it was closed!! Eventually we called in on our last full day before flying home and I chatted with the store manager about what I was after and she showed me some skinny bangles (as that's what I thought I wanted!) but we both realised they weren't quite right and so she showed me the Robert Cross bangle I ended up buying. It was over double my budget but the step up in craftsmanship and skill was clear to see and I just knew it was the one!!!

Sometimes pieces of jewellery just speak to you and I don't often buy jewellery for myself (you can probably imagine the 'ooo, did you make that yourself?!' comments you get regularly!) but when I do, I love supporting other handmade artists and this was a prime opportunity to snap something up that I probably won't stumble upon again.
Plus, after googling the artists name and seeing photographs of how these work of silver are produced, I was blown away!

Pyrography pendant handmade by Tiny Timber Designs

Another sweet little purchase I made was this wooden pendant burnt with mountain and forest details by Tiny Timber Designs.
It's handmade in British Columbia using reclaimed wood which is sliced to shape and then the design is burnt into the surface. I found this hanging up on the desk in the Kamloops visitor centre - again, just something I knew I'd never find elsewhere and so had to purchase as a little memento of my time in the Rockies!

I did come back with a few stones that are patiently waiting to be set and turned into new pieces. They include Canadian jade, howlite, sodalite and aventurine - quite earthy colours as I'm thinking of a botanical theme for my next collection release.

The Graceful Deviant website is now up and running again with all stock levels updated as is The Blue Starfish website although it looks a bit bare after a successful sale before I went away!! So I will keep you all posted with new items as soon as they are added.

If you have any stories behind jewellery you've bought or been given I'd love to hear them! Feel free to share below!

Until next time......

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.....

...the trials and tribulations of running your own business.

I'm actually going to start this post with the ugly and end with the good as I feel it's always better to end on a positive note!
As most of my existing customers and followers will know, my communications are rarely negative whether they be posts on social media, blogs or emails but I felt this last week has been important to share. I hope it enlightens my fans as to how hard I strive to offer exceptional products and customer service but also to any fellow artists/crafters/self employed business owners to stay strong and true to yourself and your business ethics.
Those who follow my blog may remember a while back that I completed a commissioned larger version of my Mighty Oaks necklace which was going to be presented to a headteacher of an American school as a retirement gift. All went well and the order shipped off with plenty of time to spare as the deadline was the 1st of June.
As I prepared for a weekend away in Wales for the bank holiday, I received an email from this customer on the evening of May the 22nd informing me that the necklace arrived, she liked it very much but the chain was tangled. I emailed back asap to apologise profusely, assure her that it had not left me in such a condition and asked what I could do to rectify the issue given that the deadline was fast approaching. She asked for another necklace to be sent as she desperately needed it for the 1st of June.
Merely wanting to ascertain how the chain became tangled, I asked her if she thought the package had been opened (perhaps at customs) or if the postal box was damaged in anyway. I told her that perhaps if this was the case she could send me a photograph as she could be entitled to some compensation from Royal Mail.
What followed were three rather angry, rude and abrupt emails accusing me of calling her a liar, threatening to report me to Etsy for not wanting to refund or replace her necklace, not standing by my product and that it was far too much to expect her to send photographs but that the package had not been opened or damaged.
I referred her to my shop policies which state that I am happy to refund or replace any item once it has been returned to me and that in this instance all shipping costs on her behalf would be paid for. I also explained (for a second time) that this was going to be physically impossible given the timelines - even if I could re-make the custom order and ship it on the 26th of May (given that it was bank holiday too) the earliest it would arrive would be Thurs 4th June.
She kept insisting that she needed a replacement, that my emails were harsh and that she had never had such an issue before shopping on Etsy. She was also angry that we had been emailing for over a day - it had been 11 hours since I received her first email. I cannot begin to tell you how upsetting this whole exchange was for me as I pride myself on going above and beyond for my customers but it seemed I just couldn't do right for doing wrong here. Eventually she informed that if it arrived by June the 4th that would be acceptable. For me, that meant returning home from my weekend away earlier than anticipated to start work on remaking her necklace so that it was posted on May 26th. Since emailing the customer with her tracking number and letting her know a new necklace was on its way and where to return the damaged necklace, I have heard nothing.
I anticipate she will leave me negative feedback but I can't worry about that any longer! After a week of reflection I finally feel at ease that I have done all in my power to appease this customer and none of my correspondence can be deemed anything other than polite and accurate but the financial and emotional cost is, well, ugly! So there you have it! Shall we move on to the bad?!

