Sunset Folksy Friday

I have had a bit of an obsession with sunsets recently and have painted quite a few, below are just a couple.

I then thought I would show you all the other sunset inspired goodies I have found on Folksy

Tropical sunset ACEO

Sunset in the fields

Sundown - Fused Glass Art in Yellow Copper Brown

Frit And Confetti

Sterling Silver and Firey Red Agate Charm Bracelet

Mrs Gibson

sunset amongst the daisies cuff bracelet

Johnny & Co.

Hand knitted Felted Handbag Sunset

Bubbles and Bliss

Lovers at Sunset Cameo Locket

Beadeliciousbaby

Giant Oaks...

.......from little Acorns grow

Earlier this year we visited Tintern Abbey in South Wales. There was a giant Oak tree in the grounds You can see how big as thats Mr WD stood at the bottom at 5ft 9". When we stood there Mr WD picked up two acorns and gave them to me as a reminder.

When I got home I forgot all about them but then a couple of weeks later, I found them in my camera case.

I soaked them for about 3 weeks in a little pot on my window sill and then planted them. To my utter surprise about 2 weeks later there was a tiny shoot, its gone completely mad now and I am shocked at how big it has become, The second one didn't come up so I am hoping that I can keep this one going until spring so I can plant it out. Mr WD jokes that if it keeps growing at this rate then it will be too big to keep in the house.

I am well chuffed.....

Aceo's

I have been painting a lot lately, I am not been that well and have not had the strength or the balance ( Vertigo problems) to be able to carry on with my jewellery , just enough to be able to finish the christmas orders.

So when Teabreak a colleague on Folksy started a thread in the forum about ACEO's I was fascinated and so had a go, any way below are a few of my efforts and I have set up a new shop for them at http://www.folksy.com/shops/Wellydoggallery

Anyway I hadn't heard of them before so I thought maybe you hadn't either, so here is the explanation that Teabreak kindly offered us when we started. Have a peep at teabreaks shop on folksy at http://www.folksy.com/shops/teabreaks

ACEO stands for “art cards, editions and originals”
They are tiny works of art that MUST measure 2.5″ × 3.5″
They are highly collectable and were started by artists in the US who liked buying art but didn’t have enough wallspace to hang their paintings on. By buying these tiny artworks, they were able to enjoy original art and display them in photo albums .
An aceo can be any kind of artwork…painting, drawing, collage,print…it doesn’t matter as long as the size is correct. (preferably your own work !)
They are a bit like the football cards that children collect and can be very valuable.
Prices can start at a few pence to many pounds!

Somerset Level

Weston bay

New pier

Boba cat

Raccoon

Norfolk island

Complaint and reply...what next?

For those of you who have been so supportive over the last few months with my silver jewellery making course, I thought you may like to see what happened and perhaps help me decide on what if anything to do next.

Below is a copy of my complaint letter to Weston college about my silver course, and then below that is the letter they sent me. ( my scanner isn't working so it is typed out) My initial reaction was to write back but I am starting to feel so sad about all of this that I am not sure I want to keep going over and over it..... What would you do????

If you want to see how it unfolded on a week to week basis follow the labels marked silver jewellery course.

10th November 2011

Dear

I would like to complain that the above course that I have been attending for the last 8 weeks. There has been a lack of any structure, and this course is not meeting my learning needs.

I feel the tutor has taken no account of the nature of the student group, or catered for the wide range of student at different levels. Throughout the course there has been no explanation of any objectives set for the 10 weeks and I have received little or no feedback at the end of each session.

I have finally decided to complain this week as I literally sat in this weeks session and did nothing, as the tutor had not provided the materials I needed to progress onto my next project. This has been a common occurrence during the last 8 weeks. There has been a lack of resources and a high proportion of time is wasted, waiting to use equipment.

Below is a break down of the weeks and some of the difficulties

Week 1 – All seemed well and we made a copper ring. We were shown how to solder and how to anneal. We were told we would pickle the ring the next week and asked to prepare and think of a ring we would like to make in silver the following week.

Week 2 – No silver or pickle was available. We cut out a circle of cooper and hammered into a dome. I waited 20 minutes to be able to get to a work bench and piercing saw. I had a brief discussion about what ring I wanted make (5 mins max) and the rest of the time (approx 1 hour) was doing nothing while the tutor discussed other peoples ideas.

Week 3 - Still no silver or pickle available. We were shown how to draw copper wire to change its shape. Only 3 plates were set up and available so I waited approx 15 minutes to have a go. He also showed us how to bend and twist wire and discussed our ring designs again. I spent the rest of the time, cutting and twisting copper wire, just to pass the time.

Week 4 – Still no silver or pickle available. I made a copper ring as a practice for my silver ring, repeating what we did in the first week.

Week 5 – Finally I was able to work with silver. I cut out all my components and I queued but couldn’t get to the solder area, before the time ran out so couldn’t do any soldering. The pickle was now available.

Week 6 – I completed my ring. I had asked for help with the final soldering but by the time I had queued for the solder station, I could not get the tutors attention. I had problems with the soldering and made a mistake. I spent ages trying to attract the tutors’ attention but he was showing other students pictures of his sculptures on his phone. I was told we would put it right after half term, and polish it up.

