Handmade Jewelry Making Today

The time-honored tradition of adornment continues to be one of the most popular forms of craft. At art and craft shows, as well as in art galleries, you will usually find a large representation of jewelry artists. In the art and craft market, jewelry making is one of the most competitive fields among other crafts such as ceramics, glass, fibers, and woodworking. Jewelry, at these shows, is almost always juried, where as not all other media will be. This means the people or companies who put on these shows may accept any artist/craftsperson except jewelers, who will be put through a juring process. The juring process is one in which entrants will be scrutinized by a panel who will select artists to be in the show. This juring process may also be employed when show applicants outnumber booth spaces available at the show.

With so much jewelry on the market, I’d like to spend some time discussing the history and different types of jewelry making. Jewelers go by many names, some include: Enamellists, Goldsmiths, Silversmiths, Bead Artists (sometimes called Stringers or Beaders), Lamp workers, Jewelers, Craftsman/woman, Jewelry Artists, and Metalsmiths. All of these titles fall under the umbrella of people who craft, design and create jewelry. These titles also describe different media craftspeople use to identify themselves in their respective crafts. Bead artists and Lamp workers use mostly glass in their jewelry and use a small wire cable or precious metal wire to assemble their work into jewelry. Silver, Gold and Metal smiths use mostly sheet metal and may incorporate semi-precious and precious stones, glass, or found objects in their work. PMC (Precious Metal Clay) is a media in which the craftsperson builds jewelry from metal impregnated polymer clay, which is fired in a kiln.

The oldest form of jewelry making is using beads. Early beads were made from shells, teeth and bones and have been used in jewelry for approximately 110,000 years with intentional holes being drilled as early as 98,000 years ago. Copper first was used in jewelry approximately 7000 years ago and metal wire was introduced in jewelry making practices about 2600 years ago. Modern smelting practices have enabled smiths to bring metals like silver, platinum, and palladium to the bench where before only soft, malleable metals – such as gold and copper were readily available and useable. The newest process, PMC (Precious Metal Clay), has been developed within my lifetime and involves refined metals such as silver, bronze, and copper.

Recently (within the past 10-15 years) we have experienced a significance increase in bead artists, wire wrappers, and PMC artists due to the proliferation of local bead and craft boutiques. Prior to the arrival of these specialty stores, supplies where typically available only through mail order. The visual and tactile nature of these bead boutiques has been a boon to craftspeople everywhere allowing a creative outlet to the masses. Quality bead boutiques bring not only extensive, diverse, and economical beads and findings (clasps, head pins, chains, etc.) to craftspeople but also offer ways to expand their knowledge through classes and demonstrations such as: chain maille (pronounced “mail”), viking knitting, seed beading, silver soldering, polymer clay and PMC, epoxy resin, image transfers, glass working (lamp working), stone setting, metal etching, wire work, metal fabricating, and cold connections. Some shops may even offer glass fusing, glass slumping and ceramics. Contact your local bead boutique for their current class schedule.

So if you are considering trying your hand at jewelry crafting, you may also want to consider not only local craft stores but also the Internet, community colleges, libraries, and trade magazines.

And if you are interested in seeing work by contemporary art jewelers practicing here in northeast Ohio, do an Internet search on artists like: Katie Mullins (chain maille), JJ Fuzzell (silversmith), Donna Fushs (glass bead artist), Agatha Limpach (beach glass and coin artist), Lisa Ayres (silversmith), Edy Seaman (lamp worker), Debbie and Ken Daywalt (ceramic jewelry), Marilyn Cook & Josef Austin (bead art and wire wrapping), Alison Theken (resin artist), Paula Atwell (PMC), and myself, Kristina Malcolm (metalsmith). Historical figures in jewelry design include Georg Jensen, René Lalique, Paul Revere, and Louis Comfort Tiffany – to name a few of my favorites.