S6-E5: Explore The Art Of Soulful Jewelry With Teresa Kiplinger

Ohio-based jeweler and poet Teresa Kiplinger joins host Mark Nelson in this episode of For the Love of Jewelers. She shares her journey from graphic design to jewelry making and how the visual language she developed in college—storytelling, symbolism, and imagery—continues to shape her work at the bench. Teresa talks about blending poetry and metal to create one-of-a-kind pieces infused with depth and soul.  

The conversation also explores her favorite tools, including her latest creative obsession: the Bonny Doon hydraulic press. Teresa explains how this tool has opened a new chapter in her practice, allowing her to form locket-style pieces from flat sheets of metal engraved with entire poems.

Transcript

00:00:00:02 - 00:00:24:00
Mark Nelson
Hi everybody, and welcome to you. For the Love of Jewelers podcast, I'm your host, Mark Nelson, and with With Me. Today is one of the most fabulous artist poets and jewelers, silver silversmiths, Teresa Kiplinger. And, she creates one of a kind jewelry that weaves together storytelling, symbolism and soul. Lots of soul. That's what I saw all over the internet.

00:00:24:02 - 00:00:48:03
Mark Nelson
Her unique designs showcase incredible attention to detail, and her videos are some of the most captivating. Sorry. You'll find on social media, and I can testify to that 100%. I had to tear myself away from Instagram and Facebook watching all your videos. They are amazing just watching you work is really inspiring, I swear to God. How are you doing today?

00:00:48:05 - 00:00:51:23
Teresa Kiplinger
Great. It's so nice to meet you, Mark. Thanks. Thanks for having me.

00:00:52:01 - 00:01:19:20
Mark Nelson
So we have a few things to talk about. I'd like to start off with, a couple of questions that we came up with. One of them, is you describe your work as haunting and expressive art jewelry that weaves poetry, illustration and silver metal smithing into a single voice. Could you share how you first discovered this interdisciplinary fusion, and why it felt essential for your creative expression?

00:01:19:22 - 00:02:00:14
Teresa Kiplinger
I can, really, it's it's what I've always tried to do with my creative work, honestly. So regardless of the medium, I've been trying to blend imagery and three dimensions in my writing ever since design school, really in college, and many of my graphic design projects in college, for example, book design, I turned a book design project into a three dimensional piece, that kind of did some nonlinear poetic storytelling that incorporated all kinds of various materials and text and, and really kind of challenging the idea of what a book could be.

00:02:00:16 - 00:02:31:09
Teresa Kiplinger
Some of it was translucent, some, you know, some of it was metal, some of it was nontraditional materials. So and that's not what we were supposed to be doing in the graphic design school. But that's what I did with that project. Right. And then I also really loved exploring non-linear storytelling, early in my career in the, in the mid 90s, I did some experimental work with first interaction design that existed, combining animation and illustration in my poetry and storytelling in these little online experiences, like very early in the days of the internet.

00:02:31:15 - 00:02:32:04
Mark Nelson
Okay.

00:02:32:06 - 00:03:04:09
Teresa Kiplinger
And so I think I'm just drawn to the idea of, of experiencing self-expression in a dimensional, non-linear way. And I'm really just doing the same thing now with my jewelry work. It's just really, I found that jewelry, finally is the medium that really allows me to do what I've always wanted with this storytelling. The vitreous enamel gives me the images and the chasing and the fabrication is a way of building dimension.

00:03:04:09 - 00:03:27:20
Teresa Kiplinger
And then the engraving, of course, is just this lovely, traditional, beautiful technique that allows me to incorporate whole poems into my jewelry. So I'm not just inscribing little stanzas. I'm moving into a body of work. Now that inscribes in time, engraving entire poems into my work and then building into it. So it's just kind of what I've always been trying to do.

00:03:27:20 - 00:03:34:04
Teresa Kiplinger
And when I found jewelry, I realized, this is it. Yeah, this is the the way.

00:03:34:06 - 00:03:38:16
Mark Nelson
So quick, quick question for me is what is nonlinear storytelling?

00:03:38:20 - 00:03:57:02
Teresa Kiplinger
Oh, you remember choose your own adventure stories. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we sort of moved into that in the digital age to where you had multiple. It was more it wasn't like, hey, do you want to do this or do you want to do that? But it allowed you to experience it's kind of like game design is now it, you know, video game design.

