Inside Indie: Ophelia's Jewels

This week's Inside Indie interview is with Sabrina of Ophelia's Jewels. As you may have seen in recent posts, I love Sabrina's work..bought something as a gift for my mother in law and ended up buying myself a necklace as well. I love her designs and I hope you do too.

Tell me a little bit about the mind behind Ophelia's Jewels and how did you create the name?

I’ve always loved the arts, especially drawing and dancing. I started making jewelry about five years ago, and it’s been a really great creative outlet and de-stresser during college and graduate school. People had been suggesting that I sell my jewelry, so I finally started! Etsy has been the perfect forum for me because I can set my own prices without having it marked up to full retail price, but still make it worth my time. Jewelry prices are often enormously inflated, which is something that always bothered me. Everyone should be able to buy a pretty piece of handmade jewelry without being rich!As for the name...Ophelia has been my computer nickname for as long as I’ve been using computers. I was always intrigued by the character of Ophelia in Hamlet...to me she invokes a sense of mystery, love, ambiguity, and especially passion. It just seemed natural to use it for my new business!

What inspires you when you create your jewelry?

Before I started selling jewelry, I used to just make things for my friends and family. I loved experimenting, seeing what worked and what didn’t, and at the same time trying to make something that fit the personality of the person I was making it for. Mostly now I just experiment and make everything from whimsical and feminine to (occasionally) bold and chunky. Sometimes a particular color, shape, or stone combination just “works”, and then I get really excited! It’s also fun to work with a theme...one that I’ve been doing on and off is the ocean and sea life. I’ll have an image of something “typical” that you might see within that theme, such as an ocean wave or a half-buried seashell, and try to make it stand out in a piece of jewelry. It’s the idea of taking something that is ordinary and everyday and making it beautiful.

What's your favorite piece that you've made and why?

Hmm, that’s a hard question...I don’t think I have one particular favorite. But I love making things with labradorite, which is a stone that looks kind of boring and gray until you turn it just the right way. Then there are sudden flashes of bright blue and green and gold. It adds so much depth to the stone and is just beautiful to look at and work with.

Tell me about the very first piece of jewelry you made.

The first piece I made was a very simple bracelet using basic wire-wrapping with Czech glass beads. I was visiting a friend in LA about five years ago, and she had to run an errand for a few hours. To keep me busy while she was away, she taught me how to do a wire-wrap that I could use to make the bracelet. I was done by the time she came back, and it’s been love ever since!

What does the future hold for Ophelia's Jewels?

I’m pretty new to selling jewelry, so right now I’m still feeling out the business. But it’s been a lot of fun and a great way (or excuse? :-) ) to buy new beads and play with them, and I’ve already had the opportunity to interact with a lot of great people. So I hope I can continue to do this for a long time -- either on Etsy or (if I have the time and enough business) on my own website.

What is your can't live without product?

Another hard question! I would say either my tool set (everyone is always amazed at my array of strange-looking jewelry tools) or Swarovski crystals, which are always gorgeous, versatile, and incredibly photogenic!

And, Sabrina is a student so help her pay for school ok. I'm sure if you take a look around her Etsy shop you will find something you will like. I found two things..trust me if I could steal back that necklace I bought for my MIL I would in a heartbeat lol. Go ahead and take a look at Opehlia's Jewels...You know you wanna!