Do You Love What You Do?

I've been musing about the meaning of life lately. I am lucky enough to be able to spend my working life making jewellery and mingling with other like-minded people but I will confess that there are times when I haven't felt happy about that. "What do you mean?" I hear you cry "Surely you of all people should be bouncing around with joy all day, every day". Well that's because life does become monotonous and no matter what it is that you're doing, it can become a grind...if you allow it to.

You see the word 'Allow' is the key here. We all have a choice about how we feel about things. I was reminded of this fact in the most expressive way possible yesterday. I've decided to embark on a bit of a spiritual journey and do some meditation. The person who is teaching me is a chap called Mark Abadi. He's a very interesting soul and I highly recommend you visiting his website and finding our more about. his work. Mark tells me (in his very animated way) that I can't help being who I am, doing what I do and that we are all living the life we are supposed to live. The key ingredient is to be present in our own lives and that we have a choice about the way we feel about our day to day experiences. 

So what has this got to do with silver clay or jewellery making? Well that's a very good question because it has a heck of a lot to do with it. Think about why you took up jewellery making in the first place. What was your motivation to do it? What did you love about it? When I take myself back to the first time I opened a packet of silver clay, I was absolutely bowled over by this amazing product and so proud of myself for making a piece of precious metal jewellery. I'm in the priviledged position to be making a careeer out of this now and there are days when my child-like wonder disappears and is replaced by complaints, stress and monotony. The choice I have is to see the project I'm doing as a challenge, to see the difficulties of trying to make something new as a great learning opportunity and to remind myself that I can make this enjoyable rather than mundane. Put on some music, make a big frothy coffee and just generally choose to enjoy myself more in these moments of jewellery making and deadline meeting.

Try and reconnect with the you who took up this craft and all feelings you experienced the first time you made something. Every time that you feel fed up about the jewellery projects you're working on, when you feel like you've lost that magical mojo or that jewellery making simply doesn't hold the allure it once did then something needs to change right away...starting with those thoughts and feelings. Oh, and maybe you just need to turn that music up and start enjoying!

Fantastic Fjords Cruise Diary - Part 2

Day 4 - Heaven is a Place on Earth
I'm told that I was very lucky to be given a cabin on deck 5. My cabin also has a window rather than a port hole because this deck is well above sea level. One of the best things about this fact is I get up in the morning of day 4 to discover that the ship is standing in the most amazing fjord in a place called Olden. The view is quite simply jaw dropping! If you think of the beauty of the Lake District and then times it by 500, you'll  imagine how lovely this place is. I have my breakfast looking out across the lake surrounded by forests and mountains. The water is a mirror for the sky and the clouds hang low over the mountains, it looks like something out of a fairy tale.

You can get straight to most of the places we sail into and how I wished I'd known how beautiful Olden was going to be. So many of the crew have arranged to hire bicycles or treck off with their backpacks and walking boots, I am woefully unprepared so take a leisurely tour of the lake and glacier on the little train that stops outside the ship. The tour lasts an hour and within minutes it feels as if we are in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by white water rapids. I can assure you that there is nothing more relaxing than looking at this landscape and taking in all that glacial air, so I decide to skip the train and walk back through the village alongside the lake - complete bliss! All these lakes, mountains and pure air must be doing me the world of good I'm sleeping like a baby every night. Or could it have something to do with the fact that I'm dancing every night until the wee small hours? Not having to get a cab home or worry about a babysitter is very nice indeed!

Day 5 - Alesund & Afternoon Tea
Our next stop is the pretty town of Alesund with it's canal-like waterways. It reminds me of some places I've been to in Cornwall and Wales. It's a bit of a grim day weather-wise so after a long stroll and another train ride around the town, I head back to the ship. 

The beauty of going on a cruise is that all your food is taken care of. There is an Orangery on the top deck that serves food all day and night and I cannot believe it has taken me five days to discover their afternoon tea! It's self service so you can help yourself to sandwiches, every cake under sun, freshly baked scones with cream and the most gorgeous cheese scones you ever tasted. Afternoon tea soon becomes a guilty pleasure for myself and Dance Teachers Suzanne and Michael. We meet up each afternoon to indulge and are joined by Billy Bubbles the Children's Entertainer, who treats us to non-stop jokes and banter. He and Michael have to be the most hilarious two people I've ever had the pleasure to meet. No scone eating can go without the great debate of whether you put the jam or on cream first. I'm afraid for me it's jam first every time!

