I live in a small college town in Pennsylvania. Our house was a former carriage house, built in 1905. The best improvement for me was changing the dingy garage into a sun room/laundry room/breakfast room/studio. I worked as art director for Widener University for eleven years, and now work independently as a graphic design consultant, so you can usually find me in my corner studio. The washer and dryer are hidden inside a cabinet, and the top makes a good layout and cutting station.

18 years ago, a friend at Widener prompted me to take a beading wire class at Blue Santa Beads, a fabulous shop nearby. I had made necklaces for myself for years, and found jewelry making to be intuitive and rewarding. My friend and I started to sell at local craft fairs. Since I have always done freelance graphic design alongside my regular jobs, I just added my jewelry business as another line of business and kept my familiar accounting habits.

I shop locally for materials at Blue Santa Beads. At Bead Fest, a huge wholesale market, I look for my favorite bead artists, especially glass and lampwork artisans. I like to travel, looking for bead shops wherever I happen to be. One May I went to Thailand and China. On a 105-degree afternoon in Bangkok, I shuffled through the maze of the Chatuchak market, where I eventually found beads from Nepal and Tibet. I used several of these in my Tibetan turquoise and brass bracelet. I became a little better at bargaining in China.

My jewelry making takes place on a rather worn table. I use an old bench for storage. I sewed a curtain for the front, and everything is easily and quickly stored away. I love the light in this room—there are windows on three sides. Mona Lisa cat keeps me company. She is a cool cat who does not care about what goes on on the table.
I also have a workbench in the former root cellar now basement for copper folding, hammering and torching.

When a few jewelry pieces are finished, I step out the door of the studio to a patio where I photograph them on a watercolor paper background. Morning in the shade is best for light. I use a Canon EOS Rebel T2I with a 50mm lens, which is good for close ups. I step into the studio and download the photos, color correct them in Photoshop, write descriptions, and upload the items to Etsy.

Storage of finished jewelry is in an upstairs spare room/sewing room. To keep jewelry shiny, I store it with non-tarnish strips in plastic zip-lock bags, which are then kept in tight plastic boxes. Earrings are hung on acid-free cards and each pair is put into a plastic bag.

Packing for shipping takes place in the studio. I package each piece in a jewelry box, tie it with ribbon, and nestle it in tissue paper in a sturdy box. I walk packages to the post office. Then I wait for a message from a happy buyer.