Oooppss I did it again....

I went and bought new equipment! All jewellers love the thrill of acquiring new tools and equipment. We love the process of making and our tools are cherished and protected as of result of this. Oddly enough the main techniques for making jewellery have not changed in centuries but new tools are constantly invented to help us streamline production and achieve greater accuracy and precision.

With all of the resources at our disposal it can be quite an eye opening and humbling experience to ee what jewellers in other parts of the world accomplish with the bare minimum of what we think is necessary for successful creation.

All that being said and having seen mind blowing detailed work myself while traveling, I am still seduced by the idea of having more and more tools and equipment for work I may want to make in the future. Thankfully for me this habit is supported by the fact that I have a studio to run and equipment purchases are helpful to the current jewellers in the space as well as being attractive incentive to new jewellers considering applying to the space.

After repeated requests from jewellers interested in working here I finally set up a Mega Minor Glass torch with a new kiln for annealing glass work in. As I got some of the pieces in the set up second hand I was also able to purchase old stock of glass rod in amazing colours which is available for sale at the studio.

Many years ago I took glass bead making classes at Bead FX so it may be time to return to some lamp work in my designs....or not...just having new equipment can sometimes be enough to satisfy the new tool buzz!

These new supplies may also inspire us to start teaching glass bead making classes so stay tuned for details!


Gillian