Angela Saltekin: My handmade jewellery business BohoJewelleryVibes (BSL)

Hi everyone, my name is Angela. I am from the East Midlands I’m here to tell you about my jewellery business which I am so passionate about called BohoJewelleryVibes.

Aside from crafting for my small business I currently volunteer for various organisations as well as being a leader for a Deaf Church in the Midlands.

I am profoundly Deaf and I am a BSL user. There are actually four generations to date in my Deaf family. I love being Deaf, I feel so proud of our culture!

Reflecting on why I moved into creating my own jewellery I must confess I am a hippie at heart and have always loved jewellery. I love wearing all kinds of jewellery especially earrings.

So back in 2015 I started crafting starting first of all with beads, using all kinds of beads. These were made out of brass, wood and metals. I enjoyed it at first but then I realised I had more to give and more to explore!

When we had our first lockdown during the COVID pandemic, I was so bored at home so I decided to browse YouTube and discovered a method of using Polymer clay to create earrings. Thankfully I was able to order the materials from Amazon and they were able to deliver these to me whilst I was stuck at home during the pandemic.

From there I began to create my own jewellery and I fell in love with it. I have never looked back since!

At first it was hard to learn new methods because I had to follow the instructions precisely; once when I had to bake the clay in the oven, it got burnt! After a little practice, I got used to it and began to understand how it works.

I create whatever I can, based on what I feel and what I see. I feel inspired to wear jewellery, especially earrings as they are worn on ears that cannot hear but can still stand out. I feel proud of the beautiful creative earrings that were made by a deaf person! It feels amazing!

As a deaf person, I would say I produce much more visual, colourful shapes. I love using micro powder, as the jewellery comes out nice and shiny and I often use black and white clays so I can add any colours into it.

The most difficult process for me was learning to colour ink on the clay but when I have baked them, it is such a godsend! I think it is such an amazing style, to have unique earrings made out of micro powder or coloured ink.

For a deaf person there are so many barriers in the crafting world, but I am still trying to overcome them. For example, using Etsy is difficult as there are so many English based questions which is what I struggle with. Because of this I tend to only sell my jewellery on stalls at Deaf events.

That said, I do not feel disabled in God’s eyes, He created me and He shows me how I can be useful, this is how I believe that I can do it. And I believe anyone else can do it too!

One of my memorable pieces was custom-made as a person to asked if I could create a mermaid shape on their earrings and I really enjoyed making it.

To other deaf people who would like to go into a crafts business I would say, do not be afraid to show your talent, your skill and your gift to the world.

Start practising as much as you can before you know what type of jewellery you like to make. You have nothing to lose!

You can find Angela on her business Instagram page here where she shares images of her products and sells her work.