Coming Out of the Jewelry Closet

For those of you who may not know this about me, I make jewelry.

That may seem like an unexpected addition to SmartSeeds, but it is not a sudden new venture. I have been making jewelry, mostly as gifts, for more than twenty years. Until now, I have simply kept that part of my creative life mostly to myself.

In many ways, it has always belonged alongside SmartSeeds.

SmartSeeds began with the belief that art, learning, storytelling, nature, and everyday life do not need to exist in separate boxes. A child’s drawing can become a keepsake. A walk outside can become a journal page. A small observation can become an illustration, a story, an activity, or something beautiful enough to wear.

The jewelry is not a departure from that work. It is another form of it.

Twenty Years of Quietly Making

Years ago, before resin jewelry became widely available and relatively easy to make, my husband and I began experimenting with resin. Back then, it was a serious do-it-yourself project. We mixed, poured, tested, failed, tried again, and eventually learned to work with the material. It was then that I began making little art charms.

Those charms became part of a project I did with every class I taught. For Mother’s Day, I would take each child’s artwork, scan it, shrink it down, and turn it into a tiny charm.

Some of you may still have one.

Over the years, I also began creating elaborate beaded necklaces filled with charms featuring my own artwork. Much of the imagery came from my journals and art journals, another part of my creative life that I have mostly kept to myself.

A drawing might begin as a small observation on a page and eventually find its way into a necklace, bracelet, book, or other piece of art.

Jewelry also appeared in smaller ways throughout my life. If your child was friends with one of my daughters in grade school, there is a good chance she received one of my fabric-and-leather kanzashi bracelets, made with a Japanese folded-fabric flower mounted on leather.

Other friends and family members have received necklaces, charms, bracelets, and all sorts of experiments created at my table.

Most of it was gifted. Some of it kept and worn.

Very little of it was advertised.

The Secrets Inside the Jewelry

I have always been drawn to found materials and to objects that carry some history with them.

Even the charms in the photograph hold a small secret. The metal structure underneath each illustration is made from a penny. The finished piece may look like a miniature framed art print, but hidden inside it is an ordinary object that has been reshaped and given another purpose.

My feather necklaces carry an even less obvious secret.

These feather necklaces have become a recurring favorite over the years, returning to my wardrobe every now and again. What is less obvious is that the metal piece holding each feather began as a spent bullet casing.

Many years ago, I saw a feather necklace made with a spent casing and immediately wanted to make one of my own. At the time, I did not have access to the material, so I recreated the idea as closely as I could using other supplies. I wore that version for years, but it never had the same grit or sense of place as the original had.

Then I moved to St. Paul Island.

While exploring the tundra near Northeast Point, I began finding old casings weathered by years outdoors. Some had developed deep copper and brass tones. Others carried patches of dark patina. They were imperfect, worn, and already full of stories unknown.

Suddenly, the project I had carried in my mind for years became possible.

I collected the casings, cleaned and shortened them, and used them to hold feathers. Some I polished. Others I left partially patinated because the marks left by time and weather were part of what made them beautiful.

There is an interesting contradiction in transforming a bullet casing into something soft enough to move with the air. One object was designed for force. The other is almost weightless.

Together, they became something entirely different.

That process captures much of what I love about making jewelry. I am drawn to materials that might otherwise be overlooked, discarded, or passed by. I like discovering what else they might become without completely erasing what they once were.

Finding More Room to Create

I participated in a few craft shows over the years, including one with Kim Sheffield Heath and another at DFT, but I never really thought of myself as someone who publicly made and sold jewelry.

It was simply something I did quietly, usually behind the scenes.

Moving to St. Paul began to change that.

Here, I have had more time and more opportunities to practice, experiment, and share what I make. When cruise ships come ashore, local artists and makers sometimes have the opportunity to sell their work. The community also holds gatherings where people can share their talents and creations.

Those events have given me something I did not expect: confidence.

Little by little, I have started putting my work on a table where other people can see it. Each time someone picks up a piece, studies it, or recognizes something from the island, it becomes slightly easier to say, without minimizing it or brushing it aside, that I make jewelry.

I suppose I am finally coming out of the jewelry closet.

The Naturalist Collection

My newest group of charms grew directly from the same way of working.

Each image began with something real that I encountered on St. Paul Island. Usually, it started with a photograph, then became a sketch or a composition in one of my art journals. From there, I moved the artwork onto my iPad, refined and digitized it, and finally reduced it into a tiny wearable art print.

I have titled this group The Naturalist Collection.

The collection currently features eight of my illustrations inspired by the plants, animals, and small treasures of the island.

They are part field note, part artwork, and part keepsake.

That is where SmartSeeds and my jewelry meet most clearly. Both begin with curiosity. Both ask us to look closely. Both are ways of preserving a small discovery and passing it along to someone else.

A book invites you to turn the page.

A charm allows you to carry the story with you.

Getting Ready for the Show

This week, my worktable has been covered with illustrations, metal settings, ribbon, findings, pennies, chains, feathers, and charms in various stages of completion.

I have been preparing for a show this weekend.

There are still pieces to assemble, surfaces to polish, and last-minute decisions to make. There are also imperfect experiments mixed in with the finished work. That is simply part of making things by hand.

But when I look at the collection together, I can see twenty years of creative work quietly leading here.

The Mother’s Day charms made from children’s drawings.

The bracelets given to my daughters’ friends.

The journal pages few people ever saw.

The feather necklaces made from casings found on the tundra.

The pennies hidden underneath miniature illustrations.

The books, stories, nature observations, and now this collection inspired by St. Paul Island.

They are not separate pursuits. They are all part of the same creative thread.

SmartSeeds has never been only one kind of product. It is the place where my art, teaching, storytelling, nature study, and belief in the value of small things come together.

The jewelry belongs there too.

It turns out I did not suddenly become a jewelry maker after moving here.

I have been one all along.

I am only now becoming brave enough to let people see how all the pieces connect.