I love creating beautiful things and consider my backyard garden to be a living painting in continual progress. I have two home studios, and both overlook the garden. The second story studio, where I have my design and office space, is arm distance from the treetops and bird visitors that populate my designs. The enclosed sunporch studio houses my torches, kilns and the jewelry bench, with a continual wall of windows overlooking the patio and garden.

Activity in the garden is a never-ending source of inspiration. Warblers and wrens flit through the treetops. Goldfinches visit the bird feeder for a snack and then dip into the fountain for a quick bath. A great blue heron fishes in the stock tank pond. Bees hum over the rosemary and oregano blossoms. Native plants bloom continuously, even under the Texas death star sun.

My designs start as either sketches or small sculptures inspired by those garden scenes. I work originally in metal clay, a novel material that works like clay, but then kiln fires into pure metal. The master models are then reproduced in sterling silver via lost wax casting performed in small batches. Hand finishing brings out the design with a dark patina in the recesses. Then I add a chain or hand-made hypoallergenic ear wires or posts, as needed. A custom gift box is the finishing touch, before I carefully pack in tissue and ship via USPS Priority Mail.

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