00:03:57:07 - 00:04:16:06
Teresa Kiplinger
It was very video games, but it was an experimental storytelling instead of running around shooting at things. So it just created this really moody atmosphere, had sound effects that I created myself. I did voice over and, all kinds of stuff for it. So it was, you know, but it still was a poem. It was a kind of a poem that you could walk through and a story.

00:04:16:06 - 00:04:18:12
Teresa Kiplinger
So that's the kind of work that I was doing back then.

00:04:18:14 - 00:04:30:00
Mark Nelson
Okay. And Joy is, it's so fantastic because there are so different many techniques that you can use to tell whatever kind of story that you want to tell. Yeah. I mean, it just goes on and on and on.

00:04:30:00 - 00:04:40:09
Teresa Kiplinger
No, no no no. Yeah. You build dimension in it. You can play with lightness and darkness and image and texture and it's where is worn on the body. It's. Yeah. It's so perfect.

00:04:40:09 - 00:04:43:03
Mark Nelson
It's just lots of stories within stories.

00:04:43:05 - 00:04:48:14
Teresa Kiplinger
When I found it, I was just immediately in it. I was in love immediately.

00:04:48:16 - 00:04:51:22
Mark Nelson
So I saw your collection. It was a Dead Poets Society.

00:04:52:03 - 00:04:52:22
Teresa Kiplinger
The most recent one.

00:04:52:22 - 00:04:58:01
Mark Nelson
Yeah, yeah. But those are hand carved, like with engraving or.

00:04:58:01 - 00:05:03:00
Teresa Kiplinger
Yes, they were hand carved with engraving and they were with your rings. So they were your signet rings.

00:05:03:05 - 00:05:05:16
Mark Nelson
Oh, wow.

00:05:05:18 - 00:05:17:23
Teresa Kiplinger
Side note, it wasn't that was not paid for. But, yeah, I took your signet rings and I carved all of those with hand engraving. That's that's I mean.

00:05:18:01 - 00:05:33:03
Mark Nelson
That's how I started in grad, grad school. I was the first one to pick up a graver and grad school. Oh, cool hands all by hand. Yeah, I just started carving ingots and carving directly into the metal. Oh, wow. And I was so much more at ease with that than carving wax.

00:05:33:05 - 00:05:34:05
Teresa Kiplinger
Me too.

00:05:34:06 - 00:05:37:06
Mark Nelson
So I much prefer to carve directly into the metal. If I.

00:05:37:07 - 00:05:53:03
Teresa Kiplinger
Get you, there's. It takes a lot out the the was the resistance that the metal gives back to you and the feedback that you got from it that just. I just couldn't wax. I thought wax carving was going to be the way for me in the beginning and but but you know, when you're starting out, you don't know what you don't know.

00:05:53:05 - 00:06:04:15
Teresa Kiplinger
So there are all these techniques out there. And I would see a piece of work that inspired. I was like, I have no idea how this was created. So I took like years to figure that out, you know? So then I thought wax carving was going to be it. And I was like, oh no.

00:06:04:15 - 00:06:13:11
Mark Nelson
And that's the fun part about that is when you try to reverse engineer something and figure out how it was made, you find your own way of making it.

00:06:13:13 - 00:06:17:02
Teresa Kiplinger
You know, you work your way around it and then that becomes your thing.

00:06:17:04 - 00:06:21:00
Mark Nelson
Yeah, yeah, I love wax carving, but it is not my thing.

00:06:21:02 - 00:06:26:10
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah. Same thing. I love when I love watching people do it. Oh, yeah, I'm just bad at it.

00:06:26:12 - 00:06:27:19
Mark Nelson
Have you ever watched Kate Wolf do it?

00:06:27:19 - 00:06:28:18
Teresa Kiplinger
Yes, indeed.

00:06:28:22 - 00:06:54:02
Mark Nelson
Oh, my gosh, this is crazy. Well, I got another question for you. Yeah. Which one? What's a good one here? You works. Your work spans a lot of different materials. Silver, glass, brass, polymer, clay, gold, even paper. And found photo photography. Can you walk us through how you decide which material best suits your specific palm or emotion that you're trying to explore?

