HOW L0NG DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE A PIECE OF SUZAN JEWELRY?

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO MAKE A PIECE OF JEWELRY?

I get asked this question all the time, and I finally figured out the answer.

Each piece takes a lifetime plus a few hours. 

Why do I say this?

Well, it takes everything I have experienced, in life and in jewelry making,

up to whatever point I am creating, to give me the

perspective to see life in an artistic way and have the courage to tell the story.

For example, I choose to leave a lot of the markings from the jewelry process in my

jewelry because I love texture and I love the way ancient jewelry looks.

Some jewelers might think that is not "correct", so I have to have the courage

to do it anyway! Also, I love paper and letters and writing, so I

make "book pages" that look like a letter that has been read a thousand times.

Then I make it into a beautiful piece of jewelry. I lost my Mom when I was three

and never had any of her belongings, so when I make these "book pages"

in sterling and gold and engrave them with sentiments,

I am putting into the world what I have longed for, for 53 years.

So the page might take 30 minutes to make technically,

but it took everything that I had experienced to inspire that idea!