Paz and Bexx wanted to making some spinner rings and attended a 1-day jewellery workshop at the studio to learn the process and make the rings. They learned forming, soldering, texturing and a lot more to make these rings. We all had a great time and the rings turned out beautifully.
It doesn’t always go to plan! I always strive to ensure that students attending my jewellery workshops create successful pieces. Sometimes this doesn’t happen. After all, this is a learning environment and failures are part of that journey. Here is a Mayan pendant cast by one of my students during a jewellery workshop. The piece…
Keum–boo is a very old gilding technique, originating in Korea, that is used to apply very thin sheets of 24 karat gold to silver surfaces for decoration in the form of a silver-gilt. It’s very much like a silver leaf. Traditionally, this technique is accomplished by first depleting a surface of sterling silver to bring…
Brief To create a treasure chest style of box within which to store a particular piece of jewellery which had sentimental importance. The flat copper base of the treasure chest all cut out and ready for folding. Copper is a great material to work in: It’s soft, can be marked up easily and is also…
Jade and silver pendant Re-using a broken Jade bangle The brief for this was to create a pendant using a broken jade bracelet to make a pendant for an upcoming wedding. The jade had been in their family for a long time and they wanted it to be incorporated into something wearable, in sterling silver….
Horse hair and resin bangle As jewellery commissions go this was quite a hair raising experience!This horse hair jewellery is part of a set which includes a necklace with a sterling silver bridle. Certainly one of the more unusual pieces I have made and it celebrates the life of a very special horse to my…
Brief Create a sterling silver ring, size F1/2 with a 4mm cubic zirconia to be worn every day. The ring needs to be on the delicate side rather than bold and chunky and will need to include a claw setting for the CZ. No decoration on the silver shank is needed and the shank itself…
Heavyweight Silver Cuffs These heavyweight silver cuffs were made from bars of solid sterling silver. They a heavier than normal but still have a great feel to them. With a hammered finish they will age well and provide years of wearability. The stages of forming these silver cuffs:
This was a great commission to make and the bracelet now lives in New Zealand. The symbolic piece was created using photographs of a tree that reminded him of a time that had special meaning. The manuka tree photographs were supplied by my customer and were of a specific tree. The brief was to create…
With a wide range of choice from main stream stores, why would you possibly want to commission a piece of jewellery? To answer that, we’ve come up with a list of reasons: Those are just a few of the reasons people have told us as to why they are commissioning a piece. Jo has made…