Modern Heirloom® Fine Jewelry

  Drawing became a passion of mine at age nine. It was my "natural talent"which required little thought and sketching came easily. At 17,  I packed my bags and headed to Savannah College of Art and Design to become "an artist". It was after my first two foundation years that jewelry came into my world. I was hooked. I loved the balance between process , creativity, and invention. As an artist, I was always equally if not more fascinated by the process of creating as with the conceptual aspects. Jewelry Design and creation  fulfilled this fascination so completely.  The inspiration to design and time to make interweave themselves so seamlessly each day in the goldsmithing shop it allows for each wave of the creative process to have its moment. 20 years and a blink of the eye after my venturing into jewelry making , I am excited to be launching my latest series. "Sketched and Engraved" finds the perfect balance between illustration and metalworking. ...

I read an article in JCK which got me thinking...as I felt inspired to comment there I wanted to share my response with you all here as well.The article discussed how new technology is making it easier and easier to copy a design and reproduce it....here are a few of my thoughts on the challenge this presents us designers...;-) Of course, I agree that there is no replacing a good finish and technique but too often I am afraid the value of the earliest moments of conception can be dramatically overlooked. The price tag wins out with the majority of people and they don't even think of a knock off as "copyright" infringement ... This was proven to me recently at our custom jewelry shop ...I was speaking with a writer who had visited and I noticed the ring she was wearing as the design was recognizable. I asked if she got it from the jeweler I knew it from. She said she took their ad to a jeweler in Ny and had the design copied... Later in her visit, I was giving her demons...

 For the past couple of days, we have paused the creating for a moment to enter into an amazing phase of reorganizing our studio. As I mentioned a few posts back , it is crazy how many bits and pieces that collect in a goldsmithing shop after thirteen years of making things there. Time for a deep clean. I didn't want this pause in creating to pause my blog writing so I will give you a tour of our newly organized studio and introduce you to some of our favorite tools. Enjoy the tour! This is our Studio assistant ,Jimmie Lee and he is siked on his newly organized desk ...Now he is ready for the challenges we will be throwing his way..... "One more thing"as I like to say.  Although I prefer Hand Engraving  occasionally the job and budget call for a Machine. That is when we turn to our Signature Engraver ... My Favorite Bench because my  grandfather sat at it for 50 years, he was a watchmaker and I love the feeling of this bench. This is our...

     Sketching helps inspire the mind  Today as I approached the table of many parts,I was beckoned by these lovely little sterling leaf shapes and some silver wire which had been partially forged. They were asking for completion and I was in the mood for a stream of conscious creative session. One of those days where I throw the rigidity of predestined design rules out the window and rely on technique and instinct. Once I have selected my pieces, I begin with sketching to get the creative juices flowing. My intention is not to make these sketches (at least not today) but forging the silver to evolve it's shape  to get my mind working in a general direction to take my pendants in today. Keep in mind my goal...no particular design.   Polishing and cleaning          Feeling inspired, I begin to work.This is the Stream of Conscious part...much like the writing assignment we all know from grade school. My goal is just keep mo...

I have noticed a pattern over the last 25 years of creating....yes I started at age 9 and then it was all about drawing disney characters as accurately as possible. It wasn't until I had many jewelry making years under my belt and I returned to drawing on the side that I noticed this pattern . I now try to make it a point to practice it regularly. What am I referring to? Improving your skill set through practicing another. After my art school days, I had been sculpting metal regularly. One day I felt inspired to sit down and randomly bust out a drawing. Low and behold, I was better at drawing than I ever had been before, Much better. Strange...I mean, I hadn't drawn in years. How could I have improved? What I found as I drew, was that my line no longer stopped at the visual edge of the object I was drawing. In my mind's eye, it traveled around the object. I could see the hidden areas. Working three dimensionally had taught me to better understand Contour and shape and mo...

As I have been searching for what to create for the Vision Awards,(Yes I know last minute) , it got me thinking about design inspiration.... In order to train eyes and hands to the paper, we must first train our eye to the world around us, where everyday objects can inspire extraordinary things. I often find myself looking for underlying shapes & observing the textures and colors within them. I learn to appreciate the movement of line.... in, around, and through space. Becoming a visual data collector, this sense of observation harnesses creative inspiration and develops design skills. Our environment can serve as a constant source of creative and visual inspiration. From the organic line work of a flower to the architectural detailing of a building , we are surrounded by an inspiring array of shape, texture, & color. In jewelry design, we must also look to the human figure for inspiration. Jewelry by definition is meant to interact with the body. It is a wearable art. The figu...