Hammer & Hand is a metal & jewellery collective based in Hobart, Tasmania and Bangalow, New South Wales.

Yeah ! Great fun night .. Big thanks to Rachel and Luke for the good times music and to Chayne ‘The Space Cowboy’ for the impromptu celebratory sword swallowing in honour of Lucille’s 60th birthday !  The Gallery/Studio looked great ! another Glittering occasion ! Thanks Jen for the ever wonderful hot GluWine and congrats everyone for a good show.

Our exhibition nights just get bigger and better every time!  Always an awesome atmosphere thanks to the fabulous people that attend, the braziers, the live music, the stunning work created by our fantastic team, the food and wine and this time an impromptu sword swallowing show!

I often use rivets in my work (in the landscape pendants for example), so I found I went straight into the ideas phase for the exhibitin with the word ‘riveted’ as a technique rather than a state of mind, but I tried to ensure I created a different style of piece than I had done before, which is where the layered bird/bush and branch/frond pieces came in.

Here’s a few pics of the work I created for the event (as always if you click on the picture, once and then again, you’ll get a bigger view):

how pretty some tins are?  And how not so many things come in tins now?  Or how fabulously ornate some of the old tins were?  How some of them are almost too pretty to sit in the back of a cupboard?

Well I have….and I also love rummaging through ‘stuff’ at garage sales and in op shops, and you’d be amazed at the things some people just don’t really look at – because if they did, they surely wouldn’t part with it!

I always have a list a mile long of things I want to try, explore, experiment with; and using the lovely mini-master pieces that are on old tins and turning them into wearable, mobile  mini-master pieces has been on that list for ages – I have finally made a start on them, and as my bench starts to become covered with glorious, rusty, colourful tins of all shapes, ages and sizes, here is an example of a few of the pieces I have up-cycled:  (all have been sprayed with a clear, matt varnish to prevent further rusting)

(If you click on the image, and then click it again, it opens in as a good size for viewing)

http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2011/02/18/3142329.htm

Click on link to Listen and View…

Sometimes I get really pleased with the way

things turn out

and sometimes I am Glad that I am naturaly Twisted

What a thrill it is to be asked to make a specific piece for someone!  And how scary!!!  I cant think of a higher compliment to be paid than to have someone entrust me to bring their jewellery dreams into reality….but, god, its soooo nerve wracking – the pressure I put on myself to make it perfectly and to ensure that what they see in their minds eye is what they get (or to make something just as fabulous if a piece just isnt possible as originally planned).

Commissioned pieces always take a long time – the planning, the drafts, the re-planning, the re-drafting, the learning of new skills (which I love), the improving of techniques already learned and perhaps the creating of something I would never have thought to do on my own – its always a huge learning curve, and such a buzz!

Below I have grouped together some of the pieces I have been commissioned to make.