Slow sewing- Creating a quilted vest

I think it’s no secret that I love to sew! Although these days I often don’t get as much time to do any “fun” sewing (All sewing is fun, of course, some is just more fun than others!) as I might like. I FINALLY finished something recently, that I STARTED in the summer of 2021. Frankly, it’s not the longest standing project I’ve worked on, but it definitely took longer than I wanted!

I had the pleasure of taking a workshop (virtually of course!) with the lovely Sandra Johnson, who lead a day of making a quilted jacket. Well, I made it a vest, I didn’t like it. And I didn’t manage to do my homework, so I didn’t spend the day sewing a garment so much as trying to make my fabric!

I improv pieced the base for the back and two side fronts, and then appliqued a bunch of my signature cell shapes on the back!

Eventually I managed to get the base all put together, and then it was time to quilt! I can never manage to keep it simple, so I did a combination of machine matchstick quilting and then the back got some free motion quilting and big stitch hand quilting.

So, sometime last summer, I managed to cut pattern pieces, fit them to myself and get them sewn together. I embroidered a two inch shawl collar, added some cap sleeves, and voila! A finished vest.

I loved making my own fabric, although it was time consuming, and it was great to make a really one-of-a-kind garment (I hate it when I see my clothes on other poeple!). It really re-invigorated me, and I was so inspired to see what others on the workshop made, as well.

What do you do when you want to be inspired? Drop me a line and share one with me!

Make a statement-- How I helped to bring vision to reality in earring form

I love doing custom pieces. It can be so rewarding bringing something new to life in collaboration with a client. I recently finished a spectacular pair of earrings. Some pieces are quick, and some are not so quick. These were the latter. This story starts about six months ago….. A lovely lady wandered into the studio with a fist full of stones removed from jewellery and a bunch of other jewellery that still needed to have the stones taken out of, and some quick sketches on a piece of paper. She had a clarity of vision that was spectacular! I did some sketches, and then we had a meeting. One of the first things she said to me was “I have big hair, I need big earrings”. Well, she got her wish!

The brief was for broken and run down wheels, incorporating as many stones as possible. These guys are massive- about 3.5 inches long! With some pretty big stones. The challenge was to incorporate lots of stones, but still keep them wearable. In the end, I suggested extending the wheels a bit, to incorporate a cluster of stones on a post, this allowed me to make them so that the stick and wheel units could be taken off the clusters, making the earrings more versatile. So, the client can wear the clusters as much as desired (because they’re a reasonable weight), and put on the dangling wheel on special occasions when she really wants that wow! factor.

Next, I prepped the waxes, and cast them (you can see them here with the stones placed. Each setting was done, and then I played a bit with the wax weight to try and keep the overall weight down. I didn’t worry so much about the finishing at this point, as I knew that I was going to have to modify them alot in the metal.

The stick units, ready for setting with their stones! I added posts and omega clips, as well as jump rings to the different units, and ate away at the metal to give it a distressed or aged look. Then it was time to have the stones set! Once that was done, I did some more work on eating away at the metal, and the oxidised them to give them an aged look. And voila! Finished earrings.

Mission Accomplished! These were so much fun to make, and the client was delighted with them. Diamonds and garnets and sapphires and topaz, oh my!

Do you have jewellery lurking in your box that you used to love, but don’t anymore? I can help you love it again! Drop me a line, let’s have a conversation.

Burns Supper!

Burns Night is January 25th, to mark the birthday of Rabbie Burns (famous Scottish poet, of Auld Lang Syne fame, don’t you know!). Celebrating it has become a bit sporadic since I moved back from Scotland. But here’s a picture of my friends and I at the Ceilidh to celebrate the St. Andrew’s Society Charity Gala to put you in the mood for the day!

Featuring the Hamilton hunting tartan, and the MacPherson Ancient Red tartans.

Must go and find some good haggis to eat now…..

Viva Las Vegas

So, happy new year! I don’t mind admitting that I bid 2022 goodbye fairly easily. It wasn’t the easiest of years for me, personally. I did sneak away in November for a brief trip, though, to Las Vegas.

We saw Cirque de Soleil’s Oh, which was amazing (It was also the first time I’ve seen Cirque de Soleil!). There were a couple of times I almost thought they were going to miss the water! They didn’t, of course.

I strayed away from the Strip to investigate the Art District, which is mainly grafitti, and a lot of cool building murals. Again, not quite what I was expecting, but it was an experience.

I admit, it’s not really my cup of tea, but I’d never been before, and it’s good to see things once. It’s a sensory overload, sights, sounds…..it was interesting, though!

The Botanical Garden display at the Bellagio was pretty cool, although not quite what I expected!

And cake…..from a vending machine! Loved it!

Anyway, I saw lots of other things too, but I think this is enough for now! I don’t think I feel a burning desire to go back, but it was good to go once, and I really valued the time away from Toronto and reality for a few days!!

What have you done recently that filled that need to get away from it all? Drop me a line, and tell me about it!

Is it time for a break yet?

So, it’s not quite time to shut down yet, but I admit that I’ve run out of steam for the year. I guess, not surprisingly after the year I’ve had, which has included, death in the family, personal health issues, dental issues, cat health issues, parental moving issues, work issues, and the final straw, losing water (and consequently heating) due to a severely leaking pipe, and various issues associated with trying to get it fixed.

Poorly Kitty in question—Twiglet, aka Piglet, Wiglet, and the brown unmentionable

It’s not all bleak, thankfully, Twig is doing alright now, even though she has some ongoing issues, the parental is safely in the new place, I’ve got new plans for work, and we (yay!) have water and heating again.

