Compass Competition - Win This Silver Compass Pendant!

Compass Competition

Calling all Sailors and Navigators of Life!

Choosing, Changing or Re-Discovering your Direction – then maybe you need a compass…

Enter this FREE Compass Competition and you could be the winner of this Silver Compass Pendant.

See more pictures of the Compass in this Competition – a great gift for someone or a treat just for you.

How to Enter the Competition

Find out how you can enter this FREE Compass Competition – it’s easy!

Good luck!

  Custom Made: Ship's Wheel Silver Compass Pendant

Custom Made Compass Pendant

As well as making fine jewellery and fabulous compasses, much of my work is to commission. That is, I create custom made jewellery.

Custom jewellery can be the creation of something completely new to your design. It can also be re-working an old favourite to give it a new lease of life. This particular silver compass pendant, however, was custom made for a lady to replace a family treasure that was lost.

The Ship’s Wheel Compass

The original compass was her late father’s and she had mourned its loss for over 15 years. Having found some old photographs of her wearing it, we settled on a design for its replacement.

Clearly, this compass pendant had been so much more than just a necklace to her; it had become imbued with memories, stories and special times together. Tales that were recounted over the years.

She told me of her tears of joy when she opened the velvet bag to find that it had, in some way, been restored to her.

The Compass Story Continues

During the following Christmas, the lady’s niece saw and fell in love with the compass – and is now the one who wears it! I’m told the niece knows the story behind it and cherishes it enormously.

As ever, I do so love jewellery with a story.

p.s. To see more pictures of this compass, please click here.

  Iolite Lentille Necklace with Rose Gold, a Viking's Compass

Spinnakers on the Solent

As the longest-running regular regatta in the world, Cowes Week promises a sensational experience in the world of sailing. Thousands of competitors with their various yachts and boats will provide an exciting race and a fantastic display of spinnakers on the Solent.

Festival Atmosphere

If you are visiting for this wonderful yachting event for an onshore experience, then you’re in for a treat. With its festival atmosphere, Cowes week brings live music and cocktail parties amidst the yacht clubs and marinas. For the week of 6 – 13 August 2011, the small town of Cowes will be transformed into a hive of activity with a fantastic line up of shore-side entertainment day and night.

Navigating the Solent

The relatively narrow strip of the Solent will need to be navigated carefully by the yachtsmen involved; the tides and weather respected.

Centuries ago, the Vikings were said to navigate using a slice of iolite as a compass. The Vikings could locate the position of the sun by looking through a slice of iolite because the stone acted as a light polarizer and cancelled out haze and mist on cloudy days. For this reason iolite has been referred to as “The Viking’s Compass”.

I imagine more up to date navigational equipment will be used for Cowes Week!!

  Hand Made Jewellery: Fire Opal & Garnets

The Thought that Counts

When it comes to birthday gifts, they say it’s the thought that counts; and in my experience, there are some very thoughtful gentlemen out there.

As a designer-maker of custom made jewellery, it’s a pleasure being a part of creating so much more than simply a piece of jewellery. It’s an honour to be involved in creating custom jewellery of such personal significance.

Still In Love

Based on the idea that life is an ocean and love is a boat, this custom made necklace with Fire Opal was especially commissioned by a gentleman for his wife. It has a wonderful story that goes with it.

It’s clear this gentleman is still so very much in love.

Jewellery with Meaning

The idea behind the necklace revolves around a song written by a friend of the family. The story of how a couple’s relationship evolves, how they navigate the shores of the heart and how “Now gathered round us, we have our own crew”.

I’m told the lady wears it every day.

  18K Gold Sapphire and Diamond Engagement Ring

A Fresh Start

Do you ever wish you could wipe the slate clean and start over?  


Whilst starting again from scratch completely can be a tall order, perhaps fine tuning elements of our lives as we go seems more achievable. Taking stock of what is and isn’t working in life, changing what we can, little by little.

Interestingly, it’s no different when it comes to jewellery.

A lady recently approached me with a gold engagement ring that had lost one of its diamonds. It was also slightly broken so in need of repair.

Changing Tack

The ring was ready for a change.
  The delicate diamond ring had already had an interesting life and had previously been owned by someone else.

I do so love jewellery with a story.

My client enjoyed wearing it and tended to leave it on no matter what she was up to. An active woman, she would happily turn her hand to building work and, in the next breath, be sailing with the yacht club!
 She needed her jewellery to suit her lifestyle. Her engagement ring needed to retain the delicacy and romance whilst being wearable throughout the life she leads.

A Sparkling Future

Handmade gold jewellery is very much about designing it to suit the person who will be wearing it.
 This lady now has a diamond engagement ring that suits her, it suits her lifestyle as well as her personal style. The previously claw-set diamonds are now safely secured in white gold rubover settings.

She is sparkling with happiness.  All she needs now is to be taken out for a romantic meal for two!