Blog 16: Ring Sizing

Rings are beautiful pieces of jewellery that some of us wear every day. Buying a ring for yourself or as a gift is straightforward when you are able to visit the jeweller in person. They can take your exact measurements and make a ring accordingly. Buying a ring online may seem a bit more tricky. Below I will try to explain the what to do when you are unsure about your ring size but would like to order a ring online.

Most of us do not know our ring sizes. To complicate things, ring sizes differ for each of our fingers and the size of each finger is also affected my our body chemistry, temperature and may vary throughout the day.

So, what can you do to find out your ring size?

If you are unsure about your ring size, send me an email and I can send you a ring sizer in the post. You could also pop in to your local jeweller and ask for a ring fitting. Wrapping a strip of paper or string around the finger will unfortunately not yield accurate enough readings.

How to measure the finger size using the ring sizer:

  • When you receive the ring sizer in the post, it is best to take several measurements of the same finger during different times of the day. The fingers tend to swell when warm and become smaller when cold.

  • Slide the ring sizer onto your selected finger and tighten or enlarge it until it fits comfortably over the knuckles of the finger.

  • A slight resistance should be felt to slide it over your knuckle. The reading should be taken at the widest point - i.e. when it just sits on the knuckle.

  • Repeat this several times until you are sure that you have found the correct measurement and read the letter as shown on the pack.

International Ring Sizes

Ring sizing systems are unfortunately not standardised and different countries have their own ways of measuring ring sizes which not always exactly translate. In the attached table I give approximates conversion sizes. I use the British system of ring sizes, which uses the letters from A-Z.

Average Ring Sizes

Some ring sizes are more popular than others. For women these are the sizes between K-N, with size M being the most frequently bought. For men, average sizes are R-U, with size T being the most popular one.

Ring sizing in Person

Throughout the year I take part in several craft and design fairs in different parts of the country. It is always lovely to meet customers in person and if you are near one of these events, why not come along for a free ring fitting? If you would like to be notified when my next live event is, just subscribe to my mailing list which can be found at the bottom of every page on my website.

Buying a Ring as a Surprise

When a ring is bought as a gift and you do not know their ring size, ask perhaps a friend or relative if they know it. You could also take another ring the person wears on that particular finger and take a measurement. We need the widest inner diameter of the ring (see image). Be as precise as possible in your measurement.

More Questions?

If you have any more questions, why not just send me an email? Please click the link below. I’m also happy to chat via zoom if that suits better.

Blog 15: Necklace Lengths

For some of my new necklaces various chain lengths are available as each woman has a unique physique and her own preferences. In this short Blog post I will explain and show how each length differs so that you are able to make the right choice.

For all other one-off or limited edition necklaces, please see the individual item page which usually includes a model photograph to illustrate the length.

Available Chain lengths:

The photograph below shows the following available lengths (which include the clasp):

  • 16’’ (40 cm) – this is a short necklace for slender necks, which sits just above the collarbone

  • 18’’ (45 cm) – this necklace sits a little lower, just dangling over the neckline of a normal T-shirt

  • 20’’ (50 cm) – this length comfortably dangles over a T-shirt.

 
 
Blog 14: Cheltenham Craft Festival and Other News

This is a more ‘traditional’ blog, in which I’ll share some of my recent activities and news.

Next week, from 10-12th March 2023, I will be taking part in the Craft Festival at Cheltenham Town Hall. It will be my first time there and I am really looking forward to it. I have been busy making some new pieces and have worked a lot on my display, which I have been wanting to change for some time. Difficult to summarise, but probably best if I share photos of my stand when I am in Cheltenham.

On Thursday, 2nd March at 2pm I will also be chatting to Sarah James, Director of the Craft Festival, live on Instagram. To watch, log onto the Craft Festival page on Instagram at 2pm tomorrow.

In case you are near Cheltenham and would like to visit the next week, here are a few details and links:

 

Dates:

10-12th March 2023

Venue:

Cheltenham Town Hall, Cheltenham, GL50 1QA

Stand: 21

Opening times:

10-5pm Friday & Saturday

10-4pm Sunday

Tickets:

You can purchase tickets in advance by clicking this link. I also still have one free ticket to give away. To find out how to have a chance to win, please see my Instagram post of 28th February – it is super easy to enter.

Activities:

There will be lots on offer this weekend, including workshops, craft demonstrations, talks and activities for the whole family and children in particular. There will be a café on site and of course around 100 fantastic makers and their work. Click here for further details.

Exhibitors:

For a preview of all the 100 exhibitors, click here.

Below are some of the new pieces I shall be taking to the Craft Festival. There are not yet on the website but hopefully soon.

