Inside the Peg.

Finally, I've found time to sit down and show you inside what has affectionately become known as,
"The Peg".

Next week will be my 6th week of the studio-shop front.
While I can say it has been great it has also been a bit daunting, that whole thing of having myself on display.
Normally I'd send my stuff off to other galleries and shops and can remain quite anonymous, and let the work speak for itself, but with The Peg its all me,me,me.  Me being the maker AND the seller.
At the moment it is solely my work on show, although in the next few months I really hope to have small showings of other peoples work too. The space is quite small, I like to say 'intimate', and really lends itself to small scale works and small showing, I think.

The space is working well as a studio-gallery and often people are peering in from the outside watching me work, not sure weather to come in when I'm wielding my gas torch or grinding back some metals or stones.
It can be noisy and has been likened to the sounds coming from the dentist, which is understandable as a lot of my tools, burrs and grinders are the same as the dentist uses. Anyone need a filling? Sterling silver? Its all recycled!?
Other people though, come right in and ask a thousand questions and want to look at everything, not just the work on show but all my tools and anvils and jewellery making gadgets.

It really has been a wonderful time, Ive met some great people who I would never have met working from my home studio, and I've been making consistent sales and producing a lot more work and have even come up with some awesome new designs.

Here is a look inside The Peg...........

Hello over there!
This is the great facade I mentioned last time.
See the double doors next to my shop?
They lead up the big stair case into the 200 seat mezzanine of the old picture theater.
All still in its original state.

Open for business, come on in!

See my old roll-top desk, it works great as my counter.

This is my work bench, where all the drilling and polishing happens, the bench on left around the corner we purpose built to hold my rolling mill and to do my soldering on, up the far end, against the mini orb.

Cabinets full of jewellery and some of the leather purses too.
Leather bags are my Easter break mission. Stay tuned!

Proper Jewellery cabinets, complete with down lights.

This is a really lovely recessed in feature wall which really lends itself to a good display.
Showing off some of my wearable art pieces for the official opening!
And some gorgeous photos of my work by Eryca Green.

Opening night.
Fright night actually. I had to give a speech!! Oh my!

Opening night!
Yep, they are kingstons!
Whats a gallery opening without kingstons?

RedPeg Eco Studio AND GALLERY!!!

Its been a mad few weeks with the set up of my new open studio-Gallery space. Yay!
I don't know if you've heard of the  Renew Australia Organisation?
They are a new national social enterprise designed to incite community renewal and economic development in the arts and creative industries across Australia.
They work with communities and property owners to take otherwise empty shop spaces and commercial buildings and make them available to incubate by artists and creative projects.
The project has been picked up by the Bega Valley Shire Council and is called, "Renew The Valley".

I put in an application in November and received word just before Christmas that I had been successful and had been allocated a shop space.
Squee!! So exciting!

I received the keys 3weeks ago and set about painting and branding it to make it my own.
A few set backs along the way (see pics). But all going to plan the two little front doors will swing open to the public next week.

Here is a visual trip through the new space with another blog post to follow one I've opened.

This is the shop front as I saw it the day I was shown around by the Renew the Valley team.
Pretty lurid colours, but lots of potential.
The shop is actually apart of  what was the old cinema and has a gorgeous big old art deco exterior.
My shop was the snackbar!
Which reminds me, I must get a photo from across the street so you can see the whole building.

This was inside on the same day.
The old cinema is now a furniture warehouse and my space housed the orders to be delivered and picked up.
That's the owner of the shop you can see in the pic and the legs and toes of the Renew team.

Looks pretty dark in here.
Nothing a whole lot of white wont fix!

And the painting  begins.
Already it's looking much brighter, but definitely going to need a few coats.

From the front looking back in.
That door leads out to a little store room, kitchen.
Notice how high the ceiling is!

Everything came to a crashing holt when I fell off the ladder and banged up my foot.

I was laid up for days and unable to do much as my foot was so sore and swollen and bruised.

I hobbled out after the first day of painting but as I looked back, I was so happy with how the place was looking, it was really taking shape.

I had  a few days of rest and then we finished off the last of the painting. Me scooting around the floor doing the skirtings,  the lovely hubby braved the ladder this time.
We also shined back the copper window frames.
How good do they look?!?!

Painting done!
Now time for the signage.
My man is so clever!

And Clean too!
 We were worried because of the heritage listing we wouldn't be able to put the peg up but we  got the all clear from the landlord and hurray!
RedPeg is quite literally the RedPeg!

Here is a sneaky peek inside the doors
Got all my bits and pieces and tools and things moved in.
Now just need to begin work and find the rhythm in my new work space.

..............

You can find me at shop 3/104 Carp street.
Hope to see you there!

Heart of Gold.

Remember my blog about my friend giving me her lump of gold to play with?
You can refresh your memory here....Good as Gold.

She decided she'd like it made into a ring, she provided me with a sweet little gold wedding band and I ordered a small amount of gold solder in anticipation.

I was a little scared I must say, not sure about how much heat was gunna be too much heat and unsure if the gold band would melt before I'd got the flat disc top hot enough to solder one to the other.

