Nancy Lee Designs: Handmade Metal Jewelry, Objects, and Instruction

"CC Electro" Custom Logo Brooch with Black Pearl

It’s January 9, and this is my first post for 2012. Huzzah! It’s been a whirlwind fall and wonderful early winter, and I cannot thank my friends, family, clients and fellow metalsmiths enough. This summer was a difficult one for many reasons, but the past few months have more than made up for it. My faith in my ability to stay on this creative path has been renewed, and the New Year has served to energize me with enthusiasm that is fairly crackling!

Specifically, my dream journal is full words that have been translated into meanings, and meanings are translated into imagery. The birth of a new line, even a new direction in my work, might be taking place. Who knows where this will lead?

In 2012, I hope you are full of renewed enthusiasm as well, and inspired to rededicate yourself to your dreams, whatever they may be. I wish you peace, health, and all the energy you need to follow your path.

Please keep in touch, share your journey. Comments are welcome. That is what blogging is about!

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INDIANAPOLIS -

The holiday season is an important time for retailers, a time that can make the difference between a profit or loss for the year.

The same is true for local, small businesses and a new website is designed to make it easier to find and support them.

Tucked away in a tiny workshop, Nancy Lee sees the beauty in scrap pieces of copper, aluminum, clock gears – even bullets.

“I’ve been doing all sorts of arts and crafts since I was really a little, little girl,” said Lee. “I even did a beautiful woven necklace with played violin strings.”

She pounds and saws away, making pieces that rival those in the finest, big name jewelry stores and even has a little gallery. But she sure doesn’t rival big name advertising budgets.

“I would love to be able to be located by people who are looking for handmade works,” she said.

So she made a profile on Thumbtack.com. The name for Thumbtack came from the way people advertise offline. The founders wanted to build an online bulletin board, where anyone can thumbtack their service.

It is not a new idea, but the founders in San Francisco say they separate themselves by including only businesses that have chosen to sign up, letting you say what service you need, getting several local bids within 24 hours and putting each service through a 12-step verification process.

“That makes me feel good that I am amongst other people who have also been verified, so that kind of raises everyone up,” Lee said.

There are 2,000 Indianapolis businesses on Thumbtack so far, of all kinds. You can even hire a Santa Claus if you need one.

A local personal shopper and moving company listed on the site say they just wish more people knew about it. You can search Thumbtack for free, but businesses have to sign up to be a part of it and it can cost them to be part of the bidding process.

The best part of what I do is to help people bring their dreams to life in metal. Recently I had an opportunity to create jewelry for a special occasion within my own family – a 25^th anniversary memento. But I was coming up dry…

The story begins with my younger sisters’ college graduation. She moved from home base in Central Illinois to a suburb of Chicago. A few months after she got settled, our mom decided a visit was in order, and invited my older sister and me to accompany her.  That was November, 1986.

Our visits since then have encompassed trips to Urgent Care, the ER, post surgical care, stories of marriages and children, dinner, deaths, lunches, brunches, cookies and Cosmos, and before you could say John Robinson, twenty-five years had passed.  To my metalsmith’s mind, a journey this terrific deserved a commemorative piece of jewelry!

With weeks turning into days, I hadn’t come up with an idea I was excited about. But that night, just as I was preparing for bedtime, an image of interlocking rings appeared to me. This was it! I quickly sketched it out and fell asleep.

The night before I was to leave, I started on the intertwining circle pendant. Four pendants to be exact: one for my mother, my two sisters, and me. At the bench, our story unfolded in my hands.  Sixteen circles lay before me, each soldered into an individual, perfect round shape. But something was missing. Life! I grabbed my two-pound forging hammer and tapped dings and dents into each of the rings – bumps along life’s path.

Cut open again, the circles were then able to be linked into groups of four rings and soldered. One ring for each of us, four rings per pendant. No matter what happened we would always be welded together. The following morning, I added a triangular shaped cubic zirconium gemstone inspired by our mom, mother of three daughters, the spark that created us and keeps us together. No time to make a chain, so I threaded each pendant onto a length of white satin ribbon. Packed in tiny handmade paper boxes and little gift bags, I started my journey to Illinois.

That evening, we broke from tradition and had an impromptu dinner at my sister’s kitchen table. Gifts were busted out, and I am pleased to say that the pendants were a hit, sparking stories and emotions that will live with each of us for a very long time. Hopefully, forever!