Cocoons and threads

LEFT: silk cocoons, gold thread and leather cord with silver fastening. RIGHT: silk cocoons, gold thread, red rubber and leather cord

I have been looking at the use of threads in some work lately and have referred back to these two necklaces that I made earlier in the year. I have aquired some stiff cotton whipping twine (used by sailors) and am looking at ways of incorporating it into a piece with silver and pearls, partly inspired by the ancient Greek legend of Arachne. Arachne was famous for weaving and tapestries, and was turned into a spider by the goddess Athena after challenging her to a weaving competition; Arachne's work was faultless and made Athena jealous.

I am drawn to using small amounts of the colour red in my work at the moment, so will be using red twine to contrast with the pale pearls and silver. I will let you know how it goes!

Silk Necklace

I saw this lovely rich blue silk and had to make something with it! The material is an amazing colour when seen in sunlight, like the irridescent blue in the eye of peacock tail-feathers, and the textured design enhances this effect. The design consists of 18 different pieces which were individually cut and sewn before being pieced together; the piece proved to be surprisingly time consuming to make, although I am pleased with the result!

New work

Hello all, and welcome to my blog! I am currently working on a new collection of pieces which have been inspired by some of the ideas and imagery presented in myths and legends (particularly ancient Greek and Roman) and traditional fairytales (both western and eastern). As well as sketches I often produce small mixed-media pieces and/or maquettes when working on ideas for new work, and above are pictures of two such pieces produced whilst developing my current ideas. The work then evolves from ideas, techniques or shapes seen in these forms to become fully fledged jewellery designs.

In Greek mythology Pegasus, the winged horse, was born from the blood that fell from the Gorgon Medusa when she was slain by Perseus. Pegasus then flew off to live with the muses on mount Helicon. The idea of the Unicorn historically appeared in works of natural history rather than mythology, with elaborate descriptions of the creatures appearing in medieval bestiaries. Unicorns were often depicted with some goat- or deer-like features (a beard, cloven hooves), and their horn was believed to possess magical properties by many cultures. I have also been investigating Indian folk stories, and looking at the depiction of myths and legends in medieval tapestries.