Check out the next enamel workshop weekend at The Jewellery and Silversmithing Design Academy in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter  HERE

I am delighted to post this lovely review from kathryn Partington about the recent set of courses I held at Rajesh Gogna's Jewellery & Silversmithing Academy in Birmingham.

" .....I am investigating new techniques to refresh, produce new work and develop new directions. This creative process has started by indulging and attending a series of enameling classes taught and delivered by the very knowledgeable, experienced and lovely Ruth Ball this weekend at The Jewellery-Silversmithing Design Academy. Located in the heart of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, just a stones through away from my workshop it has been the ideal setting to take part in training that is accessible,  highly valuable, practical and in-depth. The workshop is well-organized and well equipped. The natural light is captured beautifully and the design layout of the studio has been well-considered by its founder Rajesh Gogna. It is well worth a visit and investment to take part in a Masterclasses here. I can highly recommend! I feel inspired and motivated to develop techniques learned further and work with the material/process through experimentation, exploration of surface treatment/finishing and textural qualities. The workshops I took part in were; Mark-making, Contemporary Cloisonné, Surface treatment and Finishing...."  
READ MORE >  http://kathrynpartington.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/indulging-in-new-techniques/

Kathryn is an experianced jeweller, designer, maker and artist. She produces one-off wearable items of jewellery and has a background training within the discipline of tableware ceramics & printed textiles. By combining these skills she explores surface pattern & ornamentation in a diverse range of process and material manipulation. This leads to a juxaposition of simple to complex compositions by placement & layering to form pieces that can be considered as not just items of jewellery but pieces of art within their own right.
Her works include the combination of natural and hand dyed screen-printed silks, hand engraved, glazed, printed slip cast bone china/porcelain, decorative applications of pattern to metals in unconventional ways. This enables the creation of jewellery pieces that are extremely unique within the arena of contemporary jewellery, craft & fashion. She is currently exhibiting her work with Velvet da Vinci in the Exhibition "Magic City"
View her website here.

Kathryns work in enamel on the course was stunning, she followed the set excercises and produced some really professional samples. I just cannot wait to see how she translates these surfaces in to her design work !

Image Copyright : Kathryn Partington 2013
Samples of the pieces Kathryn made on "Exploring Enamel Surfaces" One day Workshop