Evening sun over the bay Wow, has it been that long? With summer weddings, spring sunshine and Mother's Day, work has been hectic, and blogging seems to have taken a back seat . It's a cruel irony that the return of the summer sun has heralded an upturn in jewellery orders for me, so instead of basking in the rays, I'm nose to the anvil, in my thankfully cool, but rather shady subterranean workshop. But I'm not complaining, not one bit of it...what an honour to be doing what I love as my living.....
Green sea glass hoop earringsSo anyway, what's been going on? The latest and most exciting development is a move to start using recycled silver in my designs. One of my lovley customers is planning a summer wedding with the fabulous remit of having the smallest carbon footprint possible - an eco-wedding with all the trimmings....using vintage charity shop bought, re-donateable crockery (with a price tag of a mere hundred pounds or so...compared with hiring boring old wedding crocks at way above that...)... to sourcing local beef from the farm down the road....and trying to source vintage wedding clobber...and of course, ordering bespoke, locally hand-made wedding rings of 100% recycled silver, from Glasswing Jewellery.
Cube sea glass earringsI have offered recycled silver jewellery for a while now, on the Glasswing website tentatively I have to say. The will has very much been there, as the mining of precious materials for the manufacture of jewellery, certainly leaves a lot to be desired....what industry doesn't in this day and age? I would eventually like to turn over completely to recycled metals, to fit comfortably with my policy of sourcing recycled/fair trade and ethically produced beads and materials wherever possible. Glasswing Jewellery strives to be an ethical and environmentally responsible company as far as possible. The main component of my work, is sea glass, - beautiful, magical, tumbled glass from the ocean - the product of yesteryear's litterbugs essentially! It's hand picked, local, resourceful and fun.
Satin finish 8mm bandFrankly though, I had little idea where to source 100% recycled precious metals, particularly in all the shapes and sizes I'd need .
So anyway, nothing ventured.... I figured once an order came in I would have no choice but to find some, and quick! It did - a set of recycled silver wedding rings by July? The hunt was on and my mission began, to fulfil my customers brief, and to learn a lot more about these issues in the process.
First stop - my usual bullion dealer, but I drew a blank there... although of course all milled silver contains a certain percentage of recycled material from the scrap returned by jewellers and collectors alike, they were unable to say how much (I guess it fluctuates), and certainly didn't know where to suggest I look for a reliable source of 100% recycled silver.
Deep oxidised heavy sterling silver ring set (6mm and 10mm)Thankfully, there is a growing awareness and concern amongst a small number of metal smiths, jewellers, suppliers and consumers worldwide, striving to establish a more equitable and sustainable supply chain of everything jewellery related - gems, beads, tools, metals and findings for our industry.
I have to say though, there is a serious lack of resources and information, particularly in the UK. There are no companies here (at least none that I have found) supplying 100% recycled silver stock for example. My hunt will continue, and I'll keep you posted on my progress.
