About Sheila
Most of my work features enamel on silver, with fine gold wire and fine gold and silver leaf.Colour is very important, and has always been my main focus of interest; I love drawing and painting, especially watercolour.
I originally studied Textile Design at the Glasgow School of Art, before being drawn towards Silversmithing and Jewellery Design. In my final year at Glasgow I won a Royal Society of Art, Travel Bursary that enabled me to travel to Australia, and work and meet with jewellers there and also to travel extensively.
After Glasgow, I completed an M.A. in Jewellery Design at the Royal College of Art in London, and then set up a workshop with my husband, Rod Kelly, Silversmith. After three years in London, we decided to move to South Norfolk, where we now live and work with our family.
Today there is still a strong textile influence in my work. Enamel is the perfect material for incorporating colour in jewellery, and although technically challenging, it is a medium I enjoy.
I usually work on small series of designs, and I like the way that pieces can coordinate well; an earring can match a necklace, or brooch without it being exactly the same design, the link is the colour. Drawing is still very important in the evolution of new designs, and I find many colourful images start me off on a path towards a final series of work; these could be bright and colourful sweet wrappings, drawings from a kaleidoscope, or studies of leaves and berries.
Enamel is essentially a composition of glass, coloured with mineral oxides. It is ground to a very fine grain size in water, then applied to the piece of silver and fired in a very hot kiln until the tiny grains fuse together to form a fairly smooth, shiny surface. Enamel colour is permanent and will not fade, it is however glass and has to be treated with some care.
I am also a short course tutor, (teaching enamelling to all levels of student,) at West Dean College, in East Sussex.
Further Images
Brooches
Brooches, silver, hand carved, enamel with fine gold leaf
Cufflinks
Cufflinks, silver, enamel, fine gold and silver leaf.
Brooch
Brooch, Silver, enamel, fine gold wire and leaf.
Brooch
Brooch, silver, enamel fine gold wire and leaf
Selection of Brooches
Brooches, silver, enamel, fine gold wire and leaf.
Two Necklaces
Two Necklaces,
Silver, enamel, fine gold.
Amber,cornelian, pearl.
Amethyst, malachite, stained blue agate
18ct Gold Necklace and Earrings
18ct Gold Necklace and Earrings with Lapis lazuli beads.
Bar Brooches
Selection of Bar Brooches
Four Seed-head Brooches
IMage of Four seed-head Brooches,
Silver, enamel, fine gold wire and gold leaf.
Cufflinks
Cufflinks, Silver enamel fine gold