Zombie candles, silver fox rings and tommy guns

Originally from Auckland, Nick Rule travelled down to Wellington looking for work, and soon found himself ensconced in the jewellery and 3D studios at The Learning Connexion. Inspired by music, movies and goth girls, he makes sculptures, rings, necklaces and chokers from silver, leather and brass. He’s also designed Walking Dead type zombie wax candles that ooze and dribble melted wax from their open mouths.

Nick says he always wanted to do jewellery, but just didn’t know how to get into it. Since he discovered The Learning Connexion he’s found his ornamental calling.

“I like engineering, making stuff that moves. I’m often up at night thinking about how to make something work.” 

Sculptures of Furiosa (from Mad Max) holding a gun (an unfinished piece).

 

A life-size rabbit made out of paper clay.

 

In the past, Nick used to be a cake decorator, making sculptures out of fondant. He also spent some time working for Weta Workshop, doing casting. But like a lot of people after high school, he said he never really knew what it was that he wanted to do.

“After high school everybody was like - ‘I’m going to do this, I’m gonna do that’. They all seemed to know what it was that they wanted to do, and who they wanted to become. I didn’t. I was different.”

On coming to study creativity and art at The Learning Connexion, all of his past seemed to fit. Everything he’d done previously began to fuel his work in the mixed media and jewellery studios in some small way, shape or form.

Nick’s jewellery designs are gothic inspired pieces that have parts that move or disassemble. He’s an enthusiast of work that can be played with. But, this distinct artisan style of creating miniature pieces came about more through necessity than by design.

 

Smith and Wesson Schofield.

Stirling silver fox ring: currently available at Foresight Clothing.

 

As a cash strapped student, it was difficult to find the money to buy silver and bronze in order to pour and create his work. But it was this, being cash poor, that did Nick a favour. Because he had to be creative with what he had and could afford, he started making his jewellery smaller in scale. Less material usage for each piece meant that Nick could make expensive materials, like silver and bronze, go further – doing more with less, and concentrating on more precise detailing within each individual piece.

 

This Thompson Tommy Gun is one of Nick’s favourite pieces. It has a circular barrel that you can take out which transforms into a little locket.

Sterling silver gothic skull ring.

Handmade beeswax zombie, hand and cat skull candles. The candles came about due to Nick not having any funds to buy resin for a sculpture so he improvised and used candle wax instead.

Conan the Barbarian snake ring.

Nick Rule’s jewellery and sculptural beeswax creations are steadily finding their way into Wellington stores and he has future plans to get his jewellery work displayed in a local gallery. He has plenty of moulds ready, waiting in the wings to be cast forth and brought to life.

If you’re interested, you can purchase some of his pieces from Wellington Clothing store Foresight Clothing.

For information about taking a jewellery class or studying art and creativity next year at The Learning Connexion, request a prospectus.