Tell us about yourself: I have lived in Alaska since 1981 and love living a slower less complex life. My family and I moved to a remote town along the Yukon River in 1997 and love living in the Alaskan wilderness…we haul water from the local well, we heat our log home with wood, we mushed dogs for several years, we love to snow machine, ski and build snow caves. My husband is the pastor of our local church Eagle Bible Chapel and I teach our 4 children at home. I am a full-time crafter/creator.
What is your business mission? I love teaching and so I look at my jewelry and my knitting as another way to impart history to others. My jewelry mostly is made using antique trade beads from the 1800’s and my knitting is mostly felted in the tradition of the original cold weather gear.
Why did you start your business? I love creating and I quickly realized that you can only give so many things away, and since I am a creating fiend, I rarely am able to finish a project before I am thinking of my next project. I began making jewelry about 12 years ago and soon discovered antique trade beads. I love history and as I was gathering history about beads I learned that beads had been used as buying commodity for centuries, this concept was fascinating and I began researching which beads came through Alaska with the trappers and miners in the 1800’s. Most of my jewelry is made using the same types of beads brought in to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890’s. I clean up the beads and then show them off in modern styles using sterling silver accents. Each of my pieces comes with a card that gives a bit of history of the beads. The only drawback with antique beads is that since they were handmade each one is different and so matching the beads to make a necklace or earrings can be tedious so when I get overwhelmed I turn to my collection of Swarovski crystals and design with them, my most popular crystal items is my Northern Lights in Stained Glass bracelet, celebrating the famed dancing northern lights. I also learned to knit about 10 years ago and after having made socks and sweaters in abundance, I learned the old tradition of felting wool, to make a wonderful thick fabric that is water resistant, yet soft and sturdy. I am also selling knitting patterns so that others can create the fun, unique totes that are mostly inspired by the world around me.
Whats next? I have only recently begun selling online, I have been selling off-line for the last 8 years and my goal is to build up my online business to match my off-line business.
Learn more about Log Cabin Creations.
