Cambridge on a sunny afternoon

Hello, have you been enjoying the rather fabulous summer weather? Have you been watching some loooong loooong matches at Wimbledon?

This afternoon I heard snippets of the tennis commentary as I drove into Cambridge, the Tardis laden with bags and bags of old magazines. I don't know what possessed me to hang on to them for so long, almost 15 years of RHS The Garden mags. I used to read every page and keep them for future reference (in the days before Google) but they got stashed in the far corner of the room we rarely go into and forgotten. A few years ago I tried to find someone who may have a use for them, without success.

Feeling in a decluttering frame of mind I announced on Twitter that all The Garden mags would go in the paper recycling bin unless someone spoke up sharpish . . .

"Squeaky Gate wants them!"

So . . . that's where they've gone . . . to the lovely people at Squeaky Gate in Cambridge, a charity that works with people who have slipped outside the education system for whatever reason and need a helping hand to regain their confidence and believe in themselves and the skills they have through music, performance AND this summer through a very exciting garden design project. They are getting lots of help from the talented gardeners at Cambridge University Botanic Gardens and an eminent garden designer . . . my mountain of magazines will be cut up and used to inspire their garden ideas.

Happy that I'd got rid of my clutter and met some lovely people along the way, I headed out of the scorching city centre to the leafy lanes of Grantchester to rendezvous with Rachel - you may remember we collaborated on a collection of silver and enamel jewellery designs. Most of the pieces have been sold and we decided to end our joint venture, today we settled up the final payments between us over afternoon tea at The Orchard Tea Garden in Grantchester. If ever a place is the epitome of tranquil academe on a sunny afternoon then it is here - where the ghosts of Rupert Brooke and his languid friends stretch out on green canvas deck chairs under the twisted boughs of apple trees, just a stones throw from Grantchester church . . .

Stands the church clock at ten to three?

And is there honey still for tea?

In this timeless corner of England, it always will.

Celia
xx

PS this blog is brought to you from a tent in our garden, I'll add links later - blogger app won't let me do them on my iPad

PPS has Andy Murray won yet?

PPPS Now with added links x

New on my stall this weekend . . .

It's been a busy day . . . one of those days where everything seems to happen at once. Probably the most exciting thing that happened was the arrival of a 'special delivery' padded envelope from Rachel in Norfolk – it contained more finished designs in our LANDSCAPE EAST jewellery collection.

Luckily it has been a bright day, perfect for taking photos, so I've spent some time photographing all the pieces so I can put them in the silver jewellery department of Magic Cochins Emporium on etsy. I haven't selected and sized all the images yet and I need to make a little display panel for them at this weekend's Arts Fair in Saffron Walden Town Hall; but here's a taster . . .

Leaf Doodle pendant
etched sterling silver on a compact snake chain

Small Leaf Doodle long-wire earrings
etched sterling silver

Anglesey Abbey Falling Oak Leaves long-wire earrings
etched sterling silver

Anglesey Abbey Oak Leaf pendant
etched sterling silver on a compact snake chain

Flying Hare necklet
etched and oxidised sterling silver on an oxidised silver cable necklet

Rachel has described the etching technique she uses on her blog, you can see pictures of the leaf pendant and the hares being prepared for etching and actually in the acid bath.

Celia
x

A new joint venture . . .

In September I received a message via etsy conversations, from another etsy seller – Corryvreckan (Norfolk based designer-maker Rachel Simpson). She invitated me to collaborate in designing a collection of jewellery that she would hand-craft in silver and other precious metals. I was surprised but curious . . . a collaboration was not something I'd considered but after exchanging emails and tweets, and having a brief chat, the more I thought Rachel's idea could work.

Last weekend I received a package in the post . . . a little box containing our first pair of Leaf Doodle stud earrings . . .


Rachel's acid etching technque has beautifully recreated my block printed Leaf Doodle design in silver . . .


The texture of the silver is like the hand carved blocks that I print from . . .


Rachel is already working on more pieces for our collection, which we've called LANDSCAPE EAST (Rachel already has a collection called SEASCAPE EAST which you can see here).

I'll show you more pieces soon – there will be dangly earrings and a pendant in the Leaf Doodle design as well as pieces based on the Oak Leaves from my Anglesey Abbey print, the Sleeping Hare and the Winter Thrushes.

LANDSCAPE EAST jewellery will be hand-crafted to order by Rachel in her studio in Norfolk, I'm taking orders via Magic Cochin's Emporium, or you contact me via my website. I'll have sample pieces for you to see on my stall at the Christmas Fairs – all the latest news here.

We hope you like the results of our joint venture, I'm looking forward to sharing more news about it soon. I'm also looking forward to wearing these Leaf Doodle earrings at my stall on Saturday.

Celia
x