Our Wonderful Jewellery Making Experience
This weekend, we attended a jewellery making workshop. We had the most amazing day! The day is run by Stephanie Picton (@steph_picton_jewellery), who is based near Callington in Cornwall. She is the most amazing teacher and made our day so wonderful. We were also provided with delicious cakes, coffee and a fantastic lunch?
About the jewellery making course
Steph is a primarily self-taught silversmith and has been working with silver for 10 years. She was a National Trust local artist at Cotehele House, and she has a passion for “creating one off designs in precious metals and gemstones, and working with others so they can too!” The beautiful, rural location of the workshop, on an ancient Duchy farmstead, highlights Cornwall’s fantastic landscapes. To continue the handmade theme, even the workshop was handmade by Furgus, the village’s resident master carpenter. It is important to Steph to provide an environment where everyone of any age and ability is able to gain insight into the beauty and wonder of working with metal and I can say I really felt this. She definitely inspired me and shared with me her immense passion for her magical craft.
Ring making
Our day started with a quick explanation about how the process would work but we very quickly moved on to hands on, practical, jewellery making. We chose to make rings and so we started with making a practice copper ring; in the process we learnt how to texture metal, solder and shape the perfect ring.
After lunch, we went on to make our main project. I made an open back, wavy, silver ring with a round, garnet stone. I was so proud of how it turned out. I felt like I had achieved something amazing as I have never tried silversmithing before. Even though Steph was there to help every step of the way if we needed, it was clearly very important to her that we felt like we had done everything ourselves, with her guidance.
An incredible experience
Leza made a spiral, silver ring with a ruby stone that she set herself, making her design more complicated. It looked incredible and we were both so proud of how we did.
Because my original design was more simple, I had time to make some more rings. I made a wavy stacking ring and a simple ring with a heart decoration. Whist making our rings, Steph told us that in her workshops, couples sometimes come to make their own wedding rings. We know that many people come to Cornwall to get married and we thought this was a fantastic idea for couples.
All in all, this was an incredible experience, and we are so proud of what we achieved. We couldn’t recommend this jewellery making experience enough.
Why not make a craft course part of your holiday here at Helsbury, its a magical experience you will never forget!