Week 7 – Tutor didn’t feel my ring needed to be corrected. No polish or polishing mops were available. I was told to work on a design for a pendant to set a stone in for the next week. I played with copper wire to try and come up with a design for virtually all of the 2 hours.

Week 8 – No stones available. Polish and equipment were brought in, but we were not allowed to use it, the tutor polished the rings for us. I did virtually nothing except chat for the next 1.5 hours.

I would also like to highlight some health and safety concerns. The tutor has been very un-observant and has had little idea of what was happening within the class. A student splashed some of the pickle solution, into her eye and I don’t think he was aware of what had happened. We have not been advised of evacuation procedures or where fire exits are. We have also never been advised on safe working, for example using safety glasses for processes like cutting wire.

The course was highly recommended to me by someone who had attended one previously, but with a different tutor, and I had intended to continue and complete the intermediate and the advanced afterwards, but I do not think with this tutor it would be worth it. I feel I have completely wasted my time and money and have learnt little in the last 8 weeks. I have found it difficult to articulate my frustration to the tutor in person and feel frustrated that my skills have not improved, since I started. We have a break next week due to the carnival and I am not sure if it is worth returning afterwards. This has certainly not been my previous experience of Courses at Weston College and I am completely dissatisfied.

I would like a refund to be able to pay for another course to cover the skills that I should have learnt during this course.

Your faithfully

30th November 2010

Dear Janice

Thank you for your letter dated 10th November 2010.

We apologise for the problems you have experienced and will take appropriate action to address your concerns. Please find below my response.

• I feel the tutor has taken no account of the nature of the student group, or catered for the wide range of student at different levels. Throughout the course there has been no explanation of any objectives set for the 10 weeks and I have received little or no feedback at the end of each session. This is a beginners course aimed at students with no experience. The session has been delivered on a week by week skills basis.
• I have finally decided to complain this week as I literally sat in this weeks session and did nothing, as the tutor had not provided the materials I needed to progress onto my next project. This has been a common occurrence during the last 8 weeks. There has been a lack of resources and a high proportion of time is wasted, waiting to use equipment. We are in the process of ordering additional tools and materials which should alleviate this problem.
• Week 2 – No silver or pickle was available. We cut out a circle of cooper and hammered into a dome. I waited 20 minutes to be able to get to a work bench and piercing saw. I had a brief discussion about what ring I wanted make (5 mins max) and the rest of the time (approx 1 hour) was doing nothing while the tutor discussed other peoples ideas. Silver was not available as the tutor had not scheduled to work with it that week. Students are advised to work on their skills whilst waiting for tutor support.
• Week 4 – Still no silver or pickle available. I made a copper ring as a practice for my silver ring, repeating what we did in the first week. It was thought to be more appropriate to practice using copper as silver is very expensive.
• Week 5 – Finally I was able to work with silver. I cut out all my components and I queued but couldn’t get to the solder area, before the time ran out so couldn’t do any soldering. The pickle was now available. Additional technician support will be available to assist the students.
• Week 8 – No stones available. Polish and equipment were brought in, but we were not allowed to use it, the tutor polished the rings for us. I did virtually nothing except chat for the next 1.5 hours. The tutor polished the rings due to health and safety issues.
• I would also like to highlight some health and safety concerns. The tutor has been very un-observant and has had little idea of what was happening within the class. A student splashed some of the pickle solution, into her eye and I don’t think he was aware of what had happened. We have not been advised of evacuation procedures or where fire exits are. We have also never been advised on safe working, for example using safety glasses for processes like cutting wire. The pickle solution is made of lemon juice which should not be harmful. With regards to the evacuation and health and safety procedures will ensure that this is actioned.

Thank you again for your letter, we do greatly appreciate student feedback so that we can improve our delivery.

You may be interested in the Silver Jewellery for Intermediate Evening Classes which starts on Monday 10th January 2011 at 7pm.

Your sincerely

ACEO Folksy Friday

OWL

I've been painting again, Its been a while since I picked up my brushes and dusted my palettes off. But encouraged by my lovely Folksy friends I have been making ACEO's, these are little pieces of Art work that people collect and trade. Above is my latest a little owl, but I thought I would show the brilliant talent of my fellow folksy friends for this weeks folksy friday

ACEO Dream Girl

Cherry Tree

ACEO Dragon Rainbow

Top Floor Treasures

aceos

rosielee

ACEO "Chocolates"

Astrid's Garden

Original ACEO

Sketchstitch

Dolwyddelan ACEO Print

Gelert Design

Lakeland Trees

GweddusArt

Wow I won!!!!

I have never won anything before, but this lovely decoration arrived in the post today from

Eidelweiss on her blog

Thankyou so much

aceos

I have just discovered ACEOS , apparently these are highly collectable pieces of art, a way of being able to collect original art without having to find the wall space.They can be drawings, paintings, prints, collage anything goes as long as they are 3.5" x 2.5" They are called aceo (art cards, editions and originals) So I thought I would have a go, its been a while since I got my paint brushes out, so I am a bit rusty, but I had fun, what do you think??

