Creating a piece in silver takes time and many different stages. I design each peice of jewellery or silver first by sketching my ideas, then drawing more detailed drawings of the item. All my products are then handmade and hand engraved to a high level of craftmanship on Dønna in my own workshop.
Hand engraving is a technique that I absolutely love as it is a wonderful way to let light interact and play with silver. Hand engraving is the decoration of objects using the traditional hand held engraving tool known as gravers.
Evidence of hand engraving has been found since as far back as the Middle Stone ages. People have been using engraving as a form of communication - for example engraving onto stone walls, right through to the production of coins, seals and also in print making. Engraving on metal has since then developed from just being a practical tool, in to a more decorative form.
Hand engraving, especially on metal, takes time and patience and a lot of application. The control of the tool comes from the way in which the graver is held in the palm of your hand and how it is pushed across the piece to cut through the metal, with no help from machinery. Through mastering this control and using polished steel gravers being pushed through the metal at specific angles can create a wide variety for many complex and dazzling cuts to be produced in the metal.
I was introduced to hand engraving when I was 13, by master engraver Malcolm Appleby who is renowned for his work. And since then I fell in love with the technique. I was taught how to hand engrave through his very original approach and guided to see the importance of attention to every small detail.
Hand engraving is a very rare art and I am one of the very few in Norway who practice this technique.
