I love making things and I am inspired by God's beautiful creations.
I make lovely keepsake Souvenirs to remind you of your Sanibel, Captiva, Ft. Myers vacation or destination wedding.
I have always loved Florida. I have lived near Sanibel off and on since the late 90s. But since the hurricane Ian, I moved to Tennessee.
To make the beads, pendants and necklaces, I start by gathering the sand from the local beaches of Sanibel, Captiva and Ft. Myers to use in my jewelry creations. I make all of the jewelry in my home studio.
Quality materials are important to me when coming up with a piece that looks, feels and wears well. When making my own lampwork and fused glass I have the ability to add sand from the beaches that I have collected. I also use shells that I found and locally purchased ones. It can be challenging to incorporate the shells and sand directly into the glass, so I came up with my own technique to do it successfully. The result is one-of-a-kind keepsake treasures.
After making the bead, cabochon or fused glass pieces, I like to use quality solid metal wire for making the wire wraps and bails for the pendants and earrings. I buy beautiful chain by the foot and make my own necklaces and also, I buy pre-made ones from Rio Grande Jewelry in the USA.
I use fine silver, sterling, copper, bronze and brass, gold filled, and rose gold filled wire and chain to make the jewelry lovely looking and long lasting. I also like to use Greek leather, silk, cotton, and hemp finishings for an earthy look. I have a toolbox that contains a variety of techniques and skills that I began to learn in childhood. I have always loved making and creating things. Over the years I have worked with many mediums. I still enjoy experimenting with different techniques and try to come up with some of my own as well. Nature is definitely my biggest source of inspiration, it contains an incredible number of designs, colors and patterns, it's a living and breathing created masterpiece. I appreciate the nuances of light, weather, seasons, locations and all the inhabitants that enjoy them. My creative process involves using memory and imagination, which I guess is a combination of everything up to this point.
In designing a new piece, I either sketch it out in detail or enjoy exploring the materials in front of me and start to play.
I am a self-taught artist and also enjoy teaching both adults and children, I love to pass on what I know to others.
In my opinion, the process of making something is just as important, as the product. If you are exhilarated by and love what you do it will show in the finished work. I think that perfection is for machines, I love and prefer the look of hand tooled organic pieces. I also enjoy painting, and my style tends to be loose, free and impressionistic with lots of happy colors. I like to include a mini original watercolor bookmark-note card with each order as a free gift.
I hope you enjoy browsing my shop.
