A Glimpse into the Jewelry Making Workshop
Ossa Sepia Casting at Poelie Jansen
Written by Corina van Manen
You know what I find so great about writing all my articles?
I get to visit countless places and meet so many different people!
Especially the people who give workshops are often quite special.
In my eyes, they're often true artists.
Today I met Poelie Jansen, and she's definitely no exception to that rule!
Poelie used to work from home, with the back room as her atelier, but since 2014 she's had a beautiful, spacious atelier right above a theater in The Hague.
A dream come true for Poelie, since her love for theater runs deep, so it's the perfect location!
Today I'm going to attend a workshop that serves as a special closing session for her silversmithing course students.
As soon as I walk into the atelier, the participants are already hard at work.
We're in luck, it's a beautiful warm spring day today!
The windows and door are open, and a wonderfully cool breeze blows through the atelier.
In the background, a Beach Boys song plays softly from the radio.
"What a fitting song!" I laugh, after introducing myself.
"Wonderful!" one of the participants calls back happily.
Soon Poelie comes over to me.
"Today we're melting down old silver and casting it in ossa sepia (that's the back shell of the cuttlefish, a type of squid)," she tells me enthusiastically, "it's an experimental workshop I do together with the students as a closing session for the course…"
She looks at me, smiling.
"Feel free to look around! Would you like something to drink? I've made some delicious ice water with fresh mint!"
Mmm, that sounds lovely in this warm weather.
"Yes, please!" I answer.
It's Coco who's the first to cast.
Surprised, I look at the object lying in her hand. What is that?
She laughs.
"This is going to be a ring!" she says enthusiastically, "this is the base. Now I still need to saw and file, until it looks just right. Who knows, maybe I'll add some gemstones or a bit of cherry wood, also really beautiful!!"
Wow…
Proudly, she shows me the rings on her hand.
"All made here!" she says happily, "I've taken a course here before. Of course there are several ateliers where you can learn silversmithing, but what really appeals to me about Poelie is the materials and colors she works with. I love those beautiful gemstones in every color. Besides, there's only one Poelie! You feel right at home here, a feeling she's really good at passing on…"
Poelie is a sweet and special woman who draws her inspiration mainly from traveling abroad and from the theater.
Her jewelry sparks the imagination enormously, and I personally get a fairytale-like feeling from it.
That's largely due to the different names she gives her creations.
Sun, Moon, Bubbles…
Or how about 'Ant, Animal and the Party Animals', where the ants hold a contest for who's wearing the prettiest crown?
In the display case stands a whole row of ants, neatly lined up.
Each little ant is also wearing a tiny crown, and I marvel at the fiddly work it must have been.
But back to business!
Gabriella is making great progress with her beautiful star ring!
Proudly, she shows me the end result.
I'm crazy about stars, so the ring absolutely appeals to me!
"This silversmithing course is being extended by another six weeks at the students' request," Poelie says, "that doesn't always happen, but in this case there was a lot of demand for it! Besides courses, I also give one-day workshops of course. The workshops are always really special to do too. It's great fun to see people come in who've never done this before and think they can't do it. When you then see them leave with a beautiful piece of jewelry in their hand and a big smile on their face, that's incredibly inspiring for me too!"
I can definitely imagine that!
Meanwhile, I look out the window.
In the corner stands a sofa set from where you have a great view over the city.
"That's where I love to sit," Poelie tells me, "I think it's a wonderful spot to eat my sandwich while looking outside…"
"What's that little bottle up there in the display case?" I ask Poelie curiously.
"There's quite a story behind that," Poelie says, "I went with my niece to a very special theater in London. It was called Punchdrunk Theatre, with the show The Drowned Man. It made such an impression on me! A large post office had been converted into a set, and every room was decorated differently. You were allowed to walk into every room, look everywhere and touch everything. If you were in one of those rooms, actors might come by and perform a scene there. You could "chase" them afterward into another room, so you got a kind of performance journey through the building. It was so special! There was one room that really sparked my imagination. The 'Dolores room'. That room was full of all those little trinkets that make me so happy! Beautiful vintage mirrors, tiny perfume bottles… it all looked gorgeous! A few weeks later, the theater put out a call for artists to come by and get inspired. A fantastic opportunity, of course! I signed up, thinking I probably wouldn't be selected anyway. So I was incredibly happy when I heard I'd been chosen! I got to go back to that beautiful theater. I enjoyed that day so much and got so much inspiration, and those little bottles in the display case are the result of that…"
She carefully takes one of the bottles from the case.
"It's not just any bottle," she says as she sets it down.
Carefully, she removes the cap, which has a tiny little shoe on top.
"You can take it completely apart. What's left is a ring. Look!" and she slides the ring onto her finger.
"You obviously can't really wear this," she says, laughing, "but it's about the idea! This is just my thing. I love making something like this, and this one was specially inspired by The Drowned Man!"
When she takes off the ring, she picks up the tiny little shoe and puts the cap back on the bottle.
Do you understand what I mean by fairytale-like…?
Besides courses and workshops, Poelie also makes custom jewelry.
You can find her work in a select number of galleries in the Netherlands, and believe me, it's well worth a visit!
Does it sound fun to you too, to make a beautiful piece of jewelry with Poelie sometime?
(source: High Tea Vriendinnen)
Nieuwsgierig naar de mogelijkheden? Bekijk het hele aanbod workshops sieraden maken at Poelie in The Hague.