Free Tickets to Open Studios!

It's Cockpit Open Studios time (next weekend to be precise)! I'll be selling my wares in both Holborn and Deptford sites this year, and as always it looks set to be a great event. No need to schlep along the High Street in search of Christmas presents - come and see behind the scenes at Cockpit and buy beautiful accessories, jewellery, homewares and more direct from the makers.

Come along and have a glass of mulled wine with us - I'll be in Studio E2R in Holborn, and 206 at Deptford.

If you need any further persuasion, I have
6 free tickets to give away (usually £5 joint ticket or £3 Deptford only). Just email me with your name and address to be entered into the draw!

Holborn: 25-27 November

Deptford: 2-4 December

'Electric'

'Electric' opens at the RBSA (Royal Birmingham Society of Artists) today.  I was happy to see they've used my Green Amethyst Encrusted Bracelet in the publicity. 

In the RBSA's words, 'On show are a selection of the nation’s most celebrated designer makers who are exhibiting their latest collections of contemporary silver and gold jewellery, alongside ceramics and silverware.'  Pictured above are Kathryn Hinton's fabulous faceted silver bowls and Nobuko Okumura's intriguing jewellery.

'Electric' runs from 7 November 2011- 13 January 2012.

A little peek at my stand at Origin....it was nearly a month ago but life has been a bit of a blur since then - making making making for the lovely new stockists I met there!

You may notice as well that it doesn't say Glint on my sign.  I've decided to start working under my own name, reflecting that I'm not a big company, I make everything myself.  Many of my galleries refer to me as Kate Wood anyway, so this makes life a bit simpler (a good thing in my book).  You can still get to my website from the old address, but I'm moving it over to www.katewoodjewellery.com

You can see more photos on my Facebook page (which is updated more frequently than this blog!).

Win a free ticket for Origin

After a lot of anticipation and preparation Origin is just around the corner. I'm really excited to be exhibiting there next week!  It's an epic show, with  over 200 makers in one convenient location - Old Spitalfields Market in London. Spitalfields has a special place in my heart as it's where my jewellery business was born - I started out selling my wares at the market. 

The show is on from 22-28 September and you can find me on stand D24, where I'll be showing under my own name, Kate Wood.  There will be some brand new pieces as well as lots of baubles from my Cluster, Terrain and Pompom collections.

So...I'd love you to come.  I have two free tickets to Origin (usually £10 or £8 in advance) to give away!

If you'd like one, all you need to do is sign up for my mailing list and email me with your name and postal address. I'll pick the winners at random on Thursday night (15th September).

Sale ends tomorrow!

I nearly forgot to tell you, I'm having a summer sale on my website and it ends tomorrow!  20% off everything, hurry hurry!

Diamond Planet

Apparently a 'diamond planet' has been discovered in the Milky Way.  Disappointingly, according to Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester, “I don't imagine that a picture of a very shiny object is what we're looking at here."

Not that diamonds have to be glitzy to be beautiful.  Rough diamonds are a real trend in jewellery at the moment and something that I really love.  Something like the Ruth Wood ring above can have a lot more personality than a big flawless sparkler, as well as being more affordable.  I've been eyeing some tiny grey, cognac and black rough diamond beads and have plans for some subtle sparklers of my own...

Origin

Hello there.  I don't think I've officially mentioned it here (although you may have noticed the icon in the sidebar), but I'm very excited to have been selected to exhibit for the first time at the prestigious Origin contemporary craft fair in September.  So I'm madly making jewellery and preparing my display.  More on that later!

Just wanted to a share a couple of nice mentions from Boticca while I'm here.  It's well worth having a look at the site if you're after hand-crafted jewellery and accessories.

http://boticca.com/blog/stay-cool-in-the-summer-sun-with-nicole-olivia-rihanna-and-jen/ 

http://boticca.com/blog/the-magic-of-monochrome/