My jewellery story started quite late in life. I am originally a journalist based in Cardiff and discovered jewellery making in the run-up to my wedding in 2007.
I was on a tight budget and wanted to wear something that was unique, so I taught myself how to make my own tiara. I ended up with three designs and created necklaces and earrings for my bridesmaids. Only three years later I launched Helenka White Design.
I got a first taste of silver-smithing when I visited a weekend course at “In The Studio” in Kegworth which was run by jewellery designer Teresa Speer (she later moved to Spain where she still teaches). In this course I designed my first copper pendant and a silver ring with a Paua shell cabochon.
I really enjoyed the course and decided to enrol on a part-time City & Guilds course “3D Studies (Jewellery)”at Cardiff’s Coleg Glan Hafren. The course went on for a year and gradually I bought the necessary tools and my own work bench in order to be able to finish my assignments at home.
I learned to work with Precious Metal Clay (PMC) at the “Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery Making” in Par where I spent a weekend attending the beginner’s course.
Otter Nemo and me.
Working at my craft table. When Bobby was still alive she would often be with me in my work room- either snoozing or watching.
I have been mostly teaching myself from books and simply by experimenting, but am always looking to improve my skills and go on other courses.
I love working with all sorts of materials. Swarovski Elements are perfect for rings, earrings and tiaras, while PMC (Precious Metal Clay) is a lovely medium to work with. I also love working with polymer clay as it is an incredibly versatile medium. I also like using Czech fire-polished beads and semi-precious beads. My favourite semi-precious beads are Lapis Lazuli, Malachite, Agate, Labradorite and Tiger Eye.
Our cat Bobby was the inspiration for my jewellery, sculptures and art. Now Lucy & Max continue to inspire me.
My inspiration comes from all sorts of sources, sometimes just playing around with different types of beads, doodling in my sketch book and it also came originally from our gorgeous cat Bobby, who sadly passed away in September 2022. I like animals and decided to specialise in animal-themed jewellery.
A few years ago, I started using polymer clay to create small animal sculptures. I love sculpting- it’s challenging and fun. I have also started to paint and draw, skills I want to improve and will be useful for my design work.
When our gorgeous cat Bobby was still alive, she would make sure that I take enough breaks to cuddle her. She was my little muse and the inspiration for most of my work. You can find my tribute to her here.
Last year we adopted our beautiful tabby kittens Lucy and Max, who are giving me immense joy. They are very playful, cuddly and funny. Both like a lot of fuss and sitting on our laps, especially Max. When I am working upstairs in my workroom, Lucy often sits on my chair, while Max enjoys the view out of the window, where he observes the birds in our tree. Both continue Bobby’s legacy as little feline muses. You can find their story here.
It’s therefore not surprising that cats frequently crop up in my designs as you can see here.
Our beautiful Bobby, who was my little muse and boss. Sadly no longer with us.
Lucy on my workroom chair. November 2023.
Max in July 2023. He is also the inspiration behind my new logo.
My Art Journey - From Studying Art History To Making Art
Offering art products on my website is something I have only started a few years ago and I wanted to share my art journey with you.
I come from a family that values art. My grandparents and my parents had plenty of art books in their homes and also bought a lot of art. My grandmother’s passion was pottery. She wouldn’t only create vases and other useable objects but also sculptures. When she sadly died two years ago (May 2020) our family and friends ended up inheriting her enormous collection. My aunt sent me two of her sculptures which are now proudly sitting in our living room and have a special meaning to me. One sculpture depicts her and the other one depicts my mum carrying me as a baby. My mum died far too young and her loss hit my grandmother very hard.
My art journey begins at my work table. This is of my cat paintings I have created a few years ago and is part of an unreleased collection.
One of my grandfather’s lino rollers with one of my lino blocks.
My grandfather, who was a GP with a busy surgery, was also very artistic. He used to draw, make videos and edit them (in the 50s and 60s this was very different from editing today!) and create short animations in his spare time. His passion was lino printing. My memory of him is of sitting at his desk printing and the squeaky noise of his lino roller. My uncle kindly sent me one of my grandfather’s lino rollers, which I treasure. Sadly, my grandfather died very young at the age of 55. He left a lot of his art work for us.
