I moved to Far North Queensland in 2006 from my home town of Adelaide and I love it here but I miss my tribe so I spend about half my time in Adelaide with my family and friends. I create my work in two states: at my lovely old watchmaker’s bench in the Adelaide Hills, and in my Far North Studio on 5 inspiring acres nestled on the dividing line of the Far North tropical rainforest and the dry Eucalypt forest that reminds me of my childhood home in the Adelaide Hills. The natural beauty and wondrous flora and fauna provide a constant source of inspiration and distraction. My work reflects my ongoing fascinations with: • the effects of time, mechanical and chemical processes on the visual character of metal, • objects as triggers to precious memories, • emotions, love, human relationships and relationships with place. I am a “slow” jeweller, I take my time and find joy in the process of creating. My work is hand crafted. I work with traditional jewellery making tools: a jeweller’s saw, files, hammers, pliers, vices, blocks of wood and steel, emery paper and polishing compounds to produce beautiful, well finished, timeless pieces. Processes I love working with include forging, forming, enamelling, stone setting, keum boo, etching, anodizing and patination. I love colour and I’m currently a bit obsessed with Titanium, a reactive metal that can be coloured by exposing it to anodizing: exposing it to electricity in an electrolytic bath, or heating it with a torch. Both these processes cause the metal to oxidise and as the molecules of the oxide layer become thicker, light entering the oxide layer and light striking the metal below refract at different angles. The light wavelengths either cancel each other out or combine and the refracted light is seen as colour.
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