Musings

BAUBLES, BANGLES AND MORE BANGLES I love to make bangles. There are a lot of reasons for that. Each one is an individual piece of art yet they all work so well together. Bangles seem to be timeless. How many to wear or the thickness of each one changes with the whims of the fashion…

SUCCESS I read a tongue-in-cheek article about someone who wanted to quit her “day job” and make her living with her jewelry designs.  So far so good.  I think that covers a lot of people.  But then she had a list of things she wouldn’t be willing to do.  She was shy, so she didn’t…

TIMELESS BOLO TIES I’m really into bolo ties right now, probably for a lot of reasons.  When I was a kid, my step-dad had all these fabulous bolo ties which he would wear just about everywhere.  About the only place he wouldn’t wear one was to a formal event. (He would have, but my mom…

FILING AWAY AT LIFE Whenever you are making jewelry, there is filing involved.  You have to remove the unwanted material.  I don’t love filing, and I don’t hate it. It’s just a part of jewelry making.  Because I don’t love or hate it, I have tried to become very efficient at it so I can…

HOLD ON LOOSELY I LOVE this ring! There are so many reasons why.  First, it’s well-made and I know it will stand up under the daily wear and tear of a ring that you never take off.  But beyond that, there are some deeper qualities that I want to talk about. Whenever I make a…

WINDOWS Windows come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, materials, colors and functions. Some windows open from the top, some the bottom. Some open sided to side and some don’t open at all. Windows can be made from vinyl, wood, steel, aluminum and even brass. Some have only one pane of glass, some many.  Some…

STUFF vs. MEANING “We don’t need more things, we need more meaning.” – anon As I was helping Roxanne clean out the back bedroom (it had become a catch-all after our middle son went off to college…10 years ago) I got to thinking about this saying.  As we were trying to decide what to keep…

JEWELRY AS ART We’ve all heard the saying “Art Imitates Life.” I think that’s a very true statement no matter what the art or what the medium.  All art is really from nature and so as artists we’re really just trying to imitating the handiwork of God, the original artist. When jewelry is art, I…

WHY I MAKE JEWELRY Periodically, I get asked why I make jewelry.  That’s not a simple question. The answer is many-faceted. (Get it, ‘faceted’? Well, I thought it was funny.) Let me try to explain. First off, God made me to make things. I HAVE to! I’ve worked on everything from diamond rings to skyscrapers. I’ve made…

RINGING IN LIFE I was looking at this turquoise ring.  I’ve seen literally thousands of turquoise rings, and I’ve made hundreds.  Nothing special here, or is there? Every turquoise ring has a shank, a back plate, a stone and a setting.  But each stone is completely unique, even stones from the same mine.  Each setting,…