Cheryl has been creating jewelry since 2005. After retiring from teaching Technology at a local high school, she went to work in a bead store where she taught others the art of beading. She is primarily self-taught, learning new stitches and techniques from beading books and magazines. Her love of bead weaving expanded to include bead embroidery and bead crochet.
More recently, she began to wire weave to set stones and fossils. In 2010, Cheryl began selling her work under the name Windflower Beads. In 2007, Cheryl founded the Bead Society of Central New York to promote the art of jewelry creation. She also joined the Gem and Mineral Club of Syracuse and has been collecting, cutting, and polishing her own cabochons (a stone that is polished to a finished shape, rather than being cut).
Sharon Terry designs jewelry from a variety of materials including Czech Glass and Swarovski Crystals, flamework beads and metal beads, as well as her own metalwork creations which she embellishes with colorful additions.
I never thought of myself as artistic, but my inner artist has emerged when I discovered Precious Metal Clay. Since being introduced to the medium, I have studied with some of the premier artists working today in precious metal clay, and as a result have become certified in this medium.
Simplified, Precious Metal Clay is a powdered form of pure silver that is combined with an organic substance to create a clay. As such, it can be molded, sculpted, carved, formed and sanded. It is then fired in a kiln and sanded again, polished and colored, leaving a one-of-a-kind piece of art that is 99.9% silver…a higher quality silver than Sterling, which is 92.5%
Now that I have retired from teaching in the Oswego City School system, I look forward to my new career as a Precious Metal Clay artist and my association with the Lakeside Artisans.
Elena Alechina was trained in leathercraft in her native Russia, where she worked as a mechanical engineer at the time. Her leather and semi-precious stones jewelry have been exhibited and sold at Toledo Museum of Art in OH, Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, and in stores in PA, MD, OH, IN, as well as here in Oswego. Her clients in Russia, France, Japan, and New Zealand proudly wear her works.
Website : sites.google.com/site/originalbyelena/
I have been making my own jewelry and love having, unique, simple and elegant jewelry for my daily work wear. I come from a design field. My creative side has always been inspired by architecture and art. I like to create one of a kind jewelry with a fun approach.
When I work, shape, proportion, texture and color are very important to me. I make hand made porcelain beads and mix them with different materials such as pearls, glass and wood beads, silver and stainless steel wire.
I enjoy making jewelry as it is a creative outlet for my daily life.
