Bead Chat Magazine Fall 2014 | Page 24

we just opened up the collaborative exhibit that I suggested called ‘Brought to You by the Letter Q’ that features over 40 pieces of artwork, each with a hidden ‘Q’ in it. I am very proud of collaborative efforts and look forward to doing more! What inspires your creativity and style? Color is a huge influence for me! I have been described as a ‘color addict’ and I have taken that passion to a monthly color palette challenge on the Halcraft blog (www.halcraft. com/blog) as well as my highly anticipated Challenge of Color blog hop each November. 2014 marks the fifth anniversary of that blog hop! I will have to do it up big this time! My sense of design has evolved over the years. I started out with just simple patterned necklace but quickly got bored with that so I started pulling together looks that included found objects, repurposed materials and even hardware store finds. That is where the name ‘Tesori Trovati’ developed, as a way to name my line of found object jewelry. But the name soon became synonymous with everything I made, so it sort of stuck! I like to say that each piece I make is a treasure creativebeadchat.com waiting to be found by the right wearer and it makes me so happy when people tell me that what I created feels like it was made just for them. I am hugely influenced by nature, architecture, music, world cultures and poetry. The poetry and my childhood crush on Mary Engelbreit and her whimsical illustrations paired with heart-felt quotes inspired my Simple Truths line. What do you regard as the most rewarding/ frustrating/ aspect of your work? Creating something from nothing is a huge rush for me. However, there has to be a back story to every piece that I make. I have to be inspired by something. Sure, I can crank out pretty jewelry made with pretty beads, but if it doesn’t tell a story then it is not infused with life and is therefore rather hollow to me. Fortunately, there is no shortage of inspiration! The most frustrating aspect is that there is no shortage of inspiration! I only have a very limited number of hours in each day to create – I usually say that this is my 9-midnight foolishness – so I have to be choosy. I have so many ideas and would love to work more with metal (every single class I ever take is devoted to metal work in some way),