New Jewels in the online shop and lots of visitors to Mull...

Recently we have had lots of exciting visitors, a great opportunity to go out on long walks and visit new places. We visited Langamull as the sun was going down and the wind was picking up and Treshnish, in stunning changeable weather. We had our first barbecue of the year at Calgary Bay on a beautiful spring evening with visiting friends from Edinburgh.

Most recently we visited friends staying down on Iona for Easter weekend.We had a long drive down from Calgary to the Ross of Mull, with breathtaking views and bumpy roads making the car squeak and clunk. We arrived on Iona in glorious sunshine, climbed its hills and visited St columbus Bay - where we searched for pretty pieces of Iona greenstone and ate chocolate eggs.

Looking out to the Treshnish isles and Staffa from Iona

Easter Sunday morning on Iona

My brother and I at windy Langamull!

Back in the studio I have been photographing my work and updating the webshop - have a look at http://maikebrowningjewellery.bigcartel.com/ for lots of new pieces of work.

Dancing Sol earrings.

Maike x

                      Featuring: Heather McDermott

This is the first of three posts featuring the wonderful jewellers showing their work in the gallery this spring.

Heather, an island jeweller based at Aird, Skye makes beautiful work inspired by her coastal surroundings. At Edinburgh College of Art Heather's bench was always the messiest, covered in colourful plastics, enamelled metals and wire structures reminiscent of lobster pots and creels. After a successful masters following her undergraduate degree heather has been busy ever since, with exhibitions, residencies and exciting projects. Heather is such an inspiration to me, its a pleasure to have her work in the gallery.

Heather at work in her Skye studio.

A selection of jewellery from Heather's 'Tidal Surge' collection:

Heathers work on display in the gallery.

Heather's jewellery is available from the gallery shop here in Calgary, or you can find her work at 

http://www.heathermcd-jewellery.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heather-McDermott-Jewellery/258401274232925

Maike x

                          Featuring: Hannah Eccles

Edinburgh based jeweller Hannah Eccles makes beautiful feminine jewellery inspired by her drawings of fabrics and patterns discovered in nature . Hannah has impeccable style and her unique jewellery compliments this perfectly. Hannah's collection for the shop here includes beautiful sea greens and blues, alongside printed and patterned pieces of silver.

Hannah, on the bench next to me at college, was always very organised. Around her bench you could find textured pieces of copper and silver, pieces of organza and delicate fabrics. Hannah and I constantly talked through our design ideas and showed each other work in progress while we studied together at college - and whenever we are together we still end up giving each other business advice and chatting about jewellery techniques! 

A selection of pieces from Hannah's collection:

 

Hannahs work is on sale at the gallery/shop here in Calgary, but if you are too far away you can find her work here:

http://www.hannaheccles.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hannah-Eccles-Jewellery/151249268274341

Maike x

Featuring: Kelly Munro

Kelly Munro recently graduated from Edinburgh college of art and now creates beautiful jewellery in her central Edinburgh studio. Kelly was born in northern Scotland, and takes her inspiration from fishing equipment, creels and lobster pots. Kelly uses delicate saw piercing, and pyrography to work with painted wood and silver - creating pieces of jewellery that look striking and modern, and yet at the same time as if they could have washed up at your feet on a sandy Scottish beach!   

Kelly is the only jeweller in the gallery who I have never met, but when I saw her work I knew it would be perfectly suited to be shown in my coastal contemporary jewellery gallery!

A selection of pieces from Kelly's collection:

Kellys jewellery is available from the gallery shop here in Calgary, or you can find her work at 

https://www.facebook.com/KellyMunroJewellery

http://cargocollective.com/kellymunrojewellery/Kelly-Munro-Jewellery

Maike x

Open!

Well, after nearly five months on the island, much hard work, lots of paint in my hair, sawdust in my shoes, cuts on my fingers and tears in my eyes, I am very happy to say that the Jewellery Gallery at Calgary arts is now open!

I am so proud to have my own gallery space, with its own individual style, two collections of my own work and a gorgeous selection of contemporary jewellery by some of my most talented friends.

Yesterday Calgary Arts had an official opening, with delicious food and lots of wine! Lots of locals came down to see the re-opening of the main gallery - showcasing new artworks by many local artists. It was great to see positive responses to the new addition to Calgary Arts and hear great feedback about the work on show. 

In the excitement of the opening we forgot to take photos of people looking around, but I took quite a few in a rush before we opened. Here's how the gallery looked for the opening yesterday.

The final selection of lighting includes four big metal shades which were originally heat lamps for farm animals. They came in a big box that said 'pig lights' and were covered in mud and tangled up in baler twine.

 Work by Heather McDermott on the left and my Sol collection on the right.

 The entrance to the shop, the packing station full of bubble wrap, brown paper and jewellery boxes.

 A close up of this beautiful re-purposed old cabinet currently showcasing a lovely collection of jewellery by Hannah Eccles. This cabinet used to hold old weighing scales and was saved from a science department by my mums partner!

 The Sol collection, displayed on birch ply plinths and paper-cuts.

 Sunlight streaming in through the windows this morning to cast shadows and light on the jewels - the closest work in this photo is by Edinburgh based Jeweller Kelly Munro.

This week i'll be posting blog features on each of the Jewellers exhibiting in the gallery, Hannah Eccles, Heather Mcdermott and Kelly Munro. So you'll be able to see close ups of the work on show here and find out a little bit of background info on each of the Jewellers.

Maike x

Lapis lazuli, aquamarine, sea blue.

The blues that have been occupying my hands and my mind over the past few days. 

Necklace. Aquamarine, 9ct gold, oxidised silver. I love making these delicate wire necklaces and setting the sparkling stone in little golden claws. Its so satisfying to oxidise the silver, suddenly bringing out the bright aquamrine colour and the sparkle of gold.

New Midnight ring. Lapis lazuli, 18ct gold and oxidised silver. Little golden flecks of pyrite in the deep dark blue stone remind me of a starry midnight sky.

Calgary bay, wooden airplane flying. One of the stillest days and the bluest skies we have had so far in our time on mull. 

Maike x

Let there be lighting!

Ever since Ross found an old enamel lampshade in a barn i have dreamt of having a series of them lighting up the display tables in my shop. After much ebay hunting and sourcing brightly coloured cables, they are now lighting up the space.

stripping wire, cutting cable and wiring up lights

lights in position

Spurred on by getting the lighting in and the birch ply for my table tops arriving, we got on with making some trestles for my display tables. We decided to go for a 3 legged trestle - meaning they'll be stable on even a slightly wonky floor. We planed and cut sycamore legs and elm tops for the trestles, carefully cut angles on the table saw, and then on the bandsaw. Ross's skills learned on house builds with timber frames came in handy here, I helped out with measuring angles and drilling holes, but Ross spent hours chiseling the holes (mortis) for the joints on the legs (tenons) to slot into. I would be lost without his help!

Ninja drilling

Drilling holes in the top piece of wood ready to chisel out into rectangular tenon joints. 

 Ross hammering wedges into the tenon joints of the legs, for a snug fit in the mortis.

We are really happy with the final look of the trestles, it was lots of work and angle measuring for a very simple finished look, but we love them.

                                      

  Finished trestles in the wood workshop

Our next job is to cut the birch ply table tops. Really looking forward to the opening of my gallery/shop at the end of march, along with the cafe and gallery at Calgary Arts. Hopefully visitors will slowly start to arrive and my little business will grow.

Maike x