One of the uniquely fortunate aspects of my new career is that I can make thoughtful gifts for friends and family. Gone are the days of searching for something appropriate, all I have to do now is source the right materials! So then, it’s my little sister’s birthday next week. She’s fun and bubbly so I thought that a funky necklace with a fused-glass pendant would be a good idea... 

It’s April, and I just love the lilacs, yellows and fresh new greens of this time of year! My grandmother’s garden is always full of daffodils and bluebells and so it was this, as well as the spiky shoots of new grass that inspired a new bracelet… Then then I did another with the purples and greens: I love that they’re so simple and sparkly and translucent like big... 

AB stands for Aurora Borealis and is named after the atmospheric phenomenon otherwise knows as the Northern Lights. In jewellery making it refers to a metallic coating applied to crystal to produce a shimmering effect of different colours, which vary depending on ambient lighting.  Read More →

Mother or Pearl is the nacreous interior of a pearl-producing clam. Nacre is the iridescent material which builds up in layers coating the insides of the shell, and also forming pearls themselves.Mother of Pearl may be dyed, but in its most natural form is either black or white.  Read More →

See Murano  Read More →

Murano is an archipelago of islands linked by bridges. It lies about a mile north of Venice and is famous for its glass making, particularly lampworking. In 1291, all the glassmakers in Venice were forced to move to Murano due to the fire risk that their ovens posed to the predominantly wooden structures of 13th century Venice. In the following century, Murano became famous for glass beads and mirrors,... 

Tahitian Black Pearls, or Black Pearls are so special because of their rarity. These pearls, ever though cultured, can never be mass produced (like freshwater pearls) because of the precise conditions required by the black pearl oysters (Pinctada margaritifera) The Tahitian government has produced a set of pearl grading standards; the following characteristic are based on those. Six Pearl Grading... 

A pearl is a hard, rounded object produced within a living shelled mollusc. The finest quality pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries.Strictly speaking, almost any shelled mollusc is able to produce a “pearl”. However, the “pearls” produced are often undesirable because they lack the lustre and iridescence we normally associate with... 

Sterling is the standard of purity for silver. The term sterling silver denotes any silver alloy in which pure silver makes up at least 92.5 percent of the content.  Read More →