 Day 6 - Bergen & the Black & White Ball
Today marks the last stop of our trip to the Fjords, a wonderful town called Bergen. I head off out early with Michael and Suzanne to catch the fenicular train up the mountainside. We see some beautiful views and have a wander through the amazing fish market. Michael and I sample the best smoked salmon in the world, but it happens to be the most expensive smoked salmon in the world too.Then it's time to for a little R&R before the Black and White Ball that evening. 

 I didn't read the intinerary properly before I left so I'm wearing a green dress. Oh well it's nice to be different! After dinner we go along to hear a talk by Olympic Pentathlon Champion Dame Mary Peters. What a wonderful lady she is, so elegant, gracious and humble. She is interviewed in 'Michael Parkinson' style by the Entertainment Director and comes across warmly and is very humourous with her answers. After the interview we get to meet Dame Mary and she asks me what I do. When I tell her I'm teaching jewellery making she squeals with delight and tells me she and her neice, whom she is travelling with, are coming to my workshop the next morning. That makes my night, along with the fact that she has brought her gold medal with her and gives it to me to try on as we can have our picture taken together. Michael gets to have the first dance of the ball with Dame Mary. I'm charged with trying to take pictures with Michael's camera but as he keeps twirling her round wildly every time they go by, I'm feeling very nervous about any of them turning out okay. Needless to say me and Michael are both as giddy as kippers for the rest of the evening about our brush with fame.

Day 7 - Olympic Rings
It's the last day of the cruise and my final day of classes. I'm extra-excited about today as sure enough Dame Mary Peters arrives for my first session. We are making wire-wrapped next rings with shell pearls and she tells me she's never made jewellery before so is really looking forward to this. We all have a great time as Mary and her neice Vanessa join in wholeheartedly. They are great company and full of fun but also very proud of their creations. Making jewellery seems to have that effect, creating something beautiful and knowing you've made it yourself  makes it that bit more special. Here they are showing off the rings they've made.

I'm exhausted but very happy after my last day of teaching. It's time to start packing as the ship goes full steam ahead to Southampton, but not without a last night of dancing with Suzanne and Michael. We all pile onto the dance floor as 'Reach for the Stars' by S Club 7 plays. It seems an apt song and I feel carefree and so happy that my trip has been such a wonderful experience. 

The live band hits the stage and Suzanne and Michael lead the ballroom dancing until midnight. I love to watch the older couples dance. They all have perfect footwork and I'm told many of these couples come on cruises just so they get the opportunity to dance. It looks so romantic and I'm not ashamed to say it brings a tear to my eye to see these couples looking so happy together. It's the perfect end to a wonderful night and a fantastic trip.

As Dorothy Says...There's No Place Like Home
The next morning it's time to say my goodbyes and to click my ruby slippers and head home. It's been the first time I have taught abroad, the first time I have been on a cruise ship. It's also the first time in years that I have travelled alone and been on my own without someone to hold my hand, I certainly don't do things by halves!

So what has this little adventure taught me? Well it's made me realise that we will never experience fantastic adventures unless we take risks and face our fears. Equally if we really do go for it, then great rewards lie ahead for us. That people are essentially kind and we can all connect so easily when we take the time to get to know one another and put gadgets, TVs and mobile phones aside. We only truly get the best out of life if we give our very best. 

Oh yes and I've learnt that it is okay to be on my own and that I have a pretty good friend in me!

Fantastic Fjords Cruise Diary - Part 1

Hello again everyone!

I have been back a little while from my crafty cruise but I wanted to tell you how it went. I can sum it up in three words:
It was fabulous!

I've written a short diary of my experience so I can share this with you. It was a wonderful new way to teach a whole new host of people and one that I hope to do again very soon.

