I’ve been obsessed with ferns and pea pods for as long as I can remember. My creative wheels began to turn on a trip to Peru when I was 19. I was fascinated and inspired by the jewelry artisans I met.

    Upon returning home to Maine, I was restringing my guitar and began playing with the excess strings, using pliers to twist them into quirky shapes. From there I realized I could make wire jewelry in the same way. I was lifted into the world of creative flow. Growing up as the 6th of 10 children, the home environment was chaotic. Creativity became a sanctuary for me. Soon I began selling jewelry to the health food store I worked in at the time.

To my delight, the jewelry sold.

   After about a year I quit my day job and took the thrilling leap into a career as a full-time jeweler. I specialized in wire and gemstone jewelry. It was such a joy! 

   After 12 years of wholesaling I began to have sound sensitivity due to the how much hammering I'd done. It's a condition called hyperacusis and it threatened to end my jewelry career. Around that time a dear friend invited me to a wax carving class for jewelry design. It was taught by the brilliant tool designer and master model maker, Kate Wolf.

Within four days, of my jewelry dreams came true.  Kate taught me how I could turn botanical designs into wearable metal pieces. Wax carving is a technique that's been used for over 6,000 years to make statues and jewelry. The medium is extremely versatile and opened a world of new design possibilities. I started hand carving pieces using ferns, ginkgo leaves, twigs, rocks and shells to capture the rich textures of nature in metal. This technique has enabled me to design the jewelry of my dreams!