Exclusive Interview with Sharilyn Miller
Sharilyn Miller is an art instructor, artist and author of Bead on a Wire (2005). As a jewelry artist, her work has been sold in galleries and resides in collections in both North America and Europe . Ms. Miller holds degrees in Commercial Art and Print Journal Communications, and launched Belle Amoire and Art Doll Quarterly magazines.
How long have you been making jewelry? Tell me about your start.
I actually started making jewelry as a child. We had a neighborhood bead store that sold little seed beads and stringing material and cheap clasps, and I used to make necklaces and bracelets for fun. I also tried selling my finished results, but never did have much success at that. Then when I turned 12, I got a horse and spent all of my time at the stables, which meant that I dropped my jewelry making hobby for a couple of decades. Around the turn of the century, I got interested in jewelry making again when I learned how to make polymer clay beads, shrink-art charms, and later fabric-based beads and charms. I took workshops with various instructors whose main emphasis was using rubber stamps to make jewelry components. In 2003 I published my third book, Rubber Stamped Jewelry, which is based on contributions from several rubber stamp artists who make jewelry with their stamps.
In September 2001, my life changed when I took my very first wire-art jewelry classes with Lynne Merchant, who was teaching at the time at The Shepherdess Bead Store in San Diego. As soon as I saw her sterling silver wire jewelry, I knew that I had to learn everything she had to teach. I took nearly every workshop she offered over the course of 18 months, and spent thousands of dollars on beads, wire, tools, and workshops. Every evening after work (I was at the time the editor of Belle Armoire and Art Doll Quarterly magazines), I sat down with my tools and wire and made jewelry, practicing everything I had learned from Lynne and re-reading my class notes dozens of times. Because I worked on my jewelry obsessively, especially in those early years, I perfected my technique very quickly. To this day the best advice I give my students is to practice, practice, practice!
In the past couple of years, I have been working on entirely new jewelry designs using wire and beads, in an effort to create work that is uniquely my own. I don't want my jewelry to have the look of other designers, no matter how much I admire and respect them. I have come up with some clever new ideas of my own that I'm really excited about, and I am constantly coming up with more. I now have more time to devote to my jewelry making and teaching business. I was Editor-in-Chief of two magazines at Stampington & Co. for nine and a half years, and recently quit my job in order to devote myself to my teaching and writing business. Things have been going really well since then.
I love the techniques used in Bead on a Wire. One of my favorites is to use my husband's drill to make wire twists! You also state that you never solder your jump rings, but work harden them and they appear endless. Where did you learn your techniques?
I owe an incalculable debt to Lynne Merchant, who taught me the most important things about making jewelry: holding your tools correctly, proper hand movements when forming jump rings, eyepins, rounded links, earring hooks, etc., and how to be patient as you make each piece, taking the time necessary to make it RIGHT. Being willing to take a jewelry piece apart and remake it is also critically important for any jewelry artist, experienced or not. Jewelry design is as much about deconstruction as it is about construction, as I always tell my students.
I also meet regularly with a talented group of jewelry artists (Louise Duhamel, Anne Reiss, and Joyce Boyde-Wells) in Carlsbad, California to work on jewelry pieces. We constantly inspire and teach each other, and we bounce ideas off one another, especially business ideas. I think it's very important for artists to get together and make art on a regular basis, as often as once a month, because this way you can learn new techniques, find out what's going on in the beading world, and inspire and support one another.
You are well-known in the beading and jewelry-making community as a respected teacher. Can you share any unique teaching experiences?
I think that every time I step into a classroom to teach, it's a unique experience. Every class is different, because every group of students is different. And it really doesn't matter if you teach in your neighborhood bead store or in another country; regardless of your location, it's always wonderfully different.
Having said that, though, I do enjoy traveling to teach. For instance, I traveled to Montreal, Canada to teach one year, and in 2004 I traveled to France to teach in Gwen Gibson's villa. This September I'm teaching in Norway and Sweden for three weeks in nine bead stores strung across Scandinavia. Apparently beading is catching on in Europe, which thrills me. I am very anxious to travel as much as possible to teach and see more of the world. I am scheduled to teach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico this November. And of course, I teach frequently across the United States. Every experience so far has been very positive and I feel privileged to be part of a world that is embracing wire-art jewelry.
Of all your works of wire and beaded art, do you have a favorite piece?
I don't have a true favorite, actually. My tastes change periodically; a necklace that I wear all the time suddenly becomes tiresome to me and I stop wearing it in favor of the latest piece I've designed...then, a few months later, I start wearing the first piece again! So it's difficult to say, but I guess if you pinned me down I would have to say my favorite piece is always the one I am working on currently. For example, I recently designed a new series of bracelets based on coin pearls, and I can't stop wearing them. A couple of weeks ago it was my brand new design, the Biker Chick Bangle. Before that, it was my Twining Vines bracelet. Who knows what will be next?
If you were stuck on a desert island and could only bring 5 jewelry-making items, what would you bring and why?
Assuming that beads were available (perhaps in the form on seeds or pods, being on a desert island!), I would need wire, of course, because I'm helpless without it. I would need wire cutters, extra-long round-nose pliers, chain- nose pliers, flat-nose pliers, and small round-nose pliers with a fine tip (Lindstrom preferred, of course!). Fortunately, that is all I really need to make wire jewelry. Naturally, I would like to have a few extra items such as 0000-steel wool (for cleaning and polishing wire and jewelry), files, hammers, etc. but you only gave me five to choose from, so I selected my favorite hand tools.
Hobbies or other interests?
I don't really have time to devote to many hobbies right now, which is unfortunate, because I think we need hobbies to keep us well-rounded. I tend to focus on work too much, but since I recently quit my job as a magazine editor I now have more time to devote to other things. Naturally, much of that time is devoted to building my business, but I also have more free time for fun things.
I would like to travel internationally even more than I already do, and I enjoy taking photos so I'd like to take some workshops on improving my photography. I enjoy writing as well, so I am considering a future career as a freelance travel writer and photographer (perhaps during my retirement years, which are not that far off!).
I also have an interest in basketry techniques, especially art basketry, which is wonderfully creative and inspiring. I love to read, and I enjoy getting together with my friends as often as possible.
My favorite thing about my job is meeting so many wonderful people both in- and outside the classroom. Much as I love making jewelry, I prefer to make new friends and to nurture old friendships, too. My friends are my true treasures in life.
