I’m glad I hadn’t seen this word written as it may have muddied my initial impressions. In Welsh, Faint means ‘how much’ – written it is the same spelling as ‘faint’ in English, which suggests a very different form to me. Faint (the Welsh way) immediately gave me a bold, flat image of 2 wide lines going from left to right, and from down to up and meeting at a right hand corner point. I knew instantly this would be a square piece. It made me think of symbols and insignias.

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I knew I would set a stone at the top right point to highlight the conjunction of the lines. I tried out some metal patinas which did exactly what I wanted – gave bright colours, were durable but could be scratched/worn off. The piece has a double pin, and is formed from a hefty 10 x10cm sheet of 1mm thick silver. I set a blue/green parti sapphire in 18ct in the corner. The stone was chosen to contrast with the black, bright yellow and orange I had chosen. There is something very happy making in creating a geometric, pristine object (particularly in precious metals) and setting about very carefully making it look otherwise.

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This piece most reflects my core themes I return to in jewellery making; jewellery that could have a past, that has been found. I wanted the piece to look like it had a past and had been dug up or discovered. I beat and gouged the silver and wore the edges down. I distressed the setting, while ensuring it would remain strong. I scrubbed the patina back then oxidised the whole piece. It felt so completely right when finished. Out of all ten pieces, this is the one that is going to definitely have the most influence on the future direction my jewellery takes.