Wire Artist of the Month October 2011: Sherry Luke

When I was a little girl my grandmother is who spent time and taught me about life. She taught me to pay attention to the shells and rocks we'd find walking along the beach and mountain trails. She's the one who taught me to appreciate nature and all of God's gifts. Now as an adult and mother I've found that making jewelry brings so much of it together. All the different gemstones, rocks, crystals, and precious metal, it's an endless possibility when you create and design with these elements. I finally decided to begin a website after years of customer sales and service. Through making jewelry I get the special opportunity to create a unique piece of art for those special individuals.

I'm a single mother who works full-time and makes handcrafted Artisan jewelry on the side. I've been making jewelry since 2004 studying with different instructors and learning lapidary. I love working with all different kinds of media but mainly sterling silver, gold filled wire, and gemstones has been my main media. Nature, people and everything in my environment inspires me.

Wounded Heart Moukaite Pendant is a heart-shaped cabochon wire wrapped into a reversible pendant by Sherry Luke. (click the image to view the pendant full-size)

This piece I'm especially fond of. I found this Moukaite stone in a rock shop. I fell in love with its uniqueness and individuality. It's one of those I can't, or may be, refuse to part with. Like people there's more to it than face value. You look a little closer and there's more to it. I wanted people to see both sides so I made it a little more universal. You can wear it either way you want. I was going through a little heart ache is what inspired me, to put it simply and the design kind of came about by itself.

Sherry's Druzy Pendant is wire wrapped in sterling silver with several bead accents

When I was younger I got tired of what the cost and selection was in the stores. I always loved jewelry and gemstones so I thought, hey, why not try out making jewelry? I started playing with different materials and loved metal. I started looking for some ideas on the internet, found some good instructors and that's how I really got started. Dale has, by far, been the best instructor I've ever run across. She helped me let's say "tune my skills" and there's endless possibilities to what you can do so here I am.

Labradorite earrings wrapped in gold filled wire by Sherry Luke

Fluorite pendant wrapped in sterling silver wire by Sherry Luke

I love making jewelry because it helps me relax, get things into perspective and these are "so-called" flowers the deer can't eat. (I used to be into gardening until I moved to the mountains) :) Plus it seems to make people happy. They love those special one-of-a-kind pieces, and so do I. I have a hard time letting go of some of them.

Right now it's more a hobby, but I was told by an artist, "When you don't have time to go to work because of your Artisan jewelry, that's when you need to start thinking about doing it full time".

Pearls in Silver Wide Bangle by Sherry Luke, sterling silver wire and Swarovski® pearls

Wounded Heart Pendant: Appropriate name for the stone design; excellent "reversible" frame design; excellent wraps, good bail and nicely enhanced with the gold/silver wire combination. Druzy Pendant: nice use of dead soft wire to frame and embellish the stone without taking away from the "focus"; elegantly done. Fluorite pendant: another nice example of using dead soft wire to frame a softer stone and taking advantage of the clarity of the fluorite, good idea making wire designs on the back to enhance the stone; good control of soft wire use on a side-to-side frame. Pearl Bangle: Excellent execution of a difficult pattern, great symmetry; it is very difficult to make short, small wraps using half-round wire - this piece is well done.

About wirejewelry's Wire Artist of the Month Program

Each month, we pick a talented wire jewelry artist and their work to highlight. We know we have some incredibly talented customers, and we seek to encourage and highlight those members of our community by highlighting one wire artist every month.

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