00:06:54:04 - 00:07:23:09
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah. That goes a few different ways. Sometimes I select those materials based on certain design constraints that I've set out for myself. For particular collection. So, for example, I started working with polymer clay because I wanted to create, really. So I had just done a body of work that was all trace and was a gigantic pieces, and they were all cuff bracelets, because your wrist can bear that level of weight because these things were big.

00:07:23:11 - 00:07:26:14
Mark Nelson
I seen your photo on the website and you're sporting all of them.

00:07:26:14 - 00:07:48:08
Teresa Kiplinger
And I was like, oh yeah, I went, yes, I had to get a shot when I had them all in house. But so I wanted to start making really big pieces that could be worn on your ears and around your neck and things like that. And the weight just got to be crazy. So. So I came to, work with polymer clay because it was a solution that I found that would allow me to build dimension in the same way I had been doing.

00:07:48:08 - 00:08:02:20
Teresa Kiplinger
The chasing wrap is a, but it would be very lightweight. So I was able to build really big earrings and things like that using, polymer clay. But I was using the same sort of techniques and the same esthetic as I was doing with the chasing and representing that.

00:08:02:22 - 00:08:05:04
Mark Nelson
Are you still using a polymer clay or.

00:08:05:06 - 00:08:19:15
Teresa Kiplinger
I do come back to it from time to time. You know, I'll, I'll set it aside for a year and then I'll bring it back suddenly into another collection. I just get a kind of a hunger to use it again and get bored with other things. But. And then sometimes I also it just kind of depends on what I'm trying to express.

00:08:19:15 - 00:08:43:18
Teresa Kiplinger
Like, sometimes I'm chasing a particular feeling or looking for for a material or method that will allow me to capture a mood. And then I look for materials that facilitate that. So right now I've just been on on an endless search for thin, lightweight, translucent materials that aren't acrylic. And, so I've been working with mica and things, right now.

00:08:43:19 - 00:08:44:21
Teresa Kiplinger
So I'm having fun with that.

00:08:45:03 - 00:08:45:20
Mark Nelson
All right.

00:08:45:22 - 00:08:46:11
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah.

00:08:46:13 - 00:09:06:17
Mark Nelson
So since we're on the topic of materials, I think it also applies to tools. When you're looking on your website and all your social media, you have one heck of a studio. Do I mean, some of the best materials and materials there is? You do hand engraving. What are some of your favorite tools? Do you have any favorite tools?

00:09:06:18 - 00:09:08:09
Mark Nelson
Oh, no. Or is it just a tool.

00:09:08:09 - 00:09:10:06
Teresa Kiplinger
That it's because they love them?

00:09:10:06 - 00:09:12:17
Mark Nelson
Oh, I know, right.

00:09:12:19 - 00:09:21:03
Teresa Kiplinger
Well, of course, this was. So the last two years of my practice, I've been very focused on engraving. Engraving was. Yeah.

00:09:21:03 - 00:09:22:04
Mark Nelson
You have to be.

00:09:22:06 - 00:09:44:17
Teresa Kiplinger
Well, yes, you do have to be. And it was an end goal early on, like ten years ago, I was looking at engraved Victorian lockets and things, and I was very heavily influenced by that era in my upbringing, in the things that were around me when I was growing up, like books, writings and things like that. And I always, always wanted to be able to do that.

00:09:44:19 - 00:10:07:19
Teresa Kiplinger
And so it took me a long time to build up to it. And when I finally started learning it, I just all I did for a solid year was engraving, and I didn't do any enameling or anything else. Yeah. And, and I when you do that, you get very affectionate about your tools that have like, given you this gift of ability.

00:10:07:19 - 00:10:26:19
Teresa Kiplinger
And so I, my, pneumatic engraving system I absolutely adore. And of course, I've got my engraving blocks, I've got several different kinds, and each of them has a special place in my heart for different reasons.

00:10:26:21 - 00:10:38:12
Mark Nelson
The best tools. Yeah. It's crazy because, you know, we have all these tools and it's like your favorite one is the ones doing the job right now. You know, it's like, this one's killing it for me, right now. This is my favorite tool.

