Heather Walsh never intended to become a jewellery maker at all.
It only happened because she has no talent for retirement.
And she blames her sister a little too.
A few summers ago, Heather tried her hand at a style of beaded knitting she had never seen before. This is the part where we blame her sister, as it was on a visit from America that she introduced the whole idea. She quickly started playing around with ways of customising and tweaking the design, until she had a bracelet design that she really loved.
Then there’s a really hazy stretch which none of us can remember properly (I’m sure there were all sorts of objections raised, and doubts expressed) but somehow, coming out the other side Rubyhues had taken on a life of it’s own!
The original knitted beaded bracelet remains at the heart of the Rubyhues collection, and is still one of our most recognised and iconic pieces.
Here’s what you didn’t know about the knitted collection.
1. They are each knitted by hand on teeny tiny knitting needles. Heather uses very tiny needles, which are actually pretty hard to find. They’re thinner than the ink tube in your Bic biro!
2. Each bracelet is carefully designed to ensure that the finished result has the beads in the desired pattern. Any mistakes at the beginning will mean that the whole thing may have to be knitted again – very time consuming!
3. The back of the bracelets are beaded too, with seed beads. This means that when you’re wearing a Rubyhues knitted bracelet it feels all smooth and beaded against your wrist. Of course this also adds a whole lot more work.
4. No two bracelets are ever identical. Or at least the chances of that happening are so remote as to make it mathematically impossible. Heather designs a “recipe” for each style, meaning that every ‘Forget Me Not’ bracelet has the same number of each type of bead, but the order in which those beads are knitted is always different, making each one a unique piece.
5. There are a few custom pieces out there that have never been advertised or sold in shops or online.
It only happened because she has no talent for retirement.
And she blames her sister a little too.
A few summers ago, Heather tried her hand at a style of beaded knitting she had never seen before. This is the part where we blame her sister, as it was on a visit from America that she introduced the whole idea. She quickly started playing around with ways of customising and tweaking the design, until she had a bracelet design that she really loved.
Then there’s a really hazy stretch which none of us can remember properly (I’m sure there were all sorts of objections raised, and doubts expressed) but somehow, coming out the other side Rubyhues had taken on a life of it’s own!
The original knitted beaded bracelet remains at the heart of the Rubyhues collection, and is still one of our most recognised and iconic pieces.
Here’s what you didn’t know about the knitted collection.
1. They are each knitted by hand on teeny tiny knitting needles. Heather uses very tiny needles, which are actually pretty hard to find. They’re thinner than the ink tube in your Bic biro!
2. Each bracelet is carefully designed to ensure that the finished result has the beads in the desired pattern. Any mistakes at the beginning will mean that the whole thing may have to be knitted again – very time consuming!
3. The back of the bracelets are beaded too, with seed beads. This means that when you’re wearing a Rubyhues knitted bracelet it feels all smooth and beaded against your wrist. Of course this also adds a whole lot more work.
4. No two bracelets are ever identical. Or at least the chances of that happening are so remote as to make it mathematically impossible. Heather designs a “recipe” for each style, meaning that every ‘Forget Me Not’ bracelet has the same number of each type of bead, but the order in which those beads are knitted is always different, making each one a unique piece.
5. There are a few custom pieces out there that have never been advertised or sold in shops or online.
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