I was reminiscing today about my early jewellery making days and how my business has grown. Like many people, I used to work a 9 till 5 job. Back then, my job wasn't creatively fulfilling, so I enrolled on various night school classes, including life drawing and silversmithing.
The very first piece I made, really wasn't a thing of beauty, but I found that I loved the process of manipulating a flat piece of metal and making it into an object.
The silversmithing class soon had me hooked and it wasn't long before I had my own workbench at home and I spent all my spare time researching and experimenting with the metal and creating pieces of jewellery.
When I moved to Orkney in 2010, I soon found a demand for my pieces. Many of the early ones were made with copper and silver.
My workbench moved around the house that we were renovating as I worked hard creating the business. I was chief cook and bottle washer, making all of the jewellery, packing and posting the orders, building my own websites etc!
By 2014 it was clear that I needed to make the move out of my home and I found a little workshop in a nearby village.
And I soon found someone to help me create all of the orders that were coming in. I really had no intention of becoming an employer when I started out!
People started to find my workshop and I was astounded when they first started coming through the door! I hadn't advertised that we were open as a shop, but word of mouth certainly got round!
The workbenches moved into the back of the workshop and customers were welcomed into my little studio.