00:10:38:13 - 00:11:01:19
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah, exactly. Well, and you know what's really neat? I guess you could say this about a lot of tools and metal smithing, but there's something about the, graver and how it sits in your palm, and it picks up your body heat and your, your, your whole body is engaged with engraving in so many ways. That was just so profound to me.

00:11:01:19 - 00:11:23:15
Teresa Kiplinger
Like I really connected with engraving in my whole body. And that tool, when I put it in my hand, knowing that I can I can do things with it now because it was like eight months of, yeah, nothing was coming out of here that was any good. And so that was also it kind of it's a symbolic thing that I can hold in my hand.

00:11:23:15 - 00:11:28:22
Teresa Kiplinger
And that represents like, yeah, I put in the time. Yeah. And now I can do some things.

00:11:29:03 - 00:11:31:12
Mark Nelson
10,000 hours. Did you get 10,000 hours.

00:11:31:14 - 00:11:54:16
Teresa Kiplinger
Well I'll tell you. Here's a little side note story. When I, when I built my my studio in earnest, this was about 12 years ago. Well, ten years ago, I guess 2015 and I, I started this endeavor then. So I started metal smithing in my 40s and when I fell in love and I realized, this is the thing.

00:11:54:18 - 00:12:18:12
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah, I realized if I don't put in this 10,000 hours, if I don't get serious about this, I'm going to die before I can do it, you know? And so, yeah, I just I was already behind. I wished I would have picked it up when I was 16 as an apprentice, you know. Yeah. So I just felt like I was behind, behind in every way.

00:12:18:12 - 00:12:37:15
Teresa Kiplinger
And so I set about, getting into my studio every single weekend without fail, all day, every day. Even if I was in there not knowing what I was going to do, even if I was in there being anxious about, I'm going to have to solder this big thing today, and I haven't got a clue how to do it, and I don't want to do it.

00:12:37:17 - 00:12:43:20
Teresa Kiplinger
I force myself to be in here. And so you discipline. It was like training the gym, you know, I'm.

00:12:43:20 - 00:12:45:00
Mark Nelson
Going to the gym.

00:12:45:02 - 00:12:46:14
Teresa Kiplinger
Yes. It's exactly like going to the gym.

00:12:46:19 - 00:12:48:21
Mark Nelson
It's like you want to go, but you got to go.

00:12:49:01 - 00:13:04:02
Teresa Kiplinger
You don't want to go? Yeah. Now, unfortunately, if I go to the gym, things would be better in that way too. But. But I'd rather be in my studio. So that's where I found my time. And then I've just doubled down in the last couple of years where when I started learning engraving, I was like, well, you know, you hear people talking about it.

00:13:04:02 - 00:13:17:01
Teresa Kiplinger
It takes years and years to get good engraving. And then I thought, well, I guess I'm going to have to get up at four and engrave until I have to do my real job, and then I'm going to have to eat dinner, and then I'm going to have to engrave some more until, like, collapse and go to bed.

00:13:17:06 - 00:13:27:18
Teresa Kiplinger
And that's what I've been doing for the last two years, is putting that kind of time into the engraving. So I'm very dedicated to it. I can't remember why I told you that story, I forgot it, I.

00:13:27:18 - 00:13:54:03
Mark Nelson
Love it, I love it because it's really necessary. And I think I want to jump on a quote that you gave to us during an article that you did for us. It's talking about inspiration, how you advise as guided in your own creative journey. Journey. As a beginner, finding your voice is intimidating, and this sense of aimlessness can lead you to a weight inspiration to avoid your bench.

00:13:54:05 - 00:14:22:20
Mark Nelson
And that is like really profound. And you know I've been doing this for like 30 years. You know I've been in metal Smith for 30 years and I'm still a beginner in a lot of ways, you know. And I find myself in those moments where I'm like aimless and not inspired, but getting it to the bench and pushing and graver hammering something, just making anything, making a tool to make another something is what drives inspiration.

00:14:22:22 - 00:14:37:08
Mark Nelson
You know, my biggest nice, the pieces I love the most. I've been uninspired and just creative. Pure juice, you know, I was like, I had to do something and then let me. I just went for it, you know, and this one of my favorite pieces.

