Magic, mysticism and Milton

Like Australia, I've been quite willing to accept the existence of silver clay without having seen it myself, but there has always been a nugget of doubt in my mind.  So yesterday I was very happy to be initiated into the dark art of turning something the colour and texture of a well-chewed wrigleys into real silver gorgeousness. This instruction came courtesy of Emma Mitchell who generously shared her knowledge, tools and goody stash with a big dollop of humour, oh and 7g of the magic stuff. 7g doesn't sound much but it goes a long way - it made all the pieces in this post (bar chain and jump rings). 

The pendant above was made from a mould taken of a large vintage button. It was quite shockingly shiny when I first cleaned it up so I was relieved when Emma had me drop it in a cup of dilute Milton for a minute or two. This took the silver back to a slightly tarnished satin finish - much more my style. So all my other pieces had the same treatment. 

Sea Urchin earrings - impressed from real urchin test fragments

teeny scraps of (not quite enough!) left over clay impressed with a with vintage button and destined to be made into stud earrings



Find out more about Emma's workshops here

PINK - yikes this so isn't me!

But it is starting to grow on me. Must sit down and have a cup of tea to ponder on that one and resist the urge to get the black ink out again for at least another couple of weeks.

Sea Urchin Lino Print ( in Green)

Now looking at the considerable number of birds that feature in my work it might appear that I am a bit of a twitcher but actually the sea and its contents are my greatest inspirations. I am no Jacques Cousteau but I find it very satisfying to dive down deeper than I am tall to reach some small glimmering mystery from the bottom of the sea. At depth green sea urchin skeletons look like great globes of verdigris-encrusted copper impaled on the dark purple spines of their children and their children’s children. The water is a deceptive lens though and they are always smaller in air than they appear in water.

This is my latest print, a 3-colour lino print in shades of green printed with oil-based but water-washable inks onto 280g Hahnemuehle Etching Paper. It will shortly be available to purchase through my Folksy Shop. Is now available click here!

No ink yet but....

I rather like this. For my sea urchin print I am planning to make the most of the malleability of the Hahnemuhle paper to emphasis the little nodules. I just wanted to check that the relief created from each of the three individual lino plates wouldn’t clash to much. This test blind print is the result and I’m really pleased with the crispness of the relief. It could look great mounted with some directional lighting on it. 

Latest lino cut ready to print!

My sea urchin test lino cut is ready to print. I’ve laboriously cut hundreds of small holes in my lino plates to represent the little nodules where the long purple spines were attached to the living urchin. I was itching to get at it this evening but we have viewers coming to see the house tomorrow so I am banned from making a mess. This will be a three-colour print and I am planning two versions, one in shades of green and the other in shades of purple, all in oil-based inks. The print on the right is my draft version printed in water-based ink.