Swans, real, imagined and recreated in dance..

A lover of ballet from an early age, I have seen Swan Lake numerous times. Being performed again in April 2020, at the Royal Opera House, it has everything: stunning music, the tradition of ballet dancing and intriguing connections to fable, fairy tale and drama.

Swans have long held a fascination for me, we often see them at our house in Scotland and a wonderful picture of them features on our website.

Recently in Bath for a few days, I couldn’t resist this little coaster featuring a black swan and a white swan. Another inspiration is a fun card I bought when holidaying in Oregon features a swan, and other motifs of natural objects, flowers and birds.

My Odette and Odile Swan rings:

A friend carved the first version in wax a few years ago and I cast it up in silver. The model was then altered to make it lighter and narrower so that two could be worn side by side as a matched pair.

I designed a little sprig of seaweed for the swans to hold and inspired by a picture of swans we took in Scotland several years ago, I felt I needed to add a droplet gemstone. This image of the swans in Benn Dhurrinish bay of Loch Etive is one of my most precious images. I have quite a few drop shaped gemstones in my collection: moonstones, peridot, topaz to name a few. The rings are in silver with black and white rhodium vermeil, hand engraved and with tiny diamonds in the eyes.

Watch out for more ballet inspired jewellery designs.

Thanks to Vicki Sawyer at Hester & Cook Design Group, for the card, and to Karen Mabon at Avenida Home for the coaster.