-1920x1080.jpg "Wire Wrap Wonders")
Growing up, I never thought of myself as an artist. Early on, my sole artistic endeavor was “messing with watercolors” in school art class. I did learn to use a needle, thread, and sewing machine to make many of my own clothes – today that might be considered an art form, but back then it was “just fun.”
About 10 years ago I decided to combine my passions for wire, gemstones, and handmade jewelry — I love working with my hands to create something of my own design. Colors, shapes and the beauty found within larimar, malachite, labradorite, and other natural gemstones captured my artistic spirit.
Now, when I sit down to work, I pick a stone that for some reason calls to me that day. I look at it, turn it upside down and around and try to envision how the finished piece will look and in what direction the stone should hang. I measure the circumference and using a formula that I have developed over the years, select and cut all the pieces of wire I think I will need. Then I go to work – taping, binding, bending, shaping, and wrapping the wire around the stone. After the bail is created and wrapped, I decide how the wire wants to be worked on the face of the stone. Will I make ringlets, rosettes, add beads, all the while allowing the wire to tell its story?
My goal remains to showcase the stones and to create pieces that people fall in love with and wear proudly. When I’m wire wrapping a beautiful stone in gold or sterling, I know I’m creating a piece of what could become heirloom jewelry. And I get lost in the process. It’s a quiet time for me, even with music in the background, almost like meditation. I am convinced that a well made piece constructed with quality materials will eventually find someone to fall in love with it.
If you have a stone sitting in your jewelry box or in a drawer somewhere, I will be glad to talk about making into a very special piece of wire wrapped jewelry for you. I also wear the pieces I make for sale and on more than one occasion have sold the piece right off my neck! Seeing a customer walk away happy with one of my unique designs is a joy.
I love to travel, and I enjoy collecting gemstones on my journeys, some just because I like them and others that I plan to wrap into jewelry. One of my most memorable experiences was in the Jade Market in Hong Kong. There I found a piece of jade that I really liked. Neither I nor the seller spoke the others language. So the seller wrote down her price on a piece of paper. And in the style of the marketplace there, she handed me the paper and I wrote down what I was willing to pay. This went back and forth several times and eventually we agreed on a price. In the end, we both shook hands and parted friends.