25.4.09

How I make Jewellery

I always love to know how artists design and make their items and where their ideas and inpirations come from and also love to know how they make them.


So I thought I'd do a blog about how I create my jewellery...


I am inspired by the sea, nature and the world around me and any thing beautiful that I come across. I am also inspired by other artists and the materials I work in. I love to try out new materials and experiment.

surf pendant handmade jewellery
I have my favourite materials, I love to work in metals as there is so much flexibility and options with them, but I also love to try out new things. I have played with resins, fimo, bead and many other things.



I also love saving and recycling, so like to try and use plastics, I have experimented with old plastic bags, plastic bottles and other colourful bits I've collected along the way.



flower pendant handmade jewellery
I have always loved beachcombing and finding pretty things by the sea. I always used to collect shells and unusual stones. I have recently made some items from pebbles and also shells. I have also discovered plastics on the beach as well and have used washed up cotton buds and plastics in my designs, which add a touch of colour and also help the enviroment.


handmade jewelleryhandmade jewellery

So thats my inspirations, next comes the ideas...


When I get an idea I start by sketching them and drawing them out with scribbled notes around them so I remember what it was that I wanted to do.


I draw my designs onto a pad made up of reused paper, like old ltters etc so that I don't hav to cut down a forest to design my items!


Below are a couple of examples.



sketchbook jewellery

notebook handmade jewellery
Once I've done this I take my sketchbook to my workbench and think about how I can make them a reality. This means a lot of experimenting (and mistakes) but it is all a learning curve and sometimes I make something I love and really want to wear. :).


workbench jewellery

This is the space I work in, with a workbench and all my tools, so I spend a bit of time here making.


Next its time to draw my items onto the materials or metals that I want to cut out.


With a metal pendant I would first draw them onto the metal, like this



designing jewellery
I then would drill these and cut them out, I use a piercing saw to do this and then would sand and file them to finish.

saw pierced jewellerysaw pierced jewellery
The item before being sanded and filed would look like this:


lizard pendant handmade jewellery


The finished item, once filed and sanded and put together would look more like this flower pendant below.


flower handmade pendant

Hopefully this gives you an idea of how a piece of my jewellery comes togother, from inspiration to final design.





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