Yes, I know it's officially called Throwback Thursday, but since I write on Tuesdays, I've decided to mix things up.
Copper Cowgirl was my first necklace design published in Stringing magazine (now Jewelry Stringing). I submitted it in October of 2006. I have a note in my files that the necklace, along with pair of pink earrings, was accepted by editor Jamie Hogsett and published in 2007. It was my second submission to that magazine. (The first submission I eventually sold to Creative Jewelry.) At the time, I worked at Interweave (now a division of F+W Media) as half of their two-person web department. If you submitted to the magazine at that time, I was the one placing your bio and photo on the website when each issue came out. Everything on the website was coded by hand, which is just as exciting as it sounds.
The necklace features ceramic Kazuri beads from Antelope Beads, along with ceramic beads by Clay River Designs, a Colorado company. It also features some fun copper chain that has coiled links. At the time, sterling silver was still queen; it was difficult to find much copper, let alone anything beyond a standard curb chain.
This is not a necklace I would design today. It seems awkward to me with the contrast of the big ceramic beads and the skinny chain. And yet it's oddly familiar. If you look at the cover of my forthcoming book, Unexpected Findings, you'll see ceramic beads by Marsha Neal Studio and Elaine Ray, along with lots of copper chain and findings. (Jamie Hogsett, the editor who accepted my first necklace, has projects in the book. How's that for coming full circle?)
Jewelry designers sometimes worry about creating their unique style, just as authors worry about developing their voice in a manuscript. Dig up a piece of your early work. I bet those seeds were already planted.