The Ring

At the beginning of the year, I was approached by some very good friends who have been in love for a very long time. They were engaged last year and planning a wedding for the end of this one and wanted to know if and how a specific design wedding band could be created. Being the eternal optimist that I am, immediately said I could and would help them out.

6 months later I was feeling very nervous and entirely out of touch with my wax carving skills. But with their confidence and enthusiasm spurring me on, I spent a week at school carving Bryce's family crest out of a small piece of wax with a needle. 2 weeks of building up, carving away and sanding later, the ring complete, the couple happy, the mould was sent away to the very helpful Apecs in Sydney. A couple of days later, it returned and I am still not sure who was happier, Bryce and Tara or myself!

So on the 14th of November 2009, my two very good friends became husband and wife, both sporting some VERY lovely bling. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big Thank-you to Tara and Bryce for having faith in me and listening to my constant worrying. Congratulations!

The lucky groom and I

'Synthetic Organic'

Two woven copper and perspex neckpieces. These have been designed for the Martin Hanson Memorial Art Awards. I had so much fun creating them and am just a tad enthusiastic about the finished product. Let me know what you think!

Needs a little love

My partner and I are looking to buy a new house. It will be our first home so obviously we aren't looking for a mansion and are trying to keep our mortgage to a minimum heart attack. Looking in the area we would LOVE to buy in, I stumbled upon this little gem. Photos so tragic they are beautiful. I don't think the rela estate realised they were creating an artwork in their sales pitch. Let me know what you think, I think the picture is gorgeous!

Bloom Ring

Something pretty I made in a weaving workshop at the university. I also made a snakes belly necklace that I love. The woven wire feels like it is growing and breathing as you work the strands. Then later as you wear the piece, it feels like it can move and twist like a living thing! This one is sterling silver and 9ct gold.

Naked Ladies

Latest series of paintings. Hung in the restaurant "My Place" on the Gold Coast. Oh I just had so much fun with the colours, shapes and subject matter!

These are my working conditions- I love my chickens but sometimes they are so curious and they LOVE to be close to you!

New York, New York

As the days grow colder I think back to winter in New York and wonder why it never felt quite this cold?! New York is such a beautiful city and I wish I could spend a year just discovering the city and its seasons. That said I am an incredibly lucky little bunny and was still able to experience the city blooming into spring and then later blanketed in icy clean snow. It was amazing to walk through central park on different days and see the transformation! These are some of my images from a joint photography exhibition. Ah Bliss...

Just two days later!

I heart Barbie

Oh... it must be love, love, love.
I love this artist. For little girls grown-up everywhere Margaux Lange is a dream come true. Her 'barbie bits' jewellery ensures we will never grow too old to still play with Barbie.

When I was a little girl I had the most beautiful Barbie. My sister and I had a Barbie and Ken each so we became quite attached to our dolls. Mine was so pretty, she had tiny blue sapphires (I am sure they were real!) for eyes and long blonde hair. The little girl next door had several Barbies and when I thought I was "too old" to still be playing with Barbie, I reluctantly gave her mine. A week later I was checking up on my prized possession only to discover that she had thrown her in the rubbish after a leg fell off. I was heartbroken. I am still heartbroken. So if you ever find a blue crystal-eyed barbie please think of me.

Maybe this is why I love Margaux Lange's jewellery so so much.

The jewellery is colourful, fun and exquisitely made. I love her custom pieces and am continually amazed by her new designs. Who would have thought this simple icon could be expressed in so many creative ways?! Check out her blog " Midges Mind"- its updated regularly. Ooh and you can buy Barbie Bling on Etsy!

Amazing Artists

As you can see, on the left, I have added some links to web places which I love. I can spend hours trawling through jewellery web pages and absolutely LOVE artist's blogs. It gives me the chance to sticky beak (something I loved and now miss about uni) and see what people are up to. It also serves the purpose of motivation and inspiration.

I will keep updating as I find more and more that leave me speechless. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Back in the real world, I have been busy with family and teaching and unfortunately have been a little slack. I need to go out, splurge and just get the tools that I have been dying for. Until then I have my web places..

Resin Mania

I thought I would be great at this blogging thing considering my mind that never stops turning. However a few weeks in and anyone following would fast be becoming anorexic! Nevermind hopefully over the coming weeks I can fill you in.

