Jewellery with the planet in mind
When you give a gift of jewellery to those you love, you want it to last. NOT mass-produced, but that you know the story of, its heart…. that’s an heirloom piece, a keepsake woven with love for the person you give it to and love of our beautiful blue bead of Mother Earth. Heirloom, but what is the point of an heirloom if there’s no world to keep it and wear it in
? I want to show that jewellery can be beautiful, ecological, sustainable, and socially accountable. My love affair (addiction) with beads started 25 years ago, as a bead weaver of tiny glass seed beads. Although I had a pretty big stash of beads. by 2020, a sad decision was looming; my stash was getting too low to continue. Beads are glass, too expensive to buy in Aotearoa New Zealand and too heavy to ship here. I couldn’t afford the beads, let alone the haulage prices, and if I’m honest, I knew the planet couldn’t afford it either. I was going to have to give it up or think of something else/. I live in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand, an English transplant, to a country well known for its wild beauty and protection of this wondrous lone blue bead of Mother Earth, and all its inhabitants, I feel duty-bound, a responsibility even, to do my part. Witnessing the earthquakes here in our beautiful city gave me a special love for Ōtautahi Christchurch and her people. We’d been through so much in 2010 and 2011. This is why I was so upset on that hideous day of March 15, 2019, with tears streaming down my face at the horrific evil happening, at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre, I made a promise that day, to do something for the people of this city I felt I needed to put some good back into the city. I know just me is only a little bit, but from little acorns, great oak trees grow. It was like good had been stolen, so I had to put some back. It sounds naïve, but it’s how I felt that day because it upsets me so much after we’d been through so much with the quakes. I had no idea what, then, but trusted something would appear! Then Covid came and reset our lives. As we went into lockdown, the pride I had as New Zealanders showed the world how amazing NZ is, it was quick, quiet and done without trouble (to start with). I knew then not just Canterbury, but Aotearoa New Zealand as a whole is stitched to my heart. I made the most of the Covid lockdown to consider where this addiction to beads was going, serendipitously, a friend gave me some electrical cables left over from his new build. The rest, as they say, is history; as a proud builder's daughter, I'm sick with myself that 25 years ago, when starting this bead journey/addiction, why didn’t it register back then? And again, back in 2010, as fallen houses, office blocks, hotels, and more, so much copper went into to landfill. Recycled electrical copper wire is 99.98% pure, it has to be to carry electricity through our houses, all buildings; it’s all around and under us. Then I realised I can buy it from scrap metal merchants for $15 a kg in Christchurch, I was pretty pleased about that! By mid-year 2023, I’d also found how to secure a free, never-ending supply of copper wire, builders' daughter knowledge! Once I realised, I could lay my hands on free recycled/demoed cables with all the gauges of copper wire I could want inside these cables, you can imagine at first I was pretty chuffed with myself at having this free source to myself, but then I felt bad, I couldn’t be so greedy and keep it to myself…… Oh, hallelujah, COPPER was the answer to fulfilling my promise to the people of this city. I’m so proud to be working towards opening CopperBlue ‘The Community Studio’ in Christchurch East. East because the quakes savaged the east side. Linwood Islamic Centre is in the east, and I live in the east, and to be honest, to me, Alnoor feels east too! Because of the nature of the terror attack, racism, CopperBlue The Community Studio is dedicated to all those who lost their lives and to those who survived. And for all others who have survived abuse, abuse of any kind, sexual, racial, or family harm, for whatever reason. I can’t bear the thought of someone not being able to follow their passion due to funds or situations. I have been there, I understand. People need someone in their lives who believes in them, and it’s my pleasure to be that person; I will supply the materials and a safe place to teach, to realise, that by their own hands, they can make jewellery and art; keep it or, give it away or sell something completely made by themselves, that someone else may like, it encourages pride in ourselves. Our beautiful lone blue bead of Mother Earth needs us to work together to protect her. We are fighting human-made climate change-global warming, plastic, and rubbish islands floating in our oceans, killing our sea life, is this what you want? Join me in lowering our carbon footprint, buy local, let's STOP fast fashion, throw-away culture and buy NZ made. By buying local, you are putting money into the local economy, not a foreign country, don’t forget the orange buffoon and his rising tariffs. Every time you buy from a local artist, you are keeping someone’s dreams and talents alive
How can we not play our part when we see the horrendous weather, temperatures, fires, and deaths at home and around the world due to the many problems we have caused our Mother Earth? We need to rethink everything, now together. We should stop buying for the sake of it. NO MORE FAST FASHION, instead, we should be asking ourselves:
What’s it made of?
Can it be recycled?
How was it made?
Who made it?
How long will it last?
Was it created locally?
What will happen to it when it's no longer useful?
