Handmade in Highgate - 5-7 November
The Highgate Literary and Scientific Institute, 11 South Grove, Highgate, N6 6BS
https://hand-made-in-highgate.com/ 

Made Makers - Online - 5-7 November
https://mademakers.co.uk/exhibitors/ 

Dazzle 2021 - London Pop Up - 11-14 November
The Oxo Tower, Southbank, London and www.dazzleinvites.com

Handmade Chelsea - 12-15 November
www.handmadeinbritain.co.uk/event/handmade-chelsea-the-contemporary-craft-and-design-fair/ 

Digital Craft Festival - 13-14 November
https://www.digitalcraftfestival.co.uk/ 

Handmade Chelsea - Online - 18-21 November
www.handmadeinbritain.co.uk

Do add others in the comments if you know of some exciting shows near you!

If you've been wondering about making your own jewellery, but haven't yet been sure whether it is for you or not - I'd love to encourage you to give it a go!

Of course, I'm biased - I love making jewellery, and also - more importantly, I know it is hugely valuable as a creative outlet; there are plenty of great reasons to give it a try...

Any creative hobby or pastime is proven to be a valuable therapeutic in terms of improving or safeguarding your mental health. Taking the time to have a break from the rest of your life, without worrying about whatever else may be going on in your work, life or family is incredibly valuable. The process of making something and the focus this requires, as well as working with your hands, which very few of us do much of in our lives gives our brains a real break, by using a completely different way of thinking and working... Not to mention the sense of achievement when you can proudly show off your new creations!

If you'd like to find out a little more about getting started with jewellery making - do click here to receive my free booklet with all of my top tips...

Over recent weeks, what I've found joining webinars / online events really great - both for discovering new skills, finding new artists and how they approach their jewellery, and for all sorts of jewellery information, as well as just to see and hear a friendly face...

A lot of these seem to have popped up, prompted by lockdown and the cancellation of real life events, but I do hope that they continue beyond lockdown too - as they are a really great way to connect and learn!

This is a collection of organisations running regular webinars (in no particular order), that I've discovered so far - do please let me know if you find others...

Rui Galopim is a Portugese gemnologist - hosting a series of fascinating talks about different gems - the next one is about pearls - find out more here - https://ruigalopim.com/events 

​Craftcast - Fun at One series - every Wednesday at 1pm US time (6pm UK) - sign up here to watch todays one - https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6107470840165009936 - you can also watch past ones that you've missed, for free - https://www.craftcast.com/recordings/fun-one-5-20-20 

AJF - the Art Jewellery Forum are hosting weekly slots with interviews with artists - https://artjewelryforum.org/organizations/ajf-events-and-trips 

The Jewellers Academy - has a number of free videos on their website - both jewellery making, and for starting or running a jewellery business, and also runs fairly regular live events - sign up to their mailing list for the latest news, or join them on Facebook - they also do facebook or instagram live events - https://www.jewellersacademy.com/

The Jewellery Cut has a calendar of events from various sources, that has been useful - https://jewellerycut.com/calendar/ 

If you're after business information and marketing specific to creative businesses - the Design Trust is great - they offer paid courses, but also do pop up with free webinars - join the mailing list for all the latest events - https://www.thedesigntrust.co.uk/

One off event - but this live webinar about fair trade gems from Tanzania looks interesting - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/artisanal-fair-trade-mining-the-moyo-gems-project-tanzania-others-tickets-105988283810 

CIBJO is the World Jewellery Confederation hosts industry and trade related events - http://www.cibjo.org/webinars/  
​

This time I'd really like to highlight a couple of contemporary jewellery links...

Athens Jewellery Week - http://athensjewelryweek.com/ - was about to happen this month - it has now been postponed to hopefully happen in November - they have a great YouTube channel here at - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLrYXhvqt5xLGXJ2kT-uk2A where you can watch films from previous events. 

Autor - https://www.youtube.com/user/EXTINS is a fair and an international platform for contemporary and art jewellery - based in Romaniaq - they also produce a magazine and collaborate with many different European groups - https://dautor.ro/en/

Both of these are also very present on social media - so do look out for them if you are interested in contemporary jewels!