Featured Artist #1

Pattie Tierney of Pattie Tierney Designs Wearable Art...

I am so excited about my first featured artist, Pattie Tierney. I have been so busy this past weekend with school out and organizing playdates and preschool camp for my kids that I didn't even realize what day it was. Now, late at night, I realize it is July 3rd, my arbitrary first featured artist deadline. Luckily, I typed this up the other day so here it is, Featured Jewelry Artist article number 1.
...................
When I asked Pattie to be a featured artist, I had no idea who she was and had never before seen her work. In choosing who to ask first, I just went through my list of artists that had shown interest, and did a quick view of websites (and when I say quick, I mean supersonic speed) essentially chose a few that piqued my interest, and shot off some rushed emails.

I am so glad Pattie responded. Pattie is so lovely, I feel that I know her now that we have conversed through email. What an interesting lady! Pattie, thanks again, and I am now such a fan. Readers, please, buy some of my jewelry so that I have money in my Paypal account! I need one of Pattie's bracelets!
---------
Writer and Artist Pattie Tierney of Pattie Tierney Designs Wearable Art makes gorgeous mixed media jewelry that are chock full of interesting imagery, textures, and colors. I am so impressed by her charm bracelets especially. She is able to mix so many different elements into one gorgeous unified whole. She uses authors, artists, places, and literature as a starting point for her designs (great design tip for budding artisans) and goes from there.

Pattie has a special love for mystery writers and, through her jewelry, has paid homage to Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie to name two great ones, and I love her Nancy Drew series. She promises more to come this summer with 2 new themes: Girl Sleuth and Great Cities.

This is a shot of Pattie's charm bracelet entitled, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes".

For more details about this piece, please visit her shop Pattie Tierney Designs Wearable Art .

Pattie writes so much more eloquently than I do, so I won’t embarrass myself by trying to edit her words. Pattie writes:

I live in St. Louis, MO and am lucky enough to work for my husband (an 18th Century English Literature Professor) as his research assistant, so I can set my own hours and get to travel frequently on various research trips. One year we spent a month in New Haven at Yale, another month in Princeton, NJ at Princeton University, and still another in London working at the British Museum. That's all in one year! The next year it was Oxford and Edinburgh. It's not for everyone, but I love it. I can be packed and ready to go almost anywhere in about an hour. I have a portable jewelry kit that I take with me, so I can work on things while on the road, as was the case this past March when we spent a month at the University of Texas in Austin.

I have two boys who are both sort of on their own, so I don't have the daily grind of child care. My oldest, Christopher, is 23 and Andrew is my youngest, 20. Just FYI, Andrew is currently in Denver, CO with his quartet competing in an international Barbershop Quartet competition. His group, Blue Notes, won the Central States Collegiate Championship. Here is a link to their winning contest pieces (Can you tell I'm proud?! ;-) ) He's the tallest one and sings bass (second from the right). http://youtube.com/watch?v=8o0rnBNlPI4

My youngest son is keenly interested in what I do and has suggested a number of topics (like a Van Gogh bracelet that I recently sold) for charm bracelets. He's also great at spotting errant beads and jump rings that seem to fly around the room while I'm hard at work.

I have diverse interests. I have a double major in English and Communications, with minors in Psychology, Geology, and Music. My Master's (not yet completed) is in Writing Pedagogy. I've worked in various fields during my life, but most enjoyed doing graphic design work for a Fortune 500 company, something I did for about 10 years. Art has always been my true passion (along with travel, gardening, photography, and cooking!), and I just fell into jewelry making. If someone would have told me that I'd be doing what I'm currently doing ten years ago I never would have believed it. I'm self-taught. I have read just about everything involving jewelry making as is available at all branches of the public library, and have started a significant library of my own.

I love color and the vast array of beads that are available, and using literature as a theme. Generally every piece of jewelry I create is a reflection of one or other of my passions (a baseball bracelet is in the offing!), and it's a challenge to come up with some of the pieces. I often just turn to the bookcases in my office for themes (Jane Austen is coming soon), and have been able to re-familiarize myself with some of the ancient collectibles I've accumulated during my lifetime. (I think I started collected mysteries when I was about 10).

