Crafting creativity: Silversmith Naomi Dootson shapes more than just jewellery through workshops

Appleye Jewellery owner Naomi Dootson has spent two decades mastering the art of silversmithing and now shares her craft with others, teaching them how to create their own stunning rings and other jewellery pieces.

From the collaborative shop and workshop space at Co.LAB in Berry, the Culburra Beach jeweller leads beginners through the process of making jewellery, offering a creative outlet that not only results in handmade treasures but also promotes wellbeing and self-expression.

“I believe we’re created to create,” Naomi said, admitting to often turning doubters into newfound silversmiths.

She chose to focus her workshops on beginners to allow anyone to have a go.

“The amount of people I’ve met in my years creating that would say, ‘Oh, I’m just not creative’ and would resign themselves to the fact they never will be … We just have to find our thing,” she said.

“There’s a lot of people that have come to my workshops and then gone off and become silversmiths, made it a hobby or had a crack at a business too.”

Naomi first took it up when she moved to the South Coast 21 years ago while living at Point Perpendicular Lighthouse at Currarong – a story in itself.

Needing a creative outlet, she’d regularly find herself visiting Bonza Beads in Nowra and making jewellery when her girlfriends visited from Sydney.

“Having a sales background, I thought, well, I could sell this, so I started doing that through home Tupperware-style parties,” she said.

“As the spark grew and I enjoyed what I did, and wanting something that would support family life as well, I started to go down the path of wanting to make my own.”

While she did a few small courses, she mostly taught herself through videos and simply playing with eco-mined fine metals and ethically cut gems and stones sourced from Australia and New Zealand businesses, which she still uses.

“You pay a little bit more for that, but it becomes part of the story,” she said.

Unlike places such as the UK, Australia doesn’t require a trade certificate to become a jeweller, which she said allowed for greater creativity and artistry.

“I think when you’re passionate about something, you’ll work through the frustrations and setbacks,” she said.

“Now, 20 years later, people often say to me, ‘How long does it take you to make a ring?’ and I say, ‘20 minutes and 20 years’.”

During the past 10 years, she’s hosted jewellery-making workshops, satisfying constant requests from people wanting to learn silversmithing.

Naomi said with silversmithing tools expensive and requiring a degree of training to learn how to use them, it wasn’t something you just “had a go at” at home.

Her workshops now range from school holiday programs to public events for adults and private groups, with her ring stack workshop where participants make three sterling-silver rings each the most popular.

Another is spinner rings, involving a spinner ring attached to the main ring, which assist with anxiety, nail biting and sensory needs.

“We had a spinner ring workshop on the weekend, and the ladies that did it said they get a bit anxious or a bit stressed, so they thought it would be a good thing to use for when they’re feeling like that,” Naomi said.

“My husband has a spinner ring because when he’s stressed, he bites his nails. It’s also helpful for me because I understand that he’s feeling some pressure because of the ring he’s wearing.”

She said the process of making the ring also came with health benefits.

“For people’s mental health, being able to make something in a few short hours from go to whoa, where they walk away going, ‘Oh my God, I made that’ and feeling proud of it, I think that’s lost in our day-to-day lives,” she said.

“We don’t do enough of that anymore because we don’t work with our hands so much anymore.

“It really fills many cups for people.”

In fact, Naomi believes we should find time to create every day.

“If I can kick off that idea in your mind by coming to a workshop, then I’ve done my job,” she said.

“I hope the transference of what I teach is more than, ‘You just made three rings, congratulations’.

“I hope that when you come to my workshops, you actually are inspired to go find whatever it is that you want to do, or maybe pick up something you let go.”

To further her training, Naomi flew to Florence, Italy, in June to what’s called Metalsmiths in Florence, run by an American jeweller at a studio with a “rent a bench” set-up.

“It’s very typical in Italy because this is where it all began,” she said.

After spending a week there, she walked away with new skills and a ring that inspired the idea for a new collection.

“This collection that I made when I got back had been sitting in my brain for about four years,” she said.

“It gave me my mojo.”

Workshops are held at the back of the co-owned Co.LAB, which also comprises a boutique shopping space shared with other creatives who rent shelf room.

And how does Naomi go about choosing a piece of jewellery to wear each day?

“I think I’m like everybody else and you get lazy and you leave the same thing on for weeks until you get bored,” she said, laughing.

Learn more about Appleye Jewellery and Naomi’s workshops.