 

Other making news:

Teaching: In January a new teaching term started and the focus of my demonstrations this term is tool making – mainly how to make your own steel stamps or chasing tools and how to prepare a graver for engraving. I love teaching and enjoy the feedback from my students and the opportunity to learn myself.

For more information on the course I teach at Rachel Jeffrey Jewellery School, please click here. Rachel recently appeared as one of the mentors on the BBC1 programme Make it at Market (episodes 8 & 14). To watch please click this link here.

New Ideas: In the last few weeks my daughter and I have been watching many episodes on ancient Egypt and we are both fascinated by it. We went to the British Museum and saw the wonderful Hieroglyphs Exhibition as well as the Egyptian galleries. Needless to say, we bought various books and I am working on ideas for a new collection based on this. Below some of my favourites. The image on the far left stands out. It is a work-in-progress, still showing the lines drawn for the artist who was carving the symbols. An amazing communication across time!

Goldsmiths’ Fair: Influenced by the above, I made a new brooch as part of my application for Goldsmiths’ Fair in the autumn and we shall see if I am lucky this year.

 
 

Commissions: I have also been working on a number of commissions over the last few months and was very pleased with the results. It was lovely working through the ideas with the respective clients, to arrive at pieces which will hopefully give them joy for years to come.

Left to right: The first was an engagement ring in 18ct white and yellow SMO gold with two Canada Mark diamonds and a Fair Trade emerald. The second is a pair of 18ct yellow SMO gold earrings and the third a cuff in textured and recycled silver: Here are some images:

Environmental: My daughter’s school organised a litter pick last Saturday. It was amazing to see that so many families turned up and in just 1 ½ hours we collected 62 plastic bags of rubbish and recycling just from the local area! Though it was sad to see just how much and what people feel free to discard – it was also uplifting to hear all the positive and encouraging comments of passers-by.

For now, there is still plenty to organise for next week’s show. If you do come by, do say hello – I will be at Stand 21.

Take care,

Hendrike

Blog 13: Environmental Sustainability in the precious metal sector, Round-table discussion

I was invited by the Crafts Council to take part in a round-table discussion on the subject of environmental sustainability in the precious metal sector. I was very excited to have been invited and the meeting took place last week, 25th January 2023 in Birmingham at the STEAMhouse.

Image Credit: Jade Mellor

Participants:

The meeting had been organised as a direct result of the annual Crafts Council Maker Needs Survey (2021), in which 85% of makers expressed the wish for further guidance on being more environmentally sustainable in their business, with “a majority of respondents indicating environmental considerations are important to them.”

As such, various round table discussions were organised, each centring on a different discipline and these were to be held in 2022/23 with the results to be published in the spring of 2023.

For our meeting, Caroline had invited professionals with diverse areas of expertise in the precious metal industry to ensure a rich discussion and outcome. She had also circulated a number of questions to be discussed prior to the meeting.

These covered: our understanding of being ethical; what we were already doing in our business; the barriers in our way as well as our motivations for adopting an ethical stance in our work; how much we are influenced in our ethical approach by our customers; our vision for a more ethical future in our work as well as our needs to achieve said vision.

With some participants more knowledgeable in the field of sustainable and ethical practice than others, the round nevertheless provided a positive atmosphere of equality that allowed for the frank exchange of views and thoughts.

Whilst many issues were discussed, my personal favourite comments were:

  • Making the precious metal industries sustainable and ethical requires leadership.

  • This leadership should ideally come from industry and established institutions but in their absence, it is down to everyone to make a difference.

  • For this we need a clear set of values, encompassing, for example, equality, justice and a priority of the poor and environment over resources.

  • We not only need leadership, but also funding to enable change to take place; for research to be undertaken, these kind of talks to take place, etc.

  • We need existing organisations, institutions and individuals, who have already done pioneering work in this field, to cooperate, to share their findings and make them easily accessible to all in the field.

  • The biggest players in the industry, such as the Goldsmiths’ Company, need to become leaders in the field of ethical jewellery, but for that to happen it needs to become more open to change and to an increased inclusion of women.

I look forward to reading the summaries and findings of these discussions and am excited about what changes it may lead to in the future.

Hendrike













Blog 12: Looking Back and Ahead

I think many people agree that the end of the year is always a time to reflect on the past months and to make plans for the coming year. As a mother, teacher and independent business life is always busy, it never stops and it is easy to forget or only focus on the things that were difficult or didn’t go to plan.

So, as part of this review I wanted to use this last Blog of the year to go over the things that I am particularly proud of having achieved this year!

