Like many of you, I daydream of places across the globe where I’d like to travel. I was fortunate to grow up in a very cosmopolitan community in Chicago, which led to a lifelong appreciation of the beautiful cultural diversity of our world. Art and jewelry from different parts of the world have always intrigued me. I love going to museums and looking at art and jewelry from around the world. A trip to Egypt is on my bucket list, and over the years, I’ve always been drawn to intricate ancient Egyptian jewelry. This past winter, I stumbled into a shop in Silver City, New Mexico, that had some spectacular jewelry from around the world, that inspired a lot of new design ideas!
While I appreciate the beauty of jewelry from around the world, l respect cultural traditions and refrain from direct copying or use of sacred motifs in my pieces. Instead, I look at these pieces for inspiration for designs, often leading to something that looks very different from the original. For example, I recently designed a piece that was inspired by an ornate metal necklace from Morocco, using double-drilled gemstones. I used that piece as a springboard to create a striking original piece of my own, like this red lightning agate Desert Dusk necklace.
In the last 10 years or so, when multi-hole glass beads started to become more available, those were a game changer for my jewelry. I was able to create lots of intricate pieces, including many inspired by that striking ancient Egyptian jewelry. I still remember my first burnished collar necklace. It took several hours, and a fair bit of guess work, and several instances of, “CUT!” and redoing parts, but it came to fruition. That one featured some Lake Superior agates. My husband and I were living by Lake Superior at the time, where you often stumble on agates. We had amassed several pounds, and he got me a rock tumbler as a Christmas present. The tumbled agates looked incredible, and he learned some lapidary drilling and drilled a few, which I used in some early burnished collar necklaces.
I also love doodling geometric designs, such as mandalas; they are almost meditative. With the advent of two-hole glass beads, I was able to connect seed beads into intricate patterns similar to a mandala and come up with some fun patterns that way.
A lot of my designs are based on trial and error. I’ll usually come up with a batch of design ideas and sketch them in my chicken-scratch on a piece of paper. I'll start tinkering with beads and thread, and proceed to see what takes shape. I've had plenty of cases where the end design looks NOTHING like the sketch, but even better! This is a sketch for a design in my upcoming collection, available September 10. Stay tuned to see the finished piece!
Sometimes, it takes a couple of attempts with different shapes or numbers of beads, or a different thread type to get a piece from, “Meh…” to “YES!” In other cases, I would have to defy physics to get a design idea to work, and I’ll let it percolate and maybe come back to it later. In fact, the upcoming collection has a piece that I had made this past winter that just did not work as intended. I revisited it this summer and edited the design and nailed it! This Meridian Mesh bracelet design will be available in the upcoming collection, so stay tuned!
Each piece of jewelry is more than just a show-stopping accessory; it’s a story, a moment, and an embodiment of the places, cultures, and experiences that have shaped my style as an artist. I enjoy this lifelong journey, with new inspirations on the horizon. I’m eager to continue sharing these stories through my work, and I encourage you to stay connected. Whether you are wearing a Tsuga piece or just following with fascination, I’m thrilled to have you as part of the journey.
Thank you for being here, for your support, and for celebrating global art with me. I’m looking forward to the next steps! Let's stay connected- follow me on social media.
I'd love to hear from you-hit reply to share your bucket list travel trips, or your favorite art you have seen while traveling!
All the best,
Grace