Welcome to my blog, where I will be talking about… jewelry: making it, wearing it, what jewelry other people are wearing – I think you get the drift. Occasionally, I will talk about other things, but guess what – I’ll always come back to jewelry.
Hopefully, with this blog, I’ll get to show off not only my own work, but the designs of friends and other jewelry designers I admire.
I’ve always loved jewelry – I insisted on getting my ears pierced when I was 4, so that I could wear earrings to go with my Easter dress. My mother agreed I could, and sent me down to her friend Miss Tootsie, so that she could pierce my ears (no Piercing Pagoda or Claire’s). I sat on the floor, with my head between Miss Tootsie’s knees while she heated a sewing needle to sterilize it, and with an ice cube to numb my lobes, she pierced my ears!
I wore gold hoops for Easter.
(Japanese glass beads, aventurine & freshwater pearls – one of my earliest photographed designs)
Between the ages of 7-12, I didn’t have much interest in wearing jewelry, but I still loved to look at it. Another friend of my mother’s would always pull out her jewelry boxes when we would visit, and I could sit for hours happily playing with her pop beads, and trying on different pieces. When I started junior high, wearing jewelry became interesting again. On Fridays, we would hang out at the Downingtown Farmer’s Market and my first two stops were the used book store for comic books and the little jewelry store, where I could buy sterling silver chains and charms for $1.00 (94 cents + 6 cents sales tax). As I got older, I discovered The Dandelion, a great boutique that always carried interesting jewelry and crafts. I had great taste, but no way to pay for most of the jewelry I coveted.
Then, I got lucky – my aunt had tried jewelry-making as a hobby, but soon went on to another craft. Happily for me, she bought all the tools and passed them on to me, and I never looked back (I still have a pair of the pliers that were part of the kit she gave me). I also discovered that my high school offered jewelry design as an art course, so I could try stone setting, soldering, casting, etc.
I eventually started making more jewelry than I could wear or give away, and people would ask me about my work, and my jewelry business was born. Many years later, I am still never happier than when I’m sitting at my work table (which is the living room floor) with my beads spread around me. I’ve been very fortunate that my jewelry (for the most part) now pays for itself and I’ve been able to move from broken strands of beads from thrift stores and findings from the craft store, to working in semi-precious gemstones and fine metals.
(recent design – T-Beads glass lentils with pink amethyst, peridot, aquamarine & neon apatite, in sterling silver)
You can find my jewelry at craft shows in the Philadelphia area and online at dawnboyerjewelry.etsy.com, so make sure to stop by. You can also find pictures of my work at flickr.
Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to come back for further ramblings!
“These gems have life in them: their colors speak, say what words fail of.” – George Eliot
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