We had Tunnocks Caramel Wafers and lashings of Tea and gossiped for ages (who knew Howard and Jean would share a love of 1970's wrestlers!). The "Brick and Bean" folk are also avid collectors and Jean makes amazing little collection cases full of teeny models of all kinds of stuff...Noddy, ET, Tiny Model Toys, and puppets...even a Pee Wee Herman puppet!
Visiting Nick and Jeans fabulous home you can see where they get all their inspiration from! After a Spicy Bean Soup lunch (Jeans a fab cook) we pootled off to the workshop...
Above is a picture of one of Nicks "Love is in the Air" Lockets....I just adore this piece, all the tiny detail and the little mouse is sooooo cute! One of the things I find particularly appealing on Nicks work is the lovely crisp text he does, and yesterday he showed me how he does it. Fabulous!
Nick and Jean both got to have a play with something new too :) I took some silver clay, my ultralight kiln, UV light and photo-polymer plates. I also took some dried unfired blanks so we could try his carving techniques on them....
A jolly good time was had by all, especially Howard who popped to the pub and spent much of the afternoon drinking beer with some locals (one guest ale was called "The Foxes Knob", ooh err missus!) 
Nick made loads of stuff with the Silver Clay and got a good feel for some of it's potential, but Jean missed out a little (as she was knocking up one of the most delicious Bolognaises we've had in ages!)
Just before dinner we made enough time to make one photo-polymer plate. (Hmmm talented artists combined with create your own plates and stamping machines....wonder what was so exciting, lol). 
All in all when we returned home, full of scrummy grub and pleasant memories, we were very happy Callows indeed (especially as Nick gifted me the PMC ring he'd been test carving).
My new Finger Art says...."Trust the Man 'cause He's the Man in the Moon" with a Moon Man, Moon, Stars and twisty turny text. Even playing with a new medium Nicks creations are just perfik!
You can see more of Nick and his creations on the Nick Hubbard Website and you can buy them from Murano Silvers Online Shop too!
Nic x
9 comments:
Sounds like a wondierful day, playing and eating.
Your ring is just lovely, especially when made by the man himself.
Hi! I just realised this might mean you've sorted out your engraving wants & needs....is it you selling an engraving machine via benchpeg? sounds like you've figured out how to get the look you want. I'd love an engraving machine and have been looking at them for a while, but unfortunately it's too expensive for me at the moment...
Kathryn it was a super dooper day & the Hubbards are Awesome folk!
I'm wearing the ring now, as my personal "Man in the Moon" is definitely Hubby Howard.
Machi - Yep this is the way I'm going, more labour intensive than "flicking a switch" but more rewarding for me.
Yes that was my machine on Benchpeg (but I've got a buyer now who will hopefully be picking the machine up next weekend).
I'll be using the proceeds to kit myself out for Hand Engraving.
Nic x
Is all his text done by engraving then? His works is great. Lvoe the ring too x
Yes when Nick makes his "Master" he engraves the text himself. He's sooooo bloomin talented.
Jean (his wife) is the same, she makes tiny charms that are just to die for!
Nic x
i would really love to learn about the carving technique - will you please share with me? thanks. :)
clay you can carve into it really easily... Nick was "playing" and he came up with the man in the moon ring. Basically any sharp tool will carve into unfired silver clay.
in this case it was a combo of gravers and tiny burrs in a flex shaft.
nic x
so, just basically scratching into dry clay?
More carving (sharp v tools with a burr to deepen the impression). Tiny woodworking tools would work
nic x
Post a Comment