The Sunday Times: Issue #10

WE'RE FIVE!

This week marks five years since I launched my first collection of rings under the name Palm Sunday in 2020. I had been making jewelry for several years prior, but not as a for-profit business. Mostly for fun and for friends. As I'll detail below, I started by beading necklaces with jute rope and beads made from polymer clay during my summers off as an elementary art teacher.

Then, as I got more serious about turning this hobby into a business, I took beginning metalsmithing classes in 2018 where I learned the basics of soldering and bezel setting stones. Once the world shut down in 2020, I had an opening in time where I literally had nothing to lose and decided to make this my full-time job.

I'd love to take you on a condensed journey through time with me in this issue, revisiting some of my past collections, showing you that you really can just start where you are in any endeavor. You don't need a fully realized action plan, you just need a commitment to taking baby steps, edging closer to your end goal, every day.

So pour yourself a cup of tea and get comfy.

"No matter what tools you use to create, the true instrument is you. And through you, the universe that surrounds us all comes into focus."

- Rick Rubin

2018: WHERE I STARTED

BEADING FOR FUN

My hands have always been busy. I think I came out of the womb wanting to "make something." And I can't sit still for very long without finding something to pick at, pull on, or tap. In order to quell my fidgeting over the years, I've turned to knitting, doodling, and beading

During my summer off in 2018, I started making polymer clay pendants by marbling together black and white clay. I then used hemp or jute rope to bead necklaces for the pendants. I sold them (or didn't sell them, as was often the case) at various small markets around town in North Carolina and on my new Etsy shop. They were not very successful. I was told on many occasions that my $45 price tag was too high.

I still knew that I wanted to continue to make and sell some kind of jewelry or accessory because I had spent the first part of my career in New York studying and working in the fashion industry. Designing and making something was my way of continuing to "use" my degree and feel connected to that part of me that loved making fashion. I decided to take a local metalsmithing class to both learn something I could teach to my art students and to also find out how to make rings since those were my favorite kind of jewelry to wear.

Above is my bench at my first metalsmithing workshop at OQZO in Hillsborough, NC and my first two rings I ever made. Something clicked when I took that first class. I had never been so fascinated with a craft before! The way solder balls up when it's heated and then spreads out when it flows. The way copper comes to the surface of gold when you touch it with a flame. How easy it was to actually bend metal with pliers or cut it with scissors. I was hooked.

2019: MAKING RINGS FOR FRIENDS

LEARNING BY TRIAL AND ERROR

I was so fortunate to have enough friends and family interested in buying a brass or silver ring from me that I could use that time to learn and experiment, knowing that if something broke or didn't turn out right, that they'd understand and allow me to fix it for them. I took lots of online jewelry classes from YouTube and other available courses. But I mostly just spent all of my free time at my bench playing around and learning what worked and what (frustratingly) didn't. I want to say a huge thank you to anyone who bought a ring from me during those first few years. I was able to eventually save up enough money to start working in gold. I also bought more expensive stones and better equipment (although I still to this day use a creme brulee torch meant for kitchen use).

2020: COVID AND MY FIRST COLLECTION

PRIMAVERA

Right before the world shut down, I was lucky enough to have been able to squeeze in a trip to Crete. While there, I was so inspired by all of the ancient jewelry that I saw in the museums and the beautiful colors of the Mediterranean Sea. I knew I eventually wanted to design a collection around that but I had no idea that the opportunity to do that was right around the corner.

2020 was a destabilizing and horrifying year, there's no doubt about that. But a silver lining that resulted from that year was the sheer amount of free time we were all given. Some may have felt that to be a burden, but it was a blessing for me in that I could now bring this idea for a jewelry collection to life without any other jobs or even errands to distract me.

Above is my first collection that came out in the Spring of 2020 titled "Primavera." The success of this collection was a huge surprise to me and encouraged me to continue on to make a Fall collection, titled "Siena," inspired by the city in Italy and its famous cathedral, shown below.

It was with this collection that I first developed the idea of stacking arches like the architecture of a cathedral, and how that could translate to building an "altar" on your hands. The tagline "Golden Altars For Sacred Palms" first appeared on my marketing.

2021: WE MOVED TO FLORIDA

BUT FIRST, SANTA MARIA

The first collection I released in the Spring of 2021 was Santa Maria, inspired by the Santa Maria del Fiore (or The Duomo) in Florence.

It was with this collection that I started experimenting with adding side stones to solitaires and working with more expensive stones like sapphires.

We moved to Florida in September of 2021. Once I had my studio set up, I started working on the collection Domenica, which ended up being a two-part collection.

Domenica was inspired by the painting Santa Lucia de' Magnoli Altarpiece by Domenico Veneziano. This was the first collection that I started carving in wax instead of fabricating every piece from gold sheet and wire. Carving in wax allowed me to be more experimental and sculptural in my work and I saw this as a huge turning point in my creative expression. I had also taken a class on stone setting at New Approach, allowing me to set more complicated stone styles.

2022: A VERY BUSY YEAR

DOMENICA PT. II, POSITANO, AND SIENA PT. II

2022 is the only year I've ever put out three collections. The second part of Domenica (shown above) came out in the early spring of 2022. Some of my best selling pieces came out of this collection like the Seashell Signet, the Bene Ring, and the Arco Ring. I still want to bring back the enamel band shown above once I get my kiln up and running.

In the Summer of 2022, I developed one of my favorite collections to date, the Positano Collection. This one was obviously inspired by Positano and the Amalfi Coast. I had so much fun incorporating my new love of Florida citrus groves with the famous Amalfi citrus, making a collection that had both orange and lemon-colored gems.

In the Fall of 2022, I redeveloped the Foundation Collection (my collection of evergreen, always available pieces) as part of the Jewelry Loupe incubator program with the Women's Jewelry Association. I debuted these new and slightly altered Foundation pieces along with the Siena Pt. II collection in November that year.

2023: WE BOUGHT A HOUSE

AND I MADE THE COMO AND TUSCANY COLLECTIONS

Having a home of my own with a dedicated studio space had been a dream since I started making jewelry in 2018. In 2023, we were so fortunate to have been able to find a house that had a converted garage that was perfect for a metals studio. Before we moved, I debuted the Como Collection, inspired by The Villa D'Este in Lake Como.

In the fall, once I had my new studio set up, I got to work on the Tuscany collection which was inspired by the rolling hills and harvest colors of the Tuscan countryside in autumn.

2024: THE YEAR OF THE CLOUD

DIVINO COLLECTION PT. I AND II

Since moving to Florida, I'd become obsessed with sunset skies and clouds. The colors here are so incredible, that I find myself almost always looking up. I developed the Divino Collection to pay homage to sunset and celestial skies in general. I also debuted the Pearl Cloud Rings in March of 2024.

Below on the left is Divino Pt. I that came out in the early summer of 2024, and on the right is Divino Pt. II that came out in October 2024.

2025: TIME WILL TELL

PARADISO FOR NOW

It's too soon to tell what kind of year 2025 will pan out to be. So far it has been a rollercoaster ride; I think building a collection inspired by paradise is my way of creating my own escape from the chaos. I hope by sharing this creation with you, I'm taking you all on a journey that can be your own escape from the news cycle, from personal struggles, or whatever you need to get away from.