Update

Things have been a little quiet on the jewellery front at the moment so I thought I'd take the time to explain what I've been up to! I recently decided to get my business on the right track so the 1st start was to register as self-employed. Anything to do with the HMRC does tend to make for an instant headache but I knew it needed to be done so I've got myself a nice little folder to keep all my paperwork in order! Since I had a little bit of disruption with my job at the start of the year I have been unwilling to dip into my bank account to shell out for silver, though I did manage to get some pieces together to send off to Hung gallery in Inverness. It's a nice feeling to have some work for sale in my home city! I will be purchasing some silver very soon to get back into the making game very soon though! Another disruption is my website; while having your boyfriend do it for free is a luxury - the nagging to get it done is not!! However, it should (!!!) be up and running next week - similar design just a bit slicker/new images/drop down menus to clean it up. I will be running a little competition soon to celebrate so watch this space! Other exciting news is that I was recently contacted by my former jewellery tutor to send an exhibition piece to be included in Legnica Jewellery Festival SILVER 2012 in Poland under the DJCAD banner. I decided to polish up a Vanity Series piece "Powder Puff Brooch" for inclusion.

Vanilla Ink

Vanilla Ink's shop has officially launched!! 

And I am delighted to have my work stocked!

Check out the online shop HERE!

ps. MASSIVE thank you to Kate for her hard work and allowing me to be part of Vanilla Ink.

Ortak

Due to some issues with hours, I made the choice to leave Magnolia Silver Jewellery where I have worked for the last 6 months. However, as luck would have it, Ortak happened to be advertising for full time sales assistants just a few shops down from Magnolia. So I was delighted to be offered the position in such a short space of time in such a difficult climate. I have just finished my 1st week and am enjoying it so far; especially as today I got to choose my "shop jewellery". Spoilt for choice between existing stock and previews of future stock I settled on a relatively subtle set - from the "Urban" range (pictured below).

The Aberdeen branch is kept busy and today was the last day of a very good sale which had massive reductions on some high quality pieces. So far I have just encountered the basics, but I am eager to get involved with Ortak's bespoke service where customers are able to design their own pieces or swap features of existing pieces. My manager has mentioned that it is sometimes difficult to get a good feel for what the customer wants from bespoke pieces as they sometimes don't know the technical terms or descriptions are a bit vague so she hopes that, given my jewellery background, I will be able to help out in these situations. I was also intrigued to hear that one of Ortak's designers is Laura Christie, a fellow Duncan of Jordanstone graduate! Above all, I am looking forward to settling into a new workplace where I can add to my jewellery experience and knowledge :).

2012

Having known for a while that my website needed updating - we had discovered after getting a new laptop that the only computer my site didn't seem to show up as Comic Sans was our old one!! - especially with the inclusion of the new Salvaged Bijoux collection, I have decided to take the site down while it gets a small makeover. Not too much will be changing by way of style - it just needs a good clear out in the coding department and my boyfriend, who created the site, has learned a few more computing skills to make the site run better. It was just getting a little cluttered in my view so I think there will be more drop down menu options and a cleaner layout. 

Secondly while looking at my site, I decided to de-list everything from my Etsy store to make way for some new pieces from the Salvaged Bijoux collection. However, I am not all that convinced about Etsy anymore as it seems chock a block with sellers and I am sick of constantly re-listing entries and not getting alerted via email of them becoming de-listed. So I am considering moving to BigCartel. I already have one of the free packages, allowing 5 items, but am considering taking the plunge and going for the $9.99 a month package. It seems like a nice clear layout and a bit more up to date than Etsy. Does anyone have any experience with the site? Which do users prefer? I'd love to here some opinions!

Last but not least, with the coming of 2012 I had decided to set myself a few jewellery New Years Resolutions! Just little things to set as small goals to make sure I am being pro-active! Has anyone else set any  jewellery-resolutions? Here are mine...

1. Re-do my site & set up a new shop with good quality pictures.

2. Make myself some jewellery to wear to promote my skills. (I always make myself something, only for the next craft fair to come round and I think "I can sell these!")

3. Carry business cards around at all times.

4. Focus on building up more stockists.

Small Repairs

Necklace changed from a leather cord to a snake chain.

Bracelet catch with stone - 

the silver had snapped so a new catch was required.

