I wanted to continue with profiling artists and designers that influence us here at the Studio but I also thought I would be interesting to hear from some of our students too. So here is what I hope to be the first of many profiles looking at the work, influences and talents of our students who have studied with us here.
We have been very privileged to work with students from the beginning of their wire journey and to be still working with them. Watching students start their first tentative wraps and realise that wire is something that really interests them is such a delight and one of the pleasures of teaching.
Many of our students return for more classes after the initial beginners workshop and some have joined us at the retreat year on year. It makes us feel like we are getting something right! We aim to provide high quality teaching in wire jewellery and hopefully the encouragement to our students that they can continue to work after the workshops have finished. So see those journeys first had is a great delight.
So when student begins to create on their own and even begin to make a sell their work successfully we are keen to celebrate. Today I will be profiling Kay Newman, many of you will be aware of her work she is known for the quality of her finish and attention to detail. She is very active on the wire groups sharing her work, tips and advice where she can.
Kay came to spend 3 days with Lonely Soldier just after our first retreat, so just over 2 years ago now. Even then Jim knew that here was as student with a real flare for wire work, her persistence for perfection was evident in those first few days.
Kay has since go on to create increasingly creative and unique pieces, developing her style and skills. She has rebranded and created a design label, website and packaging. She is a great source of knowledge and inspiration when it comes to wire jewellery design and it seems that is not all she can do....I thought it would interesting to see how Kay arrived at wire, what her influences are and where her creative flare comes from. So I asked her to write a bit of biography for me and I think you will enjoy reading it... :)
Kay work can be found at:
https://www.facebook.com/knartistry/
and
http://knartistry.com/
I urge you to have a look at her website and follow her on Facebook too!
We have been very privileged to work with students from the beginning of their wire journey and to be still working with them. Watching students start their first tentative wraps and realise that wire is something that really interests them is such a delight and one of the pleasures of teaching.
Many of our students return for more classes after the initial beginners workshop and some have joined us at the retreat year on year. It makes us feel like we are getting something right! We aim to provide high quality teaching in wire jewellery and hopefully the encouragement to our students that they can continue to work after the workshops have finished. So see those journeys first had is a great delight.
So when student begins to create on their own and even begin to make a sell their work successfully we are keen to celebrate. Today I will be profiling Kay Newman, many of you will be aware of her work she is known for the quality of her finish and attention to detail. She is very active on the wire groups sharing her work, tips and advice where she can.
Kay came to spend 3 days with Lonely Soldier just after our first retreat, so just over 2 years ago now. Even then Jim knew that here was as student with a real flare for wire work, her persistence for perfection was evident in those first few days.
Kay has since go on to create increasingly creative and unique pieces, developing her style and skills. She has rebranded and created a design label, website and packaging. She is a great source of knowledge and inspiration when it comes to wire jewellery design and it seems that is not all she can do....I thought it would interesting to see how Kay arrived at wire, what her influences are and where her creative flare comes from. So I asked her to write a bit of biography for me and I think you will enjoy reading it... :)
Kay work can be found at:
https://www.facebook.com/knartistry/
and
http://knartistry.com/
I urge you to have a look at her website and follow her on Facebook too!
Kay Newman Artistry
Me and creativity
When Tabs asked me to write a bit about myself and how my creative journey ended up with a passion for bending wire, I had to go back quite a long way!
My mum taught me to knit when I was probably around 5 or 6. Basic knitting soon became boring and I taught myself various different patterns and I developed a love of Aaron knitting. I then saw a friend learning to crochet – this looked a lot of fun too, so again, of to the little handicraft shop in the village for crochet hooks and wool. After many struggles I made myself a dress!! I remember it well, I was about 10. It was florescent pink.
Not long after, when I was in the middle of making my sister a similar (smaller) version, in a far more tasteful peach, I came home to find my mother talking to a strange man. Transpires he was a reporter and photographer from the local newspaper. I was then bundled off to get attired in said fluorescent pink dress, trooped out into the garden, plonked into a blue wicker chair, and made to grin inanely at the camera whilst pretending to continue to crochet the dress I was making for my sister.
