all art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster's autobiography. -federico fellini

i've mentioned before that i was lucky enough to go to jeweler's school in san francisco over 6 years ago. because my family had lived in palo alto when i was a child while my dad did his residency, we still have friends there, and while i attended school, i lived with the loveliest of all lovelies, pat robinson. i even lived on the same little street i used to live on, the first residence located on property where mark zuckerberg now humbly (seriously) resides. 

every day, monday through friday, i would wake up and walk past a tiny local library and then down a street smelling of orange blossoms and jasmine (palo alto is divine!) to the train and spend an hour snuggled up with a book commuting into the city. upon arriving, i would walk several city blocks past little shops and the big convention center there to market street. every day was spent in a lovely old triangular-shaped brick building called the phelan building, and every day was fun because i was learning new things, from soldering and fabrication to stone setting and mold making. our teachers would often leave the windows open, and at ten stories high, the most delicious san franciscan breezes would waft through the air. at lunch i would get fabulous sandwiches made by little chinese ladies at a deli down the street or the most divine brown sugar shortbread at a nearby bakery. and then at the end of the day, i would reluctantly leave my workspace and newly purchased tools and the euphoria of learning something new, and take the train home at night to eat dinner and sleep in my cozy little bed on amherst street. not to mention, one of my best ladies was there at the time too, and we had some fabulous times.... ("that beaver has rigor mortis!!")

it was a short but delightful spot of time in my life, being surrounded like beauty like that, and i feel so lucky to have gone. jewelry isn't something that i'm passionate about necessarily; certainly the world doesn't need any more of it. and i've never been drawn to the overtly showy or expensive. gemstones, precious or otherwise, are pretty, but the human and environmental costs just don't make them all that worthy to me. i would so much rather own something made of tin by a tiny peruvian woman who i might have met on my travels, or something intricately carved in tree resin by a grey-haired, hunched over ethiopian man-- because i can't help but believe that permeating those inanimate objects is something worth more than gold.  

anyhoo.... the things i make are not made in another country or out of anything really precious. but they're mine and i make them with looove.

some of my earliest, simplest pieces:

brass, one of my favorite metals to work with

a prism from one of grandma's old lamps

my sister's idea, made from a button

we sawed off the button backs and glued on soldered ring shanks with 2 part epoxy