personal jewelry, eh? well, I make alot of jewelry for my mother who
is the owner of the store and does alot of bookkeeping…hmmmm.
I find personally, that I don’t like alot of things. first, probably
because I see EVERYTHING in jewelry and it is extremely difficult to
impress me, but probably most of all, I am behind the bench most of
the time, and I wouldn’t have anywhere to wear the jewelry I make.
(If I am going somewhere special, I will just pull one of the nicer
peices I made out of stock and wear it)
I used to wear more jewelry when I started. I had a really neat mask
ring that I had made out of an old signet. (stuck a plate on the top
and started carving…it kinda looked like a face door-knocker) But,
when I work, the rings have to come off, and after awhile I just
stopped putting them on and off.
Now, all I have is my wedding band (meteorite and gold) and a pendant
that I wear of a old chinese coin…(which I keep saying I am going
to remake in gold, but it kinda takes away the effect of the old
coin). that’s it! My husband, other than his wb, I made him a great
pendant in 2-tone gold with a wing/yang on one side (single white
diamond on one side, black on the other…) and on the reverse is a
dragon (for the year of the dragon, of course) Now, my mother,
different story. I make her things all of the time…she appreciates
them, wears them , and has a beautiful collection of not only custom
work from me, but from my father (gives us an easy out on holidays)
problem is: the work is starting to get more ornate and difficult,
the good thing is: with all of these things , you learn (and you are
not doing it on a customers piece) sometimes, I make crazy things,
just to learn different techniques, styles, etc. bottom line no need
to make it if you can’t wear it, but don’t be afraid to make YOURSELF
( or a family member) that jewelry that you want to make but may not
have the marketability that you would like. but, unfortunately being
a bench jeweler can sometimes limit the jewelry you make for yourself
(not only due to bench dangers, but also because my hands are almost
always dirty…) -julia fresh back from Jamaica, mon, and my hands
are clean!!! (I don’t know how to act!)