Sarah Jane Whittaker

I design and make jewellery (and teach at the Sussex Jewellery School, too). This is a bit of fun...stuff I like, stuff I do, and stuff I make.

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Mightily enjoyed the series of 10 giant screenprints of Mao.  Liked being able to see the thickness of the inks in some.  Never particularly rated AW before, am now impressed.

[sarahjanewhittaker]

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Love at first touch?

On last week's mould-making using clay and plaster of paris:

"From first touch, as I stuck my hand into the bag to get some out, I liked the feel of the clay:  cold, damp, sticky, malleable… it made me want to squish it and seemed to invite me to play with it to see what shapes I could create with it."

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Ancestors from Georgia

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Rabbitty yumminess?

I like rabbits just as much as anyone, in all their furry twitchy nosed loveliness.  But I also eat a little organic meat, and since I reckon a life lived out in the open has got to be better than a the life of a farmed animal, I've decided to try out some wild rabbit in a casserole... and if I can't face eating it, I know Mr W will be only too happy to.

Recipe for Rabbit and Olive Casserole

Ingredients (serves 4):

8 rabbit pieces

4 oz black olives

4 oz green olives

2 carrots

2 cloves garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 oz butter

1 tsp freshly chopped thyme

¼ pt chicken stock

Salt and pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 180 C, 350 F

Peel and slice the carrots and peel and crush the garlic

Slice the olives, removing any stones

Whizz the tomatoes up in a liquidizer

Put the garlic, oil and butter in a in a flameproof oven dish and sauté the rabbit for a few minutes and then add the tomatoes, chicken stock, carrots and herbs and season with the salt and pepper

Bring the mixture to the boil then cover the dish and pop in the pre-heated oven to cook for about 1 ½ hours

Add the olives and cook for a further ¾ hour

Serve with mashed potatoes and peas or cabbage.

[sarahjanewhittaker]

To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Marine protozoa

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Awwww.

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Happiness is not the absence of problems but the ability to deal with them.

Jack Brown 

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Sure, I'm biased, but since I co-chose everything in the Cuckoo Cuckoo Contemporary Crafts Gallery in Hastings, of course it's my favourite shop of all time. If you have Christmas or birthday gifts to find for arty types, get straight down there!

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Remember these?

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Weird boy charm bracelet (recycled & sterling silver, 2011).  This sits in my 'in progress' cabinet - still not sure if I like it...

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Gorgeous gold-plated and silver rings at the Cuckoo Cuckoo gallery in Hastings - the silver ones have amazing feather detail on their tails, and when worn in pairs on a single finger, they appear to be chirruping to each other.  Soooooo lovely.

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Eat your heart out, Mary Berry

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Very Downton Abbey

[sarahjanewhittaker]

“There are no failures - just experiences and your reactions to them.”

Tom Krause

[sarahjanewhittaker]

Just at the end of my road (quite literally)