Tammy Jones has forever loved rocks. Glittery ones in exacting. As a child, she stored her rocks in a pink Styrofoam egg box. As her collection grew, so did her attention. Eventually, Jones fascination with rocks led to a obsession for gemstones and to a new business: making jewelry. Jones first tried her hand at jewelry creation while working at HGTV in the late 1990s. She left HGTV in 2005 and began the process of becoming certified as a gemologist. Making the jump into jewelry making was just an extension of her personality and interests.
“One day I just thinking, ‘I’m going to do this. I dragged out all my supplies and just started making stuff. I was a mad woman!” she laughed. “Within four days I had 100 pieces completed.” It was a week before she told someone. “I think I was scared,” Jones explained. “You never know if somebody is going to have the same taste as yours.” Once she sold her first part, the fear missing. “That was such a rush,” she said with a smile. “It was, you know, a small bit of validation.” “I have forever said I was born way too late,” she said with a laugh. “Everything back then was pretty. Every hinge on a door was beautiful. I respect that craftsmanship, and I don’t want it to just die out. I like to repurpose it. Plus, here’s a little of that eco-friendly part in there.
Jones’ love of the natural world extends to another of her favorite element to use: Precious Metal Clay. she gushed, “It is really amazing!”. “It starts off in a little packet that looks like gum, and you work it just like you would normal clay, just on a lesser scale. It is just particles of pure metal with some sort of binder. Once you polish it with something hard, they lay behind flat and pick up light.
Jones creations are encouraged by everything from vintage drawer pulls and the colors of the ocean, to the ironwork model of an old gate. Still, no issue what inspires her or how many pieces she creates, Jones is at rest in awe of her first love, rocks and gemstones. She said, “I have seen the expect diamond“. “I have been through the compilation at the Smithsonian.