At the time I had a rather dodgy ‘layered elfin’ hair cut complemented by Dame Edna Everidge style winged glasses. (Oh the joy of having a mother ‘who knew best’). The picture appeared in the local paper under the heading ‘Handy Kay crochets her own mini dress’. The humiliation when I went to school. I think I am still mentally scarred. I soon moved on to making crochet doilies, there was no way I could be photographed wearing them. Or at least if I was the pictures would never make the local paper.
The only saving grace is that it is so long ago the picture is not available on the internet. I know, I have searched extensively to make sure.
When Tabs asked me to write a bit about myself and how my creative journey ended up with a passion for bending wire, I had to go back quite a long way!
My mum taught me to knit when I was probably around 5 or 6. Basic knitting soon became boring and I taught myself various different patterns and I developed a love of Aaron knitting. I then saw a friend learning to crochet – this looked a lot of fun too, so again, of to the little handicraft shop in the village for crochet hooks and wool. After many struggles I made myself a dress!! I remember it well, I was about 10. It was florescent pink.
Not long after, when I was in the middle of making my sister a similar (smaller) version, in a far more tasteful peach, I came home to find my mother talking to a strange man. Transpires he was a reporter and photographer from the local newspaper. I was then bundled off to get attired in said fluorescent pink dress, trooped out into the garden, plonked into a blue wicker chair, and made to grin inanely at the camera whilst pretending to continue to crochet the dress I was making for my sister.
At the time I had a rather dodgy ‘layered elfin’ hair cut complemented by Dame Edna Everidge style winged glasses. (Oh the joy of having a mother ‘who knew best’). The picture appeared in the local paper under the heading ‘Handy Kay crochets her own mini dress’. The humiliation when I went to school. I think I am still mentally scarred. I soon moved on to making crochet doilies, there was no way I could be photographed wearing them. Or at least if I was the pictures would never make the local paper.
The only saving grace is that it is so long ago the picture is not available on the internet. I know, I have searched extensively to make sure.
It was around this time, whilst still sporting the unique haircut and mark II of the Dame Edna’s that I discovered ROCKS!!!! A trip to the Blue John Caverns in Derbyshire and a browse in the gift shop and I found lots of pretties! Not too much of a selection, but tigers’ eye – all the play of light on the colours! And I could stroke and touch them! (OK, my secrets out – I stroke stones – even smoothed pebbles from the seashore, they are just so tactile.) My father subscribed my to some publication about rocks – I just loved the shapes and colours. In addition, after many hours in his workshop my father produced a tumbling machine for me. We bought the proper grit and a barrel and eight weeks later I stared at a rather motley selection of polished pebbles. Nothing like the pictures in the magazines (my rocks having been collected on a holiday to Cornwall).
Undaunted, I saved pocket money and when possible slowly added to my rock collection. Some of the smaller tumbled stones became jewellery – stuck with large dobs of Araldite Epoxy to stainless steel findings. A few of these still lurk in one of my ‘treasures from my childhood’ boxes!! I continues to yearn for a proper ‘cabochon’ and to be able to cut my own cabochons became a dream – which still remains unfulfilled today. I use this childhood denial as justification for my current cabochon collecting passion.
Undaunted, I saved pocket money and when possible slowly added to my rock collection. Some of the smaller tumbled stones became jewellery – stuck with large dobs of Araldite Epoxy to stainless steel findings. A few of these still lurk in one of my ‘treasures from my childhood’ boxes!! I continues to yearn for a proper ‘cabochon’ and to be able to cut my own cabochons became a dream – which still remains unfulfilled today. I use this childhood denial as justification for my current cabochon collecting passion.
I also loved cross stitch and embroidery. I am sure some of us remember the cross stitch canvas and wools, making all the different stitch variations to complete a table mat to take home as a Christmas present for some unsuspecting relative.
