PAINTING JEWELLERY
'I want, ultimately, to make my jewellery pieces look like paintings - works of art - that, instead of hanging on a wall, you hang on your neck or from your ears, or that you wear on your finger.'
This week has been my jewellery launch week. It's gone amazing and have received so much support, I'm so very thankful!
To accompany launch week, I've decided to make the first post on this blog. Very important side note: I am not good at writing, I have never been good at writing and I probably never will be, so this is probably a huge mistake.
BUT, I have so much I want to share with you, starting with (probably the biggest cliche), the history of Georgina Yvonne and how I came to create my jewellery, so please bare with me while I try my very best to become the blogger I always wanted to be (!)
WHERE IT BEGAN
When I was 14/15, my Dad and I travelled to London on holiday. This was the first time that I visited a city so large and so busy, and I remember coming away from the trip with lots of motivation and a desire to craft some jewellery. If you're thinking this makes no sense and one trip to London doesn't add up to discovering what my career should be - you're right and I agree and am 100% on the same page as you. But for some reason, ever since that trip, I always wanted to make jewellery. I have no memory of liking jewellery before this time, and none of my family/friends were jewellers either.
But from then on, I started making jewellery from materials around the house - wire, fabric, for example. My granny used to collect stones from the beach and I used superglue to attach these to surface fabrics.
A couple examples:
These are, upon reflection, the worst ever (along with the photography), and I don't think that's me being too self critical. But they mean a lot to me because they were my very first jewellery pieces.
Shortly after this, I did my research into alternative materials and decided to buy some Art Clay Silver. This was much more expensive but i loved experimenting with this material. It gave me the ability to create shapes and forms that I, at the time, wasn't able to make with any other material. I crafted much the same as I do now. I love jewellery that looks a bit rough around the edges, and I love taking inspiration from nature. The below picture is an example of this:
WHERE WE'RE AT NOW
Now, years and years on from these first experiments in jewellery making, I prefer wax carving. Over the years, I've been fortunate enough to learn jewellery making in its most popular form, using sheet metal and working with traditional tools; however, my love definitely lies with wax carving.
Wax carving gives the same ability to create forms and shapes similar to those made with Art Clay Silver. I plan to do a whole post on wax carving, the process and my tips and advice in the future but, for now, I just want to let you know that all pieces on sale today are originally carved from wax. These are then cast in 100% recycled silver, before being cleaned and polished up.
I feel like wax carving gives me the most freedom in creating the designs I want to make, and it's also the most relaxing way of creating jewellery to me.
With my newest pieces, my inspiration has evolved since I was younger. Throughout the years, I've definitely struggled with identifying my inspiration and it's taken a lot of creating and a lot of trying/failing to see where all these thoughts come from and what I want to achieve with them. I'm someone who just creates on a whim. There's never a lot of planning. My imagination just runs wild whenever I sit down at the bench to create something new. So, I've had to ask myself time and time again: what made me want to make this? What inspired me? Where have these ideas come from?
And finally I've found a running theme in my work and, at last, figured myself out.
My jewellery is always inspired by visual art movements. Specifically, the styles and techniques of art movements - even more specifically, painting techniques.
I've always been an arty person and have always loved painting. I didn't realise the influence painting had over my jewellery designs until recently. I love when my jewellery has elements that look like brush strokes and I love re-creating pointillism and giving a modern take to renowned painting styles.
I want, ultimately, to make my jewellery pieces look like paintings - works of art - that, instead of hanging on a wall, you hang on your neck or from your ears, or that you wear on your finger.
WHAT'S NEXT
What's next is a whole lot of growing. Growing in terms of customers, sales, blog posts, growing the collections, growing the social media support - just a whole ton of growth.
I've got a long, long way to go before I get to where I want to be but this week has been the first step to being on the right track to achieving what I want to achieve.
Again, I'm so, so thankful to anyone who has supported me and genuinely believed in this business, it means the world to me!
And, I promise that future blog posts will be way more exciting and I won't ramble on forever (don't hold me to that though).
Love,
Georgina xxx
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