plenty of experimentation with shells, mother-
of-pearl, and blue and yellow seeds. this also
aligns with the demands of her customers,
as they change the colour, style and fabric of
their clothes according to the seasons.
Sam always uses natural stones and beads
in her work, and uses her new-age books to
study the healing properties of crystals, such
as amethyst for love and strength, and rose
quartz for promoting love. Sam believes that
more and more people are understanding
and admiring the power and beauty of
natural stones, and this demand has seen her
source a wider range of semi-precious chips,
including malecite, moonstone and sunstone.
when inspiration hits her, Sam says she can
be very prolific, and she and a fellow beader
have been known to make up to 40 necklaces
in a three-day period! She also believes in
‘going with the flow’, and ‘listening to your
inner self’, and won’t even try to make any
jewellery if she does not feel in the mood, as
she has learnt that she needs to feel mentally
ready before she can be creative.
when asked about her innate abilitity to
create beautiful jewellery, Sam comments that
she receives ‘divine help’ from her nana. “my
nana died when i was two years old, and
i truly believe i have picked up her creative
vibe. nana was very artistic, and made
beautiful macramé, crochet and wire flowers.
i have a knack of being able to look at a
piece of jewellery and i seem to know how to
deconstruct it and make it again without any
instructions or help. on these occasions i think
of my nan, and say a silent ‘thank you’ to her.”
Sam also has help from her mother-in-
law marie, who makes the most exquisitebrooches, and also does all of Sam’s crochet
wire. using the skills she learnt as a wedding
cake decorator, Sam is hoping that marie will
adapt these skills towards making polymer clay
jewellery flowers for the store.
Sam’s designs have even been on television.
late last year politician julia guillard purchased
one of Sam’s freshwater blister pearl shell
necklaces, and some three weeks later Sam
was watching the news and shouted to her
husband: “julia’s got my necklace on!” within
no time all of her friends and family also knew
that Sam’s necklace had been on the news!
television news readers are a constant source
of inspiration to Sam, as she says they often
wear the most exquisite necklaces, and many a
necklace has been created after seeing some of
these pieces of jewellery.
to keep up to date with the latest products
and ideas, Sam subscribes to creative beading
and two american magazines, ‘bead Style’
and ‘Step by Step wire jewelry’ and says at the
moment that she does not have the time to join
in the on-line beading forums. She also likes to
go to bead shows, but living in tasmania with26 creative Beading
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