JEWELRY FROM SCRATCH

THE POTTI TEAM BLOG

When I think of Elda, imagination and enthusiasm come to mind.  Shannon is compassionate and creative.  Lisa is artistic and resourceful. Passionate about their endeavors, these three Potti Team members make jewelry from scratch. From scratch may be a cooking description, but I will explain why I believe it applies to my terrific teammates!

Elda of eldascreations is a beautiful and 

intelligent Greek (former) teacher, a mother of two, and a gifted jewelry creator.  She says that when she holds a beautiful piece she has created by hand from a few ingredients, she is filled with wonder at the power of the human imagination!!  I personally love these sentences selected from several of Elda's Etsy listings: "The necklace is 58 cm long but if you want it longer than that please convo me and your desire will come true….I will make the impossible to make your wish come true…. I'll be glad to answer your needs…. if you want another size I'll make it with pleasure."  As enchanting as her English reads, I only regret that I cannot read her thoughts in Greek!

Elda uses crocheting, beading, molding, and knitting to create her jewelry.  She began those selections available in her shop in 2013, because she wanted them to be a new style for her Etsy store.  They are stylish, and they are also unique.  Elda relates that her friends who buy from her describe her pieces as unique in their simplicity, colors, and materials, as well as the techniques that she uses.  Even the polymer clay that she uses in her pieces, she molds by hand. 

Elda learned the processes that she employees in her jewelry-making from her "mum" and the internet.  Her love for color, and her passion for learning will drive her to continue to create for many years to come!

Shannon of ThePaperBeadBoutique, found creativity in a very different place.  

She would come home from the hospital when her younger sister Mindy was dying with cancer, and make paper beads to calm her grief.  She actually took the first paper bead bracelet that she made to her sister, though Mindy was not really aware of it.  

Shannon says that Mindy lost her battle with cancer in 2012, but Shannon knows that Mindy would be proud of her jewelry, for Mindy introduced her to crafting. Mindy continues to inspire her to create.

About her paper beads, and the jewelry that she makes from them, Shannon says, "I believe the true beauty in my beads comes from the fact that I...make each ... of them by hand! I hand cut each strip of paper, hand roll them, and then seal them ... with my Mod Podge and paint brush to protect the paper and give them a high gloss! My heart and soul go into making each set of beads!"

Shannon sells necklaces and bracelets made of her beads, but in addition to these, she sells loose beads,  bead-making kits with paper bead rolling tools, and either the tool or a selection of paper stips.

Shannon has recently added polymer clay to her shop as well.  She makes polymer clay buttons with molds.  Polymer obeads she makes by hand, and they are beautiful, glossy and unique.  They are also somewhat labor intensive!

About these Shannon says, "I cut a certain amount of clay out of the blocks and then run it through a pasta machine to condition it. It becomes very soft and workable the more you run it through. I then roll the sheets into a snake (for lack of a better term) and then cut them as close to the same size as possible. I then roll them in my hand to give them a smooth and even finish... They then go in the oven at 275 degrees for 15 minutes. When done they are given time to cool before I glaze them one by one with a paintbrush! 

She describes adding color to some of her polymer beads as "cutting small slices of cane" and adhering these to the beads, them smoothing them by hand.  She sizes them as accurately as possible for a handmade item.

Shannon describes herself as "very passionate about [her] crafting and …so grateful for an understanding family who [allow her] the time to be creative!"

Lisa of SnazzyTrinkets also found passion in a place of pain and loss, though of a different nature.  In Lisa's words, "While remodeling our daughter’s bedroom in late 2011, I injured my neck. That injury made it impossible for me to continue my first passion, which is cycling. Anything over an hour would leave me in pain for days. Being sensitive to pain medications and their side effects, I was limited as to what I could do physically. Then one day I saw a hammered copper cuff. I fell in love with the texture and patina. 

My husband had some scrap copper in his shop, so I took that, his hammer  and a plumber's torch and got started. Turns out the aggressive nature in which I was working with the metal made for excellent pain therapy."

Lisa describes what she does as such: "I make copper jewelry

from reclaimed copper pipes and wire. My main focus is texturing, fold forming, patinas and etching. I do a lot of etching work, my etched copper cuffs take approximately 3 days to create from pipe to finished cuff. 

"I do my best to acquire the stones that I incorporate in my work straight from the lapidary artist and my silver is mostly recycled material as well. I really try to make it a point to support other artists and to recycle as much as possible.

"All of my copper is from reclaimed recycled copper. Myhusband helps me scour the scrap yards on the weekends for material to use. I mill the pipes and wire down into the thicknesses I need to create my items. All of this is a long and physical process, a true labor of love. Even my failures are melted down and milled out into second chances. Nothing goes to waste in my studio." 

Lisa describes her sources of inspiration thusly: "I love to ride my bicycle and though I am not able to ride as I once did, I do often have cycling inspired jewelry. I am also often inspired by the nature around me in my yard or garden, flowers, bugs, the sky etc….

"As I type the answers to this, I am sitting on my back deck out in the country. The sun is setting in front of me, I can hear owls, frogs and crickets off in the distance, and the humming birds are feeding at their feeders nearby. I have a sketch pad next to me, and whenever I see something or think of a design, I write it down and sketch it out. My little sketch pad is full of ideas - if only there were more time in a day to make them all come to fruition!"

