It was in 1998 that the crown making began in earnest. My first foray was a birthday crown, then a crown in honor of friend’s expected baby, then a crown for a friend having his first big art show. I went back to school, taking classes at Portland Pottery & Metalsmithing and Maine College of Art. With each metalsmithing course, I took what I learned about craftsmanship, construction, design and technique and applied it, in my own fashion, to the act of making crowns and jewelry.

The idea to start selling my work came in 2001, as the number of people calling me to make crowns grew. They were looking for unique ways to mark many occasions and events … a Broadway producer's 80th birthday party, a retirement, a graduation, a wedding, people waging battles with cancer, a woman celebrating a birthday with her own Ya Ya sisters, and women of the Red Hat Society coming into their queenliness. The stories behind the people ordering crowns have made this work often fun and always fulfilling.