Earlier this year I had the great pleasure of being a Creative Practitioner at Rhws Primary School in the Vale of Glamorgan. The Creative Lead Schools Project is a 5 year partnership between the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Government to place artists, designers, writers, musicians and makers with schools across Wales who need to solve a problem or build on existing practices with the help of creativity. I was chosen to deliver the brief of whether jewellery making can help improve numeracy skills for a Year 4 class. 
It's pretty impossible to make any sort of jewellery without any maths, measuring, counting components etc and pricing so I was sure it would be a great project to do.
Initially the class weren't sure about the jewellery making - especially some of the boys. But in the first session when the children tried the hand tools and played with beads and findings, they soon came around and ended up having a joyful time designing and making jewellery. It was fab and ended after a few months with a grand finale catwalk show and exhibition to the rest of the school and parents. The kids were enthusiastic and brilliant and I learnt that I enjoyed teaching as much as they did making. And learning. Happy to report that maths results improved... 

Click on the D  - Doctor Who news - lovely picture of Peter Capaldi wearing The Ring! 

Some images from last week's shoot with lovely model Olivia Nicholson and talented photographer Brya Waterford. Brya has modelled for me before  - her images are all over this site! The shoot features new work for SS2016 and some archive pieces re-vamped for now. I have collections going back 20 years and it's fun to re-introduce them maybe with a re-style, to be current.
We shot in two locations in Cardiff; Barker Tea Rooms, a beautifully designed place with fab cakes and interesting decor, and Maddisons a very cool, well known nightclub. A huge thanks to both places for their kindness in helping with the shoot.
Several outfit changes later and Olivia was transformed from demure-Deco- Hollywood-darling into a very glamorous siren with a touch of rock goddess! Brya is currently editing so will show off the images as soon as possible... And I'm photographing the pieces for the product pages - watch this space!

A new season means new collections, it's an exciting time! One of designing and researching different techniques and materials and sometimes revamping old favourites. Using various stones in fresh colours and sketching on any handy piece of paper. I'm in the final stages of this new work and planning the photoshoot, can't wait to show you all as soon as poss!

http://benchpeg.com/news/kate-dumbleton-creates-rock-n-roll-jewellery-at-national-museum-cardiff/ 

New ID, Gem and metal stud pieces - available at http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/shop/category/1611/Most-Viewed/_ 

Time is flying - sorry for the gap between blog posts - don't really know what's happened to this year! New designs will be available on the site very soon. As well as more updates.
One piece of exciting news is the forthcoming exhibition at National Museum Wales - Chalkie Davies photographer of musicians in the 70s and 80s while he worked at NME; I am dusting off and re-vamping my punky designs as well as making new work which will be on sale alongside this fab show. From May 9th - 6th Sept.

Tis the season of buying and selling - so much of this will go on over the next few weeks, why not make the task easier and see what arty events are on in your locality. Engage with the makers and pick up some beautiful, unique presents, fashion and bespoke work. I really enjoy selling directly to customers at quality craft fairs, can get great feedback on collections. 
This weekend I'm selling at Penarth Pier Pavilion with a host of designer-makers.