Look, see, here we are.......

Once again, its been awhile.

I admit it.
I'm a maker, not a writer.
There, I've said it.

As I don't (yet) have a website, I figured Id keep a blog for people to come have a look see, see what I'm about,  check me out. Which is why I decided to start this in the first place, but alas, I'm not much good at keeping you informed and remain as aloof in blog-land as I do in real life.

I went so far as to put the blog address on my swing tags and business cards and feel like I'm totally letting team RedPeg down by not being a more active blogger.

I'm not making any promises, but I'm really going to try........... Lets say, one post a month. Try to get a rhythm happening and hopefully surprise us all with maybe even two a month........we'll see.

So, Im going to ease my way in with a pictorial post of all the going on since last we caught up......

Here goes.

Had a little workshop at The Peg.
Stamping, texturing and mark making on metal.
We played with copper, aluminium and brass.
Fun!
Something Id like to do more of.

Got a little feature in the southcoaststyle magazine.
Check it out.
"Today in a workplace that would be quite at home in one of those tiny lanes of Paris or London, Gabrielle fashions her jewellery right in front of those who visit this unusual little space".
"A sense of intimacy and adventure".
You'll have to buy a copy to read the rest........

Add caption

I love working with people to create something new out of their old pieces of jewellery.
Here I refashioned a a wedding band into a solid gold lucky lump charm.

It started with the lucky lumps and turned into a mad desire to make little silver balls which in turn resulted in a new series of works, titled "Organica" here are a few pieces from the new series.
Anyone that follows me on Instagram will probably say, enough with the silver balls already.

Oh, the possibilities, I think Ill be going with these for a while yet.......

"Organica"

"Organica"

"Organica"

"Organica"

Well, this is where I love to be.
Best get back to it.....
Till next time........

But I'm RedPeg!

People often ask me how I came about the name RedPeg.
Well, here it is,
It was during the very early stages of my transition from Sculpture to Jewellery,
I was running a little cafe and the owner wanted to revamp the place, give it a new name, a new style.
He asked me to come up with something.
I played around with a few ideas......
It was always going to have Red in it. Anyone who knows me, knows I love Red.

Some early logo designs.

I was scribbling lots of different things in my note book and sketched a peg, a normal old clothes peg. I coloured it red.
Thats it!!
RedPeg!

I even came up with a bit of a gimmick in the lead up to the cafe's official opening by sneaking up on people and pegging them.
Attaching a peg in passing, that they'd find later, when they got home or when someone said, "hey you've got a peg on your back". Surprising them and leaving them wondering how it got there.
The pegs were dyed red and stamped with the words, "RedPeg you've been pegged"
A slogan I still use today!
While this random pegging was happening around town a huge Red Peg had been installed on the facade of the building and the red fit-out was happening inside.
People were anxious to know what the RedPeg was and when it was opening.

RedPeg cafe turned out to be a pretty short lived affair, while I did have a number or loyal regular coffee drinking customers the owner wanted to move on to another project and sold the premises to another young starry eyed couple. So, down came the Big Red Peg.

A write up in the local dining guide.

I took it home and we attached it to the external wall of our house, right outside my studio.
My Eco friendly studio............You can see where this is going, right..?
My RedPeg Eco Studio.

You can just see her poking out the top of my Sunflowers.
My studio is the window to the left.

So that's pretty well it.
I love Red and I'm fond of Pegs, simple, aesthetic, timeless,  little objects that they are.
Also, I should tell you that a peg in jewellery terms is  a small wooden extension that clamps on your work bench to make it easier for you to saw and drill on.......
Here are some examples, Jewellery pegs on Pinterest
It has been said, you can tell alot about a jeweller from their bench peg......

So anyway, what I really wanted to ask you dear readers is, what do you think of the name,
RedPeg Eco Studio?
Im looking at turning this hobby of mine into a "proper" business, which means registering my name officially as  a business and all the other whohaa, that goes with being a business. Yay, tax stuff. Fun!
Ive been thinking for a while to drop the 'Eco' bit.
Yes, I use eco friendly work practices and only recycled silver, but does that need to be in my title?
Its more of a descriptive word that I'd use to describe my work, in say a blurb or promo, I think.

My idea is to drop the Eco and say Jewellery.
RedPeg Jewellery Studio.
What do you think?
I'd like to keep the word 'Studio', as I'm always going to be working out of said space and first and foremost, that really is what I am, a studio based jewellery maker. (cant quite call myself jeweller, because  really I am still a sculptor who makes jewellery).


Honestly, the reason for this post came about over the weekend.
I was completely taken aback while searching RedPeg in my facebook feed, to find that there is, in fact another RedPeg Jewellery page.

I wonder how this person came up with the name RedPeg???

This is her present resting spot.
Shop 3/104 Carp street, Bega.
Pop in if you are ever in the area.

RedPeg's going's on.

Time gets away from me and I find I've neglected this little old blog once again.
When I do think about how I should log on and update this little guy, I'm stumped as to what I should say.

I've just been ticking along, working in the Studio-Gallery, submitting market proposals for the upcoming Christmas markets, crafting and sending off new works to my galleries and stockist as well as sending off contact sheets to potential new stockists and suppliers.
Quite busy really.