00:14:37:10 - 00:14:51:23
Teresa Kiplinger
So one of my favorite quotes and I quote it all the time, I think people get sick of hearing me say it, especially younger metal Smiths who were looking for advice. Right. It's a Picasso quote that inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.

00:14:52:04 - 00:14:52:22
Mark Nelson
Exactly.

00:14:53:03 - 00:15:04:12
Teresa Kiplinger
And that's the thing. You can't just sit around and stare at the sky and wait for the the ideas. For some reason, you have to be at your bench and you have to be using your hands, and you have to be doing something.

00:15:04:14 - 00:15:21:04
Mark Nelson
100%. And my, my old professor from Texas Tech, his saying was similar, was like, luck favors the prepared. And it's like, oh, I love that. Yeah, it's kind of along the same vein, you know, you know, your inspiration is not going to come to you unless you're prepared for it.

00:15:21:06 - 00:15:24:17
Teresa Kiplinger
Yes. So yeah, I love that.

00:15:24:19 - 00:15:27:11
Mark Nelson
Yeah. I'm still beginner, you know, 30 years into this.

00:15:27:12 - 00:15:31:01
Teresa Kiplinger
I think I think we always will be. I think that's why we love this though, right?

00:15:31:01 - 00:15:33:21
Mark Nelson
I know that's why jewelry so fantastic. You know.

00:15:33:22 - 00:15:34:10
Teresa Kiplinger
I'm.

00:15:34:12 - 00:15:42:08
Mark Nelson
Still learning stuff all the time. Thinking with your pencil. Yes. That's another good one.

00:15:42:13 - 00:15:52:18
Teresa Kiplinger
That was advice that I can't take credit for. That one that was in design school. I got that advice from Paul Sayer, who is a noted graphic designer, and that was advice he gave me in college.

00:15:52:19 - 00:16:17:12
Mark Nelson
Yeah, I'm going to take it home with me today. One of the things I've always struggled with as an artist, especially going through grad school and everything, is telling stories or drawing from personal experiences. I'm just not that kind of artist. I'm more intrigued with, like, solving a problem or doing something different, you know what I mean?

00:16:17:13 - 00:16:38:03
Mark Nelson
My professor was always like, you know, what story do you want to tell? And I'm like, I don't have any stories. I just want to make cool stuff. But your work is so wonderful to look at, and you're immediately drawn into the images that you do in your enameling. And then you do the script and the engraving and things like that.

00:16:38:03 - 00:16:40:22
Mark Nelson
So what kind of experiences are driving that?

00:16:41:01 - 00:17:11:23
Teresa Kiplinger
Well, my process is really it really starts with the, the written word. So my poetry is usually the seed of a collection. Okay. And what I like to do is choose a poem that's sort of speaking to me. Maybe I've written it 20 years ago. Maybe I'll write it for the point of making a new collection. And then I will use that as the inspiration and inherently, poetry for me.

00:17:12:04 - 00:17:32:17
Teresa Kiplinger
Some poets don't write this way, but for me, it it is born out of personal experience of some sort. Sure. Some poets can just write about anything and they turn it into kind of a fiction. I'm more of a confessional poet. Where 90% of what's in there is real, and then I take poetic license with the other 10%.

00:17:32:17 - 00:17:58:01
Teresa Kiplinger
So it's not always super personal, but they're deep. They're deep topics, I guess. And and it's a deep content to, to go into. But I don't know, I just I also love things that are just beautiful to look at. And I love modern minimal jewelry design. Yeah, I look at it, I study it, I admire it, I cannot do it, I cannot do it.

00:17:58:03 - 00:18:21:18
Teresa Kiplinger
I want to embellish and engrave and carve and enamel everything. So I just have to admire it from afar. But, yeah, I it is a little bit odd, I guess, to be sharing these personal ideas and perspectives and expressions with a whole bunch of strangers.

00:18:21:20 - 00:18:23:03
Mark Nelson
As you're putting yourself out there, man.

00:18:23:07 - 00:18:46:11
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah, yeah. But for me, that's always been sort of not super unnatural because I just sort of was born wanting to share. And, and I think as a poet, you want your work to be consumed and you want to know people have read it and and you want to know they feel it and respond to it. That's the point.

00:18:46:11 - 00:18:48:19
Teresa Kiplinger
If it just stays in a drawer, that's not the point.