Q&A with Pattie:
How long you've been making jewelry?

I started making jewelry for myself originally, and later for friends and family about three years ago. I wanted jewelry that showed just who I was. In order to do so I had to make it myself because there wasn't much out there with a literary theme in general and mystery theme in particular. A friend of mine who is a regular speaker and attendee at mystery conferences around the country took my entire stock with her to one such event and sold out in a weekend. A this point I figured it was time to venture into online selling and I found Etsy filled the bill quite nicely.

How long have you been selling your jewelry?

I have been seriously selling about two years.

Where do you sell?

Etsy and a couple of mystery conferences. I wish I had time and the resources to attend more such events, but both are limited so I'm thankful for the Internet.

Tell me a bit more about your experiences selling on Etsy.

Etsy is how I started. I was amazed at how many people found me there. Being featured in Bust Magazine provided even more contacts, so I've been lucky enough to get a lot of custom work which is really my passion. I love it when someone will throw out a topic and ask me to make a bracelet to match. It's a challenge, but allows me to really flex my creative muscles.

What materials and techniques do you use?

I use pewter charms, plastic charms that I make myself, and a wide array of beads. I love all types of beads in all colors and have become quite fanatical about collecting them! I love to carefully plan the research trips we take well before our departure, and now hunt for locations of various art and bead shops where we'll be visiting so I can add to my ever-growing collection no matter where in the world we are.

Do you have any marketing or selling tips for other artisans?

Always carry your items with you (in my case I wear them) and have business cards in your pockets so you can whip them out any time someone comments positively on your work. Send fliers or advertising posters to local newspapers, or shops who may be interested in what you do. If you have a product with a particular theme as I do, send mailings to groups who might be interested. In my case I advertise in various mystery-related newsletters and attend mystery conferences.

What tips do you have for artists just starting out?

There is a LOT of jewelry out there, so you have to have an original idea and be passionate about your work. If you don't love every minute of the work, don't do it. You also have to push to keep coming up with something new to avoid stagnation. Being an artist of any type of a difficult job, particularly if you're juggling a family and other job(s) besides. For the moment I love it. I'll wake up in the middle of the night with an idea and head to my studio to begin work. Another tip is to listen to what people say about your work. I find that my customers have some of the best suggestions for new pieces, so I try to look beyond my own interests when creating new items.

Any favourite resources in your jewelry making library?

Believe it or not, my mystery collection. When I'm stuck for an idea I'll pull out books, graphic novels, old periodicals or journals and just page through until I get an idea.

And favourite Jewelry Artists that you admire?

I admire anyone who does tedious work such as jewelry making. I can't say I have a particular favorite because I'm always discovering someone new!
-----------------
Pattie's Bio:

Pattie Tierney of St. Louis, MO, has a passion for travel, dining, photography, and mysteries, and writes about them all. She has published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Personal Journaling Magazine, The Diarist's Journal, and Ink & Ruminations. Her art has appeared in The Rubber Stamper, Signatures: The Art Journal Collection, ATCs: An Anthology of Artist Trading Cards, Somerset Studio and Stamper's Sampler magazines.

Her Agatha Christie Mystery Charm Bracelet was featured in the holiday gift guide of BUST magazine's December 2006 issue as one of the "must have" gifts for the year, and she has designed jewelry for various organizations including USA Today.

The former editor of The Baker Street Chronicle, a Sherlock Holmes journal, her current project, Recipes To Die For, is a mystery cookbook full of recipes from actors, authors, and readers who perform in, write, or read mystery stories. The year 2007 will bring a series of self-published chapbooks featuring her essays, collage art, and photography from travels in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, and Italy. She has also designed sets of envelopes with travel, writing, and mystery themes useful for sending passionate letters or affixing to journal pages as pockets to hold ephemera.

You can buy one of Pattie's pieces at her Etsy shop: http://www.ptierneydesigns.etsy.com/. Pattie will also do custom orders so do not hesitate to contact her via her etsy shop if there is an artist or book you would like interpreted as a charm bracelet or brooch.

--------