And of course, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your support this year - for reading my blogs, liking my posts and for purchasing my pieces! I wish you all well for the coming year: happiness, health and peace!

Blog

My monthly Blog was one of my biggest projects this year and one I am immensely proud of – proud because I actually did them! It wasn’t always easy to stick to my deadlines but I really enjoyed the research, writing and the opportunity to learn.

I wrote on a variety of subjects: some blogs were connected to my collection (e.g. Blogs 2 & 6), whilst others were more technical (e.g. Blogs 7-11). The technical blogs were definitely the more challenging and were written so as to expand my own knowledge on these subjects and of course to deepen my understanding on the environmental aspects. This often involved a sharp learning curve (thank you internet!), especially on anything related to chemistry – definitely not one of my favourite subjects at school.

I like to continue the blogs and look forward to seeing how they will evolve.

ACJ Meanings and Messages

The Association for Contemporary Jewellery (ACJ) celebrated its 25th anniversary this year and as part of these celebrations it had planned a touring exhibition with the title Meanings and Messages. The Association invited members to submit entries – brooches – with this title in mind. I was very fortunate that my entry, Elpis Brooch, was one those selected. When visiting the private view at its first venue I was overwhelmed by the imagination and breadth of interpretation of all the entries. I wrote a separate Blog about this exhibition which you can read here.

This show is still ongoing and will travel next to the Goldsmiths’ Centre in London where it will be shown from 9th January – 24th February 2023. The last venue will be at New Brewery Arts – 4 April – 18 June 2023.

Current Collection Interrupted Patterns

The above brooch was the starting point for my current collection, Interrupted Patterns, which I launched at the Craft Festival at Bovey Tracey in June, where it was very well received. The collection had started with reading Greek mythology, a visit to the ancient Greek collection at the British Museum and focussing on the use of patterns on these artefacts. Writing about it in my Blogs helped immensely to focus my thinking and I loved being able to share the background and design process of these pieces.

Craft Festival Bovey Tracey

The Craft Festival at Bovey Tracey is a well-established craft fair and it was my first time exhibiting my work there in June this year. Following the pandemic, it was also my first in-person show again and it was wonderful being able to re-connect directly with customers and fellow makers. I was really impressed with the organisation and quality of the show and look forward to being there again next year!

Teaching

During 2022 I have continued to teach a variety of classes at the jewellery school of Rachel Jeffrey in Wheathampstead. In my regular day-time classes I ran a term-long project on Found Materials and Cold Connections. This was a wonderful opportunity for my students (new and more experienced ones) to look at their various old - and often broken - pieces of jewellery and to re-design them or re-use some of their elements. In doing so, we looked at the many ways different materials can be joined without using heat.

In another term we focussed on learning various techniques of making chain – again, a very interesting course and very much enriched by the input of all the students. I also taught a number of one-day taster courses, as well as some weekend-long intensive courses, such as my Keum-Boo course.

Being a teacher challenges my conceptions of what I know and my aim is always to make students feel comfortable and enable them to further their knowledge. If you would like to take part in any of my classes, please get in touch with myself or with Rachel Jeffrey.

Commissions

During the latter part of the year it was lovely to receive a number of interesting commissions and it was wonderful being able to closely involve the clients in the design process.

If you would like to commission a piece, please do get in touch. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas and how we could explore them further together.

ACJ magazine Findings

In early December I was happily surprised to receive my copy of the ACJ magazine Findings and to find that some of my Kumihimo work was featured there. Kumihimo is an ancient Japanese silk braiding technique, originally used to make traditional Obi (belts) for Japanese kimono. I used this technique to create patterned silk braids and used them in various necklaces and brooches. Click here to find out more about this technique.

The focus of the Findings magazine was on textile techniques used by a variety of jewellery makers in their work. Thank you ACJ for including me!

Find a Maker and Made by Hand Online

Earlier in the year I applied to be included in these two online craft platforms and was very pleased to have been accepted. Both platforms represent and further the interests of selected makers. You can click to see me pages by clicking these links: Find a Maker and MadeByHandOnline

Next Year: 2023

Plans for next year are already well underway and I have accepted show offers on three exhibitions. The first two will be the Craft Festival at Cheltenham Town Hall from 10-12 March 2023 and the Craft Festival at Bovey Tracey, Devon from 9-11 June 2023. The Craft Festival in Cheltenham will be a new fair for me and I am looking forward to meeting new clients there.  As mentioned above, I greatly enjoyed the Craft Festival at Bovey Tracey earlier in the year and look forward to being there again next year.

As I have not done any fairs in London since March 2019, I am also extremely excited to be taking part again in a Central London Fair in November next year. I can’t share any details just yet, but they will follow in due course!