The ability to express my creativity drives my desire to create one of a kind jewelry items. My creative process beings just about anywhere—a magazine article, a book, a picture from the web, a string of beads, a garment with a different neckline, etc… I then strive to create pieces that reflect my personality and deep love for quality craftsmanship and materials—I only create pieces I am proud to own and wear. While I occasionally start with the work of other designers I never create a piece without my own design stamp—I cannot resist “tweaking” a design (even my own designs) to make it more visually appealing, more functional, suit my tastes or fit it to the materials I have on hand. To me a pattern or picture is like a straight dive off a springboard—it’s a place to jump off from and a method of entry. The springboard, however, allows me to gain momentum until I’ve enough to allow me to make my own dive—a variation (or variations) of the original.
The difficult part for me is stopping the gain of momentum and/or the visions of new varieties of “dives”—when I start to imagine possibilities I find it very hard to stop myself. I prefer to work from a “stash” of materials (rather than buying for each project) and as I go through my stash looking for possibilities for a project not only do I often find more than one candidate but also I often find other beads or materials with which I’d like to work. Suddenly from one simple project I wind up with 4 or 5 variations and 3 or 4 more projects.
Current Designs:
- Dagger Necklace and Earrings
- The earrings were the starting point here.
- Barrels of Pearls Necklace
- This one is a crowd pleaser—everyone who sees it on the necklace bust comments on it. I don’t know how long it will stay mine!
- Briolette Earrings
- Sweet and simple—and a very adaptable design.
- Kerry’s Pendant
- An outline of a horse’s head with an interesting mane treatment.
- Spiral Chain Drop Earrings
- 3 of the 4 pair of my interpretation of these interesting earrings developed by Sonja Kiser.
- Jetson’s Jet Set
- Earrings and a necklace that remind me of the apartment building the Jetson’s live in—sort of a “space age” set.
