tumbling
cross Inspiration
and her husband Mike
ndering through a craft fair
y ran across a vendor sellware bracelets, and thought
uld be fun to make.” That
t 8 years ago now and these
e some of the most beautiful
om bits and pieces of their
ging to life the gorgeous
from pieces of silverware.
me “in the end the owner
ooth retired and sold us his
nt. Mike spent a day with
eman learning his tips and
es.” At this point, Mike is
doing most of the poundnd the house. “Mike is the
f all the pieces. I make them
Mike starts with the piece
are then he cuts, pounds
hes it, then hands it off to
to patina and play with all
es. Silverware is beautiful. I
ealize how beautiful until we
ollecting it. It took us a few
now we are very selective
king patterns to buy.”
the techniques Kim and
took time to explore and
hone. One in particular that Kim talked about was using fork tines for earring spikes. She said, “Mike has spent
many hours of trial and error. The fork
tine earrings were one of the hardest to create. Mike had lots of burned
fingers until he figured out how to
make them.”
Research is a big part of how they
find ideas. “For me it was just trial
and error and lots of reading how to
work with wire. Mike and I are internet junkies. There is a whole world of
knowledge out there to browse and
take note of. If we find something
we like; we use it and put our spin
on it.” She says “there is a lot of trial
and error, and sitting at the table just
playing with all the pieces.”
Kim had been crafting for more
than 25 years when she and Mike
met. In the beginning “Mike enjoyed
watching me paint, but I thought he
needed something of his own to do.”
Initially “Mike was ready to throw out
the tubs of left over silverware pieces.
I asked him to let me think about it.”
Originally Kim started painting on
the flattened spoon bowls to make
An Interview
With kim & Mike hora
By cynthia machata
“I was getting burned out
on painting and needed a
new idea. I sat down with
some beads and a spoon
bowl and the jewelry
started. One thing led to
the next and now I have a
whole room full of jewelry
making supplies!”
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