The Silver Garden

Here at The Silver Garden (HMRC Registered) you will find hand made artisan jewellery, hand wired rosaries & trinkets made from antique & new solid silver silverware, vintage & antique beads, pearls & semi precious gemstones & chainmaille. I put a great deal of care & attention into each & every piece, ensuring each item is transformed into an innovative, wearable piece of jewellery which you can treasure for years to come. A future heirloom. I also make an effort to date each silverware piece where possible using the hallmark, giving as much history to each piece as I can.

All jewellery items are presented in gift boxes & gift bags & posted via First Class Signed For or Next Day Signed For Courier within the UK and Trackable Signed For International Courier outside the UK.

Below I have added two pieces I have written about the origins of spoon rings and chain maille. Each customer will receive a copy of this on parchment paper with their order, with the chain maille piece being sent out with chain maille items..

The History And Meaning Of A Spoon Ring

The humble, yet meaningful and beautiful spoon ring is thought to have begun its life in 17th century England. Servants and house staff working for affluent families had little money and so were too poor to buy expensive engagement or wedding rings when wanting to propose marriage to their true love. This meant their next best option was to steal a silver spoon from their employers and turn it into a ring for their intended.

Most wealthy houses had a family crest or the head of house's monogram engraved into the end of the spoon handle and so it became increasingly easy to find who had stolen the treasured silverware as the practice gained popularity. There were countless arrests for this over the centuries, with most being sent overseas on prison ships to places like Australia. The romance and love associated with spoon rings is just & true. People risked imprisonment, the chance they may never see their love again with prisoners being sent abroad, sometimes even death with the dire conditions in prisons killing far too many, simply for the chance to give their betrothed something beautiful & meaningful to represent their love and future together.

Spoon rings came to the forefront once again during the Free Love culture & Hippie Movement in the 1960's and 1970's. This was more a statement of fashion and crafting something unique and economical rather than one of love, but I still feel you can sense the meaningfulness behind this unique & historic craft. Spoons, after all, have a history of association with love. Welsh Love Spoons have a history going back to the 15th century. The love spoon was given to a young woman by a man who wished to marry her. The intended’s father needed to see that the man wanting to marry his daughter was capable of providing for the family and was accomplished in woodwork. Sailors would carve love spoons during their long journey’s, hence anchors would often be worked into the design. Certain symbols came to have specific meaning: a horseshoe representing luck, a cross for faith, bells meaning marriage, hearts, of course, for love, a wheel supporting a loved one and a lock for security. Caged balls pointed to the number of children hoped for and the more intricate & precise the design, the more skilled the carver.

Spoons are an important symbol pertaining to love, marriage & commitment. Their history should be shared, honored and passed on. Here at The Silver Garden I find as much out about the silverware and pieces I use as I can, I feel it is important to carry the history through the generations and continue traditions. Many people do not have heirlooms to pass down, so why not start your own? I call my pieces 'Future Heirlooms'. They have been hand crafted, many years ago and treasured by their past owners. I bring new life to them, new purpose, and pass on their history to their new owners to cherish & give to future generations.

The History Of Chain Maille

Chain Maille has long been associated with armor through history. Although the Ancient Celts are often credited with its invention, early Etruscan examples have been discovered dating from as early as 4th century BC. The earliest dated piece found was in a Cheiftans burial in Romania. It could also be linked, no pun intended, to the Ancient Persians and their scale armor, with chain mail distinctly mentioned in the Avesta, which is the ancient holy scripture of the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism which was founded by the prophet Zoroaster.

There are varying theories on where the word Mail or Maille is derived but most commonly it is thought to come from the Latin word Macula meaning Spot or Opacity. Another is that it’s from the old French word Maillier meaning To Hammer (which in turn relates to the modern English word Malleable). In modern French language Maille means a loop or stitch. Chain Maille became the popular adage in the early 1800’s when first described in The Fortunes OF Nigel by Sir Walter Scott in 1822.

Chain Maille armour became popular during the Iron Age and Middle Ages for use on the battlefield with different patterns being used and created, and many cultures adopting the trend. Chain Maille armor protected the wearer from sever injury and death, and with its expensive and lengthy creation process it was something to be revered. Dead soldiers were often robbed of their armor with it being worn by the looter or sold on at a high profit. Chain Maille eventually fell out of favour, being replaced by plate armor. It was fleetingly used as bullet proof armor during the 19th and 20th century but it proved apparently useless and was replaced by early versions of what is now known as the Flack Vest/Jacket.

The most common and earliest weave is the European 4-in-1, with rings being riveted closed in order to provide full protection to the wearer. Wrought Iron was most commonly used with heat treated steel also being a popular material. The wire was formed with iron plates being hammered out and pulled through drawing plates until the correct size wire was formed or to simply forge metal rods and draw down until the desired wire thickness was achieved. Rings were also stamped out of sheeted metal.

In todays day and age, Chain Maille has once again become popular as a necessary protection for people in day to day life, although nothing as harsh as battlefield armor! Among its many other uses, Chefs and Fishmongers use Chain Maille gloves to protect against rapid chopping with large knives & shucking shellfish. Butchers wear Chain Maille aprons under their coats to protect themselves against the large cleavers they use whilst butchering carcasses. Divers wear Chain Maille suits as protection against shark and large fish attacks. With Historical Reenactments and Role Playing becoming increasingly popular, more and more people are purchasing and making their own Chain Maille armor to wear on the ‘Battlefield’. This, in turn, has led to Chain Maille Jewellery becoming a popular form of artisan jewellery making with many intricate weaves constantly being updated and invented.