During my early teens I also learnt dressmaking. A new side line which actually earned me money emerged. My older brother and all his friends had their Oxford Bag trousers, but then they wanted them shortened, sort of Bay City Roller style. I could manage that! And embroidering names such as ‘Stu’, ‘Nam’ and ‘Col’ onto the patch pockets on the trousers. Sadly this phase with my brother soon passed, and my source of income dried up.
I continued to make all sorts of creations – a huge textured picture with embroidery, sequins, netting and various. Plenty of knitted jumpers – a real favourite was a jumper with the De Kuyper Cherry Brandy logo knitted across the front.
Meeting my first husband was pure joy – his mother owned a knitting wool shop!! I could drool over all the different colours and textures of wool that she had and manged to produce quite an array of large and fluffy jumpers. (That being my wool of choice at the time.)
Marriage and the birth of my daughter followed, and now I had time to indulge in more knitting and dress making. I loved making baby clothes, and in particular the dainty little matinee coats. Unfortunately divorce and being a single parent restricted the creative output to making my work clothes, which was more a cost saving than creative venture.
As my daughter grew up I had a partner in crime. We loved making together! By this time I was living in Southampton, and very nearby was a new shop HobbyCraft! Oh heaven! We could spend an afternoon in the shop, and come home with a whole load of stuff to start a new creative journey. I remember one Christmas when everyone got either a silk painted scarf or tie! We tried Fimo modelling clay, decoupage, papier mâché painting, I really can’t remember them all.
A move to London, commuting and house renovation rather stalled my creative streak. My daughter discovered boys and went to university. Two cats also put paid to any attempts to resume knitting. I still had the little flame of creativity burning, and after a diving trip in the Red Sea I bought a digital SLR camera and underwater housing. Absolutely no idea what I was doing but plenty of camera magazines later I was getting the hang of it. Later on I even won a couple of awards for my underwater pictures.
During my early teens I also learnt dressmaking. A new side line which actually earned me money emerged. My older brother and all his friends had their Oxford Bag trousers, but then they wanted them shortened, sort of Bay City Roller style. I could manage that! And embroidering names such as ‘Stu’, ‘Nam’ and ‘Col’ onto the patch pockets on the trousers. Sadly this phase with my brother soon passed, and my source of income dried up.
I continued to make all sorts of creations – a huge textured picture with embroidery, sequins, netting and various. Plenty of knitted jumpers – a real favourite was a jumper with the De Kuyper Cherry Brandy logo knitted across the front.
Meeting my first husband was pure joy – his mother owned a knitting wool shop!! I could drool over all the different colours and textures of wool that she had and manged to produce quite an array of large and fluffy jumpers. (That being my wool of choice at the time.)
Marriage and the birth of my daughter followed, and now I had time to indulge in more knitting and dress making. I loved making baby clothes, and in particular the dainty little matinee coats. Unfortunately divorce and being a single parent restricted the creative output to making my work clothes, which was more a cost saving than creative venture.
As my daughter grew up I had a partner in crime. We loved making together! By this time I was living in Southampton, and very nearby was a new shop HobbyCraft! Oh heaven! We could spend an afternoon in the shop, and come home with a whole load of stuff to start a new creative journey. I remember one Christmas when everyone got either a silk painted scarf or tie! We tried Fimo modelling clay, decoupage, papier mâché painting, I really can’t remember them all.
A move to London, commuting and house renovation rather stalled my creative streak. My daughter discovered boys and went to university. Two cats also put paid to any attempts to resume knitting. I still had the little flame of creativity burning, and after a diving trip in the Red Sea I bought a digital SLR camera and underwater housing. Absolutely no idea what I was doing but plenty of camera magazines later I was getting the hang of it. Later on I even won a couple of awards for my underwater pictures.
Then, just over four years ago I was made redundant. Sadly no massive redundancy payment resulted, but, thanks to my wonderful partner we managed to readjust, and I started working for myself in a ‘consultancy’ capacity. Sounds very posh, but it pretty much involves sitting at a computer screen all day and swearing about legislation.
