About

How I Got Started in Jewelry

I picked up my first pair of jeweler's pliers between my freshman and sophomore years of college, when I took a job at a costume jewelry store run by a cranky old lady who tried very hard not to teach me how to make any jewelry. Somehow I managed to learn to do some basic repairs, string beads, and knot pearls. My folks then bought me a green tackle box in which to carry my half dozen hand tools and growing bead collection back to college. My first "jewelry show" was in 1988 in the lobby of my dorm, where I hung earrings all around the top edges of the lamp shades. I made almost a thousand dollars that night. I was hooked. Eventually I took a basic metalsmithing class. Then another. And another. I say of myself that I am semi-self taught because my skills have not come from formal jewelry training nor apprenticeship, rather from workshops, one-on-one tutorials, and years of willingness to torture a little metal in pursuit of technique.