Featured Artist - Camilla Vejen Eriksen from Danagonia - Enchanted jewelry, Denmark
Camilla, a wonderful jewelry artist with a lighthearted Etsy site, is this week's featured artist. She does gorgeous wire work with wonderful attention to detail. My personal favorite is her Snow Heart Pendant, I really like the contrast between the wire work and the moss agate.
How long have you been working in your medium?
I started making jewelry 2 years ago. But it was only about 1 year ago that I started to wire wrap, my preferred technique. I just recently started working with stamps and sawing.
What drew you to this medium?
I felt very lost and didn't know what I should do with my life. I thought I wanted to be a goldsmith, so I bought a bunch of books and started to teach myself the techniques. However, I quickly got a small jewelry class and learned that I loved teaching more than making the jewelry. I hate making the same piece twice. So now I only make OOAK pieces and teach small jewelry classes, as an extra income to my studies.
What is your favorite thing about your art?
I love that what I make gets to be used and makes the owner feel pretty and beautiful. Everyone however thin or fat, tall or small can wear jewelry, it's not just for the super models and it enhances everyones's natural beauty.
What's your favorite piece?
Oh! Hard one ... I love all my babies, but I do think my Lost Key Necklace turned out well.
What's the hardest piece you've ever made?
I just wire wrapped a pretty complex piece with lots of small parts. I also wanted to hide my wrappings, so that it looked soldered, that was pretty hard and took almost 4 hours to make. It's called The Fairy Cross.
What's the one favorite tool you cannot live without?
My hammering block and hammer, I just love to hear that "ding, ding, ding"!
What's your favorite thing about your workspace or studio?
I and my husband just moved into an apartment in my parents' house. My mother is a very talented fantasy artist, so we have created a joint workspace, where we sit across each other; I think that's my favorite part. I can get inspired by her paintings and I don't have to sit by myself and create.
What is your other craft?
I am a student, studying to become a school teacher in the Danish middle school, I will teach the subjects arts and crafts, Danish and history.
Who or what inspires you?
My mother, Marianne Mathiasen's, art work does inspire me a lot. She has created an online fairy world, you can visit here, Nidlongdir.
I also really love the designs from Catherinette Rings, my style is a bit more romantic and fairy oriented, but I do love the steampunk style.
What's your favorite inspirational saying?
"No roses without thorns", it's an old Danish saying, and I think it can be interpreted in many ways.
What's one thing you've never done you always wanted to do?
I really would love to go bead shopping in China.
The SATeam blog features artisan handmade creations by the etsy starving artists jewelry team. SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current etsy shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com.
8 comments:
Great interview, Nicole. Wonderful to learn about Camilla and the wonderful whimsical wirework she creates.
I love hearing how everyone creates, seeing their workspace and getting a chance to learn a little bit about them!
Thanks for featuring me - think it turned out well :-)
Great interview - I love to hear about what inspires an artist.
Nice studio set-up! It's cool that you can work with your mom (you are a very artistic family!).
Great interview. Very interesting. Nice to get to know Camilla a bit better.
Excellent interview!
I really enjoyed reading about Danagonia... I've always admired her work! She's got some beautiful jewelry!
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