00:18:48:21 - 00:18:49:14
Mark Nelson
That's not the point.

00:18:49:17 - 00:18:59:22
Teresa Kiplinger
So for me, it's been delightful to have, like an Instagram presence where I can share those things and get feedback directly. It's fantastic.

00:19:00:00 - 00:19:11:21
Mark Nelson
Yeah. So and I love it. I love how that, you know, you can make something so personal to you, and it's taken on by somebody else with a whole different meaning. And it's really personal to them.

00:19:11:23 - 00:19:30:06
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah, I love them too. And it's always interesting for me to find out later. I'm lucky enough to get a lot of responses from people, too, after they receive a piece that they've purchased, and I'll get a letter explaining why it meant so much to them. And it's always very different than what was coming out of me when I created it.

00:19:30:06 - 00:19:31:12
Teresa Kiplinger
And that's amazing.

00:19:31:16 - 00:19:33:08
Mark Nelson
Yeah, it just grew.

00:19:33:10 - 00:19:52:20
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah, yeah. And and and it's not mine anymore. Now, now it's there, it's there. And hopefully their children will know of it and receive it and wear it. And whatever that story is will mean something to them. And now it's folded in the person who bought it to their children, their grandchildren, they'll think of their grandmother when they're wearing it.

00:19:52:20 - 00:19:53:21
Teresa Kiplinger
I love all that stuff.

00:19:53:21 - 00:19:55:00
Mark Nelson
And that's why we're jewelers.

00:19:55:04 - 00:19:55:22
Teresa Kiplinger
Totally.

00:19:56:03 - 00:20:07:18
Mark Nelson
You know, Metal Smith? Yeah, yeah. So let's go back to tools a little bit. I saw that on your Instagram. You started working with the, bunny doing press. How's that working out?

00:20:07:19 - 00:20:37:08
Teresa Kiplinger
Oh, it's been so much fun. I, I am working on, new collection of lock at forms that I'm using the bunny dune press to form out of flat sheets of metal that I've engraved entire poems on. So if you imagine something that is, you know, 4x4 inches is completely covered in a poem, it runs all the way off the edges.

00:20:37:10 - 00:21:03:18
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah. It's, it's engraved script that is probably, I don't know, 2.5mm high. So it's a lot of engraving and, and what's fascinating about that is typically an engraver would form something like that or purchase something pre-formed. And then you have to engrave over the corners and the edges and the curves and it's a nightmare. And nobody ever wants to do it, you know.

00:21:03:20 - 00:21:22:18
Teresa Kiplinger
But the Bonnie Doon allows me to engrave flat, which is much easier. And then I'm able to use their lock. It dies to form it. It does not distort the engraving at all. It just beautifully forms it right over that day. And, I'm having a lot of fun that with that, there's so many other things I want to do.

00:21:22:18 - 00:21:35:05
Teresa Kiplinger
I want to start cutting non-conforming dyes and silhouette dyes, and I've got a million ideas and I just haven't gotten into them yet. But once you start using this tool, you realize it does so much.

00:21:35:08 - 00:21:38:06
Mark Nelson
Yeah, it does a lot. A lot of stuff you don't even think it can do.

00:21:38:06 - 00:21:54:15
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah. I mean, I even stuck my my big old two inch discutir in there, my swan stream discutir in there, and I use the Bonnie Doon to punch the, to punch a disc out of a really heavy piece of metal that was like, oh my gosh, this is like ten gauge metal, you know? That's crazy.

00:21:54:17 - 00:21:56:17
Mark Nelson
So do you know how that came about?

00:21:56:19 - 00:21:57:12
Teresa Kiplinger
No, I don't.

00:21:57:12 - 00:22:13:20
Mark Nelson
This is funny. This is a fun story. So we'd go to Jake, jewelers. Jewelers, circular Keystone Show, and, Phil Poirier, Bonnie Doon, and then Tim Sherriff at Swan String would be next to each other. And whenever they got bored, they started doing weird stuff.

00:22:13:22 - 00:22:15:17
Teresa Kiplinger
Oh, well. So two jewelers together.

