I started making jewelry with the original intention of focusing solely on fossils. I’d seen them used in silver jewelry before & was completely obsessed 🤩

The actually process wasn’t much different than what I was doing with my middle school students at the time. During our fossil & rock labs. I’d have them make their own “fossils” using polymer clay & the fossil collection I kept in my classroom.

In 2016 I took a maker class at Crystal Bridges Museum of Fine Art in Bentonville, Arkansas to learn more about the technique. If you’ve never been there, and you find yourself in Northwest Arkansas with some time on your hands, check it out for sure! That’s where I first worked with precious metal clay 🤩 Once I learned about PMC, the process was easily translatable, & I ran with it!

I delved deeply into the process, watched hours of YouTube maker videos, read tons of How-to articles, invested in the materials, fired a few pieces & realized that I could literally take anything from nature & make an impression in metal. Nature was truly my inspiration.

My first fossil impression was a crinoid, which turned out *meh*, but my second crinoid had me hooked! Branching out from fossils, I attempted a lavender sprig from my momma’s garden. This first botanical print was made with the lavender forming a negative recessed space, & it was a hit!

Experimenting with different molding materials, & a good bit of trial & error, I soon found my own way to form raised impressions. Circling back around to my days of making fossils with my students, it was Polymer clay! This technique is super elementary (yet soooo fun), & it’s how I continue to form most of the molds for my metal art jewelry pieces. It makes every mold completely unique & one of a kind.

A couple years into jewelry making, I invested with a local metalsmith & took some online courses to learn the proper techniques for smithing. It was a total game changer for me! I bought a torch & got an acetylene & oxygen setup to start my own little studio here on Grand Lake.

Making jewelry was originally a creative outlet for me while I was a full-time educator, & I loved doing both! Last year, I decided to try metalsmithing full time. It may or may not be a complete career change for me, time will tell. But for now, it’s an adventure for sure!