The Human Spirit

When I started creating and selling one-of-a-kind jewelry, it was a love of creating and silversmithing that merged with a tentative business venture..a journey into the unknown world of marketing myself.  Terrifying to say the least..these little creations were painstakingly made, one piece at a time, born of heart and soul and brought to life in my tiny home studio where I would work away, sometimes only 15 minutes at a time..a refuge from the day to day insanity of work..then a little later on, the complete chaos of being a new mother trying desperately to meet the demands of an infant while clinging on to what small piece of self identity I had left.  

The act of listing one of my pieces for sale was one of anxiety, it was nerve wrecking to put something so personally a part of me on public display to be judged and critiqued while waiting for acceptance, waiting for someone to fall in love with one of my own enough to want to give them a loving home.  My first sale was a moment I will never forget.  

Affirmation that people might actually like what I've created!  

I was elated to receive positive feedback and I haven't looked back since.  

Although the business aspect of Blue Gnome is going as well as I had hoped given my full time job chasing and wrangling a toddler most days, what I hadn't expected was the human side of creating jewelry. As much as the success of the business has kept me going, the people I've "met" through my little creations have had a much stronger affect on the longevity of it.   The connections I've made with people from all over the world, the stories I've been privileged to and trusted with..the personal battles people have won or are still fighting, their losses and triumphs.  

This is a part of creating jewelry from the heart that I hadn't expected..or was fully prepared for.  Creating a very special set of "twin rings" for a client overseas who had just lost her twin girls at birth..or a client telling me that her purchase from my store was her very first purchase with her own money after leaving an incredibly difficult marriage of 32 years..a triumph of independence.  

I've been asked to create matching pendants of dragonfly wings for a man and his aging furry companion so that they will stay connect during their time apart and reunite in the afterlife.  

I've created totems to protect, celebrate and remember loved ones.  

My work has become so much more than hammering, forming and casting metal.  

My work has become an ongoing project of human experiences, our life stories of love and loss, hope and despair.  

These are what I hope my creations speak to you of.  

Inspired by my own life and those amazing stories so dear to your heart that you've chosen to share with me, my hope is that my small offerings of sterling strikes a chord with you beyond what you first see.

In these times of incredible hardships and cruelty all over the evening news often times,  I am blessed to be sheltered from all that by the brilliant light of the human spirit through all of you.  

Your stories lift and inspire me, you give me hope that lightness will always prevail.

“Hope is the thing with feathers 
That perches in the soul 
And sings the tune without the words 
And never stops at all.” 

~ Emily Dickinson

xo Blue Gnome