I am often asked by my customers how I started making and selling my jewelry. I guess you could say I came into the profession through a side door, taking my first, tottering steps in the jewelry making arts while on vacation in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 1997. At the time I was a freelance writer who fed her creative impulses by constructing handmade books–complete with illustrated prose and poems–and giving them away as gifts. When I first saw jewelry being made by the master silver artisans of Chiang Mai, I thought the techniques would be terrific for embellishing the books. A few years later, while visiting a gallery in Berea, I had a light bulb moment–I thought I could make something new and different from much of the jewelry I was seeing there! So, why not use those techniques for what they were intended–actually making some wearable art! Building on my skills as an illustrator and with a writer’s intuitive eye, I began to do just that, and Twelfth House Designs was born. The rest is a Cinderella story. Within a year of creating my first piece, I was juried into Kentucky’s most respected arts & crafts organizations and making a successful living! Yoo-hoo! Eventually I enrolled at Eastern Kentucky University in the metals program to explore and expand my metalsmithing skills. Now I fully embrace the creative life–living and working with my American Bulldog, Banjo, and my bossy kitty, Sofie–in the inspiring, artistic community of Berea, Kentucky located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
COVID-19 caused countless event cancellations around the world. “Social distancing” they call it. Economically, this preventative measure hit artists, musicians, and other self-employed folks hard. But some good things have come from it, too. My new website is just one example. It’s a work in progress, but I hope you enjoy it.
