Lulu Bug Jewelry » Handmade Lookup

Photo of Lulu Bug Jewelry

Lulu Bug Jewelry

Work Santa Rosa California USA Etsy Shop

Biography

Truly handmade silver jewelry

I come from a long line of crafty women, so making things is in my genes. I went to art school but didn’t take any jewelry classes until after I graduated. Almost immediately I knew I had found my medium. I learned fabricating and casting, and enjoyed it so much that I got a job at a small company that made cast silver jewelry. That led to 17 years in the industry, working for 3 different companies, doing production casting work and eventually designing traditionally fabricated jewelry.

Somewhere along the way I stopped doing my own work. I had heard about PMC (precious metal clay) and always wanted to try it, so when I saw a workshop being offered nearby in 2007 I signed up for it.  Much like the first jewelry classes I took, I felt like I had found my medium, and within a couple of months I had set up a little studio in my living room and Lulu Bug Jewelry was born!

PMC was developed in Japan and is composed of very fine particles of silver – much of it reclaimed and recycled, from a large variety of sources – in an organic, clay like binder. After I form the piece, it’s fired in kiln at 1650 degrees for 2 hours. The binder burns off and the particles fuse, forming a pure silver object, also known as .999 fine silver. It’s quite magical! The majority of my pieces are made with fine silver PMC.

All the illustrations you see on my pieces were done by me so you won’t find them anywhere else. I even make the tools needed to impress the images into the silver! I’ve come full circle these days and am having a very small number of designs cast in .925 sterling silver. I create the original and do the finishing, including concrete inlay, on these pieces.

It feels like all my years of experience have finally come together. In June of 2009 I quit my full time design job and have been self employed ever since. I enjoy creating pieces that I hope will be meaningful, evoke a memory or serve as a talisman to those who wear it.