Day 1 - Setting Sail
I arrive at 9am at Southampton Docks, my car boot filled to the brim with jewellery making materials, clothes for every eventuality and nervous knots in my stomach! The ship I'll be sailing on (the Aurora) is sitting there majestically and it looks absolutely enormous. I want to turn back and drive home but no pain no glory right? So on I go. After several rounds of form filling and security checks, I face the very steep gangway to the ship. As I'm considered to be a member of staff there are no porters to help, I have to get all my gear onto the ship myself. It is only the kindness and brute force of a lovely Officer who came to my rescue that I manage to drag my trolly on board. I honestly want to burst into tears, why did I sign up to this? It feels so stressful.

Pull yourself together Natalia...now go and find your cabin! This is a feat in itself as my sense of direction is terrible. I do eventually (after several wrong turns) manage to find my cabin and my way around the ship with great aplomb over the coming days. In fact this is the thing I most proud about. 

It's at the lifeboat and safety meeting that I finally begin to relax. I'm introduced to my fellow Guest Entertainers. There's Andre the comedy Magician, Billy Bubbles the Children's Entertainer (and another magician), Julian the public speaker, Richard the Concert Pianist and Suzanne and Michael the Dance Teachers. I'm feeling much less terrified now and it's very interesting to meet such a diverse range of people. Suzanne, Michael and Billy (aka Stephen) will become my best friends over the course of the next 7 days, as we swap stories, chat, laugh and generally have incredibly good fun together.

Day 2 - Let the Classes Commence

It's the first day of my jewellery making classes and I'm up early and off in search of my floating classroom. The room I've been allocated is called Vanderbilts, it's normally used for bridge and card games and it's the perfect venue. It's very cool, bright and has a wonderful, calm ambience - perfect for jewellery making. My first students appear early, all very keen to get started and soon I have 16 very chatty and happy ladies all merrily making nappa leather bracelets. After this class, I just have time to tidy the room and my next group of students arrive. Running these two classes back to back is tiring but very rewarding, as everyone is so proud and happy with what they've made. This is much better than I'd imagined. People are so much more at ease on these workshops than they are back home. Everyone wants to get to know one another and is happy just to chat and do something creative. It's always amazing to see how creativity brings people together.

I have the rest of the afternoon to myself and head off to the salon for a quick hair appointment and to get ready for the welcome ball. It's amazing to see everyone dressed up to the nines. I feel like a princess in my new evening gown. Everyone dances the night away as Dance Teachers Suzannne and Michael lead the live band with lots of fabulous ballroom and sequence dancing. There's something so wonderful about dancing, even though I have two left feet, I feel free and all my cares melt away. I promise myself that this is something I must do more of when I get back home, it certainly releases your inner happiness.

Day 3 - We're in Norway
I have the next 3 days off to do as I please so when I wake up and open the curtains, I'm excited  to discover that we have arrived in Norway at a town called Stavanger. It's so beautiful, with little winding streets and pretty flowers everywhere. After a lovely walk around, I'm back on the ship and enjoying some peaceful time in the library. This room is wonderfully calming. It has large windows where I just sit, sip on a coffee, reflect and watch the scenery. 

I'm loving this trip so much, it has opened up a whole new world to me and also given me much needed thinking space. Life back at home jam packed with activity and is often so full that I don't give myself the opportunity to be alone with my thoughts. At first all I want is to find a distraction, something to do to fill the void, but in being still and embracing this thinking time I feel more in touch with myself than I ever have done. I feel truly blessed to be part of this experience.

All at Sea!

Today marks the day when I embark upon a whole new adventure in jewellery making; teaching jewellery making at sea.

Whilst I was running a silver clay workshop in January this year, a lady who was at the workshop asked me if I'd ever considered teaching on cruise liners. I told her that I would not have the first idea how I would do this, to which she replied that she was scouting for craft instructors and if I was interested she would arrange me an interview. Within two weeks I was confirmed as a Craft Instructor with P&O and sent the contract for my first cruise to the Norwegian Fjords.

I'm very excited about this trip and new way of teaching but I'm extremely nervous. Ask me to go on TV to demonstrate jewellery making and I feel no fear, yet the thought of going off on this cruise alone scares me very much. The saying goes "feel the fear and do it anyway" so I'm going to embrace this thought and face my fear full on. I won't be taking my kiln or my silver clay as my classes are just 45 minutes long. This alone has been a challenge, deciding what to teach but I've found some wonderful jewellery making materials and I will be showing the passengers how to make nappa leather bracelets, wire wrapped nest rings and shrink plastic flower bracelets.

