By way of an introduction...

Hello and welcome! My name's Sarah, I'm 29 and recently moved back home to the Black Hills of South Dakota after earning three music degrees and attempting to eke out a living in Chicago and Los Angeles. One day I would love to make a living composing music for movies, TV shows, and video games, but that's a long-term goal that will take a lot of free work before I get anywhere with it. My jewelry-making began in Los Angeles when I was stuck at home, largely alone, with a broken foot after several months of unsuccessful job-searching. I was looking for a relatively inexpensive hobby that could bring a little more income into our household since I was feeling rather worthless, being unable to find a job then being unable to even perform jobs that I normally would have. Jewelry-making was a natural fit for me, since I've always enjoyed handmade, unique jewelry for myself and I have enough of a mechanical mind to figure out how to make it myself. A few tutorials, tools, and beads later, I got started! I now own and run Jane Original Jewelry and am looking to expand my web presence to build my little home business.

I'm never one to settle for the standard. Just because it's popular, or "the way it's always been done" doesn't mean that's the way it has to be. That holds true in almost every facet of my life, sometimes to my detriment in my stubbornness, but often it forces me to step back and evaluate the situation and come up with a new (and often more logical) solution. This is partly why most of my designs are custom-made for the people who order them, so that they get exactly what they need. Somehow, I often design better if someone else gets me started anyway.

There are a few common themes through my designs that stem from frustration with most widely available jewelry and their lack of invention and quality. Honestly, $20 for a teeny base-metal pendant with a rhinestone stuck in it on a chain that will turn your neck green within the month? Who comes up with this stuff? Most of the time it's not even a cute design. Farther up on the price scale is teeny 10k gold pendants, also on a cheap chain, maybe with an itty-bitty cloudy diamond in it somewhere, but still certainly not worth the $150+ stores will charge for them. I am glad to say that many Black Hills Gold designs are an exception to this rule, but they're not available everywhere and, frankly, some of us just don't like little pendants on 18-inch chains. I try to keep my designs around the $20 range so that customizable, elegant pieces are available in any budget, and certainly can be dressed up with rarer stones if requested.

Another issue I have lived with for many years and encountered often during my time working in a jewelry store is people that are allergic to metals. Some are merely sensitive to nickel or the most inexpensive base-metal alloys that make up most earring posts and necklaces. Others, like my mother, are allergic to all metals, period. It's more widespread than I expected, but I talked to a good handful of people who can't even wear watches or sandals where metal parts might touch their skin without developing a rash. I decided that since I could make my own jewelry out of anything I wanted, there was no reason that I couldn't design jewelry that contained no metal at all. Many of my necklace designs are metal-free for this very reason, and the designs don't suffer at all for that. Another more practical reason is that I don't have the equipment for casting metal pendants or earrings, nor will I for quite a while, so it was easy enough to use string instead of wire to put the beads together. I also decided that the clasps should be easy to maneuver for those with arthritis or clumsy fingers that have trouble working the small clasps. Personally, I'm terribly annoyed by tiny spring clasps; they're far more trouble to live with than they're worth.

A personal annoyance that also holds sway in my designs is that the clasp should never rotate down to the pendant during wear. Period. This is easy to accomplish and I make sure that none of my necklaces have to be incessantly messed with just to be worn properly.

My little business is still in its infancy, and craft fairs around here are proving to not be a worthwhile venture for me considering that I would much rather build custom pieces for each customer.

So, with all that said, welcome to my blog! I have a website for my music and jewelry at sarahdecker.com which I try to keep updated, and occasionally I have listings on my Etsy page. I hope you enjoy my journey as much as I do!