Meet The Maker – Karen Faulkner-Dunkley

Karen Faulkner-Dunkley

Over thirteen years ago Karen made a career change from teaching biology in a college of further education to designing and making jewellery. She has always loved jewellery so it made perfect sense to develop this love into a vehicle to explore her creative ideas.

Silver and 9ct gold rings

Karen now designs and makes elegant, precious metal jewellery in her workshop in rural Cambridgeshire. Her interest in nature is reflected in her designs many of which feature flowers and leaves.

Silver and 9ct gold heart with peacock pearls

Karen works in both silver and gold, but loves to combine the two metals as this produces pieces that look good on people of both cool and warm complexions. Her popular ‘From The Heart’ collection aptly demonstrates the benefits of combining silver and gold.

Silver and 9ct gold studs

This design was developed from a stylised leaf; the imperfectly heart shape being flattering to most face shapes. The hammered silver surface catches the light beautifully, whilst the small polished gold heart provides warmth and accent detail. The added benefit of a hammered surface is that it masks the finger prints and scratches resulting from continual wear. The Heart pendant can also be strung on pearls or beads of different colours to compliment your colouring, accent an outfit or denote your unique quality.

Silver and 9ct heart of natural white pearls

Karen loves texture in her jewellery and has developed a variety of techniques to finish her work. Much of  Karen’s work is forged and textured with hammers, but she also uses the rolling mill and hand press to add impressions, as well as heat and acid to create interesting surfaces and forms.

Silver and resin studs

Karen is very excited about her newest collection, ‘Champagne’, inspired by this sparkling beverage. She combines silver and gold, pearls and precious stones in delicious shapes and forms to produce luxurious jewellery, guaranteed to be coveted by the discerning elegant lady.

Silver and 9ct gold heart charm bracelet

Karen is passionate about designing jewellery that will be cherished and worn regularly. Her aim is to design and make jewellery to suit your looks, personality and lifestyle. This involves taking note of your physical characteristics eg skin tone, hair and eye colour, face shape, your personality type and lifestyle. Get this right and you have a piece of jewellery which will be worn, rather than remain in the box. To help guide her customers through this process Karen has written a book ‘Does this look good on me?’ to guide the reader through the selection process. You can order it here.

‘Does This Look good On Me?’ book by Karen Faulkner-Dunkley

Meet The Maker – Colette Halstead

Colette Halstead – Glass artist

Colette is a glass artist based in Lancashire who enjoys working mainly with kiln fused glass but she does also use stained glass techniques.

Colette Halstead Glass – Landscape Dish

Colette’s artistic background is as varied and colourful as Blackpool, the town she was born in. She trained professionally as a fine art printmaker and on returning to her home town she worked for fifteen years as one of three artists at ‘Blackpool Illuminations’. She was the only female in a team of forty skilled workers and as artists they we were responsible for translating the designers’ ideas into the brightly lit six mile display.

Colette Halstead Glass – Seedhead Dish

 Her desire to work with glass started with a leaded light course in 2003. Glass captivates Colette like no other material; its translucency combined with the muted colours she uses, create beautiful lighting effects. She uses recycled and reclaimed window glass in her work and whilst temperamental it has a particular uniqueness of its own. Old window glass previously used to view landscapes through now hold another landscape between the layers. 

Colette Halstead Glass – Landscape coaster set

Colette’s work is always a response to the surroundings and situations that she’s in. She developed her work taking inspiration from both urban and natural landscapes, big skies and open spaces. Leaves taken from the landscape gift her work with the beauty of their organic shapes as she fuses them into the glass to create a simple composition of a tree.

Colette Halstead Glass – Hawthorn Landscape Wall piece

Inspired by nature, Colette’s unique leaf and landscape series capture the essence of the British countryside. Hedgerow and riverbank greenery from the landscapes are introduced into each piece and mark their organic silhouettes in the glass, capturing permanent memories of their once leafy existence.

Colette Halstead Glass – Landscape DIsh with Mill

Above all Colette creates pieces that she hopes give a joy and happiness to those who hold them.

Colette Halstead Glass – Hedge Parsley Rectangular Dish