Jewelry

In the mid 2000s, Gayle decided she was going to make jewelry. She had never done anything like this before, and she didn’t typically wear much jewelry herself beyond a ring or sometimes earrings, but she was experienced in and enjoyed making small things (such as oboe reeds and her wire sculptures) and loved interesting rocks and stones, so this wasn’t an entirely surprising development. She got some tools and inexpensive supplies and began experimenting. Her early pieces weren’t that great, but once she found “her style,” everything clicked. She got some DVDs on how to do wire-wrapping of pendants, and from then on used only 14 Kt gold-filled and sterling silver wire and nicer stones and gemstones. In addition to the pendants, she created beautiful earrings and necklaces.

I don’t know if it was always her intention from the beginning to sell her jewelry or if that became a necessity because she made so much of it and needed to find ways to get rid of the large quantity of items she had created. But before long, we found ourselves doing shows and selling online. Never having done anything like this before, we were lucky to have our good friend Debbie help us figure out how to set up a table display and she even provided some of our display items. Over time, we got better at it, and incorporated lights and better display items and expanded to a 2-table set up, which looked quite professional.

She had many repeat customers who would return to our table/tent year after year. But typical of Gayle, she didn’t care for the business part of it. She just loved making the jewelry and regarded selling it as a necessary evil. She frequently gave away jewelry to her customers in addition to whatever they bought, almost always throwing in a pair of earrings when someone bought a pendant or necklace. The photos below represent just a small sample of her beautiful work.

Wire-wrapped Pendants:

Necklaces:

Earrings: