Thank you for visiting, grab a cuppa and let me introduce myself......
First of all, hello, how lovely to have you here.
As an overview, for those of you who don't like to read masses, I handcraft sterling silver jewellery combined with my own glass beads and semi-precious stones. My designs are inspired by ancient symbology and the divine feminine. A lot of my jewellery holds hidden meanings. I'm also a glass worker, using hot and cold techniques. Now, if you're a reader, or I've piqued your interest, grab a biscuit or two, and let's go on a journey! |
First off, I should tell you that I am a Mum of two who just loves making things!!
As a family we live in Stourport-on-Severn, in beautiful rural Worcestershire. BlueKat Design started because I was making jewellery whilst my new baby slept, and it soon became clear there was too much for me to wear in one lifetime!! As I am currently bereft of immortality something had to be done. My son persuaded me to sell at his school fair, my friends bought my makes and soon asked me to make them jewellery, for parties, presents and to wear at their weddings. Within a year I had been asked to create an animal themed range for a charity auction held at the local safari park! But I knew I needed more skills to build my business so I went back to college. |
I began studying for a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Stourbridge College in 2011 where I learnt lots of new things, including textile work, 3d sculpture, wire work, fine art painting, fashion design and digital media.
I continued at Stourbridge College on a HND in Fine Art, where I took my photography, digital work and sculpture forward and learned more about organising exhibitions and creating larger scale projects. But this had taken me away from my original goal - to learn skills to enhance and push forward my jewellery making so I moved on to a degree in Contemporary Design Crafts at Hereford College of Arts |
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It was whilst researching my dissertation I rediscovered my childhood interest in ancient history, their worship of gods and monsters, and in particular looking at the way these cultures viewed and worshipped female deities.
This led me to begin a journey of learning about the use of symbology associated with the divine feminine, and began to incorporate this into my work. I now create pieces that have can have hidden meanings, using colours and semi-precious stones that can aid healing, and symbols that evoke a link to the person wearing it. |
When I went back to college originally, I had the fortune of learning how to work with glass, in both a hot and cold context.
Hot work involves melting the glass and reforming it into new things, I currently only do beads, but there are some amazing artists out there who work larger and create sculptures. Cold working is my beloved stained glass.
Creating beautiful glass for the home and garden is such a pleasure, and I get to work with my beloved colour in new ways. |
I was fortunate enough in early 2015 to receive a grant through Stourbridge College to secure a studio space.
I ended up opting to have a permanent space in the garden, rather than renting a space elsewhere and this arrived in the garden in May 2015. Called The Dragon Hole Studio, I can shut myself away and create! I also offered a variety of workshops both here, and out and about Worcestershire.
If you'd like to know more and learn a new crafting skill then you will be welcome over The Passion Project. There's workshops to suit all ages and abilities, and not all from me! I'm lucky enough to be collaborating with a variety of other working artists and hand crafters so they can offer their skills too, with sewing, block printing and art on the workshop menu! |