bangles

I was having a sort through some photographs of jewellery I have made over the years and thought I would share some images of bangles. All are irregular shaped and hammered with a slightly beaten texture.

The shapes are inspired by the repeated forms seen in moss, lichen and bubbles. I love using simple forms and adding complexity using repeats. The elements are all moveable, I enjoy the way they jingle a little and rotate around the bangle.

I like the contrast between copper and silver, especially the way the colour of the copper changes over time. It varies from soft peach to deep rusty red, and sometimes goes speckled which is my favourite.

This 'Blip Bangle' was one of only a few that I made, with irregular arches on both the inside and outside edges. Wearing a few at a time worked really well, I'm thinking I may make more. 
At the moment I am working on some new pieces for the British Craft Trade Fair, I try and launch a new range there every year. Perhaps I'll release a sneak preview on here when the pieces are all finished!

Fossil fascination

The repetition of shapes and textures seen in fossils is something I always come back to for ideas. The basement in Manchester Museum has some incredible ones on display.

Knowing that these have been dug from the earth and are millions of years old gives them the fascination of buried treasure to me; rare, precious and valuable like the gold and silver I use in my work. There's something magical and mesmerising about materials that were formed when the earth was young, only to be revealed through careful searching and cautious extraction. 

The dots and dashes have inspired me to explore experimental hammered indentations in metal, simple raised lumps formed with texturing and doming punches and distressed surfaces, altered with heat and abrasives. And as always, I love to draw them, as seen in my earlier sketchbook blog post.

Texture

I was fortunate to be able to spend the time between Christmas and New Year in Mudeford, Dorset this year and took an early morning walk on the beach. It was frosty and bright, the colours and textures of seaweed and driftwood washed up by recent gales were heightened by long shadows from the low sun. Rich pickings, so many inspirational shapes and patterns, can't wait to get making.

I'm guessing these are types of seaweed,  really rubbery textures with gorgeous repeated patterns. 

These are some of my initial drawings. I love to draw, I find it deeply meditative and nourishing. One of my many New Year's Resolutions is to make the time to do it more.

Inspiration

A recent trip to Cornwall has my sketchbooks bursting with inspirational shapes, patterns, textures and colours. The cliffs and rock pools at Perranporth are covered in barnacles and mussels; always one of my favourite sources of inspiration for drawing and making.

These gorgeous rock pools can be found towards the left of the main beach access, reached by climbing down steep steps cut into the cliff face that surfers use to get to the waves.

 
The further you climb down, you will see barnacles and mussels growing on almost every available surface, creating a blanket of lumpy clusters as they all squeeze together. The striped banding on their shells forms rows of arched pattern, I can visualise them made from domed copper shapes, hammered and joined into links in a mussel-shell bracelet or neckpiece. I love the symmetry of their pod form, and would like to add to my 'Moss Pod' jewellery range with some new lockets inspired by mussel shells.

 There's something about the way that barnacles and mussels grow in clumps that I always come back to when I am generating ideas for my jewellery. They often appear in my mixed media and textiles pieces as very small crochet shapes or stuffed muslin balls.

I made these small textiles samples in response to the textures I saw on my travels in Cornwall. All the fabrics and threads are hand-dyed, using traditional fabric dyes as well as rust dying, where found metal objects are laid onto the fabric in shallow trays, and concentrated salt water poured over to speed up the rusting process. As rust forms it seeps onto the fabric leaving permanent marks. I like the authenticity of the colouration and the element of chance that comes from leaving the mark-making to chance. I often bury my work to enable it to become more earth-stained and distressed, nothing makes my work look more weather worn than the weather and there is something very exciting about digging it up again to see what effects have been created.