Jen was born a creator and lover of pretty, shiny things, but it wasn’t until 2002 that she discovered the thrill of working with precious metal. A weekend class to ‘make a ring’ was the beginning of a passion to continually learn new techniques and increase her skill in creating stunning, wearable impressions of the world around her. Jen studied in both Auckland at Workshop 6, and in Brisbane at the Goldsmiths School.

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…a chap came in and was looking at a pair of earrings for his wife and wanted to know what they might look like on; so in all innocence asked if I had my ears pierced (I’m assuming that somewhere out there, there is a female jeweller who doesn’t?).  Would be that on this particular day, I had my hair down…and instead of replying, I just lifted up my thatched tresses with a wry smile and asked him to take his pick…..of the mass of metal studs, chains, rings and balls that decorate, very musically, my ears.

Perhaps you had to be there – and in case you haven’t – here is a selection of earrings I have created since my last earrings post.

(It was quite a vicarious thing to create the clip on earrings for my Aunty-out-law recently, I can tell you)!

Enjoy

Remember the ginkgo earrings my mother-in-law (in Perth, WA) asked me to make to match a pendant she already had?  Well she sent the Hammer and Hand website link to her sister-in-law (in Canada) who it turns out loves ginkgo trees…..and she asked me to make her some – though she doesnt have her ears pierced so needs clip-ons (hard to source these days!), and she also wanted a pendant to match!

I’m still waiting on my supplier to get the clip-on dangly thingies (that being the technical term) in stock, but have the pieces ready and waiting for them to arrive.

As often happens, the pieces had a life of their own as I was making them – my Mother-in-law’s earrings were flat and etched; the Aunty-in-law’s ended up hammered, etched, crinkled and with stalks….though both are very happy!

Another fun night – happy crowd, lovely weather, stunning work on the theme of ‘3’, yummy wine and nibbles – what more could you ask for on a birthday?

….have been having a great time creating pieces for our ‘3’ exhibition which is coming up in but a few short weeks, but have managed to take some time to explore other ideas that don’t fit the ‘three’ tag, no matter how far i stretch my imagination