Ever since I saw my first art medal (back in July 2009) I've been in love with them and have wanted to work more in wax and bronze.

As part of this quest I was very luck to do a course with Marian Fountain, soon after discovering her work, and made some medals which I treasure.

Then last year I did a wax carving course and made another medal and some jewellery.

But ever since I've not had the time, knowledge or nerve to do any more work by myself. I had booked for a wax carving course this July, but unfortunately it was cancelled. So when I heard about a bronze casting one I was delighted. It would cover wax carving, preparing for casting and also finishing, which is the main bit I feel unsure about.

As I left home today I was excited and nervous in equal amounts. Pleased to be learning what I wanted to know, and to be able to spend a full week immersed in it, but nervous as to whether I would be able to do it. My nerves were further heightened when I got to class and realise everyone else there already had lots of sculpture experience.

The class is being taught by the very talented, and knowledgable, Terry Jones who is very ably assisted by the equally talented and knowledgable Alexandra Harley.

Before coming on the course I've been so busy that I han't really given much consideration to what I wanted to make. I do know I want to make something small enough to hold in my hands and only use techniques that I will be able to easily recreate at home. But apart from that I really haven't given it much thought.

When I made my first medals I had come across the phrase "A tree is known by the fruit it bears" only a week before, when I visited the Medals of Dishonour show at the British Museum, and that one sentence formed the basis of the work I did then. It is only very recently that I fell in love with the phrase 'A lock is a gate' and it has stuck in my mind ever since. That, tied with all the work I have done recently on beading keys and locks, seemed a good omen and a good starting point in case I couldn't come up with anything else.

When I put these ideas together last night before class I had the vision of a lump of metal, the shape and size of a very large pebble, with sections for the keys to sit in and the words engraved on the back. Hopefully this would be simple enough for me to complete.

When the class got started Terry told us we would need to finish our wax carvings by the end of the day- panic! This sealed the deal for me design-wise as I was worried I wouldn't have time to play around with anything else and get it done by the end of the day. Good job I remembered to bring two keys with me.

Our experiments in wax began with Terry showing us how to handle it, spread it, melt it and generally mould it. Then it was up to us to dive in.

I smooshed a large lump of warm wax (so, so tactile) into the rough shape I had in mind and pressed the keys into it. Once I was satisfied with the shape I dunked it into cold water, to set the wax, and set about deepening the holes for the keys. I mainly did this on the cold wax with cold tools but after a while got up the courage to heat the wax and tools over a flame and the work soon sped up. I was partly finessing the holes and partly learning how to play with and sculpt the wax. A few hours later and the class was over (the day flew) and I was happy with what I had created so far. I hadn't yet carved the words as I wanted to leave the piece to sit over night and come back to it fresh in the morning and look at it with new eyes before altering it in any way.

Before I left for the day I checked out what everyone else was up to. Gulp! All of their work was a lot more artistic and intricate than mine but I reassured myself that I was happy with my creation so far and wound my way home.