Graceful Deviant jewellery display at Bradford-on-Avon

The last couple of weekends, excluding the bank holiday, have seen my jewellery out and about in Lacock, Bradford-on-Avon and Devizes but to say they have been bad is not necessarily fair. In terms of sales and footfall, they have been awful - to the point at which I am considering having to suspend working on my jewellery full time and look for something to bring in extra, steady income. I had been so hopeful that getting back out there to do these events would help supplement online sales but it's actually costing me money. It may be too early to say but it will require some serious thought after I return from my Canada road trip. *sigh*
And how could I forget that on the way to the fair in Bradford-on-Avon this Sunday, someone drove into the back of our car as we were stopped at a roundabout! Both us and the car are in one piece thankfully! Plus, there was also some sad family news to round off the 'bad' but there has been some 'good'.
I had some lovely feedback once again whilst exhibiting including a customer return to a fair a month on from buying my full moon studs just to let me know how comfortable and well made they were :)
I've also had the need for some greeting cards and so some time to unwind and relax with a little water colouring - my favourite!

Before and after - the image is stamped using archival ink and then water colored with Tim Holtz distress inks

This gorgeous Santoro Mirabelle stamp lends itself so well to distress ink water colouring and I recently bought some pretty papers from Trimcraft which worked perfectly:

A personalised birthday card using the Santoro Mirabelle collection of rubber stamps

 In a bid to cheer myself up I also snagged some Magnolia stamps in a sale - her name is Tilda and here is my first attempt at using the fairy version:

A sneak of the water coloured Tilda fairy princess

I can't show you the whole card just yet as it won't arrive with the recipient until later in the week :)
After a day of card making yesterday it's time to dust myself off after a horrid week and get my mini 'Sunken Treasures' collection back on track. To say I've been less than inspired to get back in the studio and creating is an understatement but some 'down time' has certainly helped and I'm raring to get going again.
To those of you that realise, understand and appreciate that this is a one woman show and not Amazon or a Chinese factory - thank you! I will endeavour to hone my smithing skills and offer the best, personalised customer service that I can within the space and time constraints that we all have to operate under in this universe :)
Thank you

Sneak peeks from the studio....

...plus the one-off items up for grabs!

For those of you who follow Graceful Deviant on Facebook, you may have seen the new stones I've been playing with in the studio last week.

Laguna Agate Cabochon

The gorgeous red stone is Laguna Agate and I wasn't sure if it should become a necklace or a ring so I asked my fans on Facebook. One lucky follower let me know that if I could make a ring in her size then consider it sold! So I did! It's that simple folks - if you see anything in the first stages of a design please feel free to shout out your preferences and customise your own piece of jewellery!
So the finished ring is now on its way to the new owner:

I love the fact that this stone is cut and polished by hand from rough slab here in the U.K. I've met the Yorkshire lad several times before at gem shows and he carefully chooses rare, unusual stones that are untreated and ethically sourced. Laguna agate is a particularly rare form as it can only be found in an area 4 square kilometres in size on the side of mountain in Chihuahua, Mexico. How cool is that?!
I also finished setting this fossilised wood cabochon in silver too:

Fossilised wood set into sterling silver

I cut the tree detail out of the back plate using a tiny saw before soldering the bezel wall in place - not just for decoration but also as the wood cabochon has a tiny see-through inclusion right in the middle which I still wanted people to be able to admire!
Following on from the tree theme I also completed a commission to send off to America for a teachers retirement gift - a larger version of my Mighty Oaks necklace:

A couple of other custom orders that came in:

These next couple of weeks will see me working with some more stones so they will be complete one-offs. If you'd like to see what I'm working on next and have your say in what pieces should become hop on over to Facebook and join in the fun! There will also be lots of small run, limited edition items coming up too as I get to work with some gemstones and charms that I've been hoarding :)
My next event will be with The Blue Starfish jewellery on Saturday 30th May at Devizes followed by Graceful Deviant on Sunday 31st May in Bradford on Avon.
Hope to see some locals there! Bye for now!