BLUE FYRE
BLUE FYRE has grown out of my love for sparkly things, especially opals and pearls, and my ongoing exploration of their origins, vibrational essences, creative techniques, designs and enjoyment of wearing them. It’s exciting! And I am always awed when I get to create these potent alchemical pieces of jewellery for myself and others. The collaboration between you, me and all the various components of the jewellery becomes a catalysing mix of frequencies for you and your body that triggers greater ease of access to your own creative beauty. It is both mysterious and predictably unpredictable: the outcome is never predictable and yet the process is always deeply transformational, powerful and lasting.
Fresh water, South Sea, Akoya, Tahitian and other sea pearls offer their brand of iridescence to us for our appreciation and in some cases, adoration. They whisper of far-off places, ocean currents, sunlight dancing on and into water, and the impermanence of existence. One storm could destroy everything.
The opals whisper of ancient waters that carried microscopic particles of silica as they slipped between the rock fissures or formed sediments that are now mined in places such as Australia, South America, Mexico and Ethiopia. It is the silica which, when it catches the light, shows the rainbow colours, sometimes called fire, that make opals so fascinating and sought after. I work mainly with Ethiopian opals. The majority are known as crystal opals: they are translucent, some of them with almost no body colour and others have colours of yellow, honey, brown and black that back-light the fire, evoking images of miniscule galaxies.
Other gems that pop up to join in with the opals or pearls are welcomed and celebrated: all join in with their beauty and potency to enhance your own.
There are energies and energetic capacities that I turn on when I work with the jewels and that seem to create an alchemical change for the wearer. I watch as eyes begin to sparkle, I hear voices change to express greater clarity and presence. I sense an unravelling of tightness held in the body as it sighs in recognition of something lighter, kinder, sweeter. People change when they wear the jewellery, and continue to become greater than before ...
"… thank you Janine Greaves for your incredibly fine-tuned awareness and commitment to a creative process which discerns the perfect energetic match for the wearer without sacrificing the beauty and potency of the creation itself. Just wow!"
ingrid taggart | CA, 2019
The combination of pearls and opals is surprisingly compelling.
I seem to have fallen in love with these water gems, too, from the oceans, rivers and lakes of this beautiful planet. The variety of quality, size and colour is constantly expanding, and there are more and more excellent quality pearls available to include in strands of opals, or to have a strand of just pearls, or to include in designs for pendants, earrings, bracelets and more.
For some years I have studied and made metal sound instruments out of copper alloys as well as silver and titanium. More recently I have started working with some of these metals in jewellery settings.
Precious metals are some of the oldest forms of cultural adornment and they continue to be used in almost every item of jewellery these days, too. Why is that, I wonder?
Apart from the obvious practical uses for them in a necklace or pair of earrings, what is the attraction of gold ... or silver?
INTUITIVE AND CREATIVE
I offer bespoke, intuitive design of primarily opal and pearl jewellery for your unique, individual body. It started as a hobby, and became a passion. There's something about the liquid fire of the opals that is addictive and it provides hours of pleasure as I source beautiful treasures for others to enjoy as well.
There is an ongoing conversation, or perhaps communion, with the elements of water and fire here. Water is the medium that allowed the fine silica (sand) to settle in those places and now we harvest them as opals, delighting in their beauty and fiery glory. I wonder if that ancient water has any information for our bodies now? What might change through wearing a strand of opals? We know from research by Dr Masaru Emoto that water holds information, or energetic imprints. What might our bodies be asking for to accommodate the changes that may be required for the future of mankind on this planet?
Pearls are created underwater, by seemingly simple creatures, yet the complexity of their environment should not be underestimated. What do they know of water conditions that humans are only just starting to learn?
When we celebrate a loved one, it affirms their belonging in our lives and they glow when they are acknowledged, honoured, loved, welcomed and adored. If we honour and celebrate the treasures of this planet, received and worked with joy and gratitude, what does that gift back to Earth? What does it generate for the items that adorn our bodies if we receive them with joy, gratitude and love? It seems to activate them further and enhance their beauty and the beauty of the bodies that wear them. They are vibrant and clear.
Quality
If it doesn't thrill me, I don't do it. Does it pass the 'wriggle test'? Would I wear it myself? I'm fussy - or some might say, more kindly, discerning! Quality grade AAA/AA+ of everything that I purchase is a built-in program on my radar. If toes wriggle, that's the confirmation that it passed!
Wherever possible I source from suppliers that act in consideration of the environment around their product, and it's getting easier to find that type of information as more people demand greater awareness of the present and future impact of each activity.
My favourite pearls supplier is Pearlescence who source a large proportion of their stock direct from the farmers or industry leaders. I also work with several opal suppliers depending on what they have in stock from the mines as well as the quality and cut of the gems. I am very aware that each strand of anything that I purchase today is unique and may never be available again.
A HALLMARK
Consists of a series of marks applied to articles of the precious metals platinum, gold, palladium and silver
Means that the article has been independently tested
Guarantees that it conforms to all legal standards of purity (fineness)
Guarantees provenance by telling us, as a minimum legal requirement, where the piece was hallmarked, what the article is made from, and who sent the article for hallmarking.
All four Assay Offices have a legislative remit to control standards of precious metal being sold in the UK. They do this by assaying (testing) the precious metal content, then applying the hallmark. It is a legal requirement for silver over 7.78g, gold and palladium over 1g, and platinum over 0.5g to have a UK recognised hallmark.
Look for the hallmark on our designs: Blue Fyre is proud to hallmark in London.