Designer, therapist, gardener… girl with stones in her pockets. Shape, texture and color intersecting, reflecting and absorbing intrigue me. Semiprecious stones and fossils are my palate. Years ago, I attended the School of the Art Institute in Chicago where I studied drawing, painting and print making with a particular focus on flat pattern design. Becoming a social worker and later a marriage and family therapist allowed me to hear the stories of people from many places.
Now I’m looking for stories in each rock, tiny to enormous. Stories of the evolution of minerals and crystals as they form and reform under geological pressure, heat, water, air and erosion. Sometime, while making necklaces and bracelets, I forget the stories that pushed me to choose an individual stone or clasp; new stories evolve. With distinctive gemstones, fossil or shells an idea forms. Color, shape and size speak to the process that will follow. The number and length; one, two, three, a dozen, eighty four, one hundred and ten?
What else is needed to complement or set off the emerging design? Findings are sterling silver, gold filled, vermeil and bronze metal and wire. Clasps are sourced worldwide. They are not just a closure, but part of the design process. Instead of knots between I place semi-precious gems. Inlaid stones, unique shapes add to the ornament. Jewelry may be made with a specific person, color-way or season expressed. The ability to wear an item several ways is always in my mind.
These are adornments. One should delight in the looking at and wearing of a piece of art.