Making art was encouraged in my family.
Making art was encouraged in my family. My younger aunt is very talented, but didn’t pursue an art career and chose the safe route of a “proper” profession as a psychotherapist. At school I enjoyed art for a short time until I had an awful bully of an art teacher at grammar school in grade 5 and 6. Art was swapped for music in grade 7, if I remember correctly. However, I liked painting and drawing, just not at school.
Things changed when I chose art as one of my A-level subjects (Abitur in Germany). My new teacher was kind and very encouraging and instilled in us an interest in art history and theory. Our art classes were always a combination of practical art and theory and contrary of what people might believe -the exams were tough.
When my teacher got seriously ill with cancer, she couldn’t teach us any longer in the final term before the exams, but she was so kind to offer anyone who wanted it or needed it to practise for the oral exams. My art teacher was a huge influence on my decision to study art history.
A long break from creating art
As soon as I started to study at Cologne University, making art took a backseat. For a short while I was singing in a band with my then boyfriend (a very bad idea!) and concentrating on my studies. I tried an oil painting course in my twenties and decided that while oil paints are an amazing medium, they are also a right faff to use and cleaning brushes is also not great with turpentine and you need space, which I didn’t really have in my one-bedroom flat.
I would paint the occasional watercolour, but generally life had other plans and after I finished my masters my focus was on journalism internships and finding a job. For a while I worked in PR, then started freelancing as a journalist until 2014 and discovered jewellery design. When I started using polymer clay for making jewellery, I got a little bit bored with that after a while and started making my small animal sculptures.
Kangaroo sculpture made with polymer clay
Falling in love with painting again and restarting my art journey.
Jaguar drawing – Inktober 2018
Turtle lino print.
In 2017 I rediscovered my love for painting again and joined a membership site called “Art Tutor” and got back into painting with watercolours. The website doesn’t exist anymore. I also participated twice in the at Inktober challenge. You can find out more about this challenge in my blog post here .
In 2020 I reviewed a subscription art box by “Artful” which was full of lino cutting and printing supplies. You can find my review here. I really enjoyed lino cutting and you can find out more about the tools I use in my blog posts here and a video here.
Since reviewing this box I have created a few lino prints.
For a while I also subscribed to “ScrawlrBox”, which is a monthly art subscription box and offers value for money – you get to discover some art supplies you would normally not think of using. One of my favourite boxes was the alcohol ink one and you can find the review here. Alcohol ink is a wonderful medium and there are interesting techniques you can try with them. I have created a video about my alcohol ink experience here and you can also find out more about this here on my blog.
Getting more serious with my art
In 2020 I discovered New Zealand floral artist and art teacher Natalie Parker. Initially I only joined her free “Sparks of Creativity” challenge and ended up buying her longer “21 Sparks of Creativity” course, which I enjoyed very much. It was a nice introduction into art classes and working with different media and techniques. For a few months I also joined her membership site “The Confident Brush”, where she teaches different techniques using acrylic paints and gives students a new challenge each month. I have also bought her Art Biz A-Z course to help me with the finer details of selling, marketing and shipping paintings.
One of my flower paintings I created during my membership.
Experimenting with different art mediums.
Flower painting created with alcohol inks.
A few years ago, I have also discovered acrylic pour painting and tried this out. You can find out more about my experience here on YouTube and here on my blog. You can find my pour paintings and tiles in my shop here and here.
There are still lots of things I want to try out on my art journey and will share my experience and paintings with you.
Last year (2024) I have discovered digital art and am still learning how to use Procreate. I bought a second-hand iPad and enjoy creating art this way. Though it’s quite a learning curve as it’s little bit technical. I have also followed various Procreate courses and discovered surface pattern design and repeat pattern design. This is something I want to develop more so I can my add art on products, that I can sell on print on demand websites such as Spoonflower. You can find planners and journals I created with Procreate and sell through Amazon KDP on his page.
I still want to experiment with other art mediums and want to spend more time using watercolours. I am still deciding what is my favourite art medium.
Currently you can find a few paintings in my shop and a collection of animal lino prints. I still have collections I have painted in acrylics that I want to release and spend more time with alcohol inks.
Thanks for reading.
Helen White
