Rooms for Ideas

I am presently exhibiting at Hastings Museum with 'The Jewellery Line Up', we are a group of eight jewellers and our exhibition is called 'Rooms for Ideas'. The brief for this Arts Council funded exhibition saw each jeweller draw at random a room in the museum from which to take inspiration. The Sussex Pottery room was my allocation and as I had always had a love of ceramics, porcelain was my choice of material for the project. After much faffing around with moulds, slip casting and more solid and controlled components for the jewellery, I eventually settled on a more spontaneous process which suits my way of working.

Porcelain Necklace

 Paddy Boyle took this amazing picture of my work for the catalogue which accompanies the exhibition.

The slivers are very delicate but porcelain has strength and once fired I was then able to experiment with Raku glazes. The nature of this special process meant I could only fire three at a time in an enamelling kiln but after 5 or so test glazes, two were chosen. This photo really does not show the true colours and lustres and

Raku Necklace

as it is in the museum until mid February I cant take any more for the moment. For the true Raku experience and all the other wonderful jewellery exhibits, visit Hastings Museum until February 12th.

A new year and my new blog page.

The seasonal tranquillity of a New Year starting is the perfect opportunity to get into the habit of writing my thoughts about the world I inhabit as a designer/maker with big ambitions as well as designing my new collection for Spring/Summer2012.

My shop and studio in Hastings has seasonal sale items at the moment with a 10% discount for normal stock. For opening times and the address visit Retail info

My Atelier Ava shop is so tiny that if you blink you might miss me but keep your eyes open and you will see a window full of all the work I make on the premises. I concentrate mainly on hand beaten silver with my own unique enamelling technique added as a final flourish to some of the pieces.

I also recycle copper hot water tanks using the vast amount of metal to create larger enamel works like the lips below. These measure 11cms across, not for the faint hearted and being a little weighty they are on a light knitted leather necklace.

My new collection is gradually taking shape and will be revealed in a later posting along with all sorts of thoughts, ideas, jewellery, inspiration and more.

Inspiration for the day for any enamellers who are just starting out must be Linda Darty  whose book is an invaluable tool for beginners and knowledge munchers.