Description:

It seems as if love is in the air everywhere, during this Valentine's season. The first place of the 2009 JewelryLessons.com Valentine's Jewelry Design Contest goes SO appropriately to the piece created by a brand new pair of love-birds, Bobbi and Spike, who met online.


Spike cut the stones and Bobbi set them wire and, as if predicting the future, it was the first piece they worked together, even before they became a pair.


This is an interview of how these two met and how they worked on the winning piece:

1) Please tell us a little about each one of you and your area of expertise in jewelry making.

Bobbi - I'm a self-taught wire artist of 20-plus years. When I started the few wire workers that I knew were not very open or willing to share techniques. I learned the basic bangle and was hooked from there. Most of what I learned I got from researching wire jewelry in the library and studying photographs. I think about wire all the time, and take every opportunity (even sneaking time at work) to experiment with it.


Spike -.I am also self taught, with the help from some long distance friends that work in the Lapidary field. I began with a rock tumbler but it was too slow for me and I wanted more control over shapes and sizes.


2) Why did you decide to work on a piece together? How did you come up with the design?

Bobbi - When Spike and I first started working together on pieces, I looked through his Flickr photos to get an idea of his work. He had a beautiful heart, that had spun off the grinder and broke. It couldn't be salvaged but it triggered an idea for me, and I asked Spike if he would deliberately cut one "broken". My original idea was to do a "his and hers" pendant set, or a pair of earrings with the 2 halves. I could "hear" him make faces, even trough e-mails, but he enjoyed the challenge and did a wonderful job.


3) Tell us about the challenges this particular piece presented for each one.
Spike - I had never tried any cut like this before, or had even seen it done. Keeping angles and dimensions straight during the cutting and polishing stage for 2 separate pieces presented the most challenge.


Bobbi - I have wrapped some pretty unusual shapes and pieces, even doing several multi-stone pieces, but never 2 pieces together like this. I've even wrapped a broken stone "back together", but I wanted a different look for this. Wiring them together neatly, and maintaining balance presented the most challenge for me.


Both - It wasn't until we were both together here in Florida working together, that we were able to work out the technical issues, such as adjusting the cuts of the stone to accommodate the wire in between the 2 halves, and still maintain a heart shape, and a stable piece.


4) Have you worked on other pieces jointly?

Bobbi - We constantly ask each other about different pieces - I ask for different shapes for designs I have in mind, and Spike asks me what shapes work, and don't work, for wire wrappers. It's funny - when Spike was moving, he had several boxes of rock sent ahead, and was afraid it would all be marked up, by the time he got here. We have a standing joke, who will make it to the mailbox first, when he orders new slabs.


5) Tell us your love story, how did the two of you meet? Elaborate as much as you like.

Bobbi - Spike and I met on Etsy, just over a year ago. I hearted his shop for his wonderful cabs to use in my jewelry. He checked out his shop hearts, followed the link back to my shop, and hearted me in return. He lived in Kansas, me in Florida.
Spike contacted me shortly after that, prompted by an article on Etsy about shops collaborating, and asked if I'd be interested in working with him on some jewelry projects. I was tickled to death, and jumped at the chance. Spike said" tell me what shapes you want or your designs - you do the wire work, and we'll split the sales." It was a wonderful idea.

It didn't take long (about a month), before designing became too complicated to discuss in back and forth e-mails, so we exchanged phone numbers. Very shortly after that, we were spending hours on the phone, talking about everything BUT rocks and wire.

Another month after that, we started talking over Skype, an online video phone service. We feel very blessed, a match made in heaven.
Spike visited here for a week in July of last year. We feel as if we had been in love for a lifetime already. His leaving to go back to Kansas, was the hardest think either of us had experienced, but we were determined to find a way to be together for another lifetime.

After a lot of discussions, about who should move where, we decided he should move here. I have a house and a host of critters, that would have been to hard to move. Plus Florida weather is better *grin*.


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Congratulations to both once again: click here to see the Winning piece by Bobby and Spike: You made me Whole!!!