I then started thinking long term. I didn’t believe that the work I was doing would be full time, so I needed something else to do. Thank goodness for the internet. I stumbled across metal clay, and did a one day course about a month before Christmas. I loved it! And then spent a ridiculous amount of time making a pair of cufflinks for my partner and a pendant for my daughter for Christmas. Even my tiny brain worked out that this would not be a cost effective business venture, and I needed something that allowed my re found creativity to continue without bankrupting me. Back to the Jewellery School website and I started looking at wire wrapping. “Ooooh!” I thought - that looks interesting!! I bought a book about wrapping and Amazon in its continuing desire to generate more purchases recommended Weaving Freeform Wire Jewellery by Kaskia Firor. Oh the elation, the drool on the pages as I absorbed every bit of information about making this amazing jewellery.
Then I turned to Google and found Nicole Hanna. I was hooked. The detail in the weave, the bend and curve of the wire!! I could not wait for my Next Day delivery of craft wire to arrive! My wire fixation was born. I would sit at the computer and try to work, and the next thing, as if by magic, a new tutorial from Nicole would appear on the screen and my hands would be working with wire, keyboard pushed to one side.
Mass production of pendants from Nicole’s tutorials then commenced. I couldn’t get enough of working with wire! Instinctively I seemed to manage to get the weaves nice and even. Construction was a different matter, and there were a number of tantrums and scrunched up pieces of wire along the way.
I then started thinking long term. I didn’t believe that the work I was doing would be full time, so I needed something else to do. Thank goodness for the internet. I stumbled across metal clay, and did a one day course about a month before Christmas. I loved it! And then spent a ridiculous amount of time making a pair of cufflinks for my partner and a pendant for my daughter for Christmas. Even my tiny brain worked out that this would not be a cost effective business venture, and I needed something that allowed my re found creativity to continue without bankrupting me. Back to the Jewellery School website and I started looking at wire wrapping. “Ooooh!” I thought - that looks interesting!! I bought a book about wrapping and Amazon in its continuing desire to generate more purchases recommended Weaving Freeform Wire Jewellery by Kaskia Firor. Oh the elation, the drool on the pages as I absorbed every bit of information about making this amazing jewellery.
Then I turned to Google and found Nicole Hanna. I was hooked. The detail in the weave, the bend and curve of the wire!! I could not wait for my Next Day delivery of craft wire to arrive! My wire fixation was born. I would sit at the computer and try to work, and the next thing, as if by magic, a new tutorial from Nicole would appear on the screen and my hands would be working with wire, keyboard pushed to one side.
Mass production of pendants from Nicole’s tutorials then commenced. I couldn’t get enough of working with wire! Instinctively I seemed to manage to get the weaves nice and even. Construction was a different matter, and there were a number of tantrums and scrunched up pieces of wire along the way.
After amassing a sizeable collection of beads I turned to cabochons. Oh dear. Pretty stones – all my childhood memories of beautiful polished stones came flooding back. I needed to know how to set these in wire! More internet searching and I came across ‘Lonely soldier Designs’. And I could do a one to one course! Having the patience of a stretched Mars Bar (a saying of my nearest and dearest), I plagued Tabs during retreat week to get a date in the diary. The sooner the better!
My three days with Jim were a revelation, so many new techniques and ideas. I came away with a pendant that was so heavy it would double up as a club! From this course I started working on developing my own ways to wrap cabochons in woven wire. Every time I made a pendant I tried a new variation. I tried different wires. I learnt that bronze wire is pretty but like stainless steel wire you will get blisters working with it. I learnt that sterling silver is to be avoided at all costs when weaving, but essential for creating soldered frames that won’t bend when you breath on them.
My three days with Jim were a revelation, so many new techniques and ideas. I came away with a pendant that was so heavy it would double up as a club! From this course I started working on developing my own ways to wrap cabochons in woven wire. Every time I made a pendant I tried a new variation. I tried different wires. I learnt that bronze wire is pretty but like stainless steel wire you will get blisters working with it. I learnt that sterling silver is to be avoided at all costs when weaving, but essential for creating soldered frames that won’t bend when you breath on them.
