techniques

All of my copper and silver jewellery is handmade and I still use hand-tools I bought over 30 years ago on my degree course. Texture plays a big part in my work and I often add texture by hand using steel punches. My trusty rolling mill is fantastic at impressing textile textures into the metal, this often gives unexpected results!

I will often design my work on paper, before transferring my ideas onto metal. The silver or copper is cut, filed, textured, formed and soldered before I add the vitreous enamel. To fuse the enamel to the metal I use a small kiln, set to 830* degrees Centigrade. Each piece may require 3 or more firings to achieve the depth of colour and effects that I want. As I apply the coloured enamel, I often adapt and change the colours between each firing.

Although I had learnt how to enamel as part of my degree, its only recently that I rediscovered this technique. Being able to add colour to metal has opened up so many new possibilities to me….