Marketing Smarter Not Harder

Jewelry Artist Profile

By Christine Gierer

Handcrafted Jewelry Designer Rachel Morgan Kalina of Adorned by Morgan is one busy lady! Living in Astoria, New York, 23 year-old Kalina juggles “parronting” (Rachel’s word) her 14year-old Quaker Parrot, working as an assistant editor of a magazine in Manhattan, and creates handmade jewelry in her spare time. She sells her jewelry on the now very busy and well-known handmade selling site ‘Etsy’, at various New York boutiques, and has also been recently featured as DIYer on the Cheap Thrills DIY Blog.

Rachel was kind enough to answer my questions by email and she writes so eloquently that I think I’ll just let her tell you everything in her own words. Take it away Rachel!

About Rachel Morgan Kalina, Handcrafted Jewelry Designer, Parront, and Regular 9-5′er

I am Rachel Morgan Kalina, 23, Astoria, New York. I’m a parront of one Quaker Parrot, 14, and girlfriend of one amazing guy. My 9-5 is as an assistant editor at a magazine in Manhattan. I’ve also worked as a reporter, held many journalism/publishing internships, worked in retail and created jewelry for a company based on Long Island.

Adorned by Morgan is my part-time career/hobby, although I often wish I had more time to create jewelry and try other artistic endeavors.

A note about the origin of my business name: Morgan is my middle name, and I used it in my business title instead of Rachel because I wanted to separate my literary identity from my crafting one. My occupation involves writing, but my craft involves flexing a different type of creativity. Also, I think “Adorned” captures an idea of elegance and really goes hand-in-hand with images of jewelry.

Handcrafted Jewelry Designer Training?

Although there have been classes and workshops throughout my high school and college experiences, I haven’t had any formal jewelry training. Most of what I’ve learned has come from observation of design and reading magazines/books on the subject. Working a full-time job, it is hard to find the time to create. But once I get that yen to craft, I find a way to get my hands moving as soon as possible— whether it be by banging out a pair of earrings or even just sorting my extensive bead collection. Sometimes the anticipation of crafting and the immediate denial of being able to do so just increases my creativity and productivity once I do have the time and materials in front of me. Read more…

By Christine Gierer, The Jewelry Sweet Spot, http://www.thejewelrysweetspot.com

Nectar Jewelry Designs, owned by jewelry designer Sharon Fiorini, instantly caught my eye when I was surfing on the Etsy website.

Sharon’s jewelry is a really interesting mix of elements. Some of her pieces have a really modern feel with clean, clean lines, while others sort of feel fragmented and post-industrial. These remind me of post-apocalyptic movies for some reason like Blade Runner.

Christine: Hi Sharon, tell me a little bit about yourself and your work.

Sharon: Well, I live in Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA, and I’m married with one son and two dogs. I started making jewelry in 2003 when I was pregnant with my son. I started with stringing beads, graduated to wire-wrapping, and from there I moved on to forming metal and polymer clay. Since I’m completely self-taught, I always want to learn more. There’s so much out there that I have yet to learn! I discovered that designing and creating jewelry is my passion – it’s what I love to do. I’m always thinking about new jewelry designs. I have post-its all over my work area with designs I have sketched out while I was at work. Read more…

Dear Readers, I am finally getting back on track with my Featured Jewelry Artist profiles!

If you are one of those who have been following my featured artists on my Jewelry Making by Cg Handmade Blog (www.cghandmade.blogspot.com) thank you so much for your patience. I do so appreciate it.

I guess I should have realized that summer would be a write-off for me with my busy 2 and 4 year-olds, their many playdates and excursions, our camping trips, and all the other summertime things going on.

Hopefully I can keep on track and post my articles a bit quicker now. This site is where I will be posting any new featured artist articles from now on. If you would like to read the previous Featured Artist Articles, you can view them here:www.cghandmade.blogspot.com

This interview with Kate Szabone dates back to June I think.

Before you go on to read the interview, let me gush a little bit about Kate’s work. I love it! In my own jewelry-making endeavors, I really enjoy working with precious metal wire and gemstones so I guess I was naturally attracted to her work the first time I came across it on the net. I see a lot of similarities in our techniques although our styles are very different.

Here are some examples of Kate’s gorgeous jewelry (click on image to enlarge) :

Gold-Dipped Eucalyptis Leaf Necklace-This one-of-a-kind necklace is made with a beautiful gold-dipped eucalyptis leaf and faceted smokey quartz and garnet gemstones. Strung on 14k gold-filled chain, this piece is lovely in it’s natural simplicity. Leaf measures 1.25 inches in length. Chain length is 22-inches, but can be made shorter upon request. Read more…