BUT, I think it’s safe to say that I would like to turn the page on this year, and I am hopeful that next year will be better. I saw something recently about how the holiday season can be very difficult for people (which I can totally understand), and that you should hope that the holidays are gentle. So my wish for you, if you can’t have a happy holiday, is that you definitely have a gentle one.

Twiglet, Pan (my other cat), and I wish you all the best.

Signing off until the new year, when hopefully I will be upping my blog game!!

-Robin

St. Andrew's Society, and discount

Starting a business is always challenging, particularly when you return from away and are trying to get things up and running from a stand still. Four years ago, I returned to Toronto from the UK with the intention of establishing my artist practice in jewellery, and kiltmaking. I had a plan (because I can only split my attention so many ways at once!): I’d concentrate on getting one side set up, and then work on the other. Serendipity ended up dictating that jewellery got the lionshare of my attention first!

Fast forward to 2020, and the new year, which included plans to start trying to develop the kiltmaking aspect of my business more. Well, we all know what happened then…..and, like alot of people, I fell into abit of a covid black hole. Fast forward again, and here we are moving toward the end of 2022. Amongst the activities I’ve done this year, is to joing the St. Andrew’s Society of Toronto. Apart from conncecting with people of Scottish descent, they have a charitable aspect that I admire, and hope to become more involved with in the future.

In the meantime, I’m happy to announce that I am partnering with the St. Andrew’s Society of Toronto to offer it’s members a 10% discount off my products and services. Keep your ears up for exciting news about this in the next few weeks!

And….if you love all things Scottish, I recommend visiting the society’s website, as they have a pretty exciting calendar of social events! Hope to see you at some of them:).

-Robin

I got a grant!

As you may know, I used to be a research scientist. Part of my old career was writing grants for money to do research. Since I like to use all my skills (and it’s always nice to get the money and recognition that writing a successful grant brings!), I’ve turned my hand to start writing applications for grants, for exhibitions….for anything I think will bring me more exposure, and that I feel I will benefit from, really.

And…I’m pleased to say that I’ve received my first arts grant from the Ontario Arts Council! It’s a grant that supports (retrospectively) my participation in the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair (which I participated in person for the first time this year!).

So, what does this mean for me? Well, first of all, I’m grateful to receive support from the OAC. For an emerging artist (which I am), it’s a big deal to me. It’s some money to help me defray the cost of exhibiting (these shows can be pretty pricey, and when you’re new, you don’t necessarily sell much until people get to “know” you), which is great. And, hopefully, it will lead to other things! But we’ll see.

It also means that if you peruse the website, you should notice that I’ve added a new logo to the footer of the pages, indicating that I’ve received support from the OAC. This is important, to help publicise that the OAC is an active supporter of artists, and bring attention to it’s work from the general public. If you don’t know what they’re about, I encourage you to visit their website and explore this a bit!

In the meantime, I’m back to the salt mines!

I saw, I did, now it's over, and on to the next thing!

I’ve been a bit quiet. First, I was in a bit of a whirlwind in getting ready to participate for the first time in person at the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair. Then I was recovering from the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair. Now I’m just stuck into getting back in the swing of things at the studio, working on various custom orders (more about this in the future!!), and getting ready for my next show.

Which is next weekend, as it happens! I will be a Guest Artist at the Beach Studio Tour.

There are 10 studios that will be open to the public for two days, with 13 artists. I’m pairing with the lovely Carolina Reis. I feel like we make a good pair, since I like to include elements of textile in my jewellery!

You can find the tour map here. If you’re around Toronto, come visit the East End and check out the awesome art!

Hope to see you there!

I love wedding kilts!

My most recent kilt make was for a groom heading off to Scotland for their wedding (I miss Scotland!!). I made them a heavyweight kilt in Ancient Cameron from Locharron. It’s the first kilt I’ve made with the bespoke straps hand-dyed by my colleague Aurora (Handmade Revolution), a lovely medium brown, with an elegant embossed line around the edge.

Front view of the finished kilt

detail view of all the nice customisation, including the hand-dyed straps and the Century Prints lining by Guicy Guice.

Each kilt is painstakingly constructed by hand to specific measurements— in that sense, it’s the original bespoke tailored item!

The happy couple were awesome and shared this photo with me—it looks great in action!

I’m really chuffed that they sent me a photo of the kilt in action! I really love it when people share their photos of their garment or jewellery in the wild. I still get a thrill when I see someone wearing and enjoying my work!

I'll be at the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair-2022

I’m so excited to be able to say that I am going to be participating in my first in-person show in more than two years! In fact, it’s only the second show I’ve done in person ever—eek! And….it’s…drumroll, please!… The Toronto Outdoor Art Fair!

Unimaginably excited!!

It’s 3 days of lots of standing, smiling and talking—I’m so looking forward to interacting with people about my art and jewellery, although I suspect it will be exhausting! I’ll have some new work for sale, including the earrings below and necklaces.

I call these my “Misfits of Science” studs—they’re made from the cutouts of my “macrophage” units, repurposed to make studs. They’ll be available by the one, or in pairs, but they’re all individual, so don’t expect them to match (hence the name!).

It’s pretty exciting to be able to do an in person show, and since it’s open air, it about fits with my comfort level in the ongoing covid era. I hope that you’ll visit me (and the show generally!) if you’re around. If you’re not, you can browse the online show, which I’ll also be taking part in. I will also try to post a bit more active social media stuff while the show is going on, so if you’re interested, make sure to follow me on instagram!

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for July to visit, and hope to see you there!