Meet the Maker!

To some I go by Hex, but most folk know me as Emma. I've making jewellery for about a decade. What first started out as crudely wire wrapped bones and rusty things found in dark alleys, has now grown into to something much bigger, and much more refined. I still work with bones, but these days sterling silver is my favourite medium. I fell in love with sterling silver, lost wax casting and oxidised metals while studying my Adv Dip of Jewellery and Design at Melb Poly about 4 years ago, and the love affair is still going strong!

I am endlessly inspired by the shapes and textures found in nature, mythology, alchemy, occult symbolism, the elements, the cycles of the moon and my own personal rituals and practices. I refer to my pieces as 'amuletic armour', as each piece is created with the desire to instill strength and empowerment in it's wearer, and to help bring certain elements into the wearers lives as needed. Adorning myself in jewellery has become one of my most important self care rituals. This practice got me through some of my darkest days, and helped me feel like I had a protective layer to shield how vunerable I felt at the time, and if I can help imbue that sense of protection in others then my purpose here is served.

But making jewellery is not all that I do, these days its actually quite a small portion of my life. In my day to day life I spend my time working as a disability and mental health support worker out in the community, and sometimes in a gardening space. It's extremely rewarding work, and I love being able to have such a postive impact in peoples lives and support folk to have the freedom to express themselves and do the things they want to do in life, but it can also be incredibly emotionally taxing work at times, especially when yr chronically ill and trying to run a business as well!

When I started up my jewellery business again a year ago, I was actually having a hiatus from support work as I myself was struggling with my own newly diagnosed chronic illnesses that were quite disabling at the time, and decided to throw myself back into my art and work from home so my body could rest and do some healing. Learning to live with CFS/ME and Fibromyalgia, and accepting that my body often has more limitations than it used to has been tough, especially while trying to keep my own business afloat. Sometimes I am very slow to respond to messages, sometimes I don't post on social media for weeks on end, and sometimes I'm in too much pain to work at my jewellery bench, but just know that I am always trying my hardest, and am often putting every ounce of what little energy I have into this biz, so thanks for the continued support folk!