presents
Featured Jewelry Designer
RACHEL GIARRIZZO
by Lisa LillA
"Wearing lampwork jewelry is like walking around with fine art on your body..."
Rachel Giarrizzo has been designing jewelry for about three years. Married for seven years this June “to the best guy ever,” they share a house in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Though they have no children, they do have two dogs: Cody, a 10 year old Australian Shepherd, and Daisy, a 6 month old Boston Terrier/Rat Terrier mix. As a full-time registered nurse, she considers designing jewelry to be a hobby.
click photo above for close-up of Floral
Floral
Bead Artist: Donna Mehnert
Though she’s never taken any jewelry design courses, Rachel has “always loved being creative.” She has enjoyed needlepoint, crochet, and making dried flower wreaths before the advent of her jewelry design days. Her love for glass began long before working with it. As a child, Rachel was fascinated first by marbles. “I could spend hours looking at all of the different colors and designs,” Rachel recalls. Growing up, she found new modes of glass to admire. Rachel’s mother collected and later made stained glass. Rachel always loved the way stained glass looked, hanging in windows. Rachel’s fascination gradually evolved into a glass paperweight collection. Summarizing her feelings for the format, Rachel states, “Glass intrigues me and is, by far, my favorite artistic medium.”
click thumbnails for close-up
Hopi
Bead Artists: Bob Leonardo & Julianna Mucci
Mochachino
Bead Artists: Karen Leonardo & JC Herrell
Blaming her sister Brenda for her current obsession with lampwork beads, Rachel says of Brenda, “She has always been artistic and is very talented. She can sew, draw portraits, paint murals, and countless other things, so it didn’t surprise me when I received an email from her a few years ago, telling me she was having fun making bracelets with lampwork beads.” Back in those days, Rachel had no idea what lampwork beads were; her introduction to artisan lampwork beads left her in awe. “To me, they were like mini paperweights, one of my loves!”
Sea Spray
Bead Artist: Jennifer Geldard
Secret Garden
Bead Artists: Gina DeStevens & Ginny Hampton
Twilight Symphony
Bead Artist: Donna Mehnert
Originally inspired to start a collection of lampwork beads, Rachel soon realized that such a collection would not come cheap. After having purchased a few sets, Rachel’s interest in making jewelry herself began to grow, but she was unsure how to go about it. At the time, she was in nursing school, and life, as she puts it, was “very stressful.” She found guidance in her sister; Rachel didn’t even know what pin heads or jump rings were, so Brenda began by directing to her the basics.
As Rachel began gathering her needed supplies and playing with these components, she realized she enjoyed it and it relaxed her. She recalls looking forward to coming home from school and sitting at her jewelry table, saying, “I’d get lost in my beads and spend hours practicing my new hobby. It was scary to step out of my comfort zone and attempt to sell my creations at first,” Rachel remembers. Positive feedback from family and friends kept her going, as did the elation she felt when people purchased her pieces.
The three tools Rachel cannot live without are Lindstrom cutters, round-nosed pliers, and crimping pliers, all purchased from Jatayu.com. Recommending that one invest in high quality tools, Rachel says she has had her tools since she began making jewelry and they work just as effectively now as they did then.
Butterfly Garden
Bead Artists:
Jelveh Designs, Jena Fulcher and Glassvallley
Rachel’s mother makes it a point to email Rachel her opinion of new jewelry on Rachel’s website. Rachel’s husband is “especially supportive;” he understands Rachel’s passion for creating jewelry and will show his interest by inquiring about her “pretty-pretties” and then complimenting each one.
Her favorite design is a random, semi-symmetrical, sterling silver linked bracelet with lots of dangles! Although Rachel prefers busier styles, many customers like simplicity, so Rachel offers a good selection of strung styles as well.
Versailles
Bead Artists:
Donna Merrill and Jena Fulcher
When asked about her favorite piece, Rachel claims that she is very happy with several pieces; however, “probably at the top of my list would be a bracelet I called ‘Versailles’ (left). It was designed using beads torched by Donna Merrill (and) a hollow bead by Jena Fulcher. I love this bracelet because I love the beads so much. They were done in the most interesting colors and the designs were simply beautiful.” The colors of the beads allowed her to incorporate a wide array of accents into the piece; she used garnet, Swarvoski crystals, and pearls in different shades, plenty of silver, and a touch of Czech glass.
In addition to artisan lampwork glass beads, Rachel integrates sterling silver, Bali silver, Hill Tribe silver, Swarovski crystals, and various gemstone accents among other things into her designs. And while she does not make her own lampwork beads, she knows whose beadwork she likes. “There are so many whom I admire” Rachel exclaims. Some of her favorite lampwork artists include Donna Mehnert, whose broad color palate and knack for creating eye-catching sets in a variety of styles attract Rachel; Corina Tettinger, whom Rachel admires for her “incredible stringer work, mastery of the glass, and impressive variety of designs;” Alicia Abla, whose beads are “distinctly hers” and whose imagination and artistic style Rachel adores; and countless others.
