Artist makes products for fun and profit

It was art school in the early eighties and we were desperately trying not to blend into the background--lots of asymmetry, home made and altered clothing, arty haircuts, and snarky attitude. Growing up in that period gave me a lifelong aversion to all things "normal" as well as an unorthodox approach to personal style. I began making jewelry and quirky household items for myself and my friends, but then it morphed into a business model for surviving as an artist.

I like to keep my production small so that I can control the quality and craftsmanship of what I make. Each piece of jewelry is a unique variation of my general repertoire of materials and shapes. I do my own flame working on the glass components, often forming a whole batch of beads and bubbles at once then choosing parts to combine. My finished jewels often depend upon what is just in the right spot on my workbench clutter when I'm searching for beads or colors or scavenged bits to put together.

The candles began as a holiday joke item some years ago. They took off and were the major part of my business for several years. I still hand pour all of them, blending colors in small batches and hand trimming each piece. The waxy labor has become very meditative. The candles are immortalized in the first "Big Brother" house and in Savanna's bedroom on "Glee".