Makers Month: I am Acrylic Jewellery Making Workshops

Here's a selection of amazing things people have made in one of our workshops!

As I am sure you must be aware by now we are great lovers of I am Acrylic!  The Jewellery is so fun and the founders are so lovely too.  So we thought we would let them tell you all about the Jewellery Workshops that they are now doing to add to their workload.  Read on to find out some more.

Hi! We are Ruth Williams & Brendan Fan and we make quirky acrylic and wooden jewellery under the name I Am Acrylic!

We hand-cut all of the components for our jewellery on a mechanical fretsaw and realised recently that this might translate really nicely into running workshops, using hand-saws, to teach people how to make their very own piece of acrylic jewellery - and now we're hooked!

We enjoy getting all the equipment together for the workshops, including buying safety goggles, making bench pegs, getting lots of piercing saws and, most importantly, TONS of saw blades - as they snap quite easily!

We were a bit over-excited when all the goggles arrived! And we always swoon at all the pretty bits of different coloured acrylic waiting to be turned into something lovely!

We have an easy 3 step process for our workshops........You design it, cut it out with the saw, and then clean it up with files and sandpaper! Then we pop it on a chain for you to take away then and there! It's fun, easy and very hands on!

The 3 simple steps in the workshop and the finished thing!

We have run quite a few workshops now since our first one at BUST Craftacular fair last Christmas.

We've really enjoyed the more casual, drop-in ones, that we've run alongside our market stall at several events (BUST, Renegade, CraftyFox & Aspex) - there's no need to book and anyone passing by can just stop and have a go for half an hour or so!

We have also run longer, more involved, two hour long sessions with several lovely hosts (Knit with Attitude, We Make London, Mamahood and LOIS) and the results of these can be stunning!

When running these longer sessions we give people some advice for designing their necklace or keyring beforehand, and give them some examples from our range of the more simple or more complex things they could achieve!

A selection of our products as examples, showing a simple butterfly design or much more complex shape like the flower!

We have been really impressed with all of the designs that have been made in our workshops, and it's amazing how quickly people pick all the skills up!

It was lovely when you guys came and had a go during our drop-in workshop at Renegade this spring - you were naturals! We really hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we enjoyed teaching you - it was fun, fun, fun!

H's anchor keyring - designed, cut and finished!



Sammy's sewing machine necklace - designed, cut, finished & worn!

One aspect of running the workshops that we've both really enjoyed, is the interest from young children - they love getting involved! - and even though we quite often have to risk our fingers to help them cut the shapes out - they have a great time doing it and so do we!

Brendan helping one of our younger makers sand the edges of a flower she was making!
(Photo Credit: http://marthalovesblog.blogspot.co.uk/)

We're getting super excited now about our next drop-in workshop that we're doing as part of the Crafty Fox Market event with the London Design Festival.  It's on the last weekend of September (26th & 27th) and is at an exciting new venue for Crafty Fox called Kachette in Old Street. The space will be decorated especially for the weekend by paper artist Little PaperVee - and we can't wait to see it!

They'll be loads of great designer/makers selling their wares there - with a different selection each day.

We'll be running the workshop alongside our market stall all weekend - it's free entry and the workshop is just £10 a go - and there's no need to book - you can just pop in!

Here's another brilliant creation from one of our workshops - a very appropriate, and very crafty, fox  : )

And finally, we absolutely love looking at our #iamacrylicworkshop tag on Instagram - there's a great selection of pictures on it that really give you a sense of what we get up to in the workshops!

Here's a selection from the #iamacrylicworkshop Instagram tag.

We LOVED dusting off our DT skills when we did the workshop at Renegade earlier this year and I think a bit of practice at the next event will hone our skills for sure!  We recommend checking out I am Acrylic workshops when you see them!  We just love the fact that they use old school methods to produce their work and help others to use these skills during the workshops.

Thanks so much to Ruth and Brendan for chatting to us.  We know they are off on their holidays for a well deserved rest and so have fun guys!  Check out their Instagram for Jigsaw puzzle related holiday snaps too!

H,xxx

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Check this out: Craftacular

From Left: Necklace from Rodology, Necklace from Promises Promises and Brooches from Frilly Industries

We are having a bumper crop of activity these past few months and now it's time for the Summer Craftacular in London by Bust Magazine this weekend on Sunday 17th May.  Bust magazine is from America and so it's bringing the cool edge over to the UK.

Another outing really just means that it's more time for us to go shopping and see some of our favourite crafters and of course find some new ones along the way.

Our favourites will of course be there, from I am Acrylic and Claireabellemakes to one of our favourite magazines Mollie Makes of course.  We can't wait to sample the treats of the pop-up cafe from Drink, Shop & Do aswell, of course.

H has picked out a few of the new people she wants to find on the day.  Are you going? Who are you looking forward to seeing?

H


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How We Wear: Home and Away

This last week has been a weird one for us, as for the first time in a long time I have been on Holiday without my blogging buddy! I spent last week driving to Austria and back with my Steve and H has been at home looking after the blog and attending a pretty cool Hen party as well as her day job of course. While the heat wave was hitting the UK, I have been chilling up mountains in Europe. This month we are sharing what we have been wearing at home and away. 

