Random Musings & Products News

Welcome to another random newsletter - it has been awhile.The other day I saw an article sharing that the movie “Dead Poets Society” was 30 years old and I was shocked...again...by how fast time flies and I was reminded that indeed we must all and always “carpe diem”.  I adored that film and the quote from Ulysses (Tennyson) in the film, “To Strive, To Seek, To Find, and Not To Yield”. This phrase had special meaning at the time as I was then working for Outward Bound. As an adult with many interests it can be a challenge to seize...

We all have many sides.  Sometimes we are shy and sometimes we are bold. I want to provide adornments for many moods, and playing with binary opposition is a thread that has run through my creative endeavors for a while. I recently rediscovered this book on my bookshelf, and it shows that I have been dancing between dichotomies for years. I created this book in graduate school playing with opposites—the style of elegant tomes and that of pulp fiction paperback novels—mixing faux leather and gold embossing with the fun images, paper style, and font. The title implies a sedate reference...

I adore using this antique die to create texture in the jewelry I design in sterling silver and 14 karat yellow gold-filled wire and sheet metal. I have been and always will be enamored by the tools and processes of our past and will giddily seek out ways to blend the old and the new.   My recently launched sterling and gold-filled pendants harken to a romantic past by using this pattern stamped into the metal. These pendants are hand-shaped, soldered, and set with 4mm faceted gemstones.  I use both natural and simulated gemstones in my jewelry and in this line of...

I shy away from using a lot of color in my work.  What is so unnerving about playing with color? Nothing really, but…. Once upon a time I visited a Claude Monet exhibit of his snowy winter scenes and it enthralled me. Using a palette that exploits a subtle of use color variation and color interaction to illustrate a scene and to evoke an emotion reminded me that this too can be visually intriguing. I had not thought about that exhibit in a while but I can see how the impact of seeing a roomful of these winter scenes  have...

There were website shenanigans so I am re-posting my welcome message from September. People have been wearing jewelry to adorn, to communicate, and to serve as a reminder to ourselves of our strengths and interests for thousands of years. The jewelry I make is inspired by the topography of landscapes and waterways, things that inspire me, and that I think inspire a lot of us.  The launch of the web site happily coincides with the publication of an article about my work in Belle Armoire Jewelry.