Handmade Xmas

I have just been Xmas shopping, its been very tough I just browsed through Folksy and then when I saw what I wanted, I just clicked a couple of keys on my trusty laptop and like magic it's done.

So far I have managed to buy most of my pressies on Folksy. This year it was important to me that we tried to buy as much handmade as possible. I also will be adding a touch of Homemade to my pressies by making some home made sweeties or biscuits.

With this in mind then I thought it would be good to let the recipients of my gifts know that these were handmade items they were lucky enough to receive.

So this is what I came up with, a gift tag wishing everyone a Happy Handmade Xmas.

Hope you think they are good, I am wondering whether to add them to my folksy shop for other people to purchase, let me know what you think.

Moving forward....

I put in a complaint about my silver jewellery course, so I have decided not to go back for the last 2 weeks. I doubt it will do any good but at the very least hopefully it will make the tutor aware that just turning up is not enough to qualify you as a teacher.

So I am moving forward, I am practicing my cutting and soldering skills. Having not learnt what I wanted from my course I have bought myself a good book, and have been watching utube videos, it seems to me you can learn just about anything from these, I would not advocate just learning from them and I would still like to do a good course as I think practical help is something worth getting.

The first one is all sterling silver it is based on a

buckle that I found in my button tin. The second is a copper base with a sterling silver top, that is bent over to make the bale. I am loving putting copper and silver together, and it again is influenced by the mayan carvings I saw in Mexico. I will have to photograph this better as it doesn't show the contrast that well.

I hope you like my new pieces x.

BAG ***SALE****

As my jewellery is moving on , I have no more time for the other crafty bits so i am starting to hav a bit of a clear out, So I have just reduced all my Bag to £3.50

Take a look >>>>>>>>>

Doodle heart

Doodle flower

Brighten

Shallow

All Sort

New jewellery

New jewellery

I am pleased with the pendant and so have listed it on Folksy, I think I need a bit more practice on the stone mounting, so I made this one for me.... any excuse for yet another piece of jewellery

Circles pendant

Remembrance Sunday PTSD

My Dad survived WW2, but none of his friends did.

He talks very little of his war time experiences and we don't press as he becomes very distressed and angry. We have gleaned odd bits and pieces over the years , he was an Engineer and was in Nowra, Australia for some years with the MONABS, and we also know he was in a glider, on or around D Day that landed behind enemy lines and he had to guard an ammunition store.

Over the years as we have got older, we have come to accept that he has suffers with what we would now call, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I love my Dad with all my heart but he can be a difficult man to live with and deal with.

On Remembrance Day I think and honor all those that gave there lives for us, but today I think of my Dad and all those who have survived but have suffered and still suffer from the after effects of war.

x

Sunset.....

.....was beautiful tonight

Arrrgggggggg Silver Jewellery course week 7 & 8

I was fairly pee'd off last week so didn't blog about my course. But it got even worse this week so I just need to vent.

After half term we were told we told we would finish our rings and start to learn about setting stones in week 7.

I had just about finished my ring, I had been told we would straighten it after the problems I had placing the top on, but it became apparent he felt it wasn't worth the effort to try. So I thought, Oh well at least I get to move on and learn how to set stones. But No! there were no stones and no advice on how to set them, I couldn't even polish my ring as he still hadn't brought the polishing equipment in. I asked what I should do and he said, design a pendant to set a stone in, I was ignored when I asked what size stone and any guidelines. To be honest I just felt he was fed up with me!

I played with some copper wire and came up with the a set of wires soldered together, as shown here. He showed no interest in what I have done all evening and gave it a quick look over at the end and just shrugged. Then in the following week I played with the design and made the copper maquette shown here .

So with maquette proudly in hand I went off to week 8 hoping to make it in silver and learn how to mount a stone.

So what actually happened - I polished my ring - actually I watched him polish my ring!! Yes after 2 weeks of promising to bring in the polishing equipment he actually did. For some reason we were not allowed to do this ourselves and we all watched while he did it!

That took up the first 10 minutes and then I sat on my backside and did sweet FA. I showed him my maquette and he said "Oo look at you". I asked him if I needed to use a jig to help get both sides even, he then went on to explained what a jig was !!! In retrospect I should have just left, as the longer I sat there listening to people chat the angrier I got. There were only 2 people still working on rings , I got frustrated when I found out the the stones we would be setting were 5mm big and so no way could I make the design I had hoped for as it is much bigger. He really could have told me that 2 weeks ago and not got my hopes up.

I have gone ahead an mounted a stone of my own already.

It may not be perfect, but I learnt a lot from doing it and feel the next one will be spot on.

So here is where I need your advice! We have 2 weeks left, I don't feel in that time I will learn anything new.

I don't want to go back, I feel its an utter waste of my time. My gut reaction is to complain, and never see him again. But, should I just shut up and get on with it and finish the course and then put a complaint in after?

What do you think???

A Trip to the New Pier

I LOVE MY HOME TOWN...............