My journey into the world of metal smithing
Hello everyone!
My name is Tyne, a 36 year old female, living near the coast in beautiful North Wales, United Kingdom. I have always loved to create things ever since I was a little child, which all started around drawing, handwriting and stationery! I was obsessed with handwriting and would perfect my writing until it became an obsession. I also had a massive collection of pens and pencils which my mum hated as I would leave them everywhere! To this day, I still write, however my journey took a few different directions as I grew up and got older.
I went to college and done my A - Levels to progress into the world of psychology, however, I soon got bored of this and took a totally different direction and done my studies in electrical engineering! I always felt that I got bored no matter what I decided to do, and then it dawned on me, all the jobs or studies I was undertaking lacked the creativity that I needed to keep me inspired and happy.
As I became older I started to draw, although not being very good at it, I purchased all the things I needed. Although this was something I loved, I felt that I was not good enough at it and I wanted to try something else yet again.
I remember one day I was looking to buy some jewellery and I came across a wire wrapped pendant with a beautiful moonstone crystal. I feel in love with the piece and I had to have it! In fact I actually purchased this piece from another seller on Etsy! Which I guess is strange as my journey kind of started through Etsy itself!
When this item arrived I looked at it and thought it was amazing, I loved how it was made and loved the creative thought that went into it. This is what inspired me and where my journey began.....
After this I decided to purchase some cheap wire myself to practice with, of course I got the wrong type of wire and failed miserably! But I kept going and made my first piece. It looked terrible! But I was still happy that I was able to make something which slightly resembled a pendant. From this point I continued to practice, watching videos, reading articles, speaking to other jewellery makers and my pieces started to get better and better.
Not so long after this I decided to try some silversmithing, it was all or nothing as the tools I needed were not cheap, but I eventually got everything that I needed and started my first piece of silver smithed jewellery. An Ethiopian Opal Welo Ring, talk about going in the deep end. I had no knowledge on opals, on how soft they were, how to set jewellery, nothing! But after some perseverance it was created and I was so happy with it!
Looking back at that piece now I still smile, although my work has come a long way from that point. I still feel this little ring was one of the starting points to solving my longing desire to forfil my creativity needs and I still have the ring to this day. Maybe one day I will show it to everyone to show that with a little practice here and there you really can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it and keep at it!