I have been making jewelry since I was threading yarn through pasta. My mom, Annie, is an artist too and was always doing art projects in the house while I was growing up. My mom collects ethnic jewelry and eclectic art. She sews wild (but elegant) clothing and knits stop-you-on-the-street sweaters.  I've inherited a love of beads and fibers as well as the desire to create unique wearables by hand.

In 1996 I saw beads by Sage. She used lampworking to hook me into the power of the bead. Lampworking is an ancient Italian glass-working technique whereby one winds glass rods around a steel mandrel over flame to build layers of color. There it was, the amalgamation of color and texture I craved.

I enrolled in a beadmaking workshop with Sage and her master-beadmaker husband, Tom Holland-a week that clearly has made all the difference. All my techniques and tricks-of-the-trade I learned from Tom & Sage. At least once a year I saddle-up and head out Arkansas way to get my creative infusion
from my friends and mentors.

I taught myself a variety of traditional stringing and knotting techniques, and developed a few of my own. The knotting technique I developed allows more beads and small treasures to be bound into a single piece. But each member of one of my necklaces has a distinct energy that works to complement the others. Though these collections take the form of a piece of jewelry, I think of myself as the creator of talismanic objects.

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