Meet silver jewellery designer and craft blogger extraordinaire, Emma Mitchell

Hovering on the edge of the fens in a gorgeous little cottage, jeweller and craft blogger Emma Mitchell lives a “wild and woolly” existence. Ella Walker meets her to talk trinkets, winter and being in Kirstie Allsopp’s new book

Emma Mitchell at home in her beach hut

As Minnie the greyhound affectionately moults all over my tights, I realise I really am in the very depths of the countryside.

Muddy little wellies sit by the front door of the bright, coral pink cottage Emma Mitchell calls home, snug in the chocolate box village of Reach, and what with the woods on one side and an expanse of fenland on the other, it’s no wonder she never fails to find inspiration for her work.

The 39-year-old blogger and fine silver jewellery designer lives with her husband and two little girls, and is on the cusp of something big….

Originally from Liverpool, Emma moved south at 18 to study natural sciences before taking up a consulting post at Cambridge Science Park (“Quite exciting work but quite demanding at the same time,”). 

But, picking our way down the garden, through a mash of home grown veg and wild seedlings to the dinky beach hut that is her workroom, Emma explains that the switch from science to accessories wasn’t quite as drastic as it sounds.

“The link between the two is that I tend to make lots of nature inspired jewellery, lots of flowers and birds and hares, seed heads – natural forms,” she says, setting up a chintzy tea tray that would make Cath Kidston weep with jealousy. “As a biologist I was interested in how a cell works and particularly how a cell, a fertilised embryo, turns into a mammal or a bird and develops into a body shape, but I was always a secret crafter.”

It was having children that gently nudged her into taking a knack for crafting to the next level. Intricate pendants looped with vintage trinkets and charms made using silver clay – a porcelain-like product packed with waste silver particles that can be moulded just like plasticine – are the hallmarks of her work, with honesty pods, cotton reels, sycamore seeds, feathers, pine cones and things from the beach, regularly cropping up in her designs.

“I like to recycle, the silver clay itself is a way of recycling, developed for the purpose, and I love to find old buttons and tiny little doilies or bits of crochet, old keys and found objects, and use them to make something beautiful that can be used again,” Emma explains. “I take an old locket that belonged to someone’s gran and I add little charms or pearls and make them wearable again.”

In a ‘here’s one I made earlier’ moment, she hooks a curtain of dark curls behind one ear and shows me a silver clay imprint of a vintage button, waiting to be fired and filed down into pure silver (she fires all her creations over the Aga in her impossibly cosy kitchen).

It’s these silver button necklaces that won her a slot in Kirstie Allsopp’s latest book Craft, a spin off of Channel 4 show, Kirstie’s Handmade Britain.

“It was so exciting, I couldn’t believe it, I nearly fell off my chair,” Emma laughs, clearly still overwhelmed by the attention. She was scouted by the show’s producers via her hugely successful blog, silver pebble (more of which later), and the button necklace project was chosen to appear.

Although Emma didn’t get to meet the homes guru in person, she does think getting the nation more involved in making their own instead of whipping out the credit card, is a good plan. “It’s the handmade revolution,” she explains. “I think in five years time you’ll see more craft programmes like this. We’re in a recession; to make your own is thrifty as well as rewarding.

Emma's work station

“I think there are a lot of lost skills that need to be brought back. Whether it’s baking, knitting or crochet – and in my case jewellery making from bits and bobs you might find around the house – and sewing particularly. It’s incredibly thrifty if you use scraps of material from your old clothes or a precious skirt that’s worn out and you make that into a cushion. That’s fantastically green but also very satisfying.”

Which explains why Emma’s blog has such a dedicated following. Stacked with good ideas, crafty how tos and beautiful photos, silver pebble is at the centre of a web of creative crafty types and artists in Cambridgeshire, tapping into the make-do-and-mend culture which is set to equal the cupcake revival.

“There’s quite a close knit craft blog network and we all comment and support each other,” says Emma. “It’s a fantastic community for testing out if one of your designs is ok and if you get lots of good feedback, it can spur you on to the next one.”

She is currently running Making Winter, a “blog carnival”, and so far over 50 bloggers have got involved.

“It’s about making a cosy cake to make you feel nice about winter or knitting yourself some wrist warmers, because I’m not keen on winter,” Emma flutters. “That’s how the idea came about: ‘how can I make myself like winter more?’ So I thought I’d try out wintry creative things and invited everyone to join in and post pictures so that I could get ideas and tutorials.”

And it seems to be working: “We went to the woods just behind the house and the colours were amazing. [My little girl] was just like ‘wow!’ and running around and we both loved it. I don’t feel quite so grumpy and lots of other people are saying ‘I’m going to make these little candles, start new little wintry rituals, and bake cakes.’

“I’m not going to sulk inside my house and eat chocolate, I’m going to go out and try and enjoy the landscape of winter, rather than scowling at it.”

It’s hard to imagine Emma ever truly sulking and scowling at anything though. She seems to be constantly extracting the good from situations and popping it all on her blog. Whether it’s forcing hyacinth bulbs to keep her beach hut haven colourful in the darker months or knitting furiously to shrug off her dislike for the frosty season; she always has an uplifting project on the go.    

Currently it’s crochet classes and building up the courage to start sewing. She seems addicted to learning new skills and trying new things. “It costs a great deal less to make your own and the results can be a great deal more beautiful than something you might buy mass produced from a shop,” Emma buzzes. “You start off with the raw materials and then you end up with something and you’ve made it yourself – the sense of satisfaction is fantastic.”

And it’s bloggers like her that are “spearheading the homemade revolution”. Hence why a certain national homes magazine will be showcasing Emma and her studio next year, and why she’s been invited to sell her jewellery at the prestigious Selvedge Christmas Fair in London on Dec 10 –  all the big names and buyers in the design world rumoured to attend, including the likes of Liberty London. “I’m so excited, and a little bit nervous,” Emma whispers reverently.

As I leave, Minnie is quietly dozing as though life in the country will always be this tranquil, but for Emma, things are destined to get even more exciting.

Emma’s silver clay for beginner’s workshops start in the New Year. To commission jewellery or find out more, get in touch with Emma via Twitter @silverpebble2, her blog: www.silverpebble-jewellery.blogspot.com or website: www.emmamitchelldesigns.co.uk.

silver pebble jewellery

Emma struggled to pin down her favourite crafty blogs (she dips in and out of over 200 on a regular basis!) but eventually – and after much persuasion – managed to narrow down a couple of top recommendations…

Local blogs:

Purple Podded Peas: packed with quirky illustrations of birds in flight from designer Celia Hart

Fan my Flame: a web of fabrics, prints and foodie tips from textile designer Gina Ferrari

Dottycookie: everything handmade from cookies (obviously) and jewellery to wands and den building

And blogs from further afield:

Domesticali: Oxfordshire based blog piled high with crafty knits, domestic tricks and photos of the wild outdoors

Poppytalk: an online market place for colourful crafts and handmade wares, curated by a design duo in Vancouver

Myrtle & Eunice: quilts, scarves, arty prints and how tos from a design obsessed mum of three in Melbourne, Australia

First published by the Cambridge News.