Hello, I’m Yvonne

I am lucky enough to live and work in a beautiful part of the country, with both wild moorland and varied coastlines within easy reach and I have a studio in my rather untamed garden.

These provide a large part of the inspiration for my work, such as my tideline and sea cave bangles and several of my necklaces featuring semi-precious stones in their natural state.

Quite often, my designs are influenced by the possibilities of the metal I work with, or a particular stone. My Passion Flower pendant is an example of the latter.

In truth, I can find inspiration just about anywhere! For instance, I am currently working on a pendant I thought up while visiting a small town in central France, Bort-les-Orgues, above which are rock formations that resemble giant organ pipes, from which the town got its name.

I do sometimes draw a rough sketch of what I have in mind and use it as a starting point, but most often my making process is intuitive. I spend a lot of time exploring the possibilities of metal and how to bend it to my will.

There’s always the happy accident too, such as when I wanted to make a large pendant to represent a melting glacier with the technique of reticulation and ended up with an English oak tree! (illustrated here)

I love my hammers and use them a lot to create texture on silver, as well as imprinting patterns on silver by putting it through a rolling mill with various organic matter or pieces of lace and ribbon.

I also like making my own silver beads and chains, which are so much more interesting than bought ones. Silversmithing is a constant journey of both using the techniques handed down since ancient times and experimentation, and it excites me every day!

Would you like a unique piece of jewellery hand made especially for a loved one or to treat yourself?

I make pieces to commission.

I will be happy to discuss this with you, so just pop a message in the contact form and we will talk.

If you’ve ever had a hankering to make jewellery either for yourself, for loved ones, or to sell, I hold personal one-to-one workshops in my garden studio

Contact me to discuss your own personal workshop day with me.