About Me       

 

My name is Elaine Thornton; I live in Dunstable, Bedfordshire which is approx. 30/40 miles north of London. I have been making jewellery now for over 18 years (I can't remember the exact amount of time, it was a long time ago anyway!) and started selling my work again in July 2006. I am self taught and I originally started by using the step by step tutorials from bead catalogues and books at that time.

Over many years I have taken a number of art and craft courses at local colleges and have numerous 'strings to my bow', from Decorative Paint Effects/Techniques, Stained Glass, 3D Design and even Welding.  I completed my Art & Design Foundation course in 2003, this covered many aspects of Art & Design but I found I loved large scale abstract sculpture, metal and wire being the main materials I felt happy using. On this course the designer in me prevailed and so after completing the course these elements featured heavily in my decision on what I wanted to do next, as I was unable to carry on with my studies at that time.

I fell back into making jewellery and so I took a course in Jewellery Design which included silversmithing techniques, I don't use silver soldering in my current work as I tend to prefer cold connecting techniques, with wire being a dominent material to create my jewellery.

Major influences in my work are colour, line, shape and I love non-uniformity or asymmetrical styles and the need to balance my jewellery using this style is sometimes challenging, it is becoming a popular trend on the high street especially with the vintage look which seems to be 'in' this season.

 

 

I started to make Lampwork beads after having a lesson in March 2008 with British Lampwork artist Sally Carver or better known as Red Hot Sal www.redhotsal.co.uk . My beads make an appearance in my creations as well as being sold individually for jewellery makers to use in their own creations.

Major Achievements  ....

A major goal for me was to purchase my own kiln and eventually upgrade my torch to a dual fuel set up as my Hot Head torch was only a single fuel torch. 

In 2010 I finally purchased my new Cricket Torch and Oxygen Concentrator (Oxy Con) so my old Hot Heat torch has been retired for now, my equipment is now complete. 

This is my purple Cricket torch 

 

During 2009 I created tutorials for Beads & Beyond Magazine a UK jewellery making publication which I enjoyed, it was a challenge and now I feel I maybe ready again to take up the challenge ~ you can find me appearing in the longest running British publication Bead Magazine!

 

 

I enjoy teaching my art and I continue to teach beginners in various jewellery making techniques, I post dates for future events on my Tuition Page and in my Events Diary.  

 

That's about it from me, I hope you enjoy browsing my site and if you don't see something you want or that isn't quite right for you, please don't hesitate to contact me for a commission.

Thank you for popping in and please come back again soon....

Elaine