Inside PLanet Pickle

Hi there! Thanks for dropping by Planet Pickle! I have been a big old nerd for most of my life and my earliest memories are of watching Star Trek on a Sunday afternoon and Doctor Who on a week night. Let's gloss over the fact that I am old enough to remember watching episodes with the First Doctor! 

When I got out of school (some time later than the Cretaceous), I made the decision to study Physics and Mathematics at Uni and that led on to a career in teaching high school and writing Physics, Science and Maths textbooks. Fourteen years ago, I enrolled in a course in silversmithing as a way of understanding more about metals for textbooks I was working on and I have never looked back since. 

Planet Pickle was started as a way of uniting my passions - precious metal-smithing, science, sculpture and sci-fi - and bringing high quality jewellery to my fellow nerds and geeks.  

I particularly love doing custom work for people because I get to solve all sorts of unique design and manufacture problems and I love a challenge! My favourite words from a prospective client are "I don't know if you can help me but I have this really weird idea for a pendant ...".

During the early days of the Space Race in the 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet Union sent more than 70 individual missions into space with dogs as the text subjects. The most famous of these space dogs was Laika, sent into orbit around the Earth in 1957. Unfortunately for Laika, like 17 other space dogs in the 9 years of the program, this was a one way trip.

Pickle (‘Pikuli’) was slated to make his flight in 1966 but, fortunately for him, the Soviet Space Program discontinued using canine subjects just in time. Pickle ended up being taken home by one of the scientists and lived a happy life before finally passing away in 1980 at the grand age of 16 years old.