Please welcome our newest members…
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Shirley Lea
Laurinburg, NC. USA
I dabble in many creative areas. Jewelry is one of my favorites but
have only had a few lessons from an older jeweler. I am especially
concerned about safety issues as I have asthma. I do some wire
wrapping and a little soldering but am not very adept at it! In
addition to jewelry making, I do a lot of sewing, embroidering,
digitizing for embroidery, as well as oil painting. I have painted
on glass and done some felting also. I used to sell a fair amount of
jewelry when I taught at the high school (Art and Latin) and have
tried Etsy but no luck there. I’d like to learn more about rive ting
and cold construction. I also knit, tat, and crochet—so as I said,
I have a lot of interests. My background is a BS in Art Ed, MFA in
studio painting, with certification in ESL, Latin, and AG teaching.
Never had a chance to take a jewelry course in college—sure wish I
had!
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Jana Vesel
Czech Republic
I am an artist and writer, I am creating jewelry for over 30 years,
previously mainly enamel on copper last ten years I literally fell
the magic of of modeling clays. Last years Im ACS International
master instructor and now the official representative for the ACS
Czech Republic. Last years I als o teach…
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Dana M Gifford
Willington, CT. USA
Dana’s real parents, Trucknose and Faucet, were killed in a horrible
elevator crash. He was adopted and nurtured by two loving artists
who encouraged him to “be creative” and to try to never leave any
white space on the paper. He has been building things for as long as
he can remember. After going through his rubber band and tape stage,
he moved on to cardboard box reconstruction and finally Legos. One
early project involved a reproduction of King Tut’s tomb for his 12"
G. I. Joe. He got a job cleaning the glass showcases in a jewelry
store in eighth grade. After cleaning the glass, he was allowed to
clean and polish jewelry. Eventually he learned to solder, set
stones, and finally make jewelry. Ten years later he had his own
jewelry shop. He learned how to create wax models and cast them in
gold. After his father passed away, he had a midlife crisis and
became a construction wor ker. He thought he wanted to be a plumber
so that he could continue to solder metal. While serving a five-year
apprenticeship, he discovered he wanted to be a steamfitter. He
thought he wanted to be a welder but discovered he wasn’t cut out to
weld eight hours a day, five days a week. He can wel d but chose to
be a fitter instead. After ten years of building hospitals, schools,
and casinos his doctor recommended he find something that wouldn’t
continue to destroy his back. Dana has now returned to his original
calling, casting. He doesn’t like to say jewelry because that tends
to limit the scope of what people think he can do. Dana creates more
than jewelry, belt buckles, knobs, handles, awards, buttons, and on
and on. He makes memories out of metal all day long at the House of
Bubba clubhouse hidden in the woods of Willington, Connecticut. Dana
shares his life with his lovely wife, Tam!, their dogs and cats as
well as a gigantic garlic bed. He has added an asparagus bed to keep
his garlic company during the winter. He is very happy. The things
he makes make others happy too.
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