Creative Design

Get the Spark!

I started making jewelry in 2002 via a silver smith class I happened to take at the City of Tampa’s Hyde Park Studio. The teacher, Doreen Brinkerhoff, taught me the basics. After my first night, I knew how every piece of jewelry in the world is made! Making the jewelry is another thing, but I knew what the tools and techniques were. I’ve been hooked ever since!

Doreen also instilled in us that the design is the most important element of a piece of jewelry. She asked the class to keep a sketchbook of ideas, and to save pictures that inspired us. We were encouraged to make unique pieces that were our own. She also accused me of picking the most complicated designs for my first projects, but that’s just how I am.

Since then I have filled four sketchbooks and started on two others with jewelry designs. My ideas don’t always work out like I think they will. Drawing it helps me see where the problems might lie. The drawings are often completely different than the finished project.

I have had many amazing teachers since that first class, but I’ll always be grateful to Doreen for getting me started.

You can see some of my creations accompanied by their original sketches, including those first complicated pieces, at my exhibition:

“Spark to Sparkle”

The reception will be:

• Saturday night, October 21, 2017

• 6 to 9 PM

• St. Pete ArtWorks

• 635 Central Avenue

• St. Petersburg, FL 33615

• The show is up October 17 through November 11.