Hand crafted jewelry items,
made by me and by my own design.
made by me and by my own design.
My Journey to Jewelry Making
By nature, I am an artsy- crafty creative mind; however the start of my jewelry making endeavors was rather recent, beginning late last year.
I first began to make jewelry in preparation for the 2019 Christmas and Holiday season. I recognized that, due to many factors, my financial situation would not allow me to purchase gifts for my girlfriends- something I desired to do. In spite of my lack of funding, I recognized that these women were all jewelry wearers and so I decided that in lieu of traditional store bought presents, I would craft handmade jewelry for them.
I first began to make jewelry in preparation for the 2019 Christmas and Holiday season. I recognized that, due to many factors, my financial situation would not allow me to purchase gifts for my girlfriends- something I desired to do. In spite of my lack of funding, I recognized that these women were all jewelry wearers and so I decided that in lieu of traditional store bought presents, I would craft handmade jewelry for them.
I used what I had immediately available
Perhaps most importantly was a set of three trays of beads my mother had bought for me many, many years ago as a pre-teen. I rediscovered these treasures as I helped my mother move into a new home. The set included one box with of a variety of multicolored seed beads, one box with many different styles, designs, and colors of handmade glass beads; and one final box with makings for earrings and necklaces and bracelets- clips and jump rings and spacer beads and fish hooks etcetera.
I had picked up a simple set of jewelry tools from Walmart at some point on a whim, and these would serve to be most useful in my crafting. I love stones and had once previously entertained the idea of making gift earrings (although I had only ever gathered the materials and never really began). This time would be different. As an avid collector of odds and ends, I was naturally also equipped with random bits of copper wire and other mediums to experiment with as I began to create. |
And so I began... |
I sat on the floor of my mother’s home in Olympia WA and started putting pieces together with beads and wire, envisioning the perfect pair of earrings for each friend. First it was three pairs. They were beautiful, but I looked them over and felt that perhaps I’d gotten it all wrong - perhaps none of them were in fact in the style of the particular friend I’d crafted each for. This led to my continuing forward, producing more and more pieces, more and more sets, until suddenly there were 15- and then 40.
As I worked, creating pair after pair, I gathered additional materials as I could, discovering many low cost jewelry finding treasures online and within different crafting stores. I was eager and excited to present my gifts to my friends, although even as I continued to make more earrings I could never decide which pair should go to whom. At the end of this gift making endeavor, I ultimately gave up on determining which pair should go where and simply carried a box full of all I’d made thus far to one friend’s home during a girl’s night where I proceeded to have them each pick two pairs of their liking from my small collection. To my surprise and glee, my friends expressed not only gratitude but awe and admiration for my creations, which I had until this point seen primarily as a means to join in the season of exchanging gifts and making merry. They poured over my work and complimented my many diverse designs- and then they put an idea in my head. |
“You should sell these!”
For some odd reason it have never occurred to me the amount of time and effort and craftsmanship that had gone into making each unique earring pair. It had never occurred to me that my work might inspire such interest beyond the appreciation from one friend to another. My friends gloated and proudly shared their chosen earrings off to their boyfriend’s and each other.
A friend of a friend happened to be at the girl’s night and shared in the cooing over my work. She even offered to collaborate with me, hosting a party where she would sell her cosmetic items and I would sell my jewelry. |
I began to think: "Maybe they were right".
Inspiration had indeed struck again and again during the many late night hours I spent on the floor bending wires, threading beads, stringing chains, molding and crafting. I had begun to experiment and test and try different methods and different models. I grew bolder. I learned from what worked and resolved what didn’t. I even began to educate myself on some techniques and to explore what other artists were doing which further inspired my own variations and resulted in even more creations.
I did realize during this initial and formative portion of my humble beginnings in jewelry that I really enjoyed what I was doing. Making earrings was therapeutic somehow; it provided an excellent outlet for my creativity, it stilled me and forced me to practice patience and persistence, and it was rewarding to see the end results of my time and dedication to the task. |
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The number of earrings I've created has since multiplied from 40 to hundreds of pairs of earrings -along with odd some necklaces, bracelets, and rings - and the collection continues to grow.
Thank you so much for taking the time to learn about my jewelry making journey.
Sincerely,
Maya
Thank you so much for taking the time to learn about my jewelry making journey.
Sincerely,
Maya