Thursday, May 01, 2008

out of the frying pan and boned in the ass with a red hot poker

why do i only think to post here when life sucks?

Anyway, life sucks. Not in a calamitous 'oh my goddess its all over' kind of way, just in a 'oh crap, here we go' kind of way.

firstly on monday we (that is myself and the rest of the students in my jewellery course) found out that the Diploma course (being the second year of this two year course I'm doing and the year where we learn how to actually apply our skills to the business world) runs out of national accreditation at the end of this year. Which wouldn't be a drama except that the institution that runs the course has decided that they don't want to spend the time, money or resources devising a new curriculum to be accredited. The upshot of this is that there will be no diploma course for not only jewellery-making, but for woodworking, printmaking, photography or ceramics, hence none of us learning the first year stuff will be qualified to be anything but hobbyists, and will not even have the basic requirements for moving into the industry for which we are studying. We are not impressed.
We, the students, are meeting with the department head early next week to get the full story, after which we will decide on which avenues are open to us including writing to ministers, petitions and gaining public exposure through the local media, as well as industry back-up. When I have more info it will be on here. Any support would be welcome. Help us fight the power to defend our right to education!!

As if this news wasn't enough of a bummer, I found out today that my boss is retiring. They haven't managed to find a buyer for the business so we are closing down at the end of July. Hence I am out of a job. I have time to find something else, but I'm really stumped as to what to look for. After working in this place I'm not entirely convinced that retail jewellery is my choice for a career, but neither am i really excited about returning to something like Wankworths. I'd really like to maybe start turning this jewellery-making gig into a real business, but I don't have the capital. 'Tis a conundrum.

Speaking of this jewellery-making gig, my first 2 pieces for the Swarovski Crystal Park design competition for this year are completed. I have a couple of pics here to show them off, but they will be modelled by my ghenkis' sister, the gorgeous kay-kat.

the first pic is of a crown I've been working on for months. It is made from copper wire and features amethyst swarovski bicones, a large snowflake drop and 2 baroque drops.

This second one is a vintage-style choker made from hand-wound and hand-sawn copper jumprings to which i applied a patina to give the antique look. they're assembled in a modified byzantine weave and interspersed with swarovski pearls in cream, faceted rounds in garnet and topaz bicones with smoky topaz baroque drops. there's a gold swarvoski flat back in the pendant (which was bought). The lace is gorgeous i think!


In more jewellery related news, I'm heading to meeting of a co-operative business venture on tuesday night to see if they like my stuff and will allow me to become part of their group. the commitment is a modest financial one and one day a week minding the store and in return i get 2 whole cabinets to myself! If I get in it will be a significant investment on my part as they specialise in silver and silver prices are currently going up faster than gold was several months ago! Gold is coming back down a little though, which is cool because I have a big project in mind using gold. that, however will have to wait for a while.

Anyway, I've vented and updated enough I think. wish me luck with the activism and job seeking and co-op joining! Next update I will include contact details for people that, should you feel so moved, may be written an angry letter in response to my training provider choosing not to provide training! Stay happy ya'll!