Creative green fingers

After cultivating her garden, Jacky Menhennet was restless and wanting to put her green fingers to good use, so she resorted to beading bouquets of brightly coloured flowers instead.

Every week or so she would go to the Sewing Centre to buy hundreds of beads in different shapes and sizes for her floral creations.

"One day my sister insisted that she wanted the beads round her neck, instead of in a vase so I was suddenly faced with the challenge of creating jewellery," Ms Menhennet said.

From beads, Ms Menhennet moved on to their more expensive counterparts, nimbly stitching hundreds of Swarovski crystal components to produce a stunning piece which will make any woman who wears it feel like a million dollars.

Content to stay at home peacefully beading away for hours on end, surrounded by her beloved Persian cat Sufa and Fesu the parrot, Ms Menhennet completed several pieces.

However, her friend Clare Thake decided it was sinful that people could not feast their eyes on these shining crystal treasures and encouraged Ms Menhennet to exhibit her work.

The exhibition of handmade jewellery and ornaments is being held on Saturday at Cleland and Souchet, Portomaso, St Julian's, between 10.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. and 4.30 to 8.30 p.m.

Word of Ms Menhennet's unique craft has started spreading like wildfire and she is suddenly inundated with demand for bridal jewellery, tiaras and one-off designer pieces.

One particular piece is a collar necklace which has over 4,000 crystals, supplied by the Sewing Centre, and which took Ms Menhennet over 167 hours to bead.

"I love working with the AB (aurora borealis) crystals because of the rainbow colour they reflect. It's like working with ice," she said.

Apart from using her imagination and her own style, Ms Menhennet also gets ideas from books that she orders from the internet - be it Japanese stitching, Ukrainian or Russian.

Ms Menhennet's exhibition at Cleland and Souchet is open to the public.