Sharon Zimmerman
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Building Supportive Small Businesses – An Interview with Liz Tucker of Poppy
Six years ago I connected with someone when we bonded over the fact that she was wearing a pair of earrings made by a dear friend of mine. We were both many states away from where this mutual friend lived, and she was far removed from her former profession – owner of Poppy in Columbia,…
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Teaching Old Tools New Tricks – Taking the rust off of your tools
We have a saying in the jewelry business – you can never have too many tools! OK, so that’s not an official saying, but it should be. When a friend recently gifted me a bunch of their old jewelers’ tools – some of them doubles of tools I already had – I didn’t think twice;…
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Top Two Tips for Fixing Your Flex Shaft
Has your flex shaft ever seemed to run too hot? Or has it started making a weird grinding noise? Wait a minute, when was even the last time that you paused to do any maintenance on it? Most flex shaft motors are made to run for years and years with minimal intervention, but they do…
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3 Ways I Was Bad at Being a Jewelry Designer – now with a bonus mistake!
I was bad at being a jewelry designer…in the beginning. Very, very bad. I had cobbled together a line of jewelry from some half-formed ideas in my head, took some photos in a small photo tent with my point-and-shoot digital camera, released them in an Etsy shop, and dusted off my hands like I had…
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Student Profile – Michelle H.
Michelle came back to wax carving after a hiatus from jewelry-making. She had a specific idea in mind for what she wanted to make, so we set up a private lesson for her to achieve her design. We laughed, we chatted, and she finished this impressive square statement ring in wax. Michelle has made jewelry…
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Your Knuckles Are Not Too Big To Wear Rings
This and other myths about your fingers, coming right up.Thigh-gap, cankles; too much volume in your hair, or not enough; boobs that are too big or too small; wrinkles; grey hairs – the list of things that we are supposed to feel bad about when it comes to our bodies is a lot. But your…
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Three Reasons to Ask Where Your Gold Comes From
In my first jewelry classes, more than 15 years ago, I ordered some silver. I spent a whopping $25 and that amount was so precious to me. But where did this silver come from? I asked my teachers where the silver originated and got some vague answers – Arizona? New Mexico? (Mildly true, since that’s…