00:22:15:17 - 00:22:33:11
Mark Nelson
And that's what, you know. So what they would do is they take these quarters and Tim Sheriff's this cutter and Phil punch out the head, and then they would flip it around and put it back in. So they just started playing around together. And these two inventors really just started mucking around and creating some really cool stuff.

00:22:33:13 - 00:22:55:01
Teresa Kiplinger
Oh, that's so cool. I just got a bunch of new dyes from from Peter Gilroy at Bonnie Dean tool. There's one that's, cut corner rectangle. Yeah. And that is a theme that I use. It's a motif, I guess, that I use in a lot of my work and rings, pendants, earrings, everything. It's definitely influenced by the Victorian era jewelry, jewelry that I study and love so much.

00:22:55:01 - 00:23:06:21
Teresa Kiplinger
But I can't wait. Just I haven't even had a chance to use that dye yet, but it's so pretty. The dye alone is so pretty, so I can't. And he also sent me. The next thing I want to do is I want to start carving hubs.

00:23:06:23 - 00:23:07:11
Mark Nelson
Oh yeah? Yeah.

00:23:07:13 - 00:23:09:15
Teresa Kiplinger
Hobs. I always call them hubs because hubs, right?

00:23:09:16 - 00:23:10:09
Mark Nelson
Yeah.

00:23:10:11 - 00:23:15:14
Teresa Kiplinger
I want to start Carving hub. So he sent me a whole bunch of those and I'm really excited to try that too.

00:23:15:14 - 00:23:18:06
Mark Nelson
I made my own buttons doing that. That was fun.

00:23:18:08 - 00:23:19:20
Teresa Kiplinger
I there's not enough time.

00:23:20:00 - 00:23:22:14
Mark Nelson
I know we're just beginners, right?

00:23:22:16 - 00:23:23:12
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah.

00:23:23:13 - 00:23:27:12
Mark Nelson
So you're making lockets. Are you going to put anything inside them or is that for the customer to do.

00:23:27:14 - 00:24:00:14
Teresa Kiplinger
Yes. So I'm I'm tinkering with a whole bunch of ideas. I'm thinking about putting, enamels inside. So instead of where you might have a photo, I'm thinking of doing enameled scenes in there that continue to tell and depict the story of the poem that is inscribed on the outside. I'm also tinkering with putting my intaglio prints in there, so doing an engraving and then making an intaglio print and forming it by wetting it inside to form to the curvature of the locket.

00:24:00:16 - 00:24:39:13
Teresa Kiplinger
The literally the paper intaglio prints, and then put glass domes over top of it, which I'm also working on, glass slumping in my kiln. So I'm trying to put together, and then I am also working on Polaroid lifts, which is a technology of I'm Tate, I'm taking my own Polaroids with a new Polaroid camera, black and white Polaroids, and I'm using a technique where you cut them open and you can lift the Polaroid film emulsion off of the backing, and it becomes this gelatinous little ghostly goop floating in water, and you can lift it out of the water and fuze it onto paper or whatever you want.

00:24:39:15 - 00:25:02:12
Teresa Kiplinger
And I'm fuzing it on to sheets of mica, which is like something I haven't seen anybody do. I'm sure someone, somewhere in the world has, but yeah. So I'm, I'm fuzing those images on to make and it creates this. It gives me the ability to layer multiple photographic images that have this ghostly, distorted quality because of the way I'm producing them and transferring them.

00:25:02:14 - 00:25:13:12
Teresa Kiplinger
And I'm going to stack those into dimensional pieces that I'm going to form on the body. June. So I've got like six different bodies of work cooking right now, not enough time to work on them all.

00:25:13:14 - 00:25:33:16
Mark Nelson
I'm done with how. I'd love to see that. So what we're going to do is we're definitely going to post, you know, your Facebook and your Instagram on this podcast and hopefully people will go and check out your stuff. It's amazing. You definitely have to like and follow your pages, to keep up to speed. And I love your website.

00:25:33:18 - 00:25:52:16
Mark Nelson
Very well done. And it reads a lot of the pages read like poems, which I like, very touching. And then I really love the Metal Smiths FAQ page. It's like you're documenting how you're learning this stuff and what you're using and sharing that with other people. So I really encourage people to go out to your website.

00:25:52:16 - 00:25:56:15
Mark Nelson
And, that was like, is it Silver poet.com. Yes.

