Banksia Creations
Banksia Creations designers are Catherine and Maureen, working in glass, precious and base metals, beads and whatever other materials come to hand to make our unique jewellery!
Banksia Beach, Queensland, Australia

Catherine:

As an artist, I think I make a pretty good swimmer.

That's a shorthand way of saying I can't draw for toffee and flunked art at school totally. My academic skills were in maths and science, and I trained as an engineer and worked for several years for one of the world's biggest aerospace companies.

I started to make jewellery as I expect many people do: I bought a bracelet at an art market and, when I got it home, realised just how simple it was (for the record, it was a coil of memory wire threaded with orange and brown-toned gemstones and tiny brass beads). I went to a bead shop, bought a kit and a few tools and made one in blue.

I started wire wrapping after buying my first beading magazine. I am almost entirely self-taught, the only classes I have ever attended in jewellery making were four basic two-hour classes on silversmithing. I have taught many people though, and in fact Maureen was one of my very first wire-wrapping students. She was taking bead classes at another shop and we started sharing tricks and techniques. We share a stall at the Bribie Island Arts Centre market (4th Sunday of every month, come and say hi) but we have very different styles.

I've always had an interest in materials science, particularly gemstones, and almost all of the pieces I make feature gemstones. Recently I've learned to love working with pure metals as well.

Maureen's experimentation has taken her down the glass-working path (I don't have time!) and she likes to work with bright, bold colours and chunky beads. My style tends towards the more intricate and delicate (see my filigree styles!)

I still can't draw, but I've finally found my niche as a creative artist. I love the feeling of satisfaction I get from sitting back and looking at a finished piece, and I still regularly say "Wow, that's beautiful. I made that," with a sense of great pride.