The last four pieces made… here photographed before the silver gets buffed.

A few more handcrafted sterling silver and Scottish agate rings.

Remember, if you’re looking for a unique ring - why not take a look at our online selection? 

• Agate Hunting: Ok… so this is generally not done with a rifle… but done by searching pebble beaches of Scotland for hours… generally without the sun!
• Agate Cutting: Hmmm… so this might not be done with a chainsaw… but they all need to be cut. It’s loud, slow, and water and dust from the agates everywhere… but it’s also the most fun process! Nothing like cutting an agate and seeing an amazing pattern inside.
• Dissappointment 1: Some agates look so promising from the outside, only to find no pattern nor colour inside. Start again on step one….
• Shaping: Done on the grinder - watch those fingers!!!
• Dissappoinment 2: The grinder is generally where things can go wrong with the agate… and sometimes (to great frustration!) they crack or break… Start again on step one…
• Lapping: Lapping is dirty work! Not for those who mind being covered in dark grit all over. This process is long and slow, as the agate will have to go through several different grits… on both sides!
• Polishing: Done on a felt wheel - fluff and polish all over!
• Success: And unless the agate has decided to fly and break (which does occasionally happen) this is when you should have a gorgeous shiny agate - now get back to step one for the next one!

We became very rushed for the Trade Fair, as we just decided less than 2 weeks ago that we’d go… so it’s been fairly hectic since then! lol! Anyway… one of the things you can do there is to bring a “press pack”. I became the appointed “press pack person”, and having never done one before, I did a little bit of research online. Turns out Americans does much better press packs than the British! We couldn’t have any of that , so I went to work on making an attractive and little bit of fun one!

I’m posting all the info about it here… incase someone else wants to do a press pack at some point… and like me, don’t really have a clue what to do. lol! Hopefully it can be of a little bit of help for someone.

Press Pack

What is it?
Well, it’s basically a little bit of info, that you can send to the press… magazines, newspapers, websites, etc.

What’s in it?
Ok…. ours doesn’t really cover everything… but as the packs are for the fair we’re going too, the ones receiveing the press packs will hopefully pop by and see us if they have any questions.
A short and sweet press release! The rest of your press pack can basically be the same, but you can change this statement, and send out the same press pack just with a new statement each time you got some news. Like a new range, new collection, etc.
Info about your company (check!). Keep it short, from what I’ve read online people drift off if you go over one A4 sheet.
Pictures (check!). These can be on CD/memory stick, but also clear printed ones. It’s advised to add a picture of yourself - as people want to see the designer.
If you’ve been featured in magazines/newspapers/etc you can add a summary of this on an extra sheet (but remember - the less sheets the better! Max 3-4 printed A4 sheets altogether)
Samples (check-ish… lol!). This can be a little bit of a problem… as if you do things that cost you personally a lot to make, and also a lot of time, then clearly the option to send a finished product to everyone is out of the question… however I saw somewhere online that just to give people an idea of what you do is good. Like us for example, we make handcrafted sterling silver jewellery with Scottish agates , so our little sample shows off the Scottish agate. It’s a little silver plated (so not sterling silver) keyring where I popped a little lightly tumbled (again, we cut, shape, lap and polish our agates… but this one is just lightly tumbled) agate. So if you normally make jewellery with beads, maybe pop a bead inside a similar keyring? Or if you carve wood sculpures, add thin sample of beautiful wood? Or if you make dresses, make a little fabric heart?

How do I present it?
Make it look attractive!!! Yes, you might think that the info is more important… but if people get loads of press packs, chances are they will just dismiss one if it doesn’t catch their eye. A nice bag, a nice folder, a nice box, etc is advised just to make sure people will take interest.

Gosh… this is gonna be such a long post! lol!

As mentioned… not much time for us this time… I would have liked to make it a little better… but I don’t think I did too bad…


Our Press Pack

Folder - this is just a bog standard plastic folder with one of those “poppers” to close it. I would have prefered one that had a little slot for a business card, but didn’t find any in the shops, and due to time issue I didn’t want to take the chance of ordering some in. So instead I have printed out a little sticker and stuck it up in the corner.

Info - a short and sweet little info sheet, which just basically mention what we do, and have added contact details on the bottom. Printed on card.

Postcards - these are basically there beacuse I send a lot of postcards. lol! One can never have too many!

CD - I added a new pictures onto a CD… again, I didn’t add too many, as it’s easier to browse through few, then there is many. Put in a little CD holder to make sure the CD doesn’t get ruined, and on the top of it I’ve stuck a little sticker that has our QR code incase people are more technically advanced than me and actually know how to use their mobile phones. lol!

Magnet - added a little magnet which looks just like our business cards.

Business card - this is a must if you got one!

A picture I would have had this printed on postcards (with more info on the back), but it was the dreaded time issue again… the picture shows the process we do with an agate, from found on the beach to a finished necklace.

Sample - this is the little keyring that I mentioned above. There’s only one in the back, I just used two for the picture, one shown in it’s bag, one shown on top of the bag. Stuck in a pretty little organza bag.

Bag - again… this is something I would have had printed if I had the time… but instead it’s just a normal black giftbag, and I’ve printed out a little sticker on it…. in this bag I’ve stuck the postcards, the magnet, the picture, the business card and the keyring.


Anyway, that’s our little press pack… I hope those that get them like them… and no matter, what I had lots of fun making them! I wish I had more time, but with the time I had I don’t think I did too badly. :)