Was it produced in a people and planet-friendly way? I think of these things and more when I buy anything now. Buy local, buy NZ-made. Buy second-hand preloved as often as we can. We MUST ALL do our best to reduce our carbon footprint, reduce waste, and stop the damage we're doing to this wondrous lone blue bead of Mother Earth. I’m always looking for ways to lower my footprint, and each small change is a step in the right direction. But we MUST ALL COMMIT TO IT, join me? I used to buy my beads from all over the world, and it’s always bothered me, well, now my conscience has put a stop to it. I had thought haulage was an evil I had to put up with, after all, I need to create it's a need, an addiction, I have so many ideas crowding my mind. I will only use. Recycled Copper,
Recycled crystal glass Beads
Beach, River, Glacial Stones
Fossils, semi-precious gems
Quartz, Agates, and
Greywacke Pebbles. Copper is now my precious, too, my everything, and I love it. Alas, I am lost to its beauty, a cosy, rosy, warm pink glow, and easy to work with. It, too, has me enthralled as beads do! The fact that mine is recycled. makes it even more beautiful! Copper is ancient, the first metal used by humans, over 10,000 years ago, (and the bead has been with Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and all the others, even longer, through our evolutionary journey). Copper has helped humans along our evolutionary journey, too. It has been everything to us, from building materials to body adornment; money, as a container for things, to drink from, and store water in to purify, for instance for example. It has incredible healing and antimicrobial properties, which can’t be ignored, especially when Covid has reset our world. And great spiritual meanings. My recycled copper wire once carried electricity through our homes and buildings; it’s all around and under us. Instead of letting it go into landfills, I clean it and love working with it. All of the affordable jewellery pieces are made in Aotearoa and are sustainably sourced personally and by family with the same love for our Mother Earth. Rocks, beach, river, glacial pebbles, stones, shells, and fossils aren’t new to me; my mother is a geologist and loves rocks, a collector of many decades, and has passed the bug to me, and I hope I’m passing it on to my family too. My own collection of shells, pebbles and treasures has been collected worldwide, over decades, and now from Te Waipounamu South Island beaches, rivers, and glaciers run off. I’m fortunate to have three beautiful, braided shingle rivers (of over twenty-two on the east coast north and south of me), perfect for washing beautiful pebbles, from the spectacular glaciers in the Southern Alps, and the South Pacific Ocean at my door. Sadly, these spectacular glaciers are melting at an ever-increasing rate because of us. Techniques I use; free form, organic wire weaving, wire wrapping weaves, and metalworking, with a small amount of smithing, I like to remind students, that there are no rules if a black dot on a white sheet of paper can sell for millions at auction, it is what you say it is; you are the artist. The material we use is Recycled Copper, other recycled metals, crystals, glass, ceramic, and anything produced by our wondrous lone blue bead of Mother Earth. Agates, quartz, and other rocks from Aotearoa Zealand. A lovely family member down south has collected at least a year's supply or more and donated them to CopperBlue ‘The Community Studio.’
I create pendants, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, some art and sun catchers! All copper wire wrapped pendants come with the handcrafted copper chains, though I do provide cheaper chains. These timeless pieces of jewellery begin as sketches in notebooks, inspired by our wondrous lone blue bead of Mother Earth, drawn over decades, and created with love. bringing them to life is such a joy. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to create with Mother Earth’s natural beauties and honoured that you have chosen one of my creations, which will be enjoyed for generations. I know I’m not the only person who collects stones and precious things. Let me turn them into keepsake jewellery for you and stop them from being ignored in a drawer forever, where no one enjoys them or hears their story. I can turn these into heirlooms, more precious as they hold your story. Are you a Ringer, a Tolkienite, a Lord fan, or a Lord of the Rings fan? Would you like to own a piece of Middle-earth? I am a proud, old Tolkienite, a Lord fan, born and bred. The stones I collect from the braided shingle rivers are from (White Mountain) Edoras, in the Mark, the Riddermark, land of the Rohirrim. You can own a piece of Rohan, a treasure of Middle-earth. Your ‘own’ precious. My full plan for CopperBlue is for it to become the place to be in Christchurch to come and watch artisans at work and buy handcrafted jewellery. There will be a shop where Canterbury-wide artists can sell their work by renting a booth or selling just a few pieces. There will be workstations for artists to rent and much more. I have a Facebook group, JanieBlue Designs. Beads, Metal and History it is showing a private group, but anyone can join. I made it private by mistake and haven’t worked out how to change it! CopperBlue has a group for survivors, which is private. I will create another open CopperBlue group for all other clients. Copper is the metal of LOVE. So let us love each other and our life-sustaining Mother Earth. Love me, oxoxox JanieBlue
