I began my journey into glass beadmaking at the urging of my father in 2012.  I had been stringing together various beads I had purchased at local hobby stores and with the encouragement of my parents, I began participating in local craft fairs selling my jewelry designs. Jewelry is a very competitive category for arts and craft shows and in order to stand out, I really wanted all my creations to be fully handmade. So I found a lampwork artisan located nearby my hometown in Kentucky and took a weekend, 12 hour, 2 day course in February 2012 and was hooked after the first day. The draw of the flame and it's ability to relax and put you in a meditative state was something I did not expect. Then there was the glass....the way you can manipulate it with the amount of heat applied and gravity or tools to shape it as you desire makes it a very interesting medium with which to work.  You are truly only limited by your imagination. I knew that I wanted to pursue lampwork further and incorporate the use of glass beads that I created in the flame in my jewelry designs. So I had a torch and kiln set up in my garage to begin my lampwork journey by August that year!

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As a creative, I find that I'm always wanting to learn new techniques to use in my jewelry.  So in 2014, I decided to take a metalsmith class from another local artisan.  The first class, we completed a twisted sterling silver bangle that I still wear every day.  Much like glass, the ability to manipulate the wire or sheet metal with heat and various tools made it an appealing craft I knew I wanted to pursue. I continued with learning metalsmithing by watching videos on the internet, reading books, following other metalsmiths on social media, and just practicing and creating. This re-ignited an interest in rocks and gemstones from when I was younger.  So I began incorporating gemstones in my creations as well.  The more I continued to learn metalsmithing techniques, the more I knew I wanted to cut my own cabachons to use in my creations.

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So finally, in 2023, I came across am auction including several lapidary machines used for cutting cabachons.  I decided to bid on them and take the leap into learning yet another technique. And I won one!  So while I continue to incorporate other artisan made cabachons, I am also now incorporating cabachons I have personally cut and polished in my creations.

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I am sure my desire to learn new techniques will not soon waver and I look forward to seeing where my jewelry journey takes me.