The following is a general sort of mish mash of my own personal history and opinions, but if you would like to read about more current things, I have a blog that I'm writing about my efforts at becoming (hopefully succesfully) self employed. If that's what you're after, you can find it here.

Hi there.

Well, as it says at the top of the page my name is Rebecca. Born and raised in Somerset, I currently live in Aberystwyth. I came here for university - BSc in Marine and freshwater biology, which I realise is a little unrelated to being a jeweller. One of the key things I discovered, or perhaps just realised during my degree studies, is that although I find biology fascinating, I absolutely love making things. So now I'm focusing on the bit that can keep me happily humming to myself for hours whilst still occasionally pulling out the biology books or just reading through the latest issue of New Scientist. Mind you, being able to keep yourself awake for hours when you're actually trying to go to sleep because you just want to work out how best to twist that bit of wire to make it fit in against that other bit... Well lets just say that sometimes my enthusiasm has a horrible sense of timing.

I would like eventually to try and work my interest in ichthyology into my craftwork, but I have a feeling its the sort of thing I'll end up doing spontaneously when I least expect it. For the most part, I'm a bit stubborn about sticking to my own sense of taste with my jewellery work, although I do still manage to make things I don't actually like often enough. The thing is - I know that someone, somewhere will like it even if I don't, so that never worries me too much. On the other hand, it's generally considered sensible to be aware of current trends and fashion and try to fit in - well I'm just not a manic follower of fashion. Again though, I believe there is always a market for every style going, so if I'm making simple wire designs while the fashion world calls for giant wooden beads, then I'm just catering for everyone else who still likes simple wirework!

My jewellery is probably what I'd call my main craft right now - I've been doing it the longest out of my staple three (jewellery, cards and leatherwork), and I started off with an evening course in my mid teens. I worked with silver plated wire for a while - the kind you can find in most craft shops - but I must admit I vastly prefer working with sterling silver. It's just so much more versatile. Not having to worry about chipping off a layer of plating to reveal a different metal gives you the option to hammer and file and try all sorts of fun things. Also, as one of many people who can't comfortably wear non precious metal jewellery for any length of time its more practical. On a business note, it's also much more viable to be selling sterling, as plenty of people just won't buy it if it isn't.

This might well get longer in the future, but for the moment I think I'll leave it as it is.

All work and opinions represented on this site are my own, and all work is © Rebecca Lewis 2009.

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The above is my own work, in case anyone was wondering.