Artist Information Statement

Medium: Precious Metal Wires

I love creating unique settings for unique stones. Ammolite, Labradorite/Spectralite, Opal, and other stones with "color plays" require proper orientation to show their wonderful colors. Soft stones, freeforms, and unusually shaped items can be hard to put into a traditional jewelry setting. Using wire allows me to work around the stone and set it as it wants to be set. Half the fun of making jewelry is picking out the "stones", whether they are really stone, or glass, or cameo or shell. I like to buy stones one at a time, looking for those with unique personalities. I also like to buy from independent artists that can really pull out the best from the stone they are cutting, the glass they are creating, or the materials they are carving. I tend to be drawn to rare and unusual stones, including ammolite, eudialyte, tiffany stone, and larimar. I handcraft my wire art jewelry to frame these unique stones and make them pop. I create my settings from precious metal wire. I am happy to work in solid gold wire and/or silver wire, but most of my pieces are done with 14K/20 gold filled wire. 14K/20 gold filled wire is basically a tube of 14K gold with a jeweler’s wire down the center for flexibility. It’s a pleasure to work with and it is a great value, delivering the benefits of gold at a price close to that of fine silver. For me, it is all about the stones and the wire. More information about the materials I use in my jewelry can be found throughout my web site.