Meet the maker Annie Rooney

I was lucky enough to grow up in a creative house hold where my artistic talents and broad imagination was always encouraged and nurtured.
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I have studied, and done course after course of all manner of art and design specialising subjects. Although drawing and illustrating has always been my first love in art, I also love Graphic Design, which is where my talents led me professionally, though I still enjoy all kinds of arty and crafty hobbies in my spare time :)
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I have been working almost 9 years in the graphic design industry for a few different agencies and companies. I have designed across a huge range of printed and web items, including the creative direction of commercial magazines and websites, large scale banners, leaflets & adverts. I love the career I chose to become a part of and Graphic design still often gives me the chance to illustrate too. There is definitely a deeper richness to life being a creative person that I wish I could share - this store is not just an outlet for me, but a chance to offer people a little slice of my world...
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For many years I have had a love of jewelry making and of things a little different and 'out of this world'. I've become like a magpie when it comes to collecting attractive beads, gems and findings for making pretty things.
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Polymer and Fimo clays first became popular when I was a child - I began making these tiny fairy figures. Very quickly, I started getting friends asking me to make them a fairy, but the only trouble was that although the fascination was in how tiny I was able to make them to perfection, this made them extremely frail and they would always break so easily. It was during college it came to me. I have always loved the look of amber, it's rich colours, the romantic idea of something as fine as an insect being captured in a trees resin and preserved perfectly - but there is also something a little macabre and a little creepy about wearing a leggy insect on a beautiful piece of jewelry. I thought - what if something more visually pleasing could be encased in amber? Then I thought, perfect! If I can find a way of getting my faeries into a form of amber, not only would they be protected from being broken but I would be able to mount them onto jewelry! And so, my 'Fossilized Faery' jewellery came into creation :)
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Belief in some form of "fairy" has been around in almost every culture in some form throughout history. What if they once existed? and what if somewhere, deep in the roots of an ancient tree forgotten by time, some of the tiny folk that used to live in the forrest there were captured in amber? Think how amazing finding something like that would be!
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I've been working on, and perfecting my methods of producing as close to this idea as possible - I've come to a point with this project that I am now confident there's not a lot more scope for improvement. I have sold a few but this is my first real bash at trying to market several of them at one time. If you buy one of these, you can be absolutely sure that although they may be slightly alike - each tiny figure always turns out different and has it's own unique features. The way I make them, it would be impossible to get 2 looking exactly the same - but this just adds to the charm that you are buying something completely unique - like a tiny work of original art, trapped in an amber like gem, that you can wear and treasure forever.
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As I am always starting new creative projects, and have collected a wealth of craftsman knowledge and materials, I am always either thinking about or starting on new creative projects - so my 'Fossilized Faeries' are the tip of the iceberg. Watch this space, I mean to bring some really new and interesting items to the Folksy table. Plus I shall be adding some of my original artwork on here soon, which I will have printed on canvas or high quality paper to order.
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I hope you enjoy browsing my stuff :) and thanks for reading! I

Best Wishes,

Annie