Deb Rudge
Company: Iolite Green Design
Speciality: It depends what time of day it is and what mood I’m in, but I love sheet metal work, macramé, wirework, polymer clay and making pieces which have strong design elements.
Town/City: A town or city would be nice, but I live down a dirt track in the woods in Shropshire. If I had to chose a town or city, I’d love to live in Barcelona, Milan or New York.
What's your day job? I’m now a full time artist and jewellery designer, and mum to Jake.
What is your favourite JM moment? I think it would have to be when I was on air with Becky and she gave me my challenge for the show, but we were already more than half way through the 4 hours. I said ‘well, I’d best get making then’ and everybody in the studio started laughing because they thought I’d said ‘I’d best get naked” I must learn to speak more clearly!!
Background/How long have you been making jewellery? I started making jewellery when I was about 10 or 11 years old, making from plastic beads, fabric and whatever else I could find. By the time I’d finished my degree in silversmithing and jewellery design I had made pieces in silver, steel and platinum as well as rubber and Perspex.
What courses do you teach both for JM and outside and why? Outside JM I have taught all sorts of things from interior paint techniques and greeting card design in the 1990’s to painting and jewellery making. I currently run macramé and manipulating metal workshops at my studio in Shropshire.
Who/What else inspires you outside of JM and why? I’m inspired by anything and everything, something and nothing! It could be amazing combinations of pattern or colours, tree bark, graffiti on a wall, moss on a wall in the winter covered in ice, architecture, clever design or a random piece of metal I’ve found in the street. My brain likes to make connections between things, which may actually have no real connection and I’m constantly entertained by that.
What is your favourite colour? That’s a really difficult question because it depends what time of year it is or how the light reacts with a colour, but I think Its probably a soft green-ish grey like a moss or lichen on an oak tree.
What is your favourite gemstone? That’s easy… it has to be emerald.