[Jewelry making - Article 00170] - Re: [Orchid] Jeweler's former lives

[Corbett Designs]

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    I'm enjoying this thread. Like some of you, I have come to making
    jewelry in mid-life, after a circuitous path that led me into work as
    the finance manager for the state chapter of a major environmental
    nonprofit organization. A combination of burnout and a small
    inheritance allowed me to leave that job a couple of years ago and
    pursue jewelry pretty much full-time. 

    I developed an interest in geology as a kid but switched to
    broadcasting by the time I got to college. I ended up with a B.S. in
    broadcasting and then one in natural sciences. I did some radio
    announcing, a little television work (audio, editing, master
    control), and a smattering of Park Service jobs. Then I zigged into
    secretarial and meeting planning work, followed by a stint as a
    naturalist at an outdoor science school. 

    Twenty years ago, I had taken up handweaving and had a huge
    8-harness Gilmore loom, on which I made a variety of things including
    a set of placemats I'm still using today. I started making jewelry as
    a hobby after my car was broken into at a trailhead and my favorite
    beadwork earrings were stolen. I decided to learn how to make beaded
    earrings (the kind using tiny seed beads woven in brick stitch, with
    fringe) and taught myself out of a book. 

    A few years ago my husband and I took a weekend welding workshop at
    the local community college, and I noticed that the college offered
    metalworking classes. Having realized that I couldn't charge enough
    for beadwork to pay myself a decent wage, I thought I should learn
    how to use precious metals. 

    Even though I got started a bit late, I like to joke that making
    jewelry is in my blood; my maternal great grandfather was a jeweler
    (albeit after a train accident ended his railroad career), and my
    paternal ancestors migrated from Ohio to California to mine gold near
    French Gulch. 

Sande
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