Well worth the jaw-ache: Designer wins place at art school by making bubble gum jewellery

SOPHIE SWINTON spent months chomping through thousands of sticks of the tacky sweets to create her gum-believable jewellery pieces.

The 24-year-old revealed she even had to visit the dentist after the sugary gum rotted a tooth. But graduate Sophie, who completed her first degree at the Glasgow School of Art, says it’s been well worth the jaw-ache. Next month she will start a master’s degree at The Royal College of Art in London the world’s leading school of design. “I spent nine months chewing 4,000 pieces of gum in the final year of my degree,” said Sophie, of Peebles in the Borders. “My jaw ached so badly. It cost me a fortune and I had to get a filling because of the sugar.” The jewellery-making process involved Sophie crafting metal “cages” out of soldered silver. She then chewed the gum and blew it into the cages, before leaving it to set and attaching the finished pendant to a neck chain. The artist also crafts rings by chomping gum with precious metal, gemstones and glitter moulding the mix with her teeth for about 20 minutes. “It is as messy and disgusting as it sounds,” she said. Bizarrely, Sophie lists the “obnoxious and unsightly” chewing of bubble gum as one of her most hated bad habits. “It is just so irritating,” she said. “I can’t stand it when people are there with their mouths open, talking and chewing. “I suppose looking at these irritations through my work makes it more bearable. “That’s the idea really, to see the fun side of it.” Sophie, whose proud parents, artists Brian, 66 and Geraldine, 63, are big fans of her work, will realise a life-long dream when she starts her two-year Masters in Jewellery and Metal. This year, the Royal College of Art was named the world’s top-ranking design school. It boasts names such as Oscar-winning director Ridley Scott, painter David Hockney and Jonathan Boyd designer of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games medals among its ex-students. Sophie has been working 60 hours a week to pay for her tuition fees. She has set up an fundraising page to raise money for the rest and for bills, travel, food and art materials. You can donate at the website, gofundme.com/zfxprs