Self-taught jeweler, Paige Buursma, uses her fascination with nature to create unique pieces in silver. Her first experiences creating things with flowers started back in 2016 when she would encase dried flowers into resin.
Following her antique Victorian flower dictionary from 1857, Buursma loves learning the complex botanical symbols. Many families of the time would keep a flower dictionary to decipher the meaning of bouquets sent to them.
She writes, “Not all these messages were positive, and they could be extremely dramatic and specific! For instance, handing someone a sprig of tansy meant "I declare against you." A red rose meant love, but a yellow rose indicated a decrease in love. With hundreds of flowers constituting this code, having a book like this was important to avoid sending the wrong message.”
After taking a metals course, she quickly fell in love with silver and takes any opportunity she can to hone her skills. Most of her work is created out of wire and sheet metal with her flowers sculpted in precious metal clay. While she will occasionally uses lost wax casting, this process is more time consuming and challenging.
Each unique piece is centered around a particular flower of folk story that Buursma shares on her social media. Featuring her process making different pieces, she tells the history of meanings different flowers have held for hundreds of years. Recently, she told the story of White Heather, a rare good-luck charm, much like a four-leaf clover. In the time of the Picts, who inhabited Scotland through the early Middle-Ages, it is said that Purple Heather was stained by their bloodshed during war, while White Heather marked where the land was pure and had no bloodshed.
Buursma updates her shop once a month and her re-stocks typically sell out in a matter of minutes. To get email updates on each launch and a preview of upcoming pieces, sign up for her newsletter here. (No spam emails, just collection updates)
Follow her on Instagram and TikTok @affinitysilverworks to hear the fascinating stories behind her lovely jewelry. She has a new collection dropping January 22nd at 4 p.m. E.S.T.