I was given a couple of tiny jewellery tasks to do from friends and family - a swap of a chain and a small repair involving silver wire. At work at Magnolia Silver Jewellery, several people come up asking if we are able to do small repairs and a couple of times I have done this in store but usually if it is a bigger job - it is limited to the companies own jewellery and is sent away to the manufacturers. I like the challenge of repairs and you get to see different types of jewellery as well as needing to use a bit of problem solving! If anyone is needing any repairs to any silver jewellery I encourage you to get in touch as it is usually relatively simple to find a solution and I would be happy to take a look! :)

NicolaReedJewellery@googlemail.com

Sandra Dieckmann

I am super chuffed to have just purchased some Sandra Dieckmann illustrations to adorn my rather empty walls! I have been wanting to start a collage of prints for a while now and was given the push today after sauntering on to Etsy for the first time in a while and chanced upon a 10% sale on Sandra's site. I loved her work the moment I saw it and was hard pushed to choose which print to go for. Her work is modern, funky, colourful but with a dreamy fantasy twist. I can't wait for them to arrive and am looking forward to finding some more art work. Does anyone have any suggestions?

So far I'm eyeing up work by:

Leah Duncan, Leigh Viner & Stephanie Cole.

Christmas Little Birds Market

Nicola Reed Jewellery will be at the Dec 11th Little Birds Market at Sloans in Glasgow. This will be my 2nd Little Birds Market and I am thoroughly looking forward to my first Christmas Craft Fair! My selection of pieces will be a little less suspender themed and will include items from the Salvaged Bijoux range. I will also be using a lot of Amazonite which is fast becoming my favourite stone - such a gorgeous vintage look! As well as this upcoming event...

My work was also on sale at Arresting, a pop up boutique in my very own new home city of Aberdeen! Once again, I owe a huge thank you to Kate Pickering of Vanilla Ink who took my work as part of a collection of designers work. She has done me some huge jewellery favours in regards to getting my work on show (e.g MADE11) and saved me lots of leg work and stress! I wish her the best of luck with Vanilla Ink :)

#5 Missing Stones Pendant

Sterling Silver, Green Amber & Vintage Thread.

#4 Damaged Antique Pendant

Sterling Silver, Hematite & Hematine.

#3 Broken Fragments Necklace

Sterling Silver & Amazonite.

#2 Curious Cameo

Sterling Silver, Rose Quartz, Coral, Pink Opal, 

Freshwater Pearl & Vintage Clasp.

#1 Clustered Bracelets

Sterling Silver, Amazonite, Felt & Vintage Thread.

MADE 2011

A promo shot for my Salvaged Bijoux collection for Made 2011. I will be uploading pics of each piece in separate posts in the lead up to Made, but if you simply can't wait, check out the full collection of images on my Facebook Page: Nicola Reed Jewellery not forgetting to click "Like" along the way of course!

MADE 2011

Today I was through in Dundee visiting Sara Nevay (my Re-worked partner) and her very swish camera to get photos taken of my latest pieces for Made2011. taking place from the 17th - 20th November @ Corn Exchange, Brighton. I also visited Kate from Vanilla Ink to drop of my pieces afterwards and had a lovely jewellery filled gossip as well as getting sneaky peeks at all the jewellery she is taking to Made (work by Jane Gowans, Zoe Duthie & Myia Bonner.) Very exciting! Above is a little shot she took via Instagram to tantalise Twitter followers of my work! I will begin working on editing the photos I took with Sara tonight and hopefully have them up tomorrow! 

Look, Like, Love, Shop!

I am delighted to say that Look Like Love, the company that supports graduate design, has finally set up shop! 

After being kind enough to feature my work not once but twice (once with Re-worked and again with Salvaged Bijoux) they decided to be even kinder and include my work in their shop - officially launching the Salvaged Bijoux collection.

Look Like Love features not only jewellery, but prints, home accessories, books and (important in chilly December!) scarves! Below are a pick of my faves that are ready for purchase NOW! So have a look and support graduate design and start Christmas shopping!

MADE 2011

I am delighted to have been announced as one of six lucky makers who Vanilla Ink will be taking to MADE11. Kate Pickering of Vanilla Ink has teamed up with Contemporary Lab to bring a selection of jewellers to the Brighton fair which will run from the 17th - 20th of November in the Corn Exchange.

The five jewellers I will be exhibiting alongside are...

