If you are looking at this page then you are obviously interested in the inspiration behind the jewellery. Inspiration can come from so many places and I love the quote from Confucius "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." I believe this wholeheartedly. In a World where we rush round we sometimes forget to stop and just look! The colours of the sky against a corn field, the mix of wild flowers and the tangle of roots all have a beauty ready to be admired.

My partner and I moved to rural Lincolnshire a few years ago and we were lucky to find a lovely house with a garden which continues to surprise. The lady who had owned the house before had planted lots of specimen flowers and we continue to be enchanted each season. The one flower everyone comments on is the poppy. We have loads of them! I had tried to grow poppies with no success but our garden is now full of a wonderful array of coloured poppies. We even discovered two oriental poppies hidden behind a tree last year.

I am also fascinated by symbolism, the Victorians used symbolism in their jewellery to convey secret messages of love and I think we have lost this wonderful way of expression. Throughout time symbols have been used in jewellery and decoration and this is something I will be exploring more in the future - watch this space!

If I could give advice to those creative people among you I would say: move away from your computer, there are some good images on the internet but nothing compares with seeing the real thing; and take a camera with you! I have lost count of the times I have seen something and wished I had my camera with me, just the other day in the fading light a twisted tree was in silhouette and the branches looked amazing and I missed the opportunity of a photograph! I went back the next day, camera in hand but obviously the light was different and it didn't look the same.

I hope you enjoy looking at my photographs and some of the inspiration behind my designs.

Poppy
My garden is fully of poppies every year; they even grow in between the paving slabs growing in the smallest space, beautiful poppies in miniature. We are used to seeing the poppy worn in remembrance but I wanted to capture the true likeness. I took photographs and did a number of sketches to get the feel of the flower. I put the photos on the wall in my workshop, looking at them for a few weeks and studying the fall of the petals, the scale and bend of the heads before I started to think of replicating them in silver.

My friend, Kate, made me a beautiful poppy mirror for the garden to see it click here.

Daisy
The daisy is berated by gardeners for ruining their lawns but I love them! Who can't remember sitting on the grass making a daisy chain. The flower is so beautiful. John Constable said "I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, - light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful." The daisy and the rose are the two flowers that gave me the biggest challenge due to the number of petals and also producing a flower in sterling silver that could be reproduced. I am excited with the results and am in the process of making the daisy collection.

In the language of flowers the daisy stands for loyal love, making it perfect for your wedding day and is also associated with the fifth wedding anniversary.

Ivy

Ivy again is a gardener's nightmare, ripped up to stop it strangling other plants but take a look at the photographs, it's fabulous! The first photo is from the Barbara Hepworth museum in St Ives. Go! It looks nothing from the outside but as it was Barbara's home you walk through a modest house and out to a secret garden which is full of great planting and, of course, sculptures.

We live opposite a lovely old village church and the wall is covered in a mass of ivy. To develop the range I picked some of the leaves so I could study the shape and discovered how each leaf is different! As I wanted a more contemporary feel to the ivy I decided not to over design it and so rather than bog it down with veining I just let the leaf shape speak for itself.

In the language of flowers the ivy is the symbol of marriage

Rose

The beauty of the rose is undisputed. I have a passion for the white rose, the delicate petals and scent is magical. The photograph is of one of our roses which grows by our front door. As you pass the scent gently fills your nose and I just can't resist leaning in and plunging my nose into the bloom!

In the language of flowers the rose stands for love and passion, is the flower of the fifthteenth wedding anniversary and known as the birthflower of June.

Lily
calla lily is my favourite flower. What can I say? I am teased by my partner as I have so many photographs of lilies and everywhere I see them I take photographs - well who wouldn't! In the language of flowers the calla lily means magnificent beauty - very apt! Due to my adoration of the flower it was vital I captured its delicate folds and shape of the head perfectly. It took me a few tries of cutting out patterns in paper to get it right but I am really delighted with the results.

Mum embroidered a sampler for us with the following extract from a poem by Ben Johnson (1573-1637):

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk doth make Man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night—
It was the plant and flower of light.
In small proportions we just beauties see;
And in short measures life may perfect be.

Butterfly
We have a couple of buddleia trees or butterfly trees as they are often referred to and it is not difficult to see why. Once in flower the trees are covered in small tortoiseshell and admiral butterflies. My Grandmother gave me one of her rings which has a scene made from butterfly wings, I don't wear it and although I look at it from time to time I can't help but feel sadness for the death of the butterflies to make a piece of jewellery. My partner and I went to the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy and there was a cabinet by Damien Hurst which was full of decorative pieces that had all at one time, been a living organism, such as coral etc. His idea was that we sometimes kill the very thing we hold beautiful which made me think of my butterfly wing ring sat in its box. I should point out that no creature has been harmed in the making of my jewellery!