Whale of a time (From Living Northeast)

Whale of a time

1:20pm Tuesday 17th August 2010 in

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Whale bones, rubies and Anglo Saxon brooches have all been sources of inspiration for jewellery designer Lynne Glazzard. Ruth Addicott talks to her about some of her more unusual pieces.

WHEN North Yorkshire jewellery designer Lynne Glazzard found herself sitting in a field at a festival teaching children how to make necklaces out of plastic milk cartons, she didn’t expect it to form the basis for one of her own collections.

But after going through the basics with the children, she went on to use exactly the same technique to make larger necklaces with oversized beads for her own range.

“Inspiration comes from all kinds of things,” she says.

“A grass stem waving in the breeze, the texture of a rock or bark of a tree, patterns in the landscape, dry stone walls.”

After being artist in residence at Whitby Museum last year, Lynne also generated ideas from further afield, including wood carvings from the Pacific to ancient Anglo- Saxon brooches.

Lynne says she has always had a passion for making things. Even as a child she was fascinated by crochet, sewing and making furniture for her younger sisters’ dolls. After gaining an MA in Design from the University of Lincoln, she launched her own business and currently has a studio on the North York Moors.

Lynne uses a broad range of materials including silver, enamel, copper, lamp-worked glass, aluminium and plastics – not including the vast array of objects she has come across in passing.

Her most unusual piece to date is a ring called Remember Me. Created out of a pvc-based material called faux bone, it draws on the historic concept that rubies are linked to remembrance – and rings are associated with significant moments.

“The shape means it can be comfortably enclosed within the hand so it becomes a kind of amulet or charm to hold on to,” she explains. There is also a slide show featuring the ring on her website (lynne-glazzard.com).

Lynne says her favourite piece is the Snow, Ice and Old Bones bracelet which was inspired by a Whaling exhibition last year at Whitby Museum. It has hand-made beads in clear and white glass and silver bone-shaped beads and is on display in the museum collection.

Inevitably, some items take longer than others. The longest Lynne has ever spent on a piece was three weeks when she made a large necklace called Necklace for the Plant Collector’s Wife as part of her residency. “It took me two full weeks to saw out the plant patterns and another week to solder, make the chain, polish and finish it,”

she says. It has recently been on display at the Mercer Gallery in Harrogate.

Her best selling pieces are the tiny enamelled leaf earAmong the other items proving popular are the handmade, large-holed glass beads which can be threaded onto silver bracelets. Prices range from £15 to £30 and they also come in different patterns.

Lynne’s own collection of jewellery is quite quirky. “I tend to buy things in materials I don’t know how to use,”

she says. “I have two pairs of feather earrings – one by Katie Clarke, the other by Anna Lewis and they’re quite different from each other. I like to wear bangles but have large hands so usually have to make my own – one of the reasons I became interested in making jewellery in the first place.”

Lynne has a joint exhibition of enamels coming up at the Pannett Art Gallery in Whitby in October, together with Margaret Hopley and Harry Nicholson – although it will feature art rather than jewellery.

When she’s not creating her own designs, Lynne also runs courses in art, clay, silver, jewellery-making and enamelling from her studio on the North York Moors. “I love that jewellery is associated with significant and happy moments in our lives and I like teaching people how to make their own special piece,” she says. “I enjoy it when someone likes my work enough to wear it or give it as a gift.”

■ Lynne’s jewellery is available from select galleries, or customers can purchase direct by arranging a visit to her studio. A small selection is also available from Dazzle, 4 Bridge Street, Helmsley, North Yorkshire. For more information email: lynne.glazzard@gmail.com or visit lynneglazzard.com