Precious metal clay and ceramic bead artist Lesley Watt from Thea Elements/Thea Jewellery
Q: You’ve told me once you were a communications manager in a “previous” life. You are now a full-time jewelry and component designer. When did you decide to switch careers and was the transition difficult?
I gave up my full time marketing career at the end of 2010 and to be honest it wasn't a planned switch into full time jewellery design. After working in the same field for best part of 30 years I realised I'd become jaded and was no longer enjoying what I was doing so I decided to quit. I thought I would probably take a few months break and then look for some part time work. I'd been selling my jewellery to friends and family for about 12 months and had been toying with the idea of setting up an Etsy shop for some time so this seemed like the perfect time to bite the bullet and see if I could sell more widely - I never looked back.
I must point out though that my jewellery making in no way shape or form matches the income I was earning before. I consider myself very fortunate to have been financially secure enough to do this on something of a whim and had I needed it to fully provide me with a living income to cover mortgages and the like it would have been a far more considered decision and would have been a far more difficult transition.
As it was, once I'd made the decision to stop doing something that was making me unhappy and devoting all my time to creative pursuits with only myself to answer to wasn't that difficult. Yes it's a big and scary leap to cut yourself off from a good regular income but if you can find a way to do it it's also very liberating and exciting.
Q: Are you self-taught?
Partly...I started off teaching myself beading techniques from books and online resources and the more I got into it the more I wanted to to put something of myself into my work rather than buying all my materials. I took a couple of weekend courses in basic silversmithing and silver clay and got completely hooked. I find that if I learn the basics in this way it's much easier to teach yourself the more advanced techniques as it gives you the confidence to experiment and try things for yourself.
I've also taken 1 day courses in kiln enameling and metal etching and I now try to attend at least one course a year to learn a new technique – apart from anything else they're great fun. For 2014 I'm aiming to do some sort of ceramics course. Maybe extending my skills beyond jewellery.