An Exciting Commission

Craft and sports don't often come together, although sport is often seen as a craft itself. However, Louise from madeforanangel tells us about a wonderful commission she just finished for an international sports star.

On the 14th August 2010 Grainne Murphy won the silver medal for the 1500m swimming finals in the European Championships that were held in Budapest.


The 17 year old Wexford girl soon became the talk of the whole country...... and the pride of Ballinaboola, where her father Brendan runs the local Pub ‘The Horse and Hound’.

Her face was all over the newspapers and TV, and because ‘The Horse and Hound’ has been my local pub since I met my husband in 1999, I joined in the swelling of pride that we all felt in the parish, for our ‘girl done good’!!!



You can imagine my pride and excitement, when the local GAA club approached me to make a piece especially for Grainne, to thank her on behalf of the parish for her hard-work and her achievements, and to let her know how incredibly proud we are of her. It was also wonderful that they asked a local artist make a tribute for our now international sports star!

During a parish committee meeting it was decided to present her with a bracelet. An inscription was decided on, but the finer details and designs were left completely up to me.... (the best kind of Commission!)

I decided to make her a fun and young bracelet with some beautiful ‘Kingman mine’ Turquoise from Arizona to represent the colour of the pool and the water. The silver was cut with ‘Waves’ lapping against the stone’s settings. The toggle was made by hand and I added several handmade links so that the bracelet could be adjustable.



Everything was made by scratch here in my attic studio, using a coil of wire, a sheet of sterling silver and of course the beautiful Turquoise cabochons. Hand sawn, soldered, hammered and set.



After eight hours of fabricating and hand-polishing here is the result!... (in a posh and swanky box)



The bracelet was presented to her in the ‘Horse and Hound’, where the local papers were present to photograph the events!


I was extremely delighted that my local community had so much faith in my skills and designs. I was completely honoured to make the immensely talented and hardworking Grainne a token of appreciation from her parish and I was thrilled how the bracelet turned in what has been a very exciting commission!