How Did I Get This Job?

Friends often ask me how I ended up doing the work I am doing.
I had a friend who was working for a similar jewelry business
years ago and she would tell me how much she liked it and all
about the nice folks she was working with. I watched her
making some jewelry one day and asked her to show me how
to do it. Thankfully, she was a great teacher and I picked it up
pretty quickly and started doing piecework, making mainly
earrings and bracelets. The business took off and became quite
busy so I started hanging around the office, usually, to prepare
an earring kit or wait for one and I got to know everyone there.

Next thing I knew, I'm ordering gemstones, pearls, chains,
findings, and all sorts of jewelry supplies. I started going to gem
shows to make purchases and to search for new and interesting
gemstones, and looking for new gem and jewlery vendors as well.
I also helped design new earrings, bracelets and necklaces or at
the least, had the chance to offer my opinion on new things being
designed. I also often found myself wrapping 30 pairs of earrings
at a time. During the holidays, business is quite hectic and a
couple of us would even stay up until the wee hours making
dozens of jewelry items to ship out the next day.

I had a little background in jewelry making because as a young
teen, I made some jewlery with my grandmother. Mostly it was
faux pearl and seed bead rings, bracelets and necklaces. Those
were popular in the early 70's. In college, I was the manager
of the jewelry department at Walmart in Stillwater, OK. I learned
a lotabout ordering supplies and inventory and up-selling in those
days. Also learned a lot about managing employees. The jewelry
department was actually owned by a different business than
Walmart. I was able to travel to meetings at other jewelry
business locations owned by K&M Industries back then, where
fine jewelry was sold along with fashion jewelry. This background
gave me a good sense of how colors change seasonally, not
just with fashion but in jewelry too. It also gave me a good idea
of how some pieces of jewelry are just classic and never go out
of style. I also developed an eye for what types of jewelry would
sell well.

After college, I didn't have many chances to be involved in the
making or selling of jewelry but I did spend a lot of time trying out
different types of art media, including the use of Fimo clay. I
think everyone who enjoys crafting and using their creative
skills has probably gone through a Fimo clay jewelry phase! I
probably still have a dozen Fimo bead necklaces and pendants
in the bottom of a dusty drawer somewhere! Even my younger
brother, who lived in Los Angeles at the time, made Fimo
clay bead jewelry and sold it at a flea market back in those days!

I was also very involved in learning to create Ukrainian eggs.
I loved all the symbolism involved and the fine and tiny details
of creating these eggs. Each Ukrainian egg is like opening up a
Christmas present, because they are made using layers of dye and
bees wax and when you are done, it looks like a blackish mess.
As you melt the wax off, a beautiful jewel toned design is
revealed and it always seemed to me like they should be worn
somehow as earrings and pendants and bracelets because they
are so beautiful and so detailed and colorful! At one point, I'd
made so many eggs and had so many broken ones, I was starting
to consider trying my hand at making jewelry out of them but I
started working here at Charming Life Designs and well, life has
been charming but in fast forward ever since!
Holly Russell Godard
Director of Operations