The love of jewelry has been instilled in me since I was a little toddling thing. My Grannymom loves jewelry, and she has taught my Mom, and me. It has been almost a family tradition for the women and girls in my family to get jewelry as gifts, on pretty much every occasion.
One Christmas, a couple of years ago, we were at Grannymom's house and I bent the prong on one of my favorite rings. Needless to say, I was very upset. Not long after that I saw a deal on some jewelry tools that I could use to fix my ring. They came with instuctions, so I figured why not try it. Well I fixed my ring, and did a really good job of it. I was so excited, my ring was as good as new, and I did it. That was it, it was offically on then, I had to make my own jewelry.
I started out ordering different settings from various places, some of which turned out really well. Others, well not so much, I found I was a bit overconfident in my skills at that point. In short, I ended up with a lot of messed up settings. But I was determined, and started doing more research and studing different tips and techniques. Before long I wasn't ruining settings any more and had some nice pieces that I had made for gifts, and myself.
It didn't take long before I wanted to branch out even further. I wanted to design my own jewelry and make my own settings. I also wanted to learn how to cut and polish gemstones. My pieces were also starting to get noticed, which was really nice. It had started with friends at church asking me where I got different pieces I would wear. When I said that I made them, they asked if I sold the stuff that I made and did custom pieces. Of course I said yes, and before long I had orders coming in.
I has been really nice to see people get enjoyment out of something that I designed and made. Often times I have been questioned about the pricing, I hear "is that all" quite a lot. But I set my prices not by the value of the material used, but by the cost out of pocket for me to make the piece. I love to hear that people think my jewelry is pretty, but I want to hear that people feel thay have been dealt with honestly and fairly even more.
So I guess that is the goal, to glorify God in my business practices, and with the talents that He has given me.