Do you remember the first piece of jewelry you ever made? Yes! It was a super simple black seed bead and red glass bead necklace strung on bead cord. I was about 13 and my friend was starting to make jewelry, so she showed me how. Thankfully, I’ve evolved a lot since then!
· Whose work do you relate to most? Who inspires you? I don’t necessarily relate to any other jewelry designers, but I’m inspired by Jeanine Payer, whose jewelry is always simple, yet exquisite. The quotes she uses are inspirational in themselves. Anthony Nak is fantastic and does amazing things with chain. Pade Vavra also makes beautiful jewelry.
· What was the last show you attended? I went to see a friend’s cover band, Dark Wave last week. I can’t even remember when the show before that was! It’s sad because I love music and used to go to shows every week, but I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t made the time.
· Describe some important goals you have achieved. A big goal would be that I have finally gotten more confident in marketing myself so that now I am getting more press, as well as sales. I’ve also been networking more in the arts and crafts world and have been making some great connections with people who have similar goals and problems as I do.
· What methods do you use to organize your time? I’m actually pretty awful at time management! If I can get away with taking a break, I’ll definitely take advantage of that. To help, I took a time management workshop and learned how to better tackle my to do lists. I’ve also learned to multitask a bit more and have set aside specific days to make jewelry, as well as work on the business side of things.
· What motivates/inspires your work? I’m half Asian and my eye is instantly drawn toward most beads in an Asian motif. My studies in biology and botany during college also inspires me through my respect for the natural world and love of organic materials. The majority of my work involves semi-precious stones, wood and other natural materials. I’m also often inspired by flowers and pendants and floral themes are often in my designs.
· What has been your most difficult moment since starting your business? Finding a web designer that I could actually afford. The person who originally set up my website wasn’t familiar with shopping carts and I had problems for several years before recently finding web skills in two new friends who have been kind enough to help me. Along with that, learning some basic Photoshop and Dreamweaver skills to make web updates on my own has been taking some time. I never even had a digital camera until a few months ago!
· What has been your proudest moment since starting your business? One of my proudest moments came this year when I learned that some of my hair accessories will be featured in the upcoming book, 1000 Jewelry Details. It was the first time I ever submitted anything to a call for artists and it was a good motivator to keep working hard on my business.
· Where people can buy your Jewelry? Right now, my jewelry is available on my website, Etsy store and at Orange Button. I’ll be carried in more boutiques in 2008 too, so check my blog for updates!!
How long have you been making jewelry and how exactly did you get started?I started my career some 25 plus years ago in fine jewelry. I did a
great deal of custom design work and loved it! Forced into an early 'retirement'
due to cancer, I found that I still wanted to design and create jewelry. About 3
years ago my daughter was invited to a beading birthday party. We later visited
the store so she could make another bracelet and I was hooked! After a couple
months of stringing, I thought I was ready for eBay! I started my bracelets at
$9.99 and never sold a single one of them! LOL! Seeing all the 'fringe' style
bracelets being sold, I started making those. Mine were really packed with
charms and I started getting some sales! I found I really enjoyed the wirework.
What was your first project? (Do you still have it? Wear it?)
My first project was a bracelet made from an assortment of beads that caught
my eye at a local bead store. I recently took apart my very first bracelet, but
I've included a photo of one I made about 2 weeks later. I don't wear it, but
keep it to remind me of where I started.
Do you create full time or is this a part time hobby/business?
It began as a hobby and is now a full time business.
How have you learned your craft? (Self taught? Classes? Books? Online?)
My transition to wirework happened when my good friend Kelly Dunagan showed
me a copy of a wire magazine featuring Connie Fox's Brangle. We ordered all our
tools and wire and one warm summer eve practiced bending and hammering wire. I
was hooked! I thought those creations looked so cool! I recently looked at some
photos of my early attempts and well......I'm surprised they sold as well as
they did! LOL. Outside of that first tutorial, I am completely self-taught. I
have one of those weird brains that allows me to see something and make it. I'm
sure that my 25 years of jewelry design experience has helped a great deal. I
have loved beading since I was about 7 years old. I used to beg my mom to take
me to my favorite bead store in Old Town San Diego, where I would purchase beads
made from olive wood, glass and other organic materials. Then, with needle and
thread, I would string necklaces and bracelets. So I guess jewelry making has
been a lifetime love.
