LavenderJewelry

I started my etsy shop LavenderJewlery shortly after the my move to these beautiful islands. I had the opportunity to study art in Mexico and Italy, and received a BFA from Alfred University (near Corning NY) in 2002. After training as a traditional glassblower and exploring metal and glass casting techniques I made the move across the country to San Juan Island. The island (which I had never heard of) lies off the Northwest Coast of Washington State; part-way between Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC and is only accessible by ferry or small plane.

The glass job that brought me to the island was seasonal and I ended up finding what I thought would be short-term work at the local organic lavender farm. Fast forward ten years later and I still work at the farm, designing and selling value-added handcrafted lavender products. The 25,000 lavender plants that thrive there are annually blooming inspiration for my original lavender glass bead designs.

The miniature-sculpted flower heads are, for me, a way of preserving the fleeting excitement of the fields in full bloom so that they can be enjoyed as adornments year round. I create each and every one-of-a-kind glass lavender bead and assemble the lavender jewelry at my home studio at the end of a long dirt road, in the Pacific Northwest's rainforest-like woods where I live with my husband and our two young daughters. We keep chickens and honeybees and keep a garden with a ridiculous number unusual lavender species.