The laborious processes of bringing forth lovely accessories from raw materials is a part of life for these special ladies. Mix Elda's enchantments, Shannon's shiny surfaces, and Lisa's luminous ideas for an original flavor that helps make our Potti Team one of a kind!   ~ Michele Davidson

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

THE POTTI TEAM BLOG

They both seem a little larger than life; before the Potti Team existed I noticed them as intriguing personalities on Twitter.  Char's avatar is a purple and black upholstered chair bearing a black and white tuxedo cat.  Michele's avi looks like something out of a childhood fantasy - a swing bearing a fabulous female with full, billowing skirts.  You might look at their shops and get the impression that although they both make jewelry, they are light years apart from one another in style and process.  This makes all the more amusing the fact that at the moment, they are both enthused about the same thing.

Char's jewelry is funky, and runs the spectrum in style from Art Nouveau to Goth, classy to quirky.   She uses metals, beads, watches, lockets, miniature music boxes, chains, and more.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Michele describes her own jewelry as girly-girly.  She uses silk flowers, pendants with copies of paintings by turn-of-the-century (the twentieth, not the twenty-first) artists like Waterhouse.  She sells distinctive tiaras and beautifully beaded necklaces.  She says she is kind of in her "second Hippiehood."

Three of her tiaras have been worn on the very current (Southern) television show, "Hart of Dixie."

On the set of Hart of Dixie

On the set of Hart of Dixie

Both Michele and Char had a former life, so to speak. Char states, "In my earlier years, I had a wholesale gift business and did the wholesale gift shows. I sold finished ceramic giftware. Of course I had to rent a building that was large enough to house the molds, pouring equipment, kilns, paints, glazes and what not. After 10 years of the giftware industry I sold my business and went to work for the City near where I lived. I only did small crafting projects for myself or friends for many years. 

"This time when I decided I wanted to begin creating again for re-sale and not just myself or gifts I knew my husband would have a tiny stroke if I started talking about getting back into ceramics. I have always dabbled in making jewelry so about three years ago I started gathering supplies to make something fun and ended up in love with every bead, bauble, bit of chain, charm, stampings, and findings I could get my hands on. From then on it has been a journey to decide what my style is and what I want to create."

She is so pleased with her Etsy business that she says, referring to her friends:  "I want them all to sell online and quit their day jobs."

Ironically, that is exactly what Michele was forced to do. 

She began working in 1974, and in 1980 moved to Colorado.  In 2003 her mother had a heart attack resulting from taking on the care of four children, the youngest still a baby.  Michele moved back to Illinois to help raise/rear those children.  This speaks volumes to me about who Michele really is.  It was also the catalyst which led to her Etsy store.

Michele says, "I started making my own Jewelry when I couldn't find clip earrings for myself! Then she "…just fell in Love with making Necklaces to match, then the Flower Crowns, [hair]clips...."

I asked Char to describe for us how she makes her jewelry.  She says, "The type of jewelry I design and create is called assemblage jewelry. You bring different components together to form a piece of jewelry.

"When designing a new
 piece of jewelry I have 
usually already decided on a theme for it and then the fun part is picking out the supplies that are needed to design and make it. 

I love working with brass and silver ox stampings, charms, beads, chain and assorted findings. 

After thinking the design through or sketching it out, I start my quest to find the perfect stamping or charm to fit whatever new piece I am making.

"Once I have found a stamping or charm for the focal point, I need to make sure it can be molded to the base watch, pendant, bracelet or whatever it may be that I am working on. Once the stamping or charm has been prepped to fit where I need it to on the new piece I mount it and begin looking for goodies to add around it to give it that one of a kind look. It could be beads, additional stampings that are layered on, a piece of vintage jewelry that needs to be repurposed or it could be

as simple as adding some color or glitter to the stamping or charm. Just depends on what I have in mind for the design.

"After I have everything I want mounted securely for the new piece of jewelry, I use a clear resin to paint over the entire design to give it a glossy mirror like finish. With the resin it assures me everything is going to stay where it has been placed and will maintain its original beauty. "

Char's kind, sharing spirit is understood as we read Michele's words, the enthusiasm of which radiates off of the page. "I talked to Char a while ago, she suggested I sell necklaces to match my Crowns. …I LOVE "Layered Jewelry" {different stampings on top of one another, Char does this!} and I wanted to go into that direction, but needed a Strong glue for that, Char LOVES the Resin, so I looked into it....Well DOWN the rabbit hole we GO!

"You can DO SO MUCH with this!! Imagine my Joy when I realized I could make necklaces with Real Flowers and my Own Opals!!!! [She is referring to man-made foiled opals - a practice that goes back to Victorian times.] So....for the last 4 weeks, I've been buying & drying tiny Flowers and coming up with different colors for the Opals! And also working on the Layering! Having a Blast doing this!

"I'm sending you a few photos of the New stuff, the Opals are Very difficult to photo, and I have like 15 of them! The layered Necklace has a Crown to match, I'll list these soon!

It will take a while to list these, the opals, anyway...I'm sending you a photo of a pink bud with opal around it, but I'm not sure I like this yet, it might not be in the shop!"

To be added to Michele's shop at a later date

Experimental;  may be added to Michele's shop at a later date

To be added to Michele's shop at a later date

One of the many things I love about Etsy is the environment that seems to foster goodwill by giving us opportunities to do small kindnesses for one another.The teams are a framework in which we can actually help and support each other, often those who make or sale the same thing that we do.  Char and Michele are a wonderful example of this at its best. It is our own kind of Wonderland. ~ Michele Davidson