For a few months now I have been making jewellery by hand. This isnt something that I ever thought was possible, or indeed likely.
I was a mum at 20, doing a media degree at 24, and writing for a living by the age of 28. Then I got very ill with ME, had time off, and ended up working as an administrator in the charity sector. So, as you can imagine, making jewellery was kind of left of field.
I had a few friends do it over the years and it seemed quite interesting - but not interesting enough for me to make it happen. I was visiting my friend, Lisa, one day a few months ago when I casually mentioned I might like to try it one day... if you believe in fate (and I don't especially) then this would have been a classic case. Lisa - whom I worked with as an administrator - used to teach people how to make jewellery (having embarked on that line of work herself). She gave me a quick 10 minute tutorial, and it was all I needed - I was hooked!
I ordered some supplies online and was impatient for them to arrive. In the meantime I got books out of the library, bought magazines that cost far too much, and generally just tried to learn about the craft. Once my supplies arrived and I began, I knew I would never look back. I will never forget the feeling from seeing my first piece of jewellery.
My first piece for sale
What I love the most about it is the creativity; the fact that when I start out to create a piece I never quite know what I will end up with. And to have other people enjoy my work is even better.
Rather surprising to me is that I started selling my work very quickly - how did it take me so long to find something to earn from that I enjoy so much?! And so, seemingly completely naturally I ended up running my own jewellery business.
It is just a side-line because I have a paid job and would miss the social aspect of working totally for myself but it is a sideline I really enjoy. I am currently only selling on Folksy.com, a crafting site for UK based people, and am able to keep my prices fairly competitive because it is a sideline and not fulltime.
I am also selling beading supplies to sell on to other jewellery makers, anything from jewellery findings, to beads to charms and more!
As I am fairly new to jewellery making I am still keen to try lots of new things and sometimes I want to talk about that in an open forum so that is why I have created this blog. So I hope you will keep reading and leave a message or two from time to time.
Here are some other places you can find me:
Facebook/Jewellerydesignsbyclaire
Folksy/Jewellerydesignsbyclaire
Twitter/Jewellerydesignsbyclaire
Here are a few examples of my work, taken from my Facebook page:
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