How would you describe your work?
My work is sort of funky, tribal, earthy and most definitely chunky and fun!
I'm out-of-the-box, so to speak. I love to create unusual pieces combining
natural gemstone beads and lampwork with copper or Sterling silver. Twisty,
turny, coiled and hammered freeform wire work really appeals to me. I am a bit
of a perfectionist and pay attention to tiny details. Producing quality is very
important to me.
What has been one area where you struggled? Have you overcome this, still
working on it, or put it aside for now?
I have been struggling with how to promote myself and my art. The idea of
going to galleries and boutiques etc...and showing them my jewelry is very scary
for me. I'm just not comfortable with it.
Do you ever get ‘creative block’? If so, how do you deal with it?
FREQUENTLY! I call those little creative lapses the times when my muse is either
napping or on vacation! I don't think art can be rushed. There are days when I
can sit at my bench and produce item after item like a woman possessed. Other
days, I just sit there and stare. I've learned that usually on those 'stare'
days, I'm not going to like what I make so I organize my work space, beads,
write a tutorial or go play with my dogs or call a friend to do lunch. So, I
don't sweat it. I'm usually happily back to creating jewelry within a few hours
or a day at most.
If you had to pick one book to recommend what would it be? (your favorite
reference book, what do you pick up most?)
I don't use reference books. I sometimes enjoy perusing beading magazines. I've
written so much information in a wire/bead group I'm affiliated with, and along
with the students in the classes I teach always asking me if I have a book out,
that I have been giving some serious consideration to creating an eBook on wire
and jewelry techniques myself. I really enjoy teaching wire and jewelry classes
and I love to write, so I think that's a good combination.
If you could go back to the beginning and do one thing differently, what
would it be?
It's always a learning process......you begin somewhere and your art evolves. I
can't think of anything I would change.
Who (or what) inspires you?
Nature inspires me and beads inspire me. When I hold a set of awesome lampwork
or natural beads in my hand, the designs just start coming into my head. Sort of
like watching a slide show. I get inspiration in the things I see around me like
a beautiful sunset, beach scene, a walk in the woods or looking through
furniture magazines etc...I love to get cool color combination ideas from the
rich fabrics pictured there.
What is your favorite tool (what item/tool do you find you constantly reach
for?)?
I LOVE my round nose pliers! I guess because I do so many of the loopy, freeform
things.
What direction do you see your jewelry taking?
I would like nothing better than to be able to make a decent living from my
jewelry work. How wonderful to make a living doing what you love! I would like
to teach more classes and develop and grow in this medium to become a recognized
artisan jeweler. I'm always trying to think outside the box, so to speak. Having
my own studio outside of my home where I can sell beads, tools and jewelry
supplies along with teaching and hosting classes where other artisans are
invited in to share their talents is a long-term goal and dream of mine.
What tool (or supply) has been the biggest disappointment to you? (something
that you thought you needed but really didn’t…something you never use)
I have to laugh at myself for this one. I thought that I would really like the
Lindstrom Ergo. pliers, so I purchased a few. While they are the most
comfortable pliers I've ever held, I don't like the round nose plier of theirs I
have. I knew that the heaviest gauge wire for them is 16 gauge. 16 gauge wire
for me IS light! LOL! Also, the jaws of the pliers are short and thin. I hardly
ever leave marks on wire anymore, but those really dig right in. I don't use
them for the fine wire projects either because of that. I find myself wishing I
could remove those comfy handles and put them on my heavy duty round nose
pliers. So those very expensive pliers just sit. (sigh)
Anything else you'd like to share?
I appreciate the opportunity to share my story. Check out my
website if you like (www.hodgepodgerie.com).
It's most definitely a work in progress. I'm happy to share my knowledge and am
looking forward to participating in this forum!
SD: When did you start designing jewelry?
I had combined beads with my loom weaving in the 1980's. Don and I both realized that we wanted to work with metals in the 1990's. We bought a torch and a pile of equipment, but it wasn't until years later that we found a jeweler to study with. He was quite a taskmaster. I learned to solder gold by repairing a small chain he had broken into 1 inch segments. When I saw the flexibility in designs that can be created with wire, I knew it would create the designs in my head and in my sketchbooks. SD: What inspires your jewelry designs? I learned to knit at 5 years old and have knitted nearly every day since. For a number of years I was a weaver and I still spin my own yarn. Wire, to me, is just another form of yarn. Much of what can be done with yarn and thread can be done with wire, but it is more beautiful and long-lasting.Don and I lived aboard our boat for 12 years and knots are a way of life for boaters. His work with weaving and knots links with his natural drive for precision (he is an engineer) and work toward his wonderful knotted and woven pieces. What he does, I could never manage.
