Jewelry artist opens first studio

Sat, May 10, 2008    to del.icio.us

Julie Sanford put some finishing touches on a tiny multicolored cylindrical box with a silver mold of her father extending from one side on Wednesday.

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Her father, Thomas Hughes, was a silversmith and stone artist.

Now, after opening her first jewelry design studio, Sanford is still walking in her father's footsteps.

"I just thought I was going to do like dad does," she said.

The 42-year-old Kalamazoo native always had an interest in jewelry. She remembers at age 10 transforming a boutonniere pin into a pair of earrings, which she wore with pride.

When her father died in 1981, Sanford inherited both is love for jewelry design and equipment. She uses both to create decorative pendants, earrings and other jewelry by soldering metals together with a acetylene torch.

Getting to the point where she could open her own place wasn't easy. She spent 15 years working for a retail jeweler and five years as an art
teacher, and was also on staff at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art.

More recently, she has been working out of her Grand Haven home — where she lives with her husband, Jeff, and three children.

This spring, Sanford opened Studio JSD at 1101 Columbus Ave., across the street from the Grand Haven Area Arts Council building.

"Now I finally feel like I can do this for a living," she said. "I like it here, and I like that the arts council is across the street."

Sanford sells her work at weekend summer art festivals, including the Art on the Riverfront show in Grand Haven in August. The other half of her business comes from selling at six or seven Michigan retailers, including Imagine 360 Gallery in Grand Haven and Dreese Fine Art and Framing in Spring Lake.

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Her jewelry sells for anywhere between $10 and $500.

Sanford also does commission work, and sometimes makes pieces for friends on a whim. She recently turned a flashy bottle top into a pendant for a friend who misses Michigan's specialty drinks.

"I get excited about doing projects that are really special to people," she said.

Sanford's assistant, 20-year-old Carolyn VanderKooi of Hart, only wears jewelry created by her boss.

"I am probably her biggest fan," VanderKooi said. "It's all so unique and beautiful. Most all my friends own a piece now because they think it's so neat."

Although Sanford's work has been featured in artisan publications, she's somewhat taken aback by such praise.

"I don't feel worthy," she said.

Sanford won't sell jewelry out of her studio, but does hope to conduct classes on such topics as jewelry design and glass fusing.

Sanford doesn't cut the stones she uses in her pieces, but may someday put the stone-cutting equipment that sits in the corner of her studio to good use.

On the Net:

www.juliesanforddesigns.com