Laura and Jim were embarking on their lifelong dream. Upon retirement they sold everything, purchased a sailboat, and now life on a sailboat in the Atlantic! Prior to their departure they commissioned the creation of two necklaces that join together and expressed their love and new adventurous life. The result was "Ying and Yang Nautical" pendants. |
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Silver and diamond "PeaPod" is a mom's necklace to wear to her son's wedding. It was designed with symbolism to commemorate the special event. There are three green diamond cubes set in diamond shaped bezels, representing each of her children, two sons and her new daughter-in-law The inspiration for an open pea-pod shape came from C Dimond earrings. She said the peas reminded her of babies warm and cozy beginning a new life surrounded by family (pod).The patina on silver is a dark gray to coordinate with her dress. Her patina silver Benzintine bracelet finished the suite: her custom jewelry enhanced the special feeling of love that day.
While at MSCD a professor liked my "Bubbles" design. He and his wife no longer had their original wedding bands. We personalized the "Bubbles" designs by selecting two different sized dots in different quantities. One represented the month and the other represented the day. Each ring has the spouse's birthday represented by dots within two cicrcles on their new wedding bands.
Often artists get inspired from other artists work. Changing from one medium to another allows for lots of creativity. Norman Rockwell is one of my favorite artists. His painting Mermaid was published in The Saturday Evening Post on August 20, 1955.
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"Cage Necklace" is an interpretation of Norman Rockwell's Mermaid painting. The copper cages are a replica of the cage the old fisherman carries on his back. The cages open and close capturing the mermaids. The mermaids are symbolized by brown and green "teardrop" turquoise stones trapped in the cages. The necklace is choker length expressing the emotion of the poor captured mermaids. An example of one artist inspiring another. |
A friend since kindergarten came to me to design his wedding rings. The engagement ring began with his grandmother's diamond and looking at my completed work. We designed a coral textured curved band to hug the special diamond. She said, "Yes!" So the next step was designing their wedding bands. His was white gold with a sterling silver band through the center. She wanted two bands, a channel of colored cubed diamonds and vines intertwined representing their union. Their dream rings were exchanged at their beautiful ceremony.
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Jen and Casey designed their own wedding bands. Jen's is a simple circle of white gold to allow for diamond additions as time passes. Two black diamonds were spaced to accent her engagement ring. Casey chose sterling silver band with his wedding date inlayed in 18k gold with a black diamond between each number. Special meaning and purpose was embedded in their designs. (She gets a diamond every anniversary, and he has no excuse to forget! He is wearing his reminder.) |
There is more than one way to beat cancer. A woman was diagnosed with cancer in her neck. She was told to visualize the video game Pacman eating the diseased cells until they were gone. To celebrate the successful removal of all cancer in her system, she commissioned me to create a pendent representing a "Pacman Eating" that she could wear every day. She jokes that the symbol will scare the cancer away! The necklace is a disc of silver pierced with holes, a simple tube on back allows the chain to be threaded balancing the sway of the pendant. I'm thankful she is healthy.
Special events especially weddings are often motivation for purchasing special pieces of jewelry. T gave me a variety of 14k jewelry (rings and earrings) that she no longer wore, yet they had special meaning to her (gifts from family for special occasions). I melted down the gold and create a pendent for her to wear to her son's wedding and hopefully daily. After several creative symbolic designs, she requested a cross. She said that a cross was the most meaningful symbol she knew and loved. The rubies are from grandma's ring, the diamond is a gift from her husband, the chain is her graduation gift from her deceased father and of course the gold is all the love from gifts past merged together. "Rings to Cross" represents God and family.
Each year I create a Christmas tree ornament for my brother's family, this is "Three Dogs for the Tree".
- He gave me a photo of their 3 dogs.
- I created a paper template of their shadow.
- Carefully I cut (fabricated) copper to create the image.
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Personalized creations are fun. One Christmas I created signature "Initials" for my gifts. I traced each person's handwriting and cut a piece of silver carefully to copy their initials, MT, DT, JS, BS, HS, DS, TD, SK, JK, NK. and LT. This task was so tedious. You could say these are signature pieces. |
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My brother and I are Eagle Scouts; a special woman helped us on our journey to Eagle. Her husband asked me to create a ring for her. I had freedom in the design. He wanted 18k yellow gold and her birthstone, a garnet. I knew her ring had to be part of nature and as special as she is to us.
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Her ring was my inspiration to make the "Twig" series. The symbolism of a tree innerwined to make a circle with a red stone has many interpretations, but to us it is "Thank you for your support and love. You helped us grow."
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'Twig" is exactly that a small branch I took off a tree while hiking one day. I created a mold of the twig and now I can manipulate the same budding branch into a variety of pieces, necklace, earrings, bangle bracelet and ring.
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Rocky Mountains at night with the moon shining is a breath taking experience. I hand carved the "Flatirons "mountains and set a diamond as the moon. Patina turns the sterling silver dark like the night sky. Everyday of my life I see the Flatirons, Boulder County is my home. A couple bought several of these pendents for gifts to family and friends on their 5,843 mile road trip across the USA. I guess they love living here too and wanted to share. He said, "We spread a little bit of Boulder County across the country."
INSPIRATION FOR WORK
Asian culture and art inspires my work. One of my first pieces was a small charm disc with the script for "Power" sawed by hand into the sterling silver. A simple jump ring makes it a charm or pendant. I've made a wide variety of script for words from different languages on discs. I also cut the symbol for Children's Hospital, child with balloons. Each symbol is slightly different due to the handmade nature. My energy interacting with metal must have some special "Power."
Nature is often my inspiration. "Bubals" represents my love for the water - beach and fishing Colorado rivers. "Coral Cartouche" integrates ancient cartouche jewelry design with the texture of the coral reef. "Flight" collection are parts of a elaborate necklace I designed, each part separated to become wearer friendly. The original piece of a dreamcatcher surrounded by diamond shaped feathers was inspired by my Native American heritage and love of nature. "Coyote" is inspired by my high school mascot, I hand carved the coyote in wax. Circles find their way into many of my designs, "Cercal" has many different meanings - life goes on.
Sometimes assignments in school need a little personality. Make a teapot, really? Tea time is often thought of as girly time. Unless you are using "Federal Teapot." My teapot is a replica of a Federal bullet. A leather sling serves as the handle. A thick hand-linked chain holds the copper top to the vessel. The bottom opens to hold your favorite tea bag. Just tip the pot pour some out.
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One feather from the Flight design is accented with a pink and a blue pearl. During the month of April, I had both a grandson and a granddaughter. I wanted a special necklace to celebrate being a grandmother.