00:25:56:15 - 00:25:58:09
Teresa Kiplinger
Silver poet.com.

00:25:58:14 - 00:26:22:08
Mark Nelson
Okay. So I highly encourage you to go and visit your website and, every page and, and just gain all kinds of great, you know, great information. So Theresa, we talked a little bit about before, but you did a podcast, I think, back in 2021 with Tony Davidson. And I think her, she is has her, her group of people, which is the jewelry makers guild.

00:26:22:10 - 00:26:22:21
Teresa Kiplinger
Yes.

00:26:23:00 - 00:26:44:14
Mark Nelson
And that was amazing podcast. It's like almost two hours long, it sounds like. And you guys went into, like, all kinds of topics and in-depth. And I really want to encourage our watchers and listeners today to go and check that out. We're going to put a link on their website, along with this, announcement for them to go see that.

00:26:44:16 - 00:26:50:19
Mark Nelson
And I think you also have been doing your own podcasts. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about about that?

00:26:50:21 - 00:27:13:04
Teresa Kiplinger
Sure. Yes. I've started my own podcast with, a childhood friend of mine, Joy, and it's called Artsy Types. And, we like to get to. Well, I'll tell you what. During Covid, we started having these, kind of wine soaked conversations about arts and culture and creativity, and, we just kind of continue doing that even after Covid.

00:27:13:04 - 00:27:34:22
Teresa Kiplinger
And there are a lot of fun. And so we thought, let's just drink a little bit too much wine and make a podcast. So that's what we do. We talk about all kinds of things like, how do you get over imposter syndrome? How do you find a mentor? Even like real technical things like, you know, what color should a shadow be on a lemon?

00:27:34:22 - 00:27:49:11
Teresa Kiplinger
Should it be dark yellow or should it be the complementary color of purple? So, we have a lot of, fun conversations around that. And then every once in a while, we diverge down weird rabbit holes about things and art history and stuff.

00:27:49:11 - 00:27:54:21
Mark Nelson
That's not that's the best. It's fun now, is it? On Spotify and Apple or.

00:27:54:23 - 00:28:02:05
Teresa Kiplinger
Okay, it's on both. It's on Spotify and Apple. And we have a little Substack too, where we publish some of our writing and things like that too. But yeah.

00:28:02:07 - 00:28:26:10
Mark Nelson
So I'm really loving this whole new I'm seeing a whole new cult culture emerging with podcasts, a new jewelry industry. I mean, we do our own thing here. You're doing your thing, Tanya's doing that, and there's a bunch of others who are doing podcasts and really bringing talent out and kind of creating this, like online community, various on various platforms and things like that.

00:28:26:12 - 00:28:30:07
Mark Nelson
And everybody's kind of getting to know each other. Yeah. Which is really great.

00:28:30:13 - 00:28:52:10
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah. Otherwise, as much as we like, organizations have tried to build community for years and years and years, but here it is, this sort of organic growth organically. These different platforms have have been the thing that have done it. Like I know Christine Mogen with her slow made podcast, she has started a community to where people can get together and share.

00:28:52:12 - 00:29:17:07
Teresa Kiplinger
And then this podcast that we're working on has been really fun because, the artsy types of podcasts, we're we are not talking about just jewelry. Of course, I have my tangents where I go in there, but we're talking about creativity. And what's happening is we're hearing from glass artists and of course, jewelers and painters and, writers and photographers are all interested in this podcast.

00:29:17:07 - 00:29:37:13
Teresa Kiplinger
So it's of course, I go down my little rabbit holes about jewelry. Sure. But we talk about every type of creativity because that's something that all artists and creatives share is that those sort of core things like, yeah, my family does not understand why I spend all my time in my studio. And, you know, it's it's kind of stuff like that that we, that we talk about.

00:29:37:13 - 00:29:50:16
Teresa Kiplinger
And that has been really fun for me because I'm getting direct messages from people I've not met before. In tangent role, crafts. And so I'm making friends with all these other types of makers. That's been really fun.

00:29:50:18 - 00:29:53:05
Mark Nelson
We're jewelers and metal smiths, but we are artists.

00:29:53:05 - 00:29:53:22
Teresa Kiplinger