One simple class in jewelry making and I was hooked. By the time I crawled in the window to work all night in the locked up school studio, it was pretty obvious what I was going to be: somebody who can’t stop thinking about making jewelry.

The college degrees in metal smithing landed me work in jewelry stores and the real world. “If you can fix your own mistakes,” somebody there told me, “you are a master Jeweler.”

I made rings, I made pendants, I made them in the style the customer wanted. That meant getting a feel for their style when they weren’t quite sure what they wanted themselves.

In time, I grew into my own style and started my own business. I began traveling across the country to art festivals and expanding my custom design work. My interest in historical jewelry and modern design gives me ideas for pieces that sometimes surprises even me.

The details and hand crafting do take me some time. A new design can also take its time to show up. A good stone can be sitting on my bench for years before an idea comes to me for what to make with it.

I suppose, after 35 years of making jewelry and fixing it, I have just gotten used to the fact that some things take time.

SANDRA MATASICK

BFA, Metal Smithing, University of Kansas
MFA, Metal Smithing, SUNY New Paltz