The meaning of 'baked'

Everything used in jewellery has been put through heat at some point in its journey.

Whether it’s a quartz crystal being created by crushed minerals at high temperatures.

Or gold being soldered and shaped into a ring.

I love the thought that all jewellery can be boiled down to one element – fire.

It’s interesting to think that something we use to adorn our bodies has come from years of formation under the Earth’s crust and it’s no wonder how beautiful jewels like diamonds look – after you’ve seen the process they’ve been through to get here.

Glass lampwork beads are made using a torch or lamp to melt and sandblast the glass into its shape and intricate designs. Ceramic beads are made by melting the medium and placing it in a mold to cast its shape. So much hard work goes in to the manufacture of each and every piece of jewellery made and the result is usually worth it.

Pick up a piece of your jewellery at home and take a look at it, inspect it and ask yourself: how was it made and how did it get here? And I wonder if you find it as interesting as I did when I first started looking at jewellery – it’s what got me into making jewellery – and maybe you’ve just had that moment too.

If not, take a look at these and see if I can’t change your mind:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bakedmemes

http://www.esty.com/shop/beauheme

Things I make.

Hello

Welcome to my blog!

I’m a UK based jewellery designer living in Brighton - a beautiful, bustling seaside resort on the South East coast of England.

The story starts from when I was living in Australia in 2008. I was visiting Byron Bay and while there, I discovered The Bead Shop - ‘A World of Inspiration’. I was fascinated by all the different shapes, sizes and sparkly things my eyes were met with! I decided to make a necklace for a friend back home, nothing fancy or clever, just a brown cord string with a random selection of colourful eye-catching beads BUT that moment was IT and from then I was hooked, hooked I tell you - HOOKED!

After this, I started looking at every piece of jewellery I owned, noticing how it was put together and wishing I could do it and “Why not?” I thought. So, armed with a collection of tools, how-to books and a keen imagination; I started making simple jewellery. I got a feel for the different types of findings and chains you could use, and the different sorts of beads out there; lampwork, freshwater, swarovski, semi-precious stones, etc! Hooked, definitely hooked.

Once you’ve been making jewellery for a little while, you also start to think about the components you use to set your beads or cabachons on, you start to dream about a type of metal casing that doesn’t exist and so my dream is to learn how to make my own metalware but to this date, I have to put that dream on the back-burner until I have the money and the time to do so. I’ve always been more of a fan of sterling silver over gold but I’ve started to become accustomed to subtle gold tones as I’m not bowled over by yellow gold; however, I particularly like the fusing of the two metals to create a more striking piece. Copper is quite exciting too. One day…

More recently, I am enjoying the art and craft of *drum roll* the illusive … SHRINK PLASTIC! It seems easy enough on the outset but once you start working with it, you realise how temperamental this stuff can be! Shrink plastic is basically a plastic just like any other but only once you’ve heated it. Before that, you have a paper that is of business card thickness, that you can draw, print or stamp on and manipulate it how you wish. But once you put heat on it, it’s anyones guess whether it will do what you want it to or just fold in on itself so you’re left with just a coloured scrunch and once this happens, you can’t undo it.

The idea is that the jewellery has been ‘baked’ in the oven to represent my favourite ideas - ‘memes’ and I feel each piece packs a lot of personality to it.

www.etsy.com/shop/bakedmemes

And that is me in all my nutty shell.

I intend to use this blog to share hints, tips and ideas plus anything else that is jewellery-related and if it is a joy to someone else then my job here is done.

So, when I’m not doing the day job (nursing) or letting cups of tea go cold through hours of endless drooling over craft supplies online (and spending money I don’t have for pretty adornments) - I am selling my labour of love on Etsy.

Thanks for reading,

Kelly