Collaboration

My work as a custom jeweler offers me the opportunity to go where my imagination may not naturally go on it's own. It is a unique collaboration where a person entrusts me with their collected gems and dreams of a one-of-a-kind heirloom piece.

My most recently completed project was a particular joy for me to create. The client is a lovely lady who I've enjoyed a warm relationship with for years. We share a passion for beautiful jewelry and have enjoyed exploring the latest fashions in the cases of The Diamond Cellar.

Her visit to the store one afternoon this summer was the beginning of this most enjoyable project. She arrived, as many customers do, with a sandwich bag of old rings and half pairs of long forgotten earrings set with sapphires and diamonds. She had seen some vintage style jewelry in a recent fashion magazine and had fallen in love with the idea of a "spray" brooch.

I would never have thought to create a brooch because they have not been a much requested item, but think they are fabulous. They can add great drama to an outfit! It was a lively conversation and a quick game of "tic, tac, toe" where we drew out rough sketches to make sure we were on the same page. From the notes I made that day, I made a formal rendering to scale, giving her a solid view of what I was planning.

I loved the whimsy of the curving lines and the challenge of organizing the mismatched gems. I loved designing an object that reflected the richness of a bygone era. Best of all was the response last week from my client when she came in for the final unveiling. There is no question that we worked together to create this beautiful brooch and without her as the catalyst I'd have never had the opportunity to walk that path!

This Creative Brain

It's not unusual to find myself in the middle of the night, wide awake. At times, it's the effect of too much caffeine, or wine. In those cases I wake up and I know immediately that I am paying the price for too much fun. This night is different. Sleep has been interrupted by the crazy, creative mind. It's like auto pilot that won't shut off!

At 1:00 I woke up and remembered I had received notice of acceptance to attend my first trade show in Las Vegas. I had the typical range of emotions to doing something totally new and out of my comfort range, from excitement to terror! I thought about the conversation I had with the producer of the show about booth display, and that was really all it took. I've been building my booth display in my head now for four hours! The robins are starting to sing, and I have a million ideas about how to best display jewelry, to entice buyers into my booth. If only Joanne Fabrics was open right now. I could use all this creative energy and build it immediately before I am scheduled to arrive at work at 9:00.

The irony is that my brain is rarely in sync with the clock or the calendar. When I am working at the store, my brain wants to be in the studio creating. When I am in my studio, I have to wrestle my brain away from the due dates and responsibilities at the store. Somewhere

in between lie the grocery shopping list and the bills to pay. Oh to be able to head over to the Container Store to find the perfect filing organizing system and install it to organize all thoughts to the appropriate place and time!

Inspiration

Inspiration

I am often asked what inspires my work. That question stops me short every time.

The act of designing jewelry is not a direct path for me. The things I create that I

love best, are rarely the items that sell the quickest, or fit into a trend that would bring

commercial success.

The Lily of the Valley Locket I created last summer is the perfect example. It is dear to me because of the memory it evokes and the process that brought it into being. I will not set the fashion or jewelry world on fire making such items, but some things are good for the soul.

The design evolved over the course of a year. It began on a day in my studio when I was frustrated with a task I was working on. (Probably assembling the handmade catches I use in my limited edition pieces, they take extra patience!) It was a warm day in late spring. I grabbed a sketch book and went out into the garden to soothe my mood. Sitting on the stone wall in the sun, next to a bed of flowers I started to sketch what I saw. These little drawings are purely for the pleasure of observing beautiful things and translating them.

I can still remember the breeze in the hemlocks, and hear the argument that is always going on between the small red squirrels that live there and their arch enemies, the

bigger, gray squirrels who live in the gingko tree. The blue jays usually come along to add their two cents. One of the churches bells chime, signaling the time in fifteen minute intervals.

From that day I evolved a small drawing of lily of the valleys in a graphic design, with the intention of creating a print to make my own little note cards. I want to do a whole botanical series to include daffodils, irises, and bleeding hearts as well. I'll get to that one day!

Almost a year later, I found myself looking for some new thing to work on. I often thumb through old sketches and books. I knew I wanted to make a new locket. I love the special intimacy of lockets because they hold what is dearest to you inside. When I came across the drawing I had done the year before it seemed obvious a relief carving of the design I had planned for my note cards would work beautifully.

I had a professor in college who used to speak of the transcendent nature of art. At the time I really couldn't grasp his meaning. Through the process of life, I am beginning to understand. I find inspiration in the beauty of nature and the world around me. I am dazzled by the way other artists translate that beauty into images and objects. Through my own craft, I wish to translate and communicate the beauty I see.

Practice

For many years I've worked in the role of a custom
jewelry designer for a major, high end jewelry store. The work has
been wonderful and rewarding. I've loved the process of
getting to know my clients, discerning their tastes, and creating
beautiful keepsake items using the most beautiful materials
imaginable. Believe me when I say I feel privileged for the
experience. I continue to work for this enterprise even as I work to
develop my own body of work.

The desire to create beautiful things has always been a part of my life.
I've been a potter and a painter and loved both. I settled into the world
of jewelry because it offered me the most viable career path of all the
crafts I've practiced. Always, there has been this other life in my mind,
where I could work on creating pieces that draw from my own
experiences and tastes. After honing my craft for almost 25
years, I have started my own studio business where I can follow my
heart and create those things I have dreamed of!

The hardest part in this whole process has been learning the practice
of self promotion. I should be preparing for the video that I am
having shot in a couple days, but am blogging instead as a classic
avoidance to the task at hand. What do you include in your story and
what do you leave out? My first attempts at PR left me feeling
uncomfortable and embarrassed. The only comfort in that process were
my neighbors, friends, and customers who carefully clipped the
articles out of the paper and dropped them off at my home or work.

Even at the point where I am, with a long career in a craft that I
have grown to love, the attainment of my dreams, requires me to dig
deeper, learn more, and overcome the innate shyness I was born with. I
am reassured by people who work in the PR business that it will be as
easy to tell my story as it is the set a diamond, all it takes is
practice!

"The lyf is short, the craft long to lerne."

Geoffrey Chaucer c 1380  Parliament of Fowls

My husband and I were visiting the rural community of Lancaster, Ohio the first time I read this quote. The attraction that day was a liquidation sale of Arts and Crafts style furniture. I found the quote carved in a beautiful oak mantel piece. (Which I did not bring home!) It is not surprising that a quote from the 14th century would be carved into an Arts and Crafts piece made in the 20th century. It is the idealization of craft that drove the movement at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

The words made me feel as if I were in contact with a kindred spirit from another time. Another soul who had experienced the dilemma of wanting to create a better or more perfect thing within the confines of their own limitations, and the limitations of time.

I have worked in the craft of jewelry making for close to 25 years. I am proud of many of the works I have completed, and many of the relationships built with clients. They have shared the stories of their lives and loves with me, and made my life rich! 

I am amazed at the amount I still have to learn, and how much technology is changing the craft today! To CAD or not to CAD? To pursue a quiet studio business or try to grow a brand name to be mass produced overseas? How will I, in the time remaining in my life, get it all done?

I don't have the answers to these questions. The craft has taught me much about patience and perseverance. I am comforted in knowing other artists before have lived in the knowledge that life is short, and the craft is long to learn!