I'll be blogging about my experiences at sea so look out for my diary blog posts. I hope to tell you that the next seven days have been a wonderful experience, so let's see what this next little adventure has to offer!

Best wishes,

Natalia

Falling in love with Copper & Bronze

Hello everyone!

Well, this morning I thought I'd post some thoughts about copper and bronze clay seeing as I've been working with them so much lately. 

I'll admit that it took me a while to become interested in these metal clays, simply because I really love silver and I didn't like the idea of firing clay for hours on end or having to mess around with a carbon box. Copper and bronze clays react with the oxygen in the air so as soon as they become hot and then cool down the metal develops what can only be described as a 'crusty' oxidised layer. This looks like a black coating on the fired metal and it needs to be removed by placing the fired piece in a pickle solution. I've never had much success with this in the past so I threw in the towel and stuck to working with silver clay.

That is until a new product came on the market called Prometheus copper and bronze clay. These clays are also marketed under the name of Creative copper and bronze clay. Prometheus clays are very straigthforward to work with, they can be fired in a kiln for 30 minutes or with a gas torch for between 8 and 10 minutes. You may think 10 minutes is a long time to hold a gas torch but it's well worth the effort and time spent to make your own fabulous metal clay jewellery. It's also a lot harder to melt these clays with a torch, the trick is keeping them hot enough so that they are fully fired. I've found that firing with a gas torch reduces the amount of oxidisation that appears on the piece as long as you plunge it straight into cold water as soon as it has been fired.

Prometheus/Creative Clay has also introduced its own pickle solution called 'Picklean'. This is a safety pickle that is made from food acids so is 100% safe to use, does not burn your skin and can be disposed of by flushing it down the toilet. Pickle achieves the best results when it is warm. Simply add 1 tablespoon of picklean granules to 200ml of hot water and place the piece into the solution. I find that certain items need longer to pickle than others. I also find that keeping the solution warm and keeping a lid over it speeds up the process of removing the oxidisation. The pickle will always remove the oxidised layer, it can sometimes take an hour or more to do this.

Above is an example of a pair of earrings I made using copper clay. The metal has a beautiful, warm pink colour. I really like to polish the copper as it seems to look so much nicer when it's shiny. The beauty of copper and bronze clay is that it is so much cheaper than silver. In the early days, I found myself making huge pieces of jewelley, just because I could! Now, however, I have tempered this and do prefer to make  small charms and more delicate pieces as they just look so effective.

I'm launching copper and bronze clay on Jewellery Maker TV on Thursday 17th May at 9am. I hope you join me and discover the wonderful world of copper and bronze clay!

Fantastic Shrink Plastic Book

It's been a very exciting day for me as I see another book launched into the world! My new jewellery making book 'Fantastic Shrink Plastic Jewellery & Crafts' has gone on sale today at Beads Direct. 

I designed a special series of kits to accompany the book and these are all exclusively available from Beads Direct. The first 50 shrink plastic starter kits will also include a free, signed copy of  my book so don't delay and order your kit straight away!

I can't wait to see what everyone makes with their shrink plastic, so please send me photos. There will be some free videos to inspire you. Keep checking the Beads Direct website for further updates by clicking here.

Silver Clay Workshop in Hertfordshire

Hello everyone,

I've had lots of enquries about my workshops from those of you who live in the South of England. I ran a silver clay workshop in Dorset towards the end of last year and wanted to make sure that I catered for the other half of the south too. I've teamed up with Artshed Arts to run a silver clay workshop on Saturday 14th July. Artshed Arts is a fabulous creative skills centre in Ware, Hertfordshire. It is one of the finest places I have seen for all things crafty. So if you are interested in learning how to make fabulous jewellery with silver clay, or indeed if you would like to learn other crafts, then Artshed is the perfect venue.

The workshop is £105 and includes lunch, 20gms of Art Clay Silver, use of all tools and materials and a copy of my DVD 'Silver Clay Made Simple'.   To book a place on my workshop please e-mail me at info@silverclaycreations.co.uk or call me on 07775 932782.

To find out more about Artshed Arts and to learn about their other wonderful facilities and workshops click here.