Brighton jeweller Jo McDonald has an impressive list of celebrity clients.

She’s made pendants for Johnny Depp, bracelets for Kate Middleton and has even crafted a ring for the Queen – or, at least, their waxwork replicas.

For the past two years, McDonald has been the official jeweller for Madame Tussauds.

When the famous London attraction introduces a new figure to its collection, McDonald is commissioned to make replicas of jewellery which often costs thousands – or even millions – of pounds in reality.

From her studios in Preston Circus, she works from photographs to copy everything from Gok Wan’s trademark “tusk” earring to the Queen’s square-cut diamond engagement ring, set in platinum (and usually hidden beneath her white gloves).

It’s crucial that the jewellery looks as close to the original as possible and, although all the diamonds are synthetic and the gold is fake, the museum still has to take precautions against thefts.

“Ears will often get snapped off the waxworks, or rings ripped off,” says McDonald, who was recommended for the job through a friend who works in the attraction’s costume department. “They bolt most of it on now.”

The most complex piece she has made was for Madame Tussauds in Vienna which needed jewellery for a waxwork of Elisabeth of Austria, an empress in the early 20th century. “She had the most fantastic long hair and I had to make 27 ‘diamond’- encrusted star hair ornaments and a matching pendant!”

It’s a diverting strand in McDonald’s regular work making fine jewellery for private commissions. But in both types of work she enjoys the problem-solving required.

She recently remodelled a black diamond engagement ring for a private client, turning the stone on its head and creating an altogether more sculptural piece of jewellery.

In her work for Madame Tussauds she often replicates jewellery with only photographs for reference: “So I have to study the materials and work out how something was likely to have been made and how to make the replica as close to the real deal as possible.”

Born in Canada, McDonald trained at Sir John Cass College in London before taking a BA at Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design.

Jewellery has always been a passion, she says: “I love the making and craft side of it and I love working with gold and silver and precious jewels.”

Additional studies in social anthropology at the University of London School of Oriental and Asian Studies have fed into her work, which draws influence from all over the world.

Recent trips have taken her to antiques fairs in Italy to source vintage coral jewellery to repurpose in her own work and to Jordan in the Middle East for turquoise.

“Travel is a big influence on what I do. I love colours and patterns and exotic materials and I’m really attracted to what I call ‘mystical and beautiful objects’. I like to seek out unusual stones or special examples of my favourites.

I’m hoping to go to Iran soon as it’s one of the best places in the world for turquoise.”

McDonald is currently exhibiting at the ongoing prestigious Goldsmith’s Fair in London, Europe’s largest show of jewellery, silver and precious objects, featuring more than 180 designer-makers.

Her collection melds a 1930s’ colour scheme of turquoise, white and coral with tribal influences – what McDonald has dubbed “Art Deco – au sauvage” – and uses British glacier porcelain and electroformed silver.

“I mainly do commission work but in the past few years I’ve really wanted to focus on my own collections and what I want to do.”

* Find out more about Jo’s work by visiting her website, www.jomcdonald.com