2016 Bead Peeps Swap N Hop Partner Intro

We're very excited to be doing the 2016 Bead Peeps Swap N Hop by Linda Anderson again this year!  During this challenge, entrants are matched with partners and both swap bead mixes.  They make jewelry out of those mixes and then showcase them in a blog hop during the Swap N Hop Reveal!  You can read more about this year's Swap N Hop on the official Facebook page here.

This year, our partner is Christina Hickman from Vintage Treasures Jewelry!  She creates eclectic designs featuring earthy colors, natural components and more.  She does not like orange, and she's an avid birdwatcher at her home in Washington, USA.  This is her first Swap N Hop, but she has done a Bead Soup Challenge before.  Her favorite jewelry designers include Lorelei Eurto, Heidi Kummli, Sherry Serafini and Andrew Thornton.  Make sure to check out Christina's fab jewelry on her blog at Vintage Treasures Jewelry, and see her Swap N Hop Partner Intro here.  We're very excited to have you, Christina!

Below is a Q&A about Dry Gulch for the Swap N Hop.  Enjoy!

1. Why or how did you get started making jewelry?

Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry is a family-owned business having three generations of women designing and creating beautiful jewelry to be worn casually, professionally and formally. We are Deborah (Grandma), Jennifer (Mama), Catherine and Gianna (Cat and Bean - Granddaughters).  We have a retail/wholesale website with clients and customers from around the world. We carry a large selection of exclusive Dry Gulch components, crystals, beads, findings, chain and tools etc. and our finished jewelry is also sold in several boutiques. We also create torch-fired lampwork beads, hand-cut and stamped metal, painted and enameled components and many other custom pieces. We have a love of “vintage” and often incorporate that into much of our jewelry. 

2. What style(s) of jewelry do you like to make?
Because there are four of us, our jewelry has a really big range of styles!  We create earrings, necklaces and bracelets, and occasional odds and ends like bookmarks and key-chains.  We love vintage and antique styles and often reuse vintage jewelry components in our works.  We also love mixed media, and incorporate leather, wire, metalsmithing, paper, paint/enamel and fibers in our work.  Deborah's works tend to be bohemian in style, Jennifer loves to break down and re-imagine vintage jewelry, Gianna creates intricate seed bead works and I (Cat) enjoy metalsmithing and playing with leather.  

3. What materials do you prefer to use (and which ones do you avoid)?
We don't really shy away from odd materials!  The older the materials the better, and hand-fabricating from start to finish like in metal-smithing is a challenge we love tackling. 

4. What techniques do you prefer (and are there any you don't like)?
We love all techniques!  We enjoy metalsmithing, leather working, lampworking, crocheting, and seed beading.  One of the things we really haven't tried is polymer clay, but we will remedy that soon!

5. What colors do you use most, and which do you run screaming from?
Also the same answer as #4, we don't shy away from any color in particular.  While we tend towards the vintage styles, which includes colors like pastels and neutrals, we also love to break out of the box and create with colorful and bright palettes too!

We'll post a teaser of our bead mix when we send it out to our partner.  Also, we'd like to send a big thank you to Bead Peeps organizer Linda for hosting the 2nd Annual Bead Peeps Swap N Hop!