How it Started

SOMETIMES I'm asked how I started making painted jewelry.  I didn't always paint so small.  In fact, I've painted on walls from time to time.  Some are small-ish but a couple of times I've painted the entire wall.  This topiary is a sample I made on paper as a possibility for a friend's wall.  But now that I'm looking at it again, I'm thinking I might have to find a place on MY wall for it.  (yay!)

I typically painted on canvases like this 16" x 20" bike with the basket.  I haven't been able to part with this one, it hangs on the wall above my computer.  I can lean way back in the chair and see it up there.  Then I can imagine I visit there one day, and ride that bike with the flowers, and see the ivy hanging down over the beautiful windows.  (As you can tell, I get easily distracted!)

ONE day,I came across a pendant in a magazine that caught my eye.  The pendant had a picture of flowers on it and was somehow magically made from broken china.   It was beautiful.  Right then and there I had a sudden urge to paint one of my own.  It didn't happen quite as suddenly as I thought it would.  The long process of finding what to paint on and what to put it in began.  I learned lots of new jewelry terms, like bezel and cabochon, findings and jump rings.  Deciding what to paint was next.  But throughout this whole process I realized that hey, you know what?  I really like doing this.



This is the very first pendant I painted and it's the one at the top of my Etsy shop and on my business cards.  When one of my sisters first saw it, she bought it from me while I was wearing it -- right off of my neck.  That's been a good thing because I still get to see it!  I painted a few others for myself and people started noticing and asking about them.  Before I knew it I had an online Etsy shop.

But the thing I didn't expect is the fun I'm having with custom orders.  Sometimes people have a particular item in mind, or something personal they want painted.  Like this horse... the parents wanted a painting of the horse their daughter rides.  I had never painted a horse before but I was really excited about it! 

So now I'm continually learning what looks best on a pendant and what size.  I've learned I really need to take my camera everywhere I go (which I don't!).  And I've also learned I have so many ideas for new pendant designs I don't know that I'll ever catch up with myself!