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NEWSLETTER July 2012 "Well, well, well," I hear you say, "It must be school holidays again, because Fiona never gets round to a newsletter unless..." I know. It is true. For some of you this will be the first you have ever read! This time however, I am realigning my priorities and from now on this newsletter will be a monthly issue. Promise! The purpose of the newsletter is to welcome new members, highlight happenings on our ning community and remind you all of what a great resource it is! So don't feel bad about taking a little break from your bench and spending some time on NZSilversmiths! You will get out of it as much as you put in. While you're there remember to upload your profile pic and visit the new forum section 'Introducing Myself' (even if you are not a complete newbie! Happy 'silversmithing'! www.nzsilversmiths.ning.com July 2012 About time... NZSilversmith Your 'My Page' Challenge Membership To date we have 70 members, Over the past two years I have been thrilled to see the community take on a life of its own. Members have been getting in touch with one another, making connections and building friendships, uploading photos, writing blogs and getting involved in the forum. I love it when I pop into galleries and gift shops and see your names next to beautiful pieces, but it never ceases to amaze me just how many names I see that I don't recognise. There are so many silversmiths in New Zealand! And more than that, there are the hobby jewellers, like myself, who saw, hammer, file and polish away in the (not so) quiet of our homes. My dream is to connect as many silversmiths as I can through our online community. To do this I have created some cards (see example above) to hand out to existing jewellers or to display in places that may be of interest to passing silversmiths in the hope they will take the time to join. I have also designed an A4 poster to display in places where beginner or intermediate silversmith courses are run. If you would like a set of cards with your name/piece on it, or if you would like a copy of the poster to place, then please contact me: [email protected] Thank you in advance for your support! Welcome to our new members so far this year! Inside- * Membership * Blogging Fiona If you do not want photos that you have uploaded in future copies of this newsletter please email me and let me know, otherwise I will accept non-reply as permission :) When you become a member of NZSilversmith you are granted your very own 'My Page'. It appears along the tabs at the top. On your page you will see various sections including: My Photos, My Blog, Profile Information, Comment Wall, etc... You can change the way your page looks by hovering the mouse on the title of each component and clicking and dragging them around. In doing this you can choose if you want visitors to your page seeing a slideshow of your photos first, or your comment wall, or your blog. You can do various other things to change your page too, but I will cover that in another newsletter; in the meantime you can have a play around, don't worry, you can't break it! Your 'My Blog' is a place where you can post your own articles for others to read. You can type, upload photos and links to other websites, you can even insert html script (will explain in another newsletter!). All blog entries by NZSilversmith community members are displayed on the main welcome page when people sign in. It is a nice idea to leave a comment for the blog writer too. To leave a comment simply click on the blog title, scroll down, and type your comment into the comment box. Some people have been using the 'My Blog' to post links to articles, advertise exhibitions and courses, or to share their musings about silversmithing. Come out from under your rock and be a part of our community! This cartoon was drawn by Crystal Matheson after seeing all the amazing designs on NZSilversmith July Blog Challenge: Write a blog entry about your introduction to silversmithing. What inspired you to go down this path? Maybe you could upload a photo of your earliest piece and your most recent piece? It could be fun to reflect on whether your style has changed over the years.