Rings from Accessorize, Daisy Hairband from Topshop (similar here), Earrings from New look (similar here), Brooch from I am Acrylic (similar here), T-shirt from New Look, Cropped Trousers from Topshop (similar here), Sandals from Office.

Jumper from Yours, Jeggings from New Look, Vest from H&M (similar), Trainers from Converse (similar), Bracelets from Accessorize, Necklace from Julie Nolan Jewellery.

Sammy & H

Who's Who: I am Acrylic

It's Who's Who time again and this months subject is bit of an addiction for me and so we just had to find out more!  I first came across I am Acrylic at the We Make London shop in Camden and now have a bit of a collection, alongside getting one of my colleagues addicted to their jewellery too!!  So we just had to share the joy and so everyone can have a I am Acrylic Christmas!  Not hinting, promise!

Who are you?

Hello! We are Brendan Fan and Ruth Williams - AKA - I Am Acrylic. We met whilst studying fine art at Winchester School of Art in 1999.  We now live in Spitalfields, London.

What do you do?

We design and make cute and quirky jewellery, mostly made from acrylic. We like to incorporate wood, aluminium and embroidery too.

We individually hand-cut each component out on our trusty mechanical fretsaw or with our hand saw (we don't use any lasers) and then use files and wet & dry paper to clean up all of the edges, before finally piecing them together.

We like to use this hand cutting and finishing technique as it means that each item is truly unique with a lovely hand crafted finish.

We also enjoy the constraints that our production methods put on our design process. We're forced to keep things fairly simple, within the realms of what is possible to hand-cut and embellish.

How did you start?

We've been making acrylic jewellery since 2004 when Brendan made me a keyring for my birthday from some acrylic we found outside our flat.

The buyer in the shop where I worked at the time, suggested we made some to sell there, so we did!

It was Brendan who then developed the range to include necklaces and brooches, and continued to grow the business over the next seven years, approaching other shops to sell in.  In 2011 I left her job to join Brendan in working on I Am Acrylic full time.  

Since then we've developed the range further to include rings, earrings and cufflinks and most recently little pictures. We like to call these 'Wallery' because they are like little pieces of jewellery for your wall!

What's next?

We have some collaborations in the pipeline and some new designs coming very soon! We're most excited about our new Conker necklace complete with a little piece of real string!

We'd like to spend a bit more time developing and promoting the 'Wallery' range. And, well, hopefully just keep on doing what we're doing really!

What advice would you give yourself if you could go back to the beginning?

I Am Acrylic has grown quite organically really and we've quite enjoyed just following our instincts and learning from any mistakes.

What's been really worthwhile is doing a market stall. Maybe we should have considered getting out there sooner and meeting our customers. The instant feedback is invaluable and has led to several new designs and tweaks to existing ones. 

Also, in hindsight, the 70's white jumpsuit Brendan wore in 2006 and the Hawaiian number I tried in 2007 could have been best advised against!

We think that Brendan and Ruth have definitely left their dodgy fashion behind them and have a great future with I am Acrylic.  You can buy from their online shop or find them at Brick Lane market, the We Make London shop and other markets throughout the year - we just saw them at Renegade.  The jewelerry is really fun and would make 'dare I say it' great Christmas presents.  Something really different and fun instead of the same old same old.  That's if H and her friends don't buy all their stock first.

hmmm, now which one should I buy next!

H

Love it: Pop Up Shops

Pop-up shops are currently opening up everywhere you look and if it's not a shop it's a restaurant in a retail unit or living room (for a supper club type affair).  For anyone who doesn't already know pop-up shops are basically short-term sales spaces that are fitted out to utilise a retail unit whether that be in-between lets or more recently for units that are laying empty for longer periods of time. 

As I mentioned these first started coming about with restaurants and perhaps even Christmas time short lets, but now these pop-ups have been utilised by craft collectives to showcase their work and use the designer/makers as volunteer shop staff to keep them going.

I thought I would talk about a couple that I have come across and perhaps you can find some and tell us where they are to check them out.

I am sure you have heard us talk about the Craft Coop over in Maidenhead and you can see a few posts here and here.  We also did a who's who with them right back in early 2012 and you can also find out a bit more about their current pop-up in Maidenhead town centre here.

I also managed to have a look at the We Make London pop-up shop in Camden Market this week, which I have been meaning to go to for a few weeks.  A few of our friends have got some of their wares in the shop and so it was a good excuse to go take a nosey when I knew Becky from The Craft Closet was on duty. You can see their kits in the photo above.

Plus I had seen a sneak peek on their website and had my eye on one of the 'I am acrylic' blackbird necklaces - top picture.  (which I can safely say I got, oh yes and another necklace from Boobou jumped into my bag!) I did just about manage to leave the rest of the shop behind though, but Kate Rowland's rocket earrings are next on my list I think! (see below)

So, if you see a pop-up shop go check it out and if you happen to be in Maidenhead or London, do check out the shops above as you won't be disappointed.  You will, however have a lighter purse when you leave as there are so many lovely products in store for you to buy something really unique and special as a present or just for yourself!

Live it

H