Happy first Monday in August my friends. The sun is shining and the plants are luscious which makes my being in my studio even more enjoyable. You see I have two big glass sliding doors which leads out into my garden. My husband is a keen gardener and makes sure I have lovely seasonal plants leading into my studio.
For those that are a little curious I thought I would let you know what goes on in my studio…I guess it is pretty obvious…..I make jewellery lol but I have different areas which function in different ways.
Along one wall I have upper and lower cabinets which has a sink at one end and a Kiln in the other, the kiln is used for firing all the silver clay (fine silver pieces) …in between the sink and kiln gets used for my polisher (when the silver clay is at its final stage) and the bench gets used for drying out the silver clay in the dehydrator, this gets used mostly when I’m holding my silver clay class. When I’m not making silver clay jewellery the dehydrator goes away in the cupboards for more work space.
The kiln area is surrounded in Firebrick which makes it an ideal place to also set up a soldering station for when I’m silversmithing. This area is set up for myself when I’m making my sea glass jewellery…closing all the connections and adding jumprings. The soldering station is also used for making rings, bracelets etc. Currently I don’t hold any silversmithing classes but I intend to start once covid restrictions have eased fully. I will be offering sea glass classes.
I have a very large table which takes center stage of the studio, this is where all the classes are set. This is ideal for the beading class as all the beads can be placed along the center of the table. We all sit around the table facing each other so we can interact and have great craic all while making fabulous jewellery. This set up gives that added bonus that everyone can see me clearly when I’m demonstrating the techniques needed for the class.
When I don’t have classes I can lift up one end of the table which gives me a silversmithing bench (I am going to add in two more of these around the table for future silversmithing sea glass classes) and I have an area dedicated to the computer for all my admin and social media work, then I have a clean area which I use for the final stages of jewellery making and packing up your jewellery for delivery.
Twice a year before covid I help open nights from my studio. The layout of the studio allows for me to make a lovely display of the jewellery on the table, plus I have a glass cabinet which I display jewellery for sale and also makes from the jewellery classes. On the summer open night I can open up the doors and have drinks and snacks in the garden under a gazebo. Due to restrictions I have stopped the open nights but I am now holding open studio days on Tuesdays between 10am and 2pm. If you would like to come and visit all you need to do is drop me an email so we can book it.
When the weather is nice the studios doors are open and you can hear the birds chirping, which is lovely during class. During the silver clay class students can sit outside and have their lunch in the garden, adds to the calming relaxing feel of the day!
Well I hope you enjoyed the tour of my studio today, if you are interested in a jewellery class (silver clay or beaded jewellery) then you can check out dates here, you can also book private classes for parties or 1 to 1 lessons. Don’t forget if you would like to drop by the studio on a Tuesday then just drop me an email to book it.
Well that is all for this week my friends, If you would like to see what happens here daily then follow me on IG here or FB here. To join my FB group ‘For the Love of Jewellery with Katrina Lucas’ you can do so here. If you are interested in being the first to find out about any offers and new collections then please do sign up to my newsletter (bottom of the page), you get 10% off your first order as a thank you (you can unsubscribe at any time if it’s not for you).
Until next week, stay safe, keep communicating and always sparkle!
Katrina xx