Lindsey Gallacher

 I recently started the 8 day free taster course by Louise Fletcher and it’s been a revelation for me. I don’t say this lightly, I’ve been experimenting with different medium for years now to balance the pernickety scratchboard work that I do. And what I’ve noticed is I do something, like it, don’t do it again, and then try another material. I’ve been doing this for years and not really moving forward. What Louise said yesterday in the Q&A’s was that she feels insulted that people get annoyed at themselves when they can’t do a good painting they like after a week; does that mean they think successful artists find it easy, that they don’t put the work in; would you expect a doctor to be a good doctor after studying one term? From my point of view, I think I’ve been hard on myself for not making the new art that I want, using new medium finding it tricky and just put it off until I feel the inspiration. (That hasn’t come back since before lockdown 2019!) But today, I got up befor...

Are you looking for the perfect gift to give your fiance on your wedding day? Do you have a special place that means something to your both? Where you got engaged, your first holiday, your family's garden... I've been making jewellery incorporating customers stones for many year's now and it still feels special to me when I hand over a nicely polished pair of silver and stone cufflinks, or a pendant, ring or earrings.  It doesn't need to be a fabulous colourful pebble, I've made mudstone from the bottom of a loch look nice!   If you'd like me to make you a handcrafted, bespoke piece of jewellery for your wedding day, the process is very straight forward :- -      Send me an quick email to confirm details of what you want me to make, the date it's required by           and where to post it -      Post me your stone or pebble -      Payment will be requested once I've seen the stone and am confident ...

I found all these stones in the same spot, which is weird as the beach around the corner, just 1km away has a really boring selection with very little of interest in terms of variety. All the stones are very round including the large boulders, it’s a very nice place to visit. I’m not the only person to have picked up a shiny wet stone to marvel at the delicate white lines to pop it in my pocket and take home to add to the collection, only to find it has dried and turned a dusty, pale grey. Happily, after years of working with Caithness Flagstone and now, experimenting with beach and river pebbles, I have figured out a way to create a fine pendant that looks contemporary and isn’t just a stone with a hole in it. I can polish them up to regain their lustre that initially enticed me to pick it up.  Click here to buy I feel privileged to be tasked with the job or creating jewellery, whether it be cufflinks or pendants and stud earrings, from stone that holds such importance to my clien...

Minature pictures all for sale at Caithness Horizons christmas exhibition opening on thursday night 7th december at 5-7pm. All mounted and wrapped in a clear sleeve. Inly £15! For a special christmas gift from me to you.

This picture was created from a photo from The Johnston Collection in Wick. The famous photographer took many images over the years of various local people and scenes in Wick. I absolutely love the photos of female gutters at work. Just imagining the job they did cutting the salty herring in all weathers, I imagine they had to have a good sense of humour and good work ethics to put up with the discomfort. I find myself looking more to local history and wanting to develop a narrative in my work. It seems a good way to get value for money as a customer if you find and buy a picture that not only looks good but makes you think aswell.  Having something to go back to when you next look at the picture on your wall, giving you food for thought and an emotional connection, it makes you feel good about your purchase. It has been mentioned that my style of mark making is reminiscent of the old woodcut and illustrative work of the past. As I have said in past posts, my initial influe...

It's been a fantastic and busy year with Emergent Makers based in Inverness.  I applied for mentorship from them having spent so long away from the goings on in the contemporary craft world, I really needed some help to be pointed in the right direction, and this is exactly what I got. Friendly help, support and advice from a number of experts who came and helped us with various issues we were experiencing at different times of the year. This is the advert for our end of project exhibition now on at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery.  Me, Lucy Dunnachie, Jane McLeod, Lucy Macdonald, Rebecca Brown and Rebecca Cotton all live in the far reaching corners of the Highlands and Islands. We all have the same concerns about isolation in terms of access to contemporary craft groups, support and inspiration from other workers. We have all found our way this year through different routes, getting together in Inverness, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and at the end 4 out of the 6 met with...

I've always loved raising metal, some of my favourites pieces of work from college are vessels made of copper and silver, but I never went down the route of making pieces to sell as I felt that the initial expense of buying large amounts of silver was a real gamble when speculating whether there were buyers out there. I mean, there is always a jewellery buyer looking to purchase a present, but silver collectors are few and far between. So the other day I had an idea, which meant purchasing a very expensive drill bit and my first silversmithing stake. A real gamble on my part but I'm really glad I did. It just shows you how your gut feelings never let you down.

I've recently started using stratchboards to create artwork and have found them to be excellent for my way of working. I imagine after a while it would be easy to develop some kind of hand strain due to the method of using the tools, it would be good to know how to counteract this kind of problem. The top picture is of my Great Granny picking Groatie buckies after church at the harbour in John O'Groats in Caithness. The second is of an old Caithness croft with flagstone fencing in the foreground.

 I have been experimenting with the concept of using lichen covered stone.  It has been noted that lichen is a living thing and I've contemplated the problem with using it for my work for a while now.  This particular lichen is actually the very common Crabs Eye Lichen (Ochrolechia parella) It covers every piece of stone that exists in Caithness, there is as much of this lichen as heather on the hills or moss on the ground.  To protect the lichen from flaking off I have chosen to put a thin coating of resin over it and this has turned the white an interesting orangey yellow. What is of importance to me is that I don't go removing vital stones from the walls that surround the fields.  These walls have been here for hundreds of years, and the more I look at them the more I marvel at the shear scale of man power that went into building them. Hard graft and skill.  The walls have survived hundreds of years of powerful storms and sadly many of them are slowl...

I have been working super hard on creating a website that says this is me! So please take a look, you'll find pictures of Caithness in Scotland and my inspirations for my jewellery using Caithness stone   Lindsey Gallacher

This bracelet is not for the faint hearted but still very nice to wear.

Another experimental piece discovering the qualities of this temperamental stone!

I received a new core drillbit today and just had to rush out to the workshop to try it out. There are holes everywhere now!

You can't mistake the qualities of Caithness stone in this piece. I hope you can see the playfulness and fun I've had blurring the lines between art and jewellery.

Looking forward to showing my work from 28th September at Thurso Art Gallery with 7 other makers. This new collection of work I have been creating for the past few months is the first time I've used inspiration from family and my local surroundings, hopefully it will resonate with visitors to the gallery. The exhibition will then move onto Wick.