ˈsmi-thē

: the workshop of a smith

This past Spring I returned to college in pursuit of more skills, transferable skills, access to creative employment by obtaining an Associate of Fine Arts in Jewelry and Metals design. Just before the covid 19 pandemic hit, I was laid off from my job in a jewelry factory. I was so excited to have finally landed something stable, after being underemployed as an artist and healing arts practitioner for quite a number of years, that I was stunned and disappointed at such a short run gig. I had been (re)learning on the job skills that had lain dormant in my hands since the 90’s when I was a wannabe silversmithing student at TCC. (Tacoma CC). I was waking up again to the joy of making and moving metal with hammers and pliers, files and saws.

But let me back up.

In come the Ancestors. I had been following the lead of my people as they guided me from their in-between realms. I seemingly “stumbled’ upon an art studio space two years earlier. I moved all of my tools and supplies out of my house, box by box, stacking them in the corners of my shared half of the studio. At the prompting of my ancestors, I went to a jewelry class at the local metal arts guild. I got a lead from the instructor that the jewelry business where he was working, was hiring. He would put in a word for me there if I wanted to apply! I was hired, and my studio space sat empty without me for 6 months. After the layoff, as the boxes still sat, I dreamed of the possibility of having a jewelry studio which became fully my own space when my studio mate moved out mid-pandemic.

So after that, I unpacked a 20 year hiatus in jewelry making and quickly realized I needed more than memories to get me rolling again in the direction of a more prosperous life.

After 3 years of being turned down for every resume I sent looking for more employment, and getting too close to dangerous financial edges, I made the choice to seek worker retraining. To my great pleasure and surprise, there was an offer for assistance with a degree in Fine Art Metalsmithing at my community college “alma mater”.

With education expenses being well in alignment with “over-inflation”, I find myself reaching deep into all of the ways I can open and create pathways for prosperity and opportunity to flow. I began opening my healing arts practice to include making ritual tools for people and thus here ancestralamulets.com was born.

Please forgive the construction dust around the site as the webshop is still in growing pains. Hopefully over the summer more items will make their way into the gallery and shoppe pages. And then there is still the matter of photographing the amazing crystals and stones I have on offer to accompany jewelry and custom amulets. Custom drums and rattles are getting noticed by folks too. So things are beginning to buoy.

I’ve started a fundraising page to help me acquire the necessary safety equipment my studio is lacking as this old beautiful building has no ventilation but an open window. In order to continue my studio practice during school and through the fall and wintry months, I’ll need fume extraction and better dust collection. Don’t let those “kitchen table smiths” fool you. You can’t have a safe studio in any room of the house.

And now that my art studio has become the Smithy, the Ancestors are proud. So I’ll continue giving my creative ancestral gifts as my life’s work and share them with you, those who appreciate the mystical connections woven by makers and artists and smiths.