Q: What inspires you in your work?
A: Colour inspires me more than anything, I just love colour and always have. Vintage inspires me - I was always rummaging in antique / junk shops, in fact I bought my first thing from an antique shop when I was about 10 - a tiny glass book. I still have it and remember staring at it in the window and plucking up courage to go in and buy it with my two shillings pocket money. I am always looking for small vintage / antique pieces or buttons I can use to make moulds or textures with and most recently my friend lent me some sweet little vintage keys which have become pendants and bracelet bars. And of course - Nature! Who isn't inspired by nature? Flowers, leaves, seeds, all make fabulous moulds. Last but not least I am inspired by my fabulous customers, quite a lot of whom have become good friends.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about the design process of a new bead? How do you start?
A: I might be inspired simply by the desire to make a pile of turquoise round beads! Although I never have time to make enough, I think I could just have a shop full of round spotty beads. But I usually start by something catching my eye, be it an old button or a lovely leaf. I will then make a mould so I can replicate it many times, I often don't know what colour I will use until it is ready to be glazed and sitting in front of me. I'm not a great sculptor but occasionally I will carve my own mould.
Q: Can you tell a bit about the work involved in making beads.
A: It is time consuming and very messy. Once a pile of beads or components has been formed or cut out from clay it is then left to dry for a day or more, depending on weather and thickness of the clay. In the summer a tray of beads left in the sun might dry in a couple of hours, in winter it might be a day or two. Each piece then has to be smoothed off - I hate this job as they are very fragile and can break easily. They can then be fired in the kiln for the first time and the kiln left to cool overnight before opening.
Now they can be glazed with each piece normally requiring 3 or more coats of glaze, then back in the kiln to fire and cool overnight once more. The single best thing is opening a kiln full of finished beads, I never tire of the transformation of a lump of dull clay to all this colour!