I have always been fascinated with jewelry.  As a child, I would disassemble and customize my grandmother's jewelry to suit myself.
  In 1991 I took a jewelry-making course at the Greenville (SC) County Museum of Art., where I learned the basics:  sawing, filing and soldering.  Since then I've taken several metalsmithing workshops, but most of what I know about jewelry fabrication I've picked up on my own.  Recently I've been experimenting with copper, bronze, and white brass.  Making my jewelry from these metals has been a revelation- I'm forming bolder, more sculptural and more colorful pieces than I ever would have if I'd stuck to traditional materials.
  I started enameling -fusing finely ground glass to metal- in 2008 and fell in love with this ancient and unusual process.  I can layer different colors of enamels onto  a copper piece to create beautiful little jewels.   It's a joy to get these colorful effects using heat, ground glass and copper.                               
  Enameling: The Process
  The colorful enameled components of my jewelry begin as a plain sheet of copper.  First, I cut out and form the shape.  After thoroughly cleaning the piece, I spray on an adhesive and sift on a coat of enamel, which is finely ground glass.  The piece then goes into a tiny enameling kiln, heated to 1500 degrees or so.  This is called firing the piece.  After a few minutes in the kiln the powdered glass melts and fuses to the metal surface.  I can layer multiple colors onto a piece to get unusual effects.  Both sides of the piece must be coated with glass for strength and stability.
 When I've finished with the firing I'll polish smooth the edges and any rough spots.  The  enameled piece then gets combined with other components I've made to form a complete piece of jewelry.