We both do very smooth, simple and sleek pieces under out Simplexities line and hand anodized niobium and titanium pieces in our Spectrum Jewelry line.
SD: What is your background? Don and I are both from Texas, but I have moved nearly 60 times in my short 60 years. I have lived in a motorhome, 8000 sq. ft. house and a boat. The only constants in my life have been my family, working with my hands, reading and the fact that I am a transient. We have bought a place in Mississippi and hope to retire there and grow vegetables in the dirt between shows and teaching. SD: What are your other interests and hobbies? Gardening in containers knitting, boating and kitties. SD: Were you creative as a child? I started knitting at 5 and have knitted nearly every day since. I wrote my first book at age 10. The title was "Our Rocks and Minerals". Of course only one copy has ever been printed, but it was the beginnings of a life-long passion for beautiful things that shine. From then on, I wrote every school paper on jewelry and drew fanciful jewelry designs on every flat surface. including my paper dolls.. I always wanted to see something I had made at the end of the day. I have always been "Thinking outside the box". What box? SD: Why have you chosen jewelry design as one means to express your creativity? Would it sound too shallow to say I love shiny things? I just love silver and beautiful stones. Its such a tactile festival to touch the wire and shape it with your fingers and to make settings for stones. With 55 years working in fibers, it is only a natural extension to shape the wire to suit my fantasies.Question: How do you design your jewelry?
I do a lot of drawing then make piece in copper or floral wire to get the proportions and intricacies of how it will work mechanically. I have a bag of copper pieces that just look like junk. From there, depending on the piece, I will make it in silver or other metals. On the woven pendants, I just do a little bit of drawing and then start weaving. I design them as I work, so actually have little idea of what the finished piece will be when I start.
SD: What is your favorite jewelry material to work with and why? Do you have a favorite gemstone or precious metal? I prefer working with .999 fine silver. It doesn't work harden easily and conforms to the designs very smoothly. We have really enjoyed niobium because of the finish and the colors that develop when we anodize it. A favorite stone? That is almost like asking which child is my favorite. I love lapis, malachite and rhodochrosite. Sometimes black onyx can be just right counterpoint for a weaving. SD: Describe for us one of your favorite pieces of jewelry. Of course this changes on nearly a daily basis, but I have two that I really love. Don made a spinner ring with the symbol for "I love you" in rivets in the spinner and I have a woven pendant with coral, onyx and a silver-gray pearl and a triangular lapis set in gold filled wire. SD: Do you offer custom-made jewelry? Unlike most jewelry artisans, I rarely do custom work. We did custom boat canvas for a while. Fitting the boat and the vision the owner had, was both a time consuming and frustrating process. I make what I love then find the person who loves it as much as I do.. Don does make custom bracelets because wrist sizes are quite varied and unpredictable. SD: Upon placing an order, how long before delivery? Every piece is ready to sell at the time the photographs go on the site, so the pieces are shipped either the day the order is received or the day after. What’s next for you? Right now I am developing teaching modules for some classes we want to teach. I am also finishing up the second edition of my eBook, "Website ShowCase: Artisan's Guide to Website Development and Marketing". I am also developing a loom for the wire. We plan to do more shows and more traveling for teaching once Don retires.What would you like to learn?
I want to get much much better as a silversmith. I really enjoy soldering and piercing and would like to combine this with the wire. I have so much to learn. Don is learning to flush set tiny faceted stones, which will add that tiny spot of sparkle in the unexpected places. When he is fully retired in about 10 months, I think we can expect some very exciting new designs from him.What jewelers do you look up to?
Hanne Behrens, Loren Damewood, Dory Brown, Mary Lee Hu, Linda Chandler, Stuart Golder
What is your favorite part of making jewelry?
I love the materials, but probably the best part is the tactile experience of weaving and coiling the wire and the mystery of what the piece is going to be in the end.