Why am I a Jewelry Artist

When I was about 14 or 15 years old, my sister gave me a Christmas present consisting of a bunch of jewelry making supplies that she had bought for herself, but never used. I was so excited to try my hand at this new world of creativity. There were beads, charms, pendants, jump rings, head pins, eye pins, chain, clasps, wire, chord, pliers, and a pair of wire cutters. That day, I sat down and created multiple necklaces, earrings and bracelets using just about every single thing she had given me. Now, most of what I created wasn’t very good and I have since taken apart most of the necklaces and such to create new things, but that day, I believed I had created veritable masterpieces.

As I grew older, and my interest grew, I began borrowing books on jewelry making from the library. I would veraciously consume everything I could on how to use different tools, what kind of wire works best, how to master different techniques, and so on. I learned that when using wire to string beads, it’s best to use insulated wire so the necklaces shape doesn’t distort. I learned how to make chain mail and that opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Any time I had a bit of money from babysitting, I’d beg my mom to take me to the local craft stores to walk the jewelry supply aisles thinking up new ways I could make jewelry. But no matter how many books I read, how many hours I spent on Pinterest, I could never find just the right design to be worthy of the little treasures I found. And then it hit me. I couldn’t decide on a design because I wanted something more. I wanted my own designs. I didn’t want my jewelry to look like everyone else’s. Not that there was anything wrong with other people’s designs. It’s just that they weren’t mine. So, I began to think. What is it that I want to create? What do I want my jewelry to represent? What do I want to say with my designs? And it was as if a dam had burst. New ideas began flooding in. Now when I looked for ideas, I didn’t see other people’s ideas, but my own. Everything began to inspire me. But something was still holding me back.

Though it doesn’t seem like it, I am a very insecure person. I crave approval from other people and if I think someone might not like something, I tend to hesitate. For a few years, I had been entering my designs in the jewelry division of my state’s fair. I sometimes won second prize, but most of the time, I didn’t win anything. “How could this be?” I thought. My designs were far more creative than the plain, ordinary, every day things that other people entered. And then one year, my nephew passed away from a birth defect known as Potter’s Syndrome. It meant that he was born without kidneys and that he had to be on dialysis from the time he was born. Most babies with Potter’s Syndrome don’t live more than a few hours, but thanks to the experimental program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, my nephew lived for six months. His name was Judah Nathaniel Oliver Beorn Morgan and when he passed, I decided to design a necklace to honor him and the miracle that was his life. And that year, I entered that necklace and another one I designed in the fair. It won first prize and the other won second. And then I knew. If I wanted to make jewelry that other people enjoyed, then I would have to first enjoy it myself. I had to stop caring about what other people thought and just create. I had to put a little piece of myself into every design. And that is what I had done with the necklace I designed to honor my nephew. From then on, I created with, not just a love of jewelry, but a passion for it.

These days, I have an entire shelf in my room that is dedicated to my craft. On it I have display stands for designs I am currently working on or have just finished, storage boxes for all my beads, charms and pendants, drawers to store wire, crystals, string, thread, needles, hemp and leather cord, bins to store my wire cutters, various pliers, scissors, bits and pieces I don’t know where else to put, fake flowers, fabric, pieces of leather, lace, shells, feathers, jewelry glue, my sketch book, and so much more. Jewelry isn’t just a passion for me. It’s also a form of therapy. When I create, I escape into a world all my own. I don’t have to think about the things that trouble me, whether it be my health, my current financial situation, my family, the weather, whatever. My little creative world is just filled with endless possibilities. It’s a world full of fairies, galaxies, magical gardens and mysterious forests, dreamcatchers blowing in the wind, windchimes creating a symphony of harmony, steampunk towers, dragons, crystals and so much more. And every day I fill it with new things. Everything around me inspires me. Flowers, birds, trees, insects, the wind, the earth, the sea, the sky, different cultures, the fashions of history, anything. As long as there is a way to capture the beauty of the world around me, I will never stop creating. As I write this, I am currently working to create a design inspired by a book that my sister wrote and is getting published in the fall. I have so many different things I want to create, I just have to find the time to make them all.

So, why am I a jewelry artist? Because I believe it is what I was born to be. Therefore, whenever I’m feeling stressed, worried, angry, frustrated, sad, or even happy and excited, or just in the mood to create, I go to my room, close the door, sit down on my bed, and make magic!