Lately I have been filling my skills book through various workshops. The first of which was centered on resin and its amazing range of uses. I am not a plastic girl- I love glass, precious stones, wood, pebbles but the man made texture of plastic has never appealed to me. Not anymore! It is relatively easy to work with and the colour range is fantastic. I love being able to create something so quickly and for the first time not being so distraught if it doesn't work first the first time. I like to work with things that are unique and tell a story but these things can safely being suspended in this wonderful substance.

The process is home-friendly so I can easily (and cheaply!) set up to work from my own kitchen. My partner, who is a spray painter, will be utilised in the clean-up and I hate to say it but, he will definitely be able to achieve results I hardly have the patience for!

The above bangle was an experiment with layering colours and has glowing transparent layers and some creamy opaque layers. This is still in its rough form and will hopefully look gorgeous all cleaned up!

So I am looking forward to playing more with resin once I have purchased the mix. I am hoping to create oodles of chunky candy-coloured bangles with treasures floating around the surface. Let me know what you think and if you have any interesting ideas for fillers!

Plique a Jour

Some time ago I was fortunate enough to take part in a plique a jour workshop. I hadn't done any enamelling before but so love the idea of stained glass jewellery adorning the delicate areas of the body.

When I was visiting Europe as a curious teenager, I loved entering old churches and bathing in the coloured light as the sun streamed through huge stained glass windows. I never took any photos, instead choosing to sit and comtemplate, knowing I could never replicate what I was witness to. Until now.

This workshop proved to be a perfect way to express my love of coloured glass and "pretty windows". The technique requires a LOT of patience as you are required to solder and resolder repetitively until you are ready to do the same with the enamel. Slowly building up layers of pretty molten glass, hoping and praying with fingers crossed that tension will hold everything in place. Even I was amazed with my level of focus that week!

I made my mumma a small bowl reminiscent of her beloved Cooktown with its Ulysses butterflies, sparkling waterfalls and lush ferns. A gift for her first fabulous 50 years.

The earrings... well I needed to make myself something too, didn't I?

While the facilities of my tiny home studio aren't adequate to keep working from home, I look forward to working again with this intense, time expensive and delicate technique.

Bowerbird Collection

A few months ago I was given a HUGE jar of junket beads; an eclectic assortment of playful, colourful and innocent beads. Separately they were nothing special, just a collection of cheap plastic and some semi precious stones, but together they were powerful. I was at a loss as to what do to with such a diverse assembly but had thoughts of layers and layers to play with the eye and attract attention. So the Bowerbird Collection was born.

String after string of diverse sizes, distinct shapes and colours that should never normally be seen together. Like the nest of a Bowerbird, the jewellery collection is a carefully chosen medley of found objects. In this case found in a big jar!

These pieces are difinitely a statement and should not be worn by the faint hearted! Someone once said that there is strength in numbers and these numbers are almost overwhelming. I hope you enjoy their playfulness and explosion of colour.

The collection includes necklaces (of various lengths), rings (with amazing crystal hearts), bracelets, earrings and brooches. Wear them by themselves or heap them together!

Welcome to Crest of Ilium

After stewing over brand names for many, many moons, I have finally come up with 'Crest of Ilium' as a label to work beneath.
I was after something seemingly random, something important to me, something that was the right 'colour' (*I'll explain later) but most importantly something that I could see working with my designs. I didnt want something naff like Jo's Jewels and didn't want to pigeon hole myself into a particular style. So while I have been driving people nuts with my frustration and indecisiveness, I can finally say I've found something I am totally happy with.

Now where did it come from and what does it mean? I hope it has an air of elegant mystery but truth be told Crest of Ilium is a medical term. As a child I spent time in hospital with unqiuely formed hip bones. The Doctor performed an operation that would 'borrow' the top of my hip bone to help form a socket below. The area that was removed is known as the Crest of Ilium.


My hip has never and will never stop me from doing anything (although it was a good excuse for high school sports!) but is definitely a bone that defines me. I have a quirky walk and a beautiful pale line that traces from the tip of hip down into my bikini. People are constantly concerned with my moody limp but this is a trait I rarely even notice!


So welcome to Crest of Ilium: home of jewellery, design, painting and photography! Please be patient while I learn my way around blogspot but look forward to images from new collections and past works.

Collections in progress: Bowerbird, Get Zipped! and Women in Hats.

*Note: I'm not sure if everyone does this but I often see words as colours and so my 'label' had to have a succesful colour. What colour do I see Crest of Ilium as? Well, you tell me!