Swamp Cartography work is filtering out

Swamp Cartography jewellery: cuttlefish cast and etched recycled sterling silver, etched copper and brass, beach pebbles, nylon

Since the opening of Swamp Cartography at Gympie in February I've been busy making new jewellery from this range to send around to stores. I've now stocked Pomme in Victoria, Sturt in NSW and Artisan in QLD with the above pieces. I'm enjoying making them and in teaching cuttlefish casting and etching workshops I have been freshly inspired by all the wonderful things that students have dared to try. Sometimes I wonder who is the student and who is the teacher! They come up with all sorts of interesting and strange ideas that I have learned to encourage because they often have fabulous results that defy my conservative expectations.Wallum Glass Pendants- resist painted and diamond point engraved by Shannon Garson these depict delicate Leptospermum flowers and Forked Sundews on our subtle palette of recycled and new sandblasted glass.

Shannon Garson and I have also sent off our Glass Wallum Pendants (above) to these places as well.

It has been a slow start to the year with one thing or another and I am still getting used to life on a bush block away from services that you take for granted in town.

Solar Studio launch - casting dirt to mark the opening of the big shed

However, we have just built a fantastic solar powered studio for my partner Russell Anderson with promises that mine will be next. I can't wait to move out of my dingy southwest facing garage which has few advantages in winter. Somewhere in the middle of all that a baby is expected to appear in October so construction timelines, not unlike my waistline, could get a bit extended!

Stormy weather

There is a severe thunderstorm warning issued for parts of the south east.
A thick band of storms...

Torrential rain and flash flooding. People are advised to take shelter.
I wonder what is beyond that thick wall of water falling from the sky?

Did I see a glimmer?
Rain easing.

Scattered showers.
Sun Ah.

Underneath the storm is like walking under a waterfall into another world.

These 4 brooches about storms sweeping across the Wallum were created during the recent floods when we received about half a meter of thundery rain in 4 days and the side of the hill slipped away. Making them was difficult, the first batch lost to rising waters and when I was seperated from my etching bath for way too long. After that I was too careful with the etching and achieved conservative and boring results. Despondency.

So I pretended to be a risk taker and put the bath in the hot sun which had finally emerged. Forgetting about it, I discovered these rugged results some hours later. Weathered brooches. Eroded by the torrents of rain and beaten by the sun. Plucked to safety minutes before total disintergration.