Welcome to my little blog series, Introducing....where I ask some of my favourite artists about themselves and their work. It's just my excuse to be nosy, really!
This week, it's my lovely colleague from Beads and Beyond magazine, Jo Tinley. She is based down south in the UK, and I've long been a fan of her clean lines and beautifully finished work. Very different from mine, but I love it! I have made a pact with myself that at some point, I WILL make it down to her place for some silversmithing tuition....one day. But without further ado, I will hand over to....
Q1.How long have you been
creating, and what led you to begin?
A1. I have been creating something
for as long as I can remember! I’m really lucky that I come from a family where
crafts were valued and encouraged. My Mum and my Grandmas taught me how to sew,
knit and crochet when I was very young and I was always making simple necklaces
or bags as presents for friends. Although crafts were encouraged, the idea of
making a career out of one just didn’t occur to me and I eventually ended up as
a Head of Year at a large secondary school. In 2002 I had was involved in a car
accident and had to have 6 weeks off work. My birthday was at the start of the
6 weeks so to stop me from going insane with boredom my family bought me proper
jewellery pliers and other lovely things to replace the cheap DIY tools I had
been using, and off I went! I ended up selling my jewellery at local shows,
teaching simple jewellery making at my school’s summer school sessions,
teaching classes at a local art gallery and, after answering an advert in a
magazine, writing magazine projects. Making jewellery helped me to relax after
a stressful day at school. By the time my eldest son was born in 2005 I had a
small business going and we decided that I should leave my job to look after
the baby and set up the business properly around him.
So, you could put my current
career and way of life down to a wonderfully supportive family and a woman in a
white rover in Sainsbury’s carpark who thought her accelerator was her brake!
Q2.What do you get out of creating
– be that emotionally, physically, mentally?
A2. I absolutely have to create. I
get cranky if I don’t! I’ve learnt the hard way that as much as I adore my
family and love spending time with my two boys I also need time in my workshed
hammering and soldering to make me the best mum that I can be, so that when I’m
not working my attention is completely on them. I find my work soothing and
very therapeutic. I can shut the shed door, put the radio on and I’m in my own
piece of heaven. I do get very nervous, however, when a client comes to pick up
a commission! It’s not so bad when I post commissions to people, but I find
myself holding my breath when people open up my little brown boxes in front of
me!
Q3.What do you find inspiring?
A3. Everything! Patterns in
fabric, the colours on the trees or in a ball of yarn, everything around me.
The materials I work with are also very inspiring, especially the beautiful
stones and lampwork beads I’m lucky enough to use.
Q4. Describe your workspace – are
you lucky enough to have a studio set up, or are you like me and work in odd
corners of your house?
A4. The tools and materials that
my family first bought me fitted into a small wooden box – I soon out grew
that! I am now the very proud owner of an 8’ by 12’ shed, fully insulated with
electricity and lights. My partner built it for me with help from my brother.
It overlooks the garden, so when the boys are old enough to play in the garden
while I’m working I’ll still be able to look out and see what they’re up to.
It’s big enough for me and two students, and I regularly run private tuition
sessions in it. It’s got everything I need set up exactly how I want it, but
despite the fact that I’ve got so much space I still spread out over all three
workdesks much of the time! I am a very very lucky girl. My favourite time to
work in there is early evening in the summer when the sun shines beautifully in
through the long windows.
Q5.What are your favourite
materials to work with and why?
A5. Silver and stones are my
favourites by far. I love the versatility of silver, that I can use it to make
my own chains, stone settings, rings, everything I need. I have had to learn to
be more economical in these times of horribly high prices though, and recycle a
lot of my scrap. Pieces of sheet left over from making a pendant get sent
through the rolling mill to become a larger area of thinner sheet suitable for
earrings, for example, and tiny pieces of scrap are melted to become the balls
that I use on many pieces, including my poppy clasps.
Many of the semi-precious stones
that I use are unique, and I get a lot of inspiration from them. They quite
often tell me exactly what they should be turned into! A friend of mine has an
etsy shop that sells amazing stones. We originally met when she came to me for
tuition, and after I taught her how to bezel set stones she became so addicted
to buying them that she had to set up shop to sell some of them on. She now
pays me in stones for her tuition – the perfect arrangement!
Q6. Do you have a favourite bead
or supplies shop you could share with us?
A6. There’s obviously the big
shops like Cookson Gold and Sutton Tools, but two of my favourites are Mindy
Macgregor’s lampwork beads at Moogin Beads (www.etsy.com/shop/mooginmindy) and my friend
Brenda’s semi-precious stones at Iced Hot Rocks (www.etsy.com/shop/icedhotrocks)
Q7.If you were to draw attention
to a favourite designer or artist, who would it be and why?
A7. It has to be Mindy Macgregor!
Her lampwork bead are so beautiful, such a wonderful use of colour. Her poppy
beads are my favourite and I was lucky enough to snap up a poppy cabochon that
I’ve set in silver as the centre piece of a necklace. I love that she sits in
her workshop at home and makes the beads, I then sit in my workshop at my home
and make something with them! Work that I make with her beads always sells
quickly.
Thanks so much Jo! I love your work and especially your new range of findings - but then, I think you knew that already, didn't you?!
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