With a lot of encouragement from my nearest and dearest, I set up an Etsy shop and after selling a few of pieces got involved with a couple of Facebook groups and sold more pieces. Almost by accident I discovered that people in the USA have a real love and appreciation of wire work. I was starting to get people liking my work so, after my business FB page was set up, I decided that I needed my own website. Thank you Amazon for the snappily and erroneously titled ‘Build you own website using Wordpress in a Weekend’. Weekend? A month of Sundays would be nearer the mark. But I persevered, swore a lot more at my computer and eventually managed a store I was relatively happy with. I am proud to say that it is all my own work, and I can amend it whenever I like.
I have since rebranded, and reworked my website, photographed and designed my own business cards and supporting documentation. The only thing I did do was to get a logo designed for me, which I then ‘tweaked’ in Photoshop because I wasn’t totally happy with it. I have spent a ridiculous amount of time on the internet and at my computer but I have a vision of what I want to do in the future and where I want to be. My journey will have detours, and progress will be erratic. After six months of referrals and ridiculous quotes, my workshop is still a concrete slab with one layer of bricks. It will happen though, when the time is right. I haven’t lost sight of my end goal, which is to be able to share my love or wire work with others through teaching and selling jewellery. One day I might even write a tutorial.
In my short wire journey I have had the immense pleasure of meeting the lady (Nicole Hanna) who I hold totally responsible for being the cause of my wire weaving addiction, and I learnt even more during the course I attended when she came over to the UK. I have created pendants with the incredible designer, Imnium (Ivona Pšak) who is another amazing lady. Ivona is the person who introduced me to the idea of combining silver smithing and wire weaving. The final big influence in my work is Iza Maczyk. Iza is another awesome teacher who has created her own unique style of wire layering. I have been incredibly fortunate to have attended a course and been to the Glastonbury Wire Studio retreat where she was teaching.
The most important thing that I have learnt is that I am not alone! There are so many amazing people who will get out the wire and pliers and start making, just for the sheer pleasure of creating something totally unique and beautiful. Thank you to all of you who share your work to inspire others, and thank you to those that take the time to comment on the jewellery that I post on Facebook and occasionally Instagram - it makes my day.
I have since rebranded, and reworked my website, photographed and designed my own business cards and supporting documentation. The only thing I did do was to get a logo designed for me, which I then ‘tweaked’ in Photoshop because I wasn’t totally happy with it. I have spent a ridiculous amount of time on the internet and at my computer but I have a vision of what I want to do in the future and where I want to be. My journey will have detours, and progress will be erratic. After six months of referrals and ridiculous quotes, my workshop is still a concrete slab with one layer of bricks. It will happen though, when the time is right. I haven’t lost sight of my end goal, which is to be able to share my love or wire work with others through teaching and selling jewellery. One day I might even write a tutorial.
In my short wire journey I have had the immense pleasure of meeting the lady (Nicole Hanna) who I hold totally responsible for being the cause of my wire weaving addiction, and I learnt even more during the course I attended when she came over to the UK. I have created pendants with the incredible designer, Imnium (Ivona Pšak) who is another amazing lady. Ivona is the person who introduced me to the idea of combining silver smithing and wire weaving. The final big influence in my work is Iza Maczyk. Iza is another awesome teacher who has created her own unique style of wire layering. I have been incredibly fortunate to have attended a course and been to the Glastonbury Wire Studio retreat where she was teaching.
The most important thing that I have learnt is that I am not alone! There are so many amazing people who will get out the wire and pliers and start making, just for the sheer pleasure of creating something totally unique and beautiful. Thank you to all of you who share your work to inspire others, and thank you to those that take the time to comment on the jewellery that I post on Facebook and occasionally Instagram - it makes my day.
Thank you Kay for your candid biography and sharing your journey to wire with us. We at the Studio are always humbled by the support we receive from our students and we will be sharing more success stories in the future.