Were you like me when you were little, smashing open rocks from the garden with a hammer you found in the shed to see if they glittered inside or making potions from rose petals and water, trying to paint amazing pictures with your set of paints with those little round discs of hard and disappointing "water colour" paints and failing dismally because you had no ideas or just couldn't get the stuff you wanted to create out of your head?
There are lots of things I'm not good at, but I've always been a maker.
My formal qualifications go no further than art O level (I got a B) but I've had a go at most things and I've been looking back through some photos tonight and decided to share.
I've definitely got an aesthetic, and it's a bit.....messy. Opulent, but messy.
I won't regale you with everything I've ever done (I don't have photos of it all thankfully) but if by any chance you've come across my jewellery work and haven't been following me on Facebook in my various incarnations then here goes.
Twenty something years ago I returned from a long trip overseas and one of the first things I did was enroll in a metal smithing class in a small town close to home. I loved that class, but found myself limited by not being able to continue with projects at home (and don't forget, 20 something years ago the Internet didn't exist either so everything felt less accessible). Smithing fell aside and I got on with other things. I remember that my local library had a few books about a style of embroidery that I fell in love with and I made lots of things that I gave away to people who have probably thrown them away (I don't blame them, they're massive dust catchers).
Here's a piece from that period, a large manipulated fabric and embroidery project that tried to capture the magnificence of fossilized ammonite.
Using a combination of machine sewing, hand embroidery, beadwork, burning away layers of fabric with a soldering iron and then sewing it onto a gold painted canvas I created this piece that I still having hanging in my home today. It's not perfect, not messy enough, still too restrained - but I love it. If you do already look at what I create then you'll have gathered that I adore ammonites; it's the love that abides.
My next obsession was belly dance classes and as that progressed I discovered tribal fusion belly dance and started to make costuming pieces for myself and others. Alongside that I started to make jewellery and accessories that were inspired by the assemblage art scene. Many happy hours were spent scouring charity shops for discarded things that could be made into beautiful things.
I made full costumes for myself and other dancers....
Headdresses....I made so many headresses in this period. I think they were my favourite thing to create.
After a five year hiatus from making anything, in 2017 ( that seems so long ago now) I secured a place on a day workshop with a local jeweller and a I relearned how to solder silver and texture it using a hammer. I remember being so afraid of the tools that day, and unsure of my own abilities.
My passion was reignited, and with the help of the Internet I was able to source the tools I needed to be able to play at home. That was a game changer because it meant that I was able to find the tools I needed, silver to play with and (boringly but importantly) the insurance I needed to cover myself, my tools and my customers. I can now play with soldering. forming, acid etching, stone setting, along with all of the other techiniques I haven't tried yet because this is just a small part of the rest of my life.
I've a lot to learn still, more things to play with. But at the end of the day I'm still 8-years-old, smashing open rocks with a hammer and looking for the glitter and creating homemade rose water.