MEET THE ARTIST

I never really think of myself as a designer. I am a journalist, a mom and someone who loves to create. I learned silversmithing about 25 years ago and fell in love with the medium. Then, in 2005, I learned to work with precious metal clay, which is basically pure silver in clay form. It allows me to experiment with textures, to take inspiration from nature and to sculpt metal with my hands.

Although I still use traditional metalsmithing, much of my jewelry is made with Precious Metal Clay (PMC), an incredible clay-like material developed in the 1990’s by Mitsubishi. It’s made up of micro-particles of pure silver that are held together by a non-toxic organic binder. Since it starts off in clay form, you can shape it, sculpt it, texture it and set gems into it. When the piece dries, you fire it in a kiln at extremely high temperatures. At that point, the clay binder burns away and the micro-particles of silver fuse together. What you’re left with is a wonderful piece of jewelry in pure fine silver or gold.