I was lucky enough to have parents that valued old stuff. I think I was 12 years old when I attended my first auction with them. I used $8.00 of my own money to bid on and win an 1899 autograph album. Forty years later I still have it.

I was also very fortunate in that my parents encouraged creativity in our family. My father is a master woodworker who has crafted everything from doll furniture to hope chests to an amazing Arts and Crafts mantle clock. My mother is an accomplished seamstress who not only sewed my wedding dress but made four bridesmaid dresses and two flower girl dresses as well! My sister took after my mother and is a talented seamstress in her own right. And my brother's craftiness started at an early age when he took my roller skates and crafted a robot from them...much to my chagrin. These days he is creating imaginative industrial/steampunk lamps.

I have always tried any craft that interested me...starting with my first hand-sewn doll at age 10. But jewelry of all types has always been a constant for me. I appreciate creating something that has both purpose and beauty especially when I can combine that with my love of all things vintage.

St. Rage Jewelry Company gives me reason to collect cast-off trinkets and bestow a new life on them as original, one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry that I can share with others.