From copper sheet to flowers.

I thought that I might give you a little bit of an insight into my making process today!

Since launching this website and listing all of my new products it’s been so great to be able to spend more time in my natural habitat, at my workbench. As much as I’ve enjoyed learning all of the things that go into a product launch, I’m first and foremost a maker and that’s what I love to be doing.

In the image above you can see all of the flowers needed for two copper crowns!

All of my work starts off life as a sheet of metal or a length or wire, or both. From there I use templates that I’ve made in order to mark out all the flowers that I need onto copper sheet before drilling and using a piercing saw to carefully cut them out.

I find saw piercing to be a really relaxing process, it requires just the right amount of concentration to keep your brain occupied but it’s repetitive and simple enough (thanks to a lot of practice) to be very calming. When I first learnt to saw pierce it was so frustrating! The saw blades are super tiny and they snap ALL the time until you have your technique right. Thankfully now though it’s second nature and one of my best skills.

After the flowers are cut out they are all flat and pretty boring to look at, so I add a bit of shape to them to make them look more natural. The roses require a bit more manipulation and can be pretty fiddly, but they’re worth it!

Once they are all formed I varnish them in order to stop the copper oxidising so quickly and going brown/green.

When I started making these flower accessories I was determined not to buy the metalwork components because I wanted them to be unique, so that when you buy them you know that they have been created specifically for you! The enjoyment of the process definitely played into that decision too though.

I take genuine pleasure in producing these pieces and hopefully that comes through in the finished item. If you love owning my accessories and I love making them then we’re all winning!