My social media presence is mainly through Instagram these days, its all the lovely photos. What do they say, A photo speaks a thousand words.............Its true, Im favouring Instagram over facebook and its definitely the visual stimulation, Im dazzled by all the pretty pictures.
For those of you who don't use instagram I thought Id share some of my photos for you here.......For those of you who do, please come and follow me and keep up with all the RedPeg goings on.

At the Studio:

The Gallery window installation for the month is suspended snooker balls.

The feature wall for the month is "Plastique Fantastique"

This is a relatively new addition.
This is what my visitors sit on, a round backed three legged chair.

And then this happened.
A 2am call from the police is never fun.

Nothing stolen, just an inebriated fool fighting with my plate glass window.
 Maybe his reflection annoyed him....? 

Not sure Ill ever get all the glass out of the carpet.

 At the workbench:

Been playing with some new hook designs.
 These guys have got the dangle without fear of losing them with the self closing backs.

And some more.

Native Plant pressed Bangles.

Not much of a Blog post, I know.
But, hopefully the language of my images speak to you in some way.

Til next time.............

From this............To this.

Just a quick visual post of how some old broken chain can become transformed into something wearable again.
I love recycling and I love working with old broken jewellery and turning it into something new that can be loved and worn again.

Old broken sterling silver chain.

I had to divvy it up into two equal weights so the earrings would be the same size.

Starting the melting process.

Melting, melting, melting.

Looking good. The chain has liquefied into a red hot silver blob. 

Once cooled the blobs are flattened with the hammer.

The flattened blobs are passed through the rolling mill with some textured paper.

Wire is soldered on the back for the earrings.

Ready to go into the tumbler for a good clean and polish and to harden the metal back up.

Out of the tumbler and the wires are cut down to size.

Cute, hey!

Stamped with the redpeg makers mark and the 925 silver mark.

Butterfly backed and ready to wear.

Once again.
I LOVE my job!!

Opinions Please!!

I got a bit carried away this week photographing some pieces for a lookbook for a market that Im really keen on getting accepted into.
The photos are really just quick snaps taken on my ipad, so probably not the greatest quality but the vision is there. You'll see in a sec......

Im a lover of nature and depicting my pieces in nature has all ways been a thing I've done, taking them out of context, not showing them on the body but in the environment. As sculptures rather than jewellery.

This time I went with the crisp white background and my signature rosehips.
I was really pleased with them, but when I showed hubby he said, "No, its too distracting. You cant photograph jewellery like that".
He is of the sense that jewellery needs to be photographed on its own with just a white or black background.

Maybe he is right in that they are not appropriate for examples of my work to be sent off with my market submission but I reckon they will be good for something else......Maybe posters or a banner for my market stall or for some other form of advertising.......?

So I put it to you dear readers, what do you think???
Do you think its too distracting? Too out of context? Too hard to tell the size of the work? Too arty?
Please let me have it. Either here or on facebook. I'm keen to know your thoughts!

Special things for others.

Since opening the peg and being more accessible to the general public, I've had quite a few odd requests.....
Most recently  I had a lady standing at the door, not wanting to come all the way in and  calling out from where she stood, "have you got a screen?"
"A screen?" I said
"Yes, a screen....... A screen to partition off a room"
"Hmmmh. No, I don't sell screens."

I have an old Bakelite radio that I listen to the conversation hour on every morning that I could of sold 5 times over, and my vintage birdcage prop, I use in the window has garnered heaps of interest too.
"Hey love, what do ya want for the cage?"
I've recently moved the cage and had a lady tell me today she was glad it was gone, she couldnt stand the thought of that poor bird left in there all day................Weird cos I only ever had necklaces hanging in there, never a bird.

But most of all, I've had crazy request in the wearable art field, which are the kind of request I relish. You saw my hair basket in the last post, yeah?  (I made-this-crazy-thing)

I had a  man enquire about a brooch for his wife. He wanted a scene in sterling silver depicted a grey mare satnding on the White Cliffs of Dover  with its mane and tail blowing in the wind....... She had one the same and had lost it and he wanted to surprise her with a replacement.  I loved the idea and was keen to help him out but his ideas were most definite and he wanted basically an exact replica of the one she'd lost, with no room for my artistic interpretation at all. So unfortunately I had to decline that one.

But, I had the most wonderful experience of making a gorgeous brooch with some scrap silver jewellery sent to me by one of my most favourite people.
The post-pack contained an old pair of moonstone earrings  and an old sterling silver spoon and the brief was that she likes the brooches of  Margaret-de-patta.
I got all excited and forgot to take photos of the process and the goings on along the way.
But here is a photo of the finished piece...............

Actually its not quite finished.
You'll notice I haven't sharpened the pin.

This is a kooky one.
A wisdom tooth that the customer wanted a  claw clasp on so she can dangle it from her ear.......

She picked it up yesterday and put it straight on her ear, and it looks great!


I've had loads of restorations and fix-em-ups from Vintage sterling silver pieces to Indian and Afghan silver.
Here is a pic of a few things I spent today working on and fixing.

How gorgeous are these bits and bobs.
All fixed and wearable again, ready to be loved instead of lying broken in an old jewellery box.


Yep! I've got the best job in the world!