My Jewellery Making Journey
I made my first bracelet when I was a teenager, although it wasn’t sterling silver – It was a bracelet, made out of different coloured threads! Fast forward fifteen years later, I moved to Dubai for work and started making beaded jewellery in my spare time, which I found very therapeutic. Whilst in Dubai, I met my husband and moved to Doha; We got married and I accepted a job in Melbourne, so it was a very busy couple of years and my creative outlet took a back seat.
Before I knew it, I was working crazy hours at my corporate job in Melbourne, and I was stressed to the high heavens. To de-stress, I booked a Reflexology session, and an amazing Chinese lady worked her magic and helped me to relax. During the session, the Reflexologist said that she could tell from working on my feet, that I had a lot of stress in my life. I told her about the stress at work and she asked what I did in my spare time. It was at that point that I realised that work had taken over and I no longer had any hobbies. The very little spare time that I had, was spent too exhausted to do anything but drink wine and chill in front of the TV.
I took the Reflexologist’s advice and booked a few different short courses, one of which was an evening course to make a sterling silver ring. After that first evening, I was totally hooked. I booked another evening class to make a sterling silver pendant and then signed up for a whole day of jewellery making with the same tutor. Those first few classes opened up a world of possibilities - My tutor generously shared her contacts in the industry, which was fascinating, as most of them were right on my doorstep near my office in Melbourne.
I started making sterling silver rings, pendants and earrings for family, friends and colleagues, and used my lunch breaks to head down to meet new jewellery making contacts and to buy new tools and supplies. I was in my element and so hooked that I signed up to a “Jewellery Design and Making” course at one of the universities in Melbourne, but my grand plans were ruined as COVID hit! The course was cancelled as it was due to be run in-person! Like most of us across the world, Melbourne went into lockdown - which is where and when I celebrated my 40th birthday!
Despite all the upset that COVID brought, one of the highlights of my big birthday was a surprise delivery of a jewellery workbench. My husband found a retiring jeweller who was selling her bench, so he drove across Melbourne to pick it up and turned up with it as a surprise. All of my jewellery making until that point, had been done on my dining room table and so this was a game changer! An absolute joy during a shitty old lockdown!
I wanted to keep expanding my jewellery making skills, so I ordered lots of new tools and materials, and started using online jewellery making tutorials, which is when I discovered Jewellers Academy (https://www.jewellersacademy.com/) . I also watched lots of videos by Andrew Berry (https://www.atthebench.com/) and his soft Welsh accent made me feel at home. I learned so much from these online tutorials alone!
Mid-COVID I was offered a job back in London (where I lived before heading to Dubai) and the pandemic helped me realise that it was time to move back to be closer to my family. The logistics of moving mid-COVID were painful (which is a long story) and I ended up being without my jewellery making tools and bench for many months! It felt so good when I was finally reunited with my workbench and tools, and I was so excited about it that I signed up to a Silversmithing Diploma to formalise my skills and expand my knowledge and skills into exciting new areas like stone setting!
My move back to London was now 2 years ago, almost to the day, and I can safely say that I have loved being back. I have loved creating some wonderful pieces of jewellery via my Diploma and I have gained so many lovely Jeweller friends within such an inclusive community. I have built more gorgeous followers and customers, to whom I am eternally grateful, and my handmade business is thriving.
On Monday of this week, I handed in the final pieces of my Diploma coursework for marking, and I will now wait patiently until I get my results back in September! I have loved the Diploma and I am now so excited about what my next chapter of jewellery making will bring!
Some of my early pieces, made when I was living in Melbourne