From the age of 10 to my late teens, I made most of the jewelry I wore. I loved making friendship bracelets, bracelets with my name on it with little alphabet beads and macrame necklaces.
Ten years ago I began seriously investing in good quality beads to string jewelry as a way to make some money during my summer's home from university. I had a little fan base of women who loved what I was making and would buy up every piece, but it just wasn't practical to keep it up at uni and later in my interning years.
Since my Mo'ma's visit in July I've been making a lot of jewelry. I have had constant deliveries from the states full of jewelry making supplies and I am really excited about projects I have planned. I wanted to learn wire wrapping and knocked out my first project in about five hours and I really love it.
I had to relearn simple loops to make earrings with headpins as I haven't made any jewelry since migrating to the UK. I have been sketching out ideas for bead loomed projects, more wire wrapping including a ring!
I am considering taking a silversmithing class in the next few months as a lot of the jewelry I want to make will require a bit of soldering. Mo'ma (pronounced like the Museum of Modern Art because my husband's Scottish tongue doesn't allow him to say momma with a southern twang) makes her own glass beads in her home studio in Florida and I'd like to work with her beads in my own jewelry. She doesn't think her beads are good enough to sell online, but I really disagree.
Mo'ma makes beautiful glass beads that she fires in her own kiln and I think between us Anderson Women we can make some nice pieces. In fact most of my family has the jewelry making bug including my 18 year-old nephew who made my mom an amazing necklace out of chainmail.
I will hopefully have a lot of pieces to put up here in the next few months in my attempt to have jewelry to go with all my outfits.
