Thought I’d tell you a little about myself and then later, in a new blog, take you through my process of making a bridal hair comb.
Always interested in detail, innovation and processes I studied Aeronautical Engineering at what was then Hatfield Polytechnic and now University of Hertfordshire, obtaining a BEng degree in 1990. Oh, that seems so long ago now!
I then moved to Suffolk and worked in Cambridge as an Aircraft Stress Engineer. Simply put, I was a mathematician who worked out whether any repairs or modifications would be strong enough for safe flight. It involved sorting through paper engineering drawings to find all the relevant details and using hand calculations with complex equations for various scenarios. No computers then and no fancy computer generated models to do all the work, they were just starting to come on the scene when I left work to raise our family.
Always handy and craft orientated I found projects large and small to fit around family life but, gravitated towards jewellery making. After having a pair of amber set gold earrings repaired, which then needed repairing again a year later (gold is in fact a soft metal and wears quite easily. A small gold nugget can be hammered into an incredibly thin sheet and used for gilding) I thought I’d source the parts I needed myself. I ordered a catalogue and become inspired by all the wonderful shapes and colours. That enthusiasm and simple pleasure of creating something so complex out of a few individual tiny beads still drives me.
Inspiration from the colours and shapes of the materials has gained additional input over the years from a love of trail running with my dogs, which I found a love of when the last of our three children had reached school age and I had a little time for myself. As the seasons change and indeed as the days change there is always something new to catch my eye; nature is such a giver.
