Welcome and thank you for your interest in me as an artisan. I am going to share with you the story of how I got started in jewellery design and making.

It all began around 18 years ago. I was given some DMC thread and a book on making friendship bracelets by my godmother. I quickly picked up the techniques of making them and ended up with loads. I wore about 6 myself and gave them to friends. I also began to sell a few on my godmothers stall when she went to craft fairs with her pressed flower arangement framed pictures. I was thrilled at the age of 9 to be selling something I had made and really enjoyed it when I was complimented for being able to make them at my age.

I stopped making the friendship bracelets as I grew up and didn't make another piece until I was looking at college courses and went on a few taster days. On the 3D design crafts day we got to make a small piece out of copper and cut, anneal and colour it with powders. because of the size of the piece I decided to make a pendant. I took up the course but didn't make another piece of jewellery until my final year when we were allowed to write our own project briefs.

After finishing 3d Design Crafts I moved into fashion, since I enjoyed trend sourcing for my previous projects and wanted to learn more about it. It was while on this course a bead shop opened in our town market. I went to have a look and ended up with my first set of tools, a box of findings and a lovely selection of beads. I spent ages reading all about the different techniques used to make beaded jewellery and eventually I had a pair of earrings. Wearing my creations lead to friends wanting their own and I began to make pieces for them, I was eventually addicted again and made more and more. It was at this point that I began selling at local markets.

It's been 3 years since I sold my first piece at a market and in that time I have developed my techniques and expanded my knowledge of what can be done. I began to learn how to make my own findings and found they made the pieces look much more personal than the commercial findings that all looked the same. My next step was to sell online and I came to artfire in June 2009. Since coming here I have started to make my own beads from polymer clay and one day hope to get a starter kit for making lampwork beads.

My ambitions drive me to look further into what can be done with handmade jewellery and I will continue to develop until a day comes when I can't create any more.

I hope to see you soon when I will show you my home studio, where I work and create my jewellery designs.