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About International Guild of Wire Jewelry Artist, Jimmy Reese
What do you do when you are 51 years and suddenly find yourself married with children, and a mortgage, unemployed, with only a High School Diploma, in a sinking economy and living in a region of the country housing the Research Triangle Park and four major Universities? You do what you have always wanted to do! I found myself in that situation in May of 2001. Luckily my wife, Mary Ann, had a career as the Bookstore Manager at Meredith College in Raleigh. Because of that, we had one steady income and insurance for ourselves and our children.I had always had an extensive interest in all things Native American, as I have some Cherokee lineage in my family tree. Fascinated by picking up and collecting arrowheads as a kid growing up on a tobacco farm in Virginia. I wanted to learn how they were made and read everything I could find on the subject. I sold from my collection of arrowheads and trade pipes on eBay in order to have some cash coming in, and after literally months of practice, I began to make arrowheads, spearheads and knives of a quality that were suitable for sale and began to go to 'knap-ins' around the country where people with a similar hobby met to buy, sell, and swap materials and end products. One of the largest is held twice a year in Brownsville, Ohio and is known as the 'Flintridge Knap-in.'
Then I saw a wire-wrap on an eBay auction. Wire-wrapping and wire sculpture dates as far back as 1400 to 1500 BC, and there were finds in the Pyramids and some of the Pharaohs' tombs that may push the date back as far as 5,000 years ago. I emailed the individual that had it for sale and asked if he or she would be willing to 'teach' me how to do this. The reply, interestingly enough, was an emphatic 'No.' So I bought the wire-wrap at auction and when I got it, I took it apart and put it back together (reverse engineering of sorts) until I got a fair idea of how it was done, but still could not do it myself. Eventually I met another individual, again on eBay who not only used spears, and knives (he was an antler carver, and used them to make finished knives, complete with display stands), but was a wire-wrapper as well. Through trial and error, between what I had learned, and what he showed me by email, I was able to make wire-wraps. Now I started booking craft shows where I could sell wire-wraps for income to supplement the knap-ins. As a wire-wrapper, I searched constantly for items to wrap, using mostly polished stone cabochons.
Then I discovered dichroic glass: the word 'di' meaning two, and 'chroic' meaning color from the Greek alphabet describes the material's unique ability to simultaneously produce two very distinct colors at once, one reflected and the other transmitted. The colors are like the natural iridescence on the wings of a dragonfly or the breast of a hummingbird. Developed by NASA in the 1960s for use in the aerospace industry, dichroic glass is the most expensive glass ever produced, as much as 95% of all dichroic glass finds its use in the technical field, such as the Hubble Space Telescope. But the material has such beauty the jewelry industry has embraced it and there is an attempt by legislation to have it designated 'gemstone' status. Like everything else I found it on eBay! At first, I purchased the finished cabochons for use as wire-wire-wraps and pendants, but after researching it further, I decided I could make my own cabochons and purchased a kiln. Now I am a full-time glass fuser and offer both finished cabochons, pendants, and wire-wrapped jewelry for sale. So, if you have ever wanted to do something, don't wait until you are forced into it. I guess the old saying was right: 'you can do whatever you set your mind to do.' This year, I had the honor of being voted in as a 'Juried' member of the International Guild of Wire Jewelry Artists. Please stop by the RT Arnold Craft Show and say hello!~
Jimmy Reese
jreese@nc.rr.com
Webmaster: Jason Winter