Hello and welcome!

This is me on the right, wearing goggles and discussing marketing ideas with my dog Toni. Her feedback is incredibly valuable — basically she agrees with everything I say and thinks all of my ideas are fantastic. Even if they fail horribly and I make a total fool of myself. You can't beat that kind of loyalty in an employee.

With regard to jewellery, I love it, but I never wear it in work as it might get caught in a piece of machinery and then I’d lose a finger — or an arm, or possibly my ears, and I don't wear goggles all that often — I just did it for this photo because it looks professional. I once got branded with the image of a horse in a freak accident in the studio (in spite of the excellent health and safety precautions and regulations that I’ve set up here;)

I was sanding a horse cufflink when it flipped out of my sanding motor which does 3,000 rpm so the friction had made the metal burning hot, and it ricocheted off the wall and down my top singeing its silhouette onto the base of my neck. Cool. So in work its safety and comfort first, style second (or not at all), so I always wear goggles or glasses, a pair of jeans that are ripped to shreds, as well as a hand-me-down man's dress shirt (I'm sure it was nice in 1972). Buttoned up to the chin, it's a really good look.

Inspiration

Animals are good. I love animals, especially dogs. In fairness, who doesn't love dogs? I design a lot of cat jewellery also — cats are enigmatic and slinky and often up to no good. Cavalier. I like that in an animal. And horses? Well, they hardly need me to expound their virtues. As for the rest...animals are fabulous.

What’s With Knickers?

Good question and one that has been asked since the beginning of time. The fact is, whether you are twenty years old or sixty, whether you are a man, woman, animal or vegetable, you are going to find underwear fascinating, funny or sexy, or possibly all three. Hence, knickers.

There is loads of amazing jewellery out there, from very classical gold and diamonds to really interesting costume jewellery or designs that are completely outrageous. For me, I like to design pieces that make the wearer smile, or even laugh, nothing too serious or hard — there is enough of that in our everyday lives as it is, and if my customers feel a connection to the designs, which they often do because people love animals (as well as underwear), then I'm delighted.

Handmade in Ireland...How?

After sifting through hundreds of photos, I settle on a few strong images, sketch them out several times, add things, take things out, exaggerate attributes, postures and physiques to make them more interesting. I try to keep the look animated, as well as making sure the design is simple enough that it works in metal - simplicity is the key really, otherwise things start getting busy and complicated and then the whole idea goes pear-shaped. It can be tricky because once you stick to fixed lines after the loose sketch it is sometimes hard to keep the animated look. Hopefully it has worked... I often make mock-ups out of cartridge paper during the design process, to make sure that the design will work properly. If you look at my cat jewellery you might be able to see that the heads are bent over. The original cat pendants are designed and made flat from 1mm sheet silver and then the heads are bent over after I have domed them and hammered gold rivets into the eyes. Before they are ready to be polished, I sand the entire piece down with various grades of sand paper, from very rough (300) up to very fine (1200). The polishing machine won't take out any scratches, even very small ones. The polishing machine has a motor and two spindles onto which are fixed calico or cotton mops. The spindles revolve at 3,000 rpm. I use a high grade polishing compound which brings up the mirror finish and then I suspend each piece in a small machine called an ultrasonic. Basically this great piece of equipment contains hot water with a little washing up liquid as well as regular household ammonia, and the water vibrates and shakes off the black gudge that gets into every crease after polishing (its not for humans...). A lot of the designs I originally made from copper sheet because it is much cheaper to mess that up than to mess up something designed in silver. As soon as the design works properly in copper, I make a master pattern in sterling silver sheet. Photos of this process coming soon.

Workshops

Send me an email and I'll give you the details, but briefly, you will learn to pierce metal (sawing), filing, texturing, soldering, assembling. Of course also designing something that can actually be made from sheet metal. Acid etching and enamelling can also be incorporated.

Enamelling

Enamelled range will be on the site soon but in the meantime, go to the Saba Jewellery Facebook Page to see more.

My Background

After working for several years in design and marketing (the business end not the creative end), I started working in animation (drawing and colour), so I try to make designs that look like they are animated. I worked on the Irish series Give Up Yer Aul Sins by Brown Bag Films in Dublin, the original of which was nominated for an Oscar in 2001, and on the BAFTA award winning film Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for the UK's Channel 4. Both really interesting films to work on. I had been trying to do both the animation and the jewellery design together for some time, but it was far too much work and I had to make a choice - so I went with the jewellery, it is what I love doing most of all and its great to work for yourself.

Below is my nephew Fiach, who comes to the studio on Thursdays after school. In the picture on the left he's making a necklace for his mother, on the right, he's watching music videos on Youtube while Toni prepares herself for another lengthy, post lunch nap. At least one of them is productive...