One of the problems of having a small business can often be the isolation, because of the geographical spread of my suppliers I often buy from catalogues and online stores, but once a year I make a whole bunch of appointments, jump in the car and head north…you will appreciate that being based on the south coast there is very little option but to go north J I spend about a week, trundling through villages and towns in between stops and end up with a couple of days at the end to relax, usually at the seaside.
This year I found myself in Whitby, the home of the famous Jet. I wandered across the sands searching for pretty things and inspirational and hoped I might find a piece of Jet to take back with me. Sadly that was not to be, but no problem, I would simply treat myself to a nice piece of Whitby jet after all there was a shop selling the stuff every 5 yards.
I have to say that I was a little disappointed, I kept seeing the same things in the shop windows, the same settings, (some of them I use myself so were easily recognisable)
A real gem of a discovery
By lunch time I had reached the top of the road and found the heritage centre. I didn’t know what to expect, but imagine my delight when I found that it housed an authentic Victorian jet workshop dating back to the 1800s. I was absolutely fascinated by this and not a little concerned, there were clearly no rules about health and safety in those days.
In addition to the workshop, the heritage centre showcased a range of unique pieces designed and crafted by master craftsman, imagine my delight when I met the man himself. Hal told me of the history, his own experience, and how the heritage centre had come into being.
We talked for rather a long time about Jet, the scarcity of ‘genuine’ Whitby Jet, don’t be fooled by some of the imports… the warm properties and how it behaves, then even better I was able to buy a few pieces to play with and I have had some real fun working out how it responds to drilling, cutting and polishing
Did I succumb and buy a piece of Hal’s Jeweller?, yes, I did, probably the only time I have bought a pendant since I started making my own, but when something is that beautiful what is a girl to do….
You can find out more about the Heritage Centre here
My Whitby jet experiment