Dalrose

At the age of 63 I have suddenly found a love for silver smithing, I now make hand made jewellery.

Hi, my name is Carol, Caz for anyone that knows me well. Im 63 this year and I live in the sunny sea side resort of Bognor Regis, better known for Butlins by many.

I have always been into arts and crafts having tried my hand at many things over the years including water colour painting, scrapbooking, card making, knitting, sewing, cross stitch and many more.

My first job on leaving school at 15 was working in a jewellery shop which I absolutely loved and often look back with fond memories. After that until now I have mainly worked in the care sector, nursing homes, homecare and at present a day centre for adults with dementia and learning disabilities.

I started this year with an idea to put jewellery together from ready-made charms, chains etc bought in bulk. I soon realised that selling these as handmade wasnt exactly the truth but there was no other way to label these little creations which didnt sit well with me.

My daughter suggested that I try silversmithing which would give my jewellery better ethnicity. That was on a Wednesday in February, by the weekend I had found a 10-day course on-line through The Jewellers Academy, ordered a desk, tools, silver and cabochons with what meagre savings I had to begin my journey feeling like Id gone full circle with my life.

On the day that my parcels were due to arrive my daughter discovered that my great grandad had traded as a Gold and Silversmith and that my grandad had also started an apprenticeship in silversmithing, sadly he was called up for war and never completed his apprenticeship, to find this out was so inspiring and felt very apt. From there the name Dalrose was born, Dalton being the surname of my grandad and Rose being the maiden name of my grandmother.

So, it is still very early in my jewellery making days but I spend as much time as I have into learning the techniques for silversmithing, my time is limited as I am still working full time in the day centre, hopefully one day I’ll be able to reduce my hours so I can spend more time doing what Ive found to love.

2023