Katherine Seaman, Jane Gowans, Myia Bonner, Katie Lees & Zoe Duthie.

I just about had a panic attack when Kate told me who I'd be exhibiting beside as they're all such a talented, professional bunch so I'll have to work extra hard creating pieces worthy of  accompanying their work!

As I have mentioned, I am working on a collection, Salvaged Bijoux, and I am going to be exhibiting some statement necklaces and bracelets from this series at MADE11. I will post some "progress" pictures up here very soon so you can get an idea of what I'm working on.

Sneak Peek

A sneaky peek at some earrings I have made for an ongoing collection Salvaged Bijoux.

The lovely ladies from Look Like Love were kind enough to do a sneaky feature of the collection a little while ago and I am happy to report I have some exciting new ventures coming up with this collection - as usual, however, more details will be revealed at a more appropriate time!

I had been eager to start a new collection since the beginning of the year really and had a bit of a dip in confidence over which direction to go in. Vanity Series 2010 was a fantastic collection that I am really proud of but I sort of wanted to step away from it and leave it solely as my "Degree Show Collection" (despite some pieces being created after University!). I still love working with pearls and suspenders etc,  but I felt I was going down the "craft fair route" far too much for my liking! I love doing fairs but didn't feel I was using my jewellery skills in some of the work I was producing.

Since Re-worked has come about, I've noticed a bit of a change in the type of jewellery that has been inspiring me and, in a lot of ways, I think Re-worked has been the starting point for Salvaged Bijoux. Actually, quite interestingly, a lot of the commercial jewellery made between collections has similar shapes, or can lend details to Salvaged Bijoux. I think I was fluttering around without a direction and I'm now on the right creative path so to speak!

My main inspiration for this collection is broken and vintage jewellery - the idea of salvaging items - replacing missing stones - jewellery scraps pieced together to make new pieces. One thing I discussed recently with my Re-worked partner in crime Sara Nevay was that, because 4th year was such an intense period of study with so much research into one collection, it feels a bit like another collection isn't as "worthy" if it doesn't have equal amount of time and research behind it: something that is simply not possible with a full time job! However, with Re-worked, I have been really enjoying making by instinct and doing more of a hands on/experiment based collection and I think this is, again, a big influence on this new collection. I am looking forward to a collection that can feature small, commercial pieces as well as large statement pieces, and a collection that can be on-going - ever evolving.

I'll round this off by saying, all in all, I am looking forward to getting some motivation back, creating some new work, getting some good photography done(!!!), and sharing a brand new collection with you all!

Twitter

Just a small post to say that I am now on Twitter! I will be using Twitter mainly as a means to network with other jewellers and jewellery companies so follow me if that appeals to you!

@NicolaLReed

Magnolia Silver Jewellery

A very quick post to tell you all that I have a new job as a Sales Assistant at Magnolia Silver Jewellery in Union Square Shopping Centre in Aberdeen. After a few months of being utterly bored and unhappy in my old job, I took a chance and applied for Magnolia after spotting the job advert online. Despite very limited sales experience, I applied for the job as I was eager to work with jewellery and figured that picking up a few tips on selling other peoples designs couldn't harm my chances for selling my own! Magnolia Silver Jewellery specialises (rather obviously!) on sterling silver pieces with semi-precious stones. I am also eager to increase my knowledge of stones (identifying them and their properties) which I think will come in time as their is a huge collection of stones despite such a small store. I am delighted to sell a product I actually love as the designs are gorgeous, as well as handmade. We have a website: www.magnolia-silver.com but if you are ever in Aberdeen, pop into Union Square to visit us and see the lovely collection of jewellery on offer.

Press

 

Recently added to the "Press" sections of my site & blog is a lovely post from Look Like Love who have done a sneaky post showcasing some initial images from a new collection I am developing, Salvaged Bijoux, which takes inspiration from salvaged and broken vintage jewellery. The idea is that this will be an ongoing collection mainly featuring earrings and statement necklaces.

Craftscotland was also kind enough to include a blog post I wrote about Re-worked on their site, which will hopefully mean some more traffic, followers and opinions on the project from both the general public and other makers.

On another note, my jewellery page Nicola Reed Jewellery is nearly at 100 "likes" on Facebook! I would love it if you took the time to check out my page and like it, enabling you to keep up with my jewellery news.

Nicola Reed Jewellery

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