I’ve been told I inherited my drive, creativity and love of the Fine Arts from my great-grandmother.  As a primarily self-taught artist with an eye for detail and insistence on perfection, I have been served well by her gift.

My dad was a dedicated rock hound when I was young, and as a family, we were intimately familiar with every Rock Shop within a 200 mile radius of home. Our family would spend weekends and summer vacations hunting Lake Superior agates, staurolite, and Montana sapphires, with some car trips netting so many rocks that my brother and I were crammed into the station wagon with little room to sit! I’d watch as Dad would cut the stones we’d found, polishing them endlessly to achieve a perfect shine. To this day, the sights, sounds and smells of a lapidary shop take me back to my father’s jewelry bench.

In 2000, I returned to making jewelry, creating simple strung bracelets.  Stringing was fun and provided instant gratification, but being my great-grandmother’s offspring, I needed more challenge. I turned to wire-working, incorporating wire-working techniques into my own style. There were days that my hands were battered from wrapping yards upon yards of wire.

On a whim, I took a simple chain making class in 2003. During the class, the instructor displayed about a dozen chain maille weaves that he’d made. I was completely hooked. Simply the number of maille weaves intrigued me…I figured I could never get bored!  I began creating chains with exotic names like Byzantine, Romanov, Vertebrae, Dragonscale, Caterpillar, Cleopatra…and more.

The rich history of chain maille is fascinating. The classic European and Japanese weaves were used for armor in the Dark and Middle Ages, and examples of maille have been found dating back to the 4th century BC. Today, chain maille is used for protective clothing for butchers and shark divers, costume armor in movies (The Lord of the Rings, Monty Python and The Holy Grail), and jewelry. Intricate designs using sterling silver, copper, bronze, aluminum, steel, and other materials are beautiful and decorative – and many are based on those functional weaves of earlier time.

Since learning that simple weave, I’ve developed my own style of incorporating stones and color into chain maille. My weaves have been recognized for their unique use of materials, winning recognition in international competitions. I love being challenged by a new weave, attempting to “figure it out” without instructions. It’s always gratifying to finally get the right rings in the right places!

To satisfy my personal drive and thirst to learn, I continuously strive to evolve and diversify my techniques.  I satisfy that thirst by observing other artists’ work, and taking formal classes in silver-smithing.   It’s a thrill to continue on this journey, and I consider it the highest honor when someone chooses one of my pieces as a gift for someone special or for themselves.

C-My Designs is located in the rolling hills of west-central Iowa, near Underwood.