How My Jewellery is Made
Metal Clay
Metal Clay is a finely ground fine silver mixed with an organic binder to from a clay like substance. This material is worked like clay enabling you to get intricately detailed textures. One the piece is made, the clay is fired in a kiln. This burns off the binder leaving a pure fine silver piece. These pieces, or elements, I have cast in limited editions. Once they have been cast, the pieces are fabricated into rings, earrings and pendants then hand finished and polished.
Fine Silver
Fine silver is .99% pure silver as compared with sterling silver, which is mixed with copper and is .95% pure. Enameled work is usually done on pure metals, gold, fine silver or copper. I use sterling silver for all of my findings, ear wires, posts and ring bands, which is more durable than fine silver.
Fold Forming
Fold forming is a relatively new metal working technique. The metal is first folded and then hammered. After the metal is hammered it's then heated to restore malleability. The process of hammering and heating is repeated until the desired shape and texture is achieved creating unique one of a kind organic designs.
​Enamelling
Enamel is finely ground glass which is applied either wet or dry to the piece and fired in a kiln, at a high temperature to fuse the glass to the metal. My enamel work combines the use of translucent colours over subtle textures. I love the way the jewel like colours reflect the metal surface below. In my enamel work I use mostly champlevé and cloisonné.
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Champlevé means “raised field”. For the champlevé pieces, I create a “master” using metal clay. This allows for very intricate textures and details. The item is then cast in fine silver, which has a higher purity than sterling. Once cast, the piece is refined and polished. The next step is to apply powdered enamel to the indented areas of the piece. The piece is then fired in a kiln until the enamel fuses to glass. This process is repeated multiple times to build up several layers of enamel.
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Cloisonné is from the French meaning divide into compartments. For cloisonné, the base of the piece is made in fine silver then small fine silver wires are fused on to it creating open spaces, in which the enamel is placed. After multiple firings, the completed piece is ground using a stone to smooth out any raised edges of wire. Finally, the piece is re-fired to bring back the shine and then hand polished.