Congratulations to Julie Pugh, winner of the Intermediate Category in the Hidden Beauty Challenge! Her winning entry is a fine silver clay piece with a glass cabochon entitled, “Unveiling Spring’s Beauty.” Join us for an interview with Julie about her beautiful piece.
Julie said, “I had been thinking about the challenge for a while. I was walking my dog, Milo, across the fields when I noticed the first daffodil buds. Buds evoke excitement and the anticipation of spring arriving. Spring is the hidden beauty emerging from winter. For me this represents resilience, growth, and the hidden power of renewal. True beauty lies within.”
Julie was inspired “to create a pendant that is a bud, but when you turn it over, the petals open and the daffodil is revealed. Everything about spring is beautiful, particularly flowers and trees bursting into life. I did then think it was a bit obvious, or the idea was simple, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how I could make it work. Actually making the petals open was a huge challenge for me so I decided to push myself out of my comfort zone and give it a go.”
This was a complicated piece, and first, Julie decided to investigate blooming daffodils.She says, “By the time I decided to make the piece, I had daffodils in full bloom in the garden, so I cut some to look at in detail. I have never made hinges before and since attending the Sinter conference last year I have wanted to give them a go. Once I decided I needed to hinge the petals so they could fall both ways, I couldn’t think of another way of doing it.”
Next, Julie had to work out and practice how to make the hinge. She says, “I spent the day before starting the piece going over notes about how to make a hinge to work for the daffodil petals. And I practiced making the knuckle. I then realized the knuckle would have to be small so I could get 6 petals to fit tightly together at the base. At this point, I had to make the daffodil in thin card as I wasn’t sure it would work. For the knuckle, I used a drinking straw taped to the card petal and thread onto a copper wire circle.”
She then needed to design even distances between the petals. Julie continued, “I put a crimp between each petal, but then I had to decide how was I going to solder the ring with no gaps. So, I replaced the crimps with 2x3mm jump rings between each petal. I put all the petals on, soldered the silver wire ring, and attached jump rings. I needed to have three petals slightly thinner than the other three so that they fell in closer to the trumpet so the larger petals would overlap them. I put the hinge knuckle on the outside of the thinner petals to help achieve this.”
Julie’s last challenge was to determine how to let the petals open, but not too much. Julie says, “Sometimes I overthink and overcomplicate things. It was actually quite simple. I soldered a jump ring just 3mm down from the base of the covering petals, so it fell just low enough to work.”
She continued, “Once I had finished the piece, I thought ‘I’m never making that again!’ A few days later, I was thinking about how I could improve what I’ve done. My best pieces always seem to evolve as I’m making them. If I made it again, as I’m a perfectionist, everything would be more refined, the petal base would be more even, and the stem would be a little shorter. I used a glass cab that I happened to have, so I would buy a brighter yellow one. I’m now thinking about making a daisy with the same system, which I’m hoping will be easier as the daisy center won’t get in the way like the daffodil trumpet.”
Julie says her “best piece is a rose bracelet. It was a commission piece for a friend for his mother’s 80th birthday. Again, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. I made five roses representing the birthday lady, her husband and three children (whom the bracelet was from), with seven leaves in-between representing the grandchildren and one great grandchild with their initials on the back of each leaf. Linking each piece together with embedded rings and soldering was a massive challenge to ensure the bracelet was the right size and sat nicely.”
Julie relates all this from her home in a village in Buckinghamshire, UK. She has always made and designed things. Julie has a BA (hons) Fashion Design degree, but left the fashion industry when she had children, so she needed another creative outlet. Julie says, “I tried lots of different crafts including a PMC taster day. I was hooked. Creating in clay that then turns into a solid piece of silver jewelry: I was blown away. I had to do more. I also often use dichroic glass in my pieces, which I love as you never really know how it will turn out and every piece is truly unique.”
To stay inspired, Julie “loves taking classes. I believe you can never stop learning. I loved Sinter, I learned so much. Initially I must know the correct way of doing something before I will put my own stamp on it. I attended courses and classes using PMC before it stopped being manufactured. Only then did I find the world of Art Clay and AMCAW. What a relief, so I have found being on those Facebook support groups invaluable. Thank you everyone.”
The Hidden Beauty Challenge is the first competition Julie has entered. She says, “I’ve thought about entering challenges before but didn’t feel I had a strong enough idea or would be good enough. Also, as I only work with silver metal clay and dichroic glass, I wondered if that would stand out. When I had the idea for the daffodil bud, I decided I had nothing to lose. It would push me outside of my comfort zone. It would make me use techniques I hadn’t tried before because I felt I needed to do something different to be good enough. So yes I definitely had to overcome doubts. I love deadlines because I need them. In fact, I entered this piece just two hours before the competition deadline. I would definitely recommend others enter a challenge and treat it as a personal challenge. Don’t think about what the judges or anyone else will think. Make a piece for yourself, treat it as a learning curve to do something you haven’t done before. You will learn from it and grow as an artist. I did not expect to win, I thought my idea too simple, so it was a shock.”
About Julie
Find Julie on Facebook at facebook.com/oneofonejewellery and on Instagram at instagram.com/oneofone_jewellery.
