What's in a name?
There are many factors to the story behind my name but they all arose when, after many years, I had my daughter. She has a lot of additional needs and is a big factor in my 'Why I do what I do'.
It is also a nod to the bespoke work I did (not so much now but I can be persuaded on occasion!), I do love to do it, it gets harder however as my daughter gets older and there are more aspects which eat up time! Maybe more again in the future...
Finally it's also a nod to my desire to be able to contribute back to the community. See below in the Community section for further details on this!
Why do I make the type of products I do?
In case you hadn't noticed, most of my items are, in some way, based on nature and the world around us. This is especially the case with the sea - I adore the sea and am not sure if I could live too long away from it. in the past I spent a fair bit of time under water, I would happily live underwater if I could and much of my specialist jewellery and art pieces are created to reflect that love. I draw inspiration from the worlds I saw and the peace and tranquility I experienced there.
The main techniques I used in production are Fused Glass, Glass Carving and Silver work.
I hand cut and create all of my pieces, building up layer upon layer of different glasses and inclusions. They are fired multiple times and are hand ground using lapidary wheels and techniques and are either hand polished or fire polished. For carving I mostly use the Reverse Intaglio technique, which is carving into the back of the glass to give a beautiful 3D image when viewed from the front.
All my glass is Bullseye Glass (COE90). This includes all glass, frit, powders, dichroics and so on. This all comes from Warm Glass UK ltd.
In process, I also use various hand painted glass enamel powders and Glassline paints for detailing or effects not able to be achieved solely in powders.
All silver I use is classed as Eco silver as it is made from recycled silver. This includes the silver wire used to make bails, wraps and earring hooks, and also the fine silver used in my silver leaf and nature jewellery.
As a family and business, we work with small charities and our local Foodbank+ to try and provide small much needed extras where we can. This includes projects such as our Christmas Stockings we make each year for Christchurch Foodbank+ and the Birthday bags we make throughout the year for them.
I hope that one day things will grow enough for this support to be able to grow too.
I want you to be happy with any purchase from me. If you have any questions at all, please do contact me directly and I will do my best to answer any queries you have.
