The Zero Waste Collections are always a firm favourite with our customers, but why?
Using off-cuts and scraps of clay from previous core collections such as our Sunflower & Daisy collections and the Brass Classics, the Zero Waste Collection is an assemblage of scrap clay that has been transformed into beautiful, one-off pieces of jewellery with the aim of avoiding clay waste completely to avoid it ending up in landfill! Due to the nature of the collection, these pieces are all completely unique, and can never be replicated in the same way again; meaning you own the only pair available.
The Process
The first step in making the Zero Waste Collection is to choose which off-cuts of clay would go well together as a colour palette. I always group warm colours together, cold colours together etc to make a coherent pair of earrings.
I then roll each colour into a tube, which I lay faux gold or silver foil into, and then cut each tube of clay into equal-width pieces which I lay onto a slab of scrap clay that has been rolled out evenly.
When each piece of clay has been placed onto the slab, it is important to roll the slab through a pasta machine (yes, you read that right!) This ensures that the clay mixes and that the slab is rolled evenly. After being passed through the pasta machine a few times, the slab is ready to cut up into my desired shapes.
When the shapes are cut out, they each get cured in the oven for an hour, are sanded, and a hole is drilled into the piece ready to attach the findings. Each piece is varnished to ensure that the faux leaf is kept in tact. Findings and accents are added, and each piece is finished.