My last blog post detailed my early steps into jewelry design. Yikes! Now I'm going to talk about my later adventures. I've wanted to take jewelry classes for as long as I could remember -- forming, soldering, stone setting, etc. However, I didn't know where to even begin looking for such classes. So I dipped my toe into the world of lampwork beads. I took a one day course at an adorable studio in Maryland in the mid-1990's where I learned to use a Mapp gas torch to melt glass rods around a steel mandrel in order to create glass beads. (I've oversimplified the process.) It was fun, but intimidating. It turns out I was very uncomfortable with fire. It was a fun diversion, but I knew immediately that I wanted to do more than make a single jewelry component. Once I returned to my home state of Louisiana, I discovered that a local community college taught jewelry making/metalsmithing classes. It was too late to register, but the instructor also offered private and small group lessons. That was how I met the ridiculously talented Alan Hill. I took an 8-week course at his home studio in New Orleans, along with one other student. In this class, I learned to saw a strip of sterling silver metal, cut out pieces to create a design (pierce work), bend it together, solder the ends together and embellished it by soldering gold balls (granules). Another project taught me to create a bezel using 14k gold, soldering it to a sterling silver ring (again, a strip cut from silver sheet), then setting a rose tourmaline cabochon (unfaceted, flat backed stone). I loved all of it! I planned to take additional courses, but there's a saying: Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. A few years passed, a new job, a new house, a new baby, a major hurricane, a few more years passed, then more years... Fast forward 20 years (yikes!). The community college no longer offers classes, Alan Hill passed away. In 2005, a neighbor gave me a beaded bracelet as a gift and - even more generously - taught me how to make them myself. While not exactly the type of jewelry I really loved, it provided a creative outlet in which I could create pieces of jewelry: bracelets, necklaces, earrings. From there, I taught myself basic wire wrapping techniques. Over the years, I've accumulated a lot of beads, gemstones, and supplies but never really took the next step. I sold some pieces on Etsy and to wonderful, supportive friends, but I wanted to take things to the next level. In 2019, I had a decision to make: get serious or get rid of the supplies that are taking up so much space. I chose the former. I registered my business with the state, applied for my federal tax ID, applied for an occupational license, set up my accounts to pay sales tax, bought more tools (ha ha!), etc. I then found a studio, SAS by Design, in Mississippi (less than an hour's drive) that offers one or two day jewelry workshops. It was here that I became comfortable with the torch and learned how to solder, how to fuse metal, how to set stones. Earlier this year, I signed up for the Lucy Walker Jewellery online Metalsmith Academy, where I'm having a blast working my way though various projects. Expect great things from me. ;-)