Melinda Scarborough
by Brenda Ross
Melinda Scarborough of Hertfordshire always knew she wanted to design and make jewellery ? ever since becoming interested in the jewellery made by her metalwork teacher at school. Wanting to learn more, she had to find five other pupils to form a Friday evening after-school club. She has never lost that interest: 'I still find it as interesting as when I first started,' she says. And her talent as a jewellery designer has won awards.
After one year of a foundation art course at St Albans Art College, she studied for a BA in jewellery at Middlesex Polytechnic, including work experience at a jewellery shop in Southgate, north London, which had its own workshop - particularly useful.
Melinda became a self-employed jeweller in 1984 and sold her work mainly by word of mouth and, in particular, as a result of her jewellery being seen at the 1986 and 1987 Goldsmiths' Fairs, run by The Goldsmiths' Company in London.
For ten years after that, she says, 'bringing up children slowed the pace of jewellery making. But if you make and design in one craft, you make other things too and I was making cards and other items and going on courses during this time. Now I am more geared to jewellery, but I still like to do other things such as painting and papermaking. It has to benefit the jewellery making.'
From 1997-8, as a mature student, she took an extended studies course on diamond mounting at London Guildhall University. While there she entered a college competition for a piece designed to represent a baby. Her design did not win that competition, but went on to win the award for Student Designer of the Year at the UK Jewellery Awards in 1997. Called 'The Family Jewels' (shown right), it forms a U-shape on a chain, into which stones can be added by a small screw mechanism as the family grows: a sapphire and ruby to represent father and mother, and a diamond for up to three children. She still sells this and it is a registered design.
Also in 1997, Melinda came first in both the David Morris Diamond Design and Jerwood Pearl Design competitions, at London Guildhall University, with a design for a large gold and silver brooch (shown below). Notable among her other awards was winning first place in platinum design in 2001 in the prestigious Goldsmiths' Craftsmanship and Design Awards, organised by the Goldsmiths' Craft and Design Council, which was set up to encourage and promote excellence in craftsmanship and design among those involved in goldsmithing, silversmithing and jewellery and allied crafts. Melinda's unusual design was for a spherical brooch made of a mesh of fine wires, with a diamond at each junction of the wires ranging from white diamonds on the left through shades to black on the right, to give the effect of a light shining on the sphere.
Melinda does not like to boast about her awards by displaying certificates on her stand at craft events. They are left on the wall of her studio at home. On another wall are postcards and pictures she has collected of interesting shapes that inspire her work, such as flowers, seed heads and the overhead view of a spiral staircase. 'Many of my shapes come from nature,' she says, 'but they are not copied. Nature is more my inspiration.'
Variations on leaf shapes often appear in her work, either as large shapes for brooches or smaller shapes linked into necklaces, sometimes whole shapes and sometimes pierced. She works in silver and gold, using stones for embellishment.
'I either seem to work with very fine wire, or produce big bold pieces,' she says. She also uses a mixture of textures, such as soldering gold on to silver, which is then textured using a fine wire brush tool on a shaft drill, a delicate task round the intricate gold shapes. The resulting piece may be hung on a chain or added to a string of pearls, which Melinda uses in various colours. She makes 'masses of rings', including an unusual design in the shape of a crown, and rings with a few pearls attached on fine chain, giving movement. She creates movement in other pieces too, with silver link chains joined together three-dimensionally, with pearls and stones added.
Melinda's commissioned work includes wedding rings, engagement rings and jewellery to mark a special birthday. Earlier this year she made a silver tiara (shown right) for a niece's wedding, with an intricate design of flowers and leaves to match embroidery on the dress. She enjoyed it so much she is hoping to make more.
Melinda would like more big commissions and enjoys experimenting, as she did when making a watch of a chunky silver ring decorated with tiny, gold fish-shapes, surrounding a titanium watch face. 'You never stop learning techniques,' she says. 'They just evolve when you get a new tool. I have acquired all the hand tools over the years, and getting machines like a rolling mill opened up another area. Most of the jewellery designs I create now are aimed at craft fairs,' says Melinda, 'which means they are affected by price - £30 to £50 being the main sellers. I would rather do commissions, but I wouldn't meet so many people. I can become isolated working on my own, and at craft fairs I get to meet the buying public and other craftspeople.'
Melinda has had display cabinets made that show her jewellery beautifully. Five vertical cabinets, fronted with safety glass and lit, are assembled to stand on a table, each divided into sections to hold one piece or set of necklace, bangle and earrings. She only goes to events within reach of home, so she does not have the added cost of accommodation. Her 14-year-old daughter Ashley sometimes accompanies her for a day, showing a particular interest in the business side of things.
Melinda is cutting back a little on craft fairs this year and has joined with three other designer/makers to organise a small event of their own. 'We are all a bit fed up with craft fairs that allow bought-in goods,' she says. Called Contemporary Designer Makers they have chosen other craftspeople to join them selling their work in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, on 16 April (for further details see Show Case in this issue).
Melinda Scarborough
P O Box 30
Hertford SG14 2RT
T: 01707 330284
