Tales from the Shed - Part 1

Hi all

Now firstly bare with me, Im not a literacy genius so please don't pull me up too much on my spelling and grammar - Im a jeweller, not a novelist :O)

I'll start by saying the cliche' thing of that this is my first blog entry - ever! Im going to be telling you all about my little shed and what goes on in there in terms of designing, creating, triumphs and some fails in the relms of jewellery. 

No my wee shed is amazing thanks to my extremely talented dad aka Jimbob. He bought me it as a Xmas pressie and pimped it out for me - what a star! Its my 'dirty' room as I call it, soley for the reason that its where all the messy smelling casting goes on, im lucky enough to have another workshop aka 'The Aladdin's Cave' ,where all mine and dads machinery lives.

Now the semi boring bit - 

Rachel obtained a degree in Design: Craft from Staffordshire University in 2005. Her innovative resin and aluminum jewellery has been featured in a range of online and print publications including Crafts Magazine in 2005 and 2008.

 

Gathering inspiration from all things colourful and simplistic, the process in which Rachel uses to make her work involves machining aluminium bar and tube on a lathe, creating engineered items of adornment. A skill she kindly thanks her Father, an Engineer, for teaching her.  From there she hand casts resin within the aluminium and once cured polishes to a high gloss finish.

 

Rachel’s work had featured in various exhibitions and galleries nationwide with her work now being stocked in galleries in Surrey, Penzance and also within Manchester Museum. She has worked with established Jewellery Designer Makers in Birmingham and also spent time with London based Fashion Jewellery Company Tatty Devine.

 

More recently Rachel has become a Creative Ambassador for Creative Futures Cumbria and is running After School Jewellery Clubs and workshops within her local community, teaching children and young people about the Creative Process and providing them with the opportunity to learn new skills and techniques.

 

Working from her little shed in Workington, Cumbria Rachel is currently designing a new range of contemporary jewellery inspired by simplistic landscapes. The beginnings of her new ‘Home’ range can be seen on her website www.rachelgawjewellery.com.

 

Thats all about my contemporary work for those who are into that kind of thing.

The direction in which Im going in at the moment was a complete gamble and started in the summer of 2010 - freelance work was coming my way so I decided to pack in the day job and concentrate on my passion - I can safely say for now ive never looked back! 

Rachels Wonders was born before Xmas - for those of you who are already on the facebook site - thank you for all your kind words and those who are not, well get your asses into gear and join me! http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001917162391.

I'll leave it there for now as my wonderful other half is cooking up a storm in the Kitchen and im smelling Curry! Today has comprised of meetings with advertising execs, after school jewellery club, casting some cool new pieces and finishing off some old ones... more of that to come :O) xxx