Joan's Jewelry / About

Over ten ago, there was a class offered at our art center called “Jewelry As Personal Art.” The wonderful teacher, Portia Spurney, indicated that we should bring with us any broken pieces of jewelry or jewelry we wanted to change the looks of. I told my husband, “That sounds like a really economical way to get new jewelry.” In retrospect, he considers that the biggest laugh of the century, as I now have one whole bedroom filed with beads, glass, wire, metal, tools, a grinder, metal clay, cord, and assorted other items. There is now also a kiln in our hall bathroom. He was sure I would burn the house down when I brought that home! But I digress. Let’s start at the beginning.

I had always been intimidated by art. My parents had met at the Chicago Art Institute, yet I couldn’t draw a straight line. The result was I never attempted anything artistic. Fast forward through college, marriage, and two children. My next-door neighbor, Betty Darrow, was an artist, and my fascination with her work led me to ask her for sculpture lessons. I found I could do it! I later branched out into oil painting.

About the Artist: Joan Kraus

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Betty showed me that I had a good eye for art, and if the medium I used was changeable, I had the ability to adjust it. What a revelation! I didn’t have to get it right the first time!

I painted and sculpted at home until my third child became mobile. Then the messiness of clay, oil paints, and turpentine became a deterrent, so I stopped. Later I went back to school, got a teaching credential, and became a Special Education teacher. I did creative things with my students, but I had little time at home for art.

It wasn’t until after I retired from teaching that art came into my life again. The jewelry class was wonderful. After a while, though, I began to get frustrated when I would need a focal piece to go with certain special beads, and couldn’t find what I wanted. A fused glass class solved that problem, as I could now make the focal pieces I wanted. Glass was a fascinating addition to my repertoire. You are never sure exactly what glass will do when it goes into the kiln, since it liquefies. Sometimes the unexpected result is better than the planned one!

First came the beads, then the glass, and then friends started buying the art glass pendants I made for their own jewelry projects. All of a sudden, I was in business.

I took classes, learning how to use other materials… forged metals, wire, precious metal clay, Fimo, Kumihimo, glass embellishments, glass paints… and found ways to combine them with my beads and glass.

What fun it was to make things that were my own original creations!

After doing several shows and finding them exhausting, I realized that I needed to sell on the internet. My webmaster, Nick Humphries, designed this wonderful web site for me.

I love creating jewelry that is original and affordable. It also gives me a great sense of accomplishment to have a customer come to me with an idea for a piece she craves, and to work together to make that idea a reality.

I have made many gifts for special occasions, especially Bat Mitzvah gifts. Sometimes people fall in love with a pendant and then we work together to design a necklace using that piece. Creating special jewelry gives me great joy.