A Wonderful Jewellery Making Course with Emma Mitchell…..

I have been following Emma Mitchell on Twitter for a while. Her wonderful representations of the natural world were the pull for me … I have a fascination with all natural forms. Her website is well worth a visit, especially if you like what I am about to write about! Click on the image below:

Emma describes herself as a ‘designer-maker, naturalist, illustrator, mum and author.’ and ‘an ardent fan of cake, yarn and hedgerows.’ Sounded like a perfect combination!

When I saw Emma release dates for another workshop last year, I thought I would treat myself! I knew it was ‘right up my street’ and I wanted to get back into creative stuff in 2020 as my artistic streak needs outlets and I have done very little in the way of art for so long. February 29th seemed a very long way away, but suddenly, an email from Emma reminded me that it was just a few weeks away!

So, today, I drove all the way to Cambridgeshire… an early start and a long drive but SO worth it! I have spent, what feels like, a very decadent time indulging myself, surrounded by lovely company and with Emma as a highly inspirational tutor! The group met in Emma’s home, and we were soon all drinking tea and chatting. Emma talked to us all about her work and her inspirations and how therapeutic both nature and art are.

Emma has written two books and I bought ‘The Wild Remedy’ and Emma signed it for me.

 

We spent a wonderful couple of hours, learning all about the techniques used to create unique pieces of jewellery, inspired by natural materials. Emma’s work is just stunning and it was the images on her website that drew me into her website, as I so love natural forms and have lots of bits and pieces that I collect, that I felt might provide inspiration and subject material.

I went with a container full of lots of bits and pieces and Emma had loads of items too, including some snowdrops and plants picked from the garden. It was SO hard to choose what to use to create our first piece of jewellery!

One rather special item, I had taken, really caught Emma’s eye…. it was a tiny bird skull I found in my garden. I think it might be a goldfinch skull. We decided that this would create a pretty unique piece, so I used this to practise the technique and create my first piece of silver jewellery. I have created the moulds for several other items and I will be making a lot more, I can assure you, as soon as my order of materials has arrived.

Here are a selection of images, showing the progression of my piece…..

The rest of the group used all sorts of different botanical inspiration and created some stunning pieces!

I can’t express how much I loved doing this! My mind is buzzing with ideas and, as soon as I was home, I ordered all the materials I need to turn all my other natural wonders into unique jewellery….. watch this space!

A massive thank you to Emma and all the other lovely ladies who joined me on this truly inspirational leap year Saturday!



from www.wildlifekate.co.uk https://wildlifekate.wordpress.com/2020/02/29/a-wonderful-jewellery-making-course-with-emma-mitchell/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2019 off to a reasonable start

Image
Overcast, 5°, light NNW. A Little Egret seen today on the way out to Lollingdon and appeared to drop down near Amwell Spring. The hill hosted around 100 Fieldfare and a flock of c50 Meadow Pipit for a time before moving off over the top. Several Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer around the hill and a single Corn Bunting . A small flock of c20 Pied Wagtail feeding out with the Sheep. A few more Fieldfare and Redwing scattered around the Lollingdon area, a Goldcrest , Grey Heron , Kestrel , a couple of Jay , 2 Bullfinch and several Starling amongst other species. A Brambling in a private garden. Per Alan Dawson. 2 Blackcap in TW’s garden and 2 Chiffchaff at CSW. The flock of c60 Golden Plover still around Cholsey Hill. Brambling (courtesy Alan Dawson) from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2019/01/2019-off-to-reasonable-start.html
Read more

A Butterfly day

Image
Another sunny day, 24°, light E. A walk alongside the Bunk line from Church road to the bypass. Butterflies were the order of the day with literally hundreds of Meadow Brown on the wing today. They were everywhere. Another 8 Painted Lady seen with some looking very tatty after a presumably long flight and ageing. Best one of the day was a single Silver-washed Fritillary seen flying around a large garden before disappearing from view. Good numbers of Marbled White all along the route. Other species noted were: Small Skipper , Large Skipper , Large White , Small White , Green-veined White , Brimstone (1), Brown Argus (3), Common Blue (8), Red Admiral (6), Small Tortoiseshell (c20), Comma (3), Speckled Wood (2), Ringlet (12) and Small Heath (2). Some thistles were in flower on the edge of a bean field and these held the majority of Painted Lady , Small Tort and Marbled White . Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle (M&F), Large Red Damselfly and Southern Hawke...
Read more

Dormice and Hibernation

Image
A few weeks ago we had our quick dormice pre-hibernation checks to make sure they were all OK for the winter, and confirm how many kits we have bred over the summer. Good news!.. Both our pairs have had large litters of dormice, and so we have many babies to prepare for release next year. As part of the Common Dormouse Captive Breeders Groups (CDCBG) we, along with many other holders across the south, breed dormice as part of the studbook for release out in to the wild. Once out of hibernation next Spring they will all be collected up and released back in to the wild in collaboration with the Peoples Trust for Endangered Species (PTES). We do have two species of dormice in the UK. The native, calm, small and adorable hazel dormouse above. Below is the larger, bitey and much more erratic edible dormouse that was introduced to the UK. You can really see the size difference with both in the hand like this. Both species of dormice are entering, or have already started, to h...
Read more