CELEBRATING HANDMADE

made with real plants

We catch up with Sue Gregor, who makes nature-inspired recycled acrylic jewellery from her studio in Bristol

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started making your stunning pieces of Perspex botanical jewellery? In my 20’s did a Fine Art degree at Falmouth then in 2005, I wanted to return to my creativity so went back to university to do a MA. The course I choose was an MA in multidisciplinary printmaking at UWE Bristol. I loved it!

During my time there, I started working and playing with dye – sublimation, which is s a computer printing technique that uses heat to transfer dye onto materials like plastic, card, paper and fabric. I loved the detailed plant prints that were achievable on textiles. I printed a shirt with buttons using this method. They came out so well, that this was the start.

I then did a lot of research into the thermal properties of polymers, and found materials that would work well with dye-sublimation. I did a huge number of test strips and tests until I could make consistently good results. I have been experimenting and learning about working with this method ever since!

What inspires your fossil-like designs? I always have had an interest in textiles, pattern, and colour. My tastes are eclectic and I look at everything and anything. My main influences come from late 18th century including the Arts & Crafts movement, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Pop Art, Street Art/Graffiti, and Japanese Prints.

Plants have always been inspiring and healing for me. At difficult times in my life, I invented my own kind of mindfulness that involved emptying my head and just observing the world around me. You realise how beautiful the world is if you really take time to look. This gives me strength and really cheers me up. Even on a piece of waste ground the leaves patterns and colours you can find are astounding. I see my jewellery pieces as creating contemporary fossils that can be worn.

Tell us about how you are contributing to a more environmentally friendly way of making? It’s important to me that I’m not contributing to the increase of plastic waste but am doing something to re-purpose some of it. I use acrylic made from 100% recycled materials. It’s also free from volatile organic compounds and hydrofluorocarbon. Customers can recycle the Perspex, which makes it even more environmentally friendly!

I’ve also found biodegradable packaging and use green jiffy envelopes (padded with paper not bubble-wrap) and brown paper tape (rather than plastic tape), cardboard boxes for packing and gift-wrapping as well as ribbon made with wood pulp! Everything will biodegrade quickly and could even be put on a compost heap!

Vibrant colour seems to be a key feature of your jewellery. How do you achieve this? I love colour! I have done many courses on colour, colour mixing, achieving colour harmony, the colour circle, colour and light so I’m now quite an expert! All the colours are achieved using dye sublimation. I mix the colours I want and apply them through the heat transfer method that I developed.

What are your best-selling items and do you have a favourite? What sells best varies form one season to the next. Currently the best-selling designs are 1970’s, Lime & Green Madder, Amber Fern and Whitebeam.

My favourite also changes. Currently I’m wearing Navy Conifer hoop earrings, a grass pendant, and I wear my orange and turquoise Hydrangea cuff all the time!

How long does it take to make each piece? It’s hard to say precisely how long it takes to make each piece. They start with going for a walk to forage for leaves and flowers. These are then dried and pressed. There are several different stages of applying the colour and bit of trial-and-error is involved. The plants are washed off and the Perspex is cleaned to shape and bend. The final stage is polishing, which can take some time as they must be perfect and super shiny!

Tell our readers three fun facts about yourself? I’m renovating a Victorian house at the moment. During lockdown I was knocking down walls, tiling, plastering, and decorating. There’s still a long way to go but I like doing it! It’s so rewarding to see the nearly derelict house becoming a beautiful house that hopefully people will want to live in for the next 100 years!

Last year, I ran 10k for cancer research. It nearly killed me as it was an extremely hot day, but I did it!! I have been told I make particularly good homemade ice cream!