by Polly Gasston | Nov 16, 2020 | And everything else
A very clever little magpie niece of mine in Kenya (also a Polly Gasston!) inspired my next idea for research because she takes full advantage of the wonderful tropical wood at her disposal and makes interesting, wearable and unique jewellery with it, and it made me...
by Polly Gasston | Nov 9, 2020 | And everything else
When I was in Rome I bought these little earrings for nearly no money because they’re imitation Etruscan coins set in silver, and I just loved them. When I got home and showed them to Polly she said, before I could, ‘oh, let’s make some!’. So...
by Polly Gasston | Nov 2, 2020 | And everything else
Ever since my fledgling Magpie days – quite a long time ago now – I’ve been captivated by enamelling in jewellery, probably subconsciously ignited by this thimble Polly made when she was a student and I was a junior at school. The colours, the light, the...
by Polly Gasston | Oct 19, 2020 | Gems
When PGG started in 2007 we used, out of necessity, a lot of stones that Polly had in stock already from long ago, or we bought quite inexpensive stones to start off with till we saw how it went. Among these were some flat faceted beads of banded agate and I confess...
by Polly Gasston | Oct 5, 2020 | Gems
Back in the day as a fledgling magpie I wore lots of silver, and now as a full grown magpie I have managed to up my game to lots of gold (very lucky me!) but it must be said that I do still love silver, and not just in jewellery but as a metal from which so...
by Polly Gasston | Sep 21, 2020 | And everything else
This week the first ever virtual Goldsmiths’ Fair will begin, and this itself is a huge milestone in the long and illustrious history of not only the Goldsmiths’ Fair but of the Goldsmiths’ Company. It seems like a good time, then, to look at the...
by Polly Gasston | Aug 31, 2020 | Gems
Ever since I was a fledgling magpie I’ve loved lime green as a colour. In fact I had the walls in my first solo bedroom painted lime green and I must have been about 8, so it’s been my thing for a very long time! No surprise then that every time I go into...
by Polly Gasston | Aug 17, 2020 | And everything else
When Polly was a student training at John Cass in London the style of her work was greatlly influenced by various jewellers, the most prominet of whom was Dorrie Nossiter probably because, as a young Magpie, Polly used to play with Mum’s jewellery in which there...
by Polly Gasston | Aug 2, 2020 | Gems
One of the great features (and there are many to choose from!) about Polly’s jewellery is her use of semi-precious stones. They’re not always cheap by any means, but they go so perfectly with the yellow metal, and quite a plain stone can be lifted to new...
by Polly Gasston | Jul 20, 2020 | Gems
It could be considered a negetive side effect of the pandemic that hardly any gems are arriving in this country at the moment, or it could actually be viewed as a benefit… it means that we’ve been forced to really sort out our stock and find lovely things...