‘Emma is the most inspiring teacher I’ve ever had. Her workshops are a heady mixture of learning an amazing new skill, turning your imagination to beautifully wearable jewellery, and laughing your head off.’ Emma Freud
All photos above are of pieces made by beginners in my workshops
The two silver workshop buttons above are now ACTIVE. Click to join one of my two April groups. (February enrolment for silver workshop foundation has sold out)
I’ve been teaching people to cast nature finds and plants in recycled silver to make beautiful pieces of jewellery along with the ways in which nature and craft can shift our minds to alleviate anxiety and low mood for more than a decade. I taught this technique to Anita Rani on BBC Countryfile, have held silver workshops at the Victoria and Albert Museum as part of the Fashioned by Nature exhibition, Highgrove and Daylesford Farm. The classes I held at my cottage before the pandemic regularly sold out 6/7 months in advance.
In my workshops we use a special ceramic continuing particles of finely ground recycled silver, reclaimed from old electrical goods, to cast intricate detail from leaves, acorns, and seasonal flowers. It really is an exciting process: a piece of dreary-looking grey clay is transformed into a gorgeous fine silver pendant and part of the process involves setting it on fire. It’s like modern-day alchemy.
Until now my workshops have all been face to face, but as the pandemic continues my teaching will be available online to anyone in any country, from February 2022. With a combination of videos, PDFs and a live zoom session a week (dates tbc but probably at weekends or in the evenings to ensure as many people as possible will be able to join in) my two courses will provide you with all the information I taught in my face to face courses but both have an extra video about seasonal plants that work brilliantly with this technique.