Big sigh of relief!!
It was rather easy!!
All my anxieties were for nothing.
I worked that gold like a pro!

Here are some pics of the process.

Heating up the bits.....

More heating, heating, heating....

Ohh, look it's worked.

Looks good, just needs a clean.

A little Pickle bath.....Eco pickle of course. Vinegar and salt.
Should remove most of the black fire scale.

Had to get my little makers mark on there.
Spot the peg.

After a few hours in my tumbler spinning around with a drop of soap and a million little pieces of stainless steel shot that get into all the nooks and crannies, it's come up so shiny.....

And here she is in all her glory......


I think most people who see this ring will not believe it's gold, its been taken completely out of context in that its not dainty, its not precious and it doesn't come with diamonds!
It's solid, it's big, it's bold, i'ts chunky, it's unique.

For me, as a constantly learning and experimenting  jewellery maker, I'm so excited to have worked with some gold and dispelled my fears about it.
I'm hoping to actually buy a small amount of recycled gold from my metal merchants and add few gold pieces to the RedPeg repertoire......
Stay tuned!!

Jewels at dawn!

Im back!!

Been pretty slack on the blog front, I know. The market madness before Christmas and then Christmas and New Years and then just easing my way back into work mode and then this crazy heatwave, its been hectic, I tells ya!

I had great success with both the Undercurrent Design Market  and then the following week at Canberra Handmade Market. I well and truly sent out the RedPeg love and returned home with next to no stock left.
So I've been busy in the studio, in the early hours before the temps get too hot and I start to fry and the idea of sitting at the bench soldering gets overridden by trips to the beach for dips in the cool salty ocean.

I've had a few stockist request more specific work, which is always great, as it gets me thinking and experimenting and figuring out new techniques and ways to do things.

                                               
   Sterling Silver Rings with colour are go!!

Not being your average Stone setter, I had to devise another strategy to make Rings with gems, so after a few fails and a number of prototypes, the RedPeg Cocktail rings developed. Made with Sterling Silver and Reclaimed Resin beads. (actually in need of more resin beads if anyone has some lying about......)

I also have a stockist who wanted colour in her danglies, so I have been incorporating more beads and bobs into the impressed silver coin range, so not only do you get your gorgeous recycled sterling silver, but you get some spunky colour too.

My sister and Mum are mad bead collectors too, so when ever I go home, I raid the bead stashes and usually come out with a few beauties, how good are these orange and turquoise ones??!!??
They are about the size of  a chewing gum pellet and the most gorgeous colour combo!


Stay tuned, I'm madly making, trying to get all my stocks replenished at all my stockist, who have done an amazing job of selling my bits and are left with empty jewellery cabinets.
Christmas maybe over for another year but the desire to adorn the body is constant and the passion of my crafting never ceases, so although I may not have time to sit and type, these little hands are busy elsewhere and sooner or later will hit the keys here for a catch up...................
Also on the list is a restock of the Etsy shop, so keep a look out on Facebook for the heads up!

Can you guess????

I like to wander around in the yard and photograph my pieces for the etsy shop.
See if you can work out what the background for these 10 shots are.
You could win a prize!!

We do have a pretty eclectic mix of stuff in our yard, so some of these may be a bit difficult.......
Leave you answers here or over on facebook

Christmas here we come!

Busy busy busy in the RedPeg Studio.

Christmas pressies aplenty. Getting ready for December markets and also doing a big stock-top-up at all my outlets and Galleries in preparation for the gift giving season.


I posted off some work to a gorgeous shop in the Blue Mountains this week called Bespoke and Found. The shop is right up my alley in that its all about recycling, upcycling and handmade.
Sophie stocks jewellery, gifts, recycled fashion, art, homewares and much more.
Well worth a stop at Leura if your in that neck of the woods, I know I'll be dropping in as soon as I can.

A bit closer to home, I've also now got some work in Pambula, a cute little boutique called Eve.

Leather purses, get your leather purses here!

I've been carting these wonderful leather swatches around for a number of years now and decided it was time to get them out and start stitching.
I've made a few bags in the past but never really had a good sturdy design, I'd just fumble through and make everyone different from the next. While they were unique and I did a couple of custom orders I struggled to come up with a good design that I could just cut up and make with all the wonderful pieces of leather.

This week I thought I'd try purses.............

This is my lovely old Singer machine.
She plods along and stitches through the leather with ease.

A basket of scraps.
Nothing is wasted, this will all be incorporated into the bags......
Recycled to the very last!

I found my 'G' Stamp and got all stampy!

I've designed a style of purse-wallet, which is both practical and spunky and can be used by both men and women.

The purses are made up of two main compartments (coins and notes) and a middle section for credit cards, license etc.
There is even enough room to slip your mobile phone in too. 

This is my purse.
I've been using it all week, making sure it 'works'.
Good News! It does AND the lady at the post office said, "hey, nice wallet"!

Want to see more?
These little guys will be for sale at the Candelo markets on Sunday, as with the usual RedPeg jewels and the wonderful Pearl and Elspeth creations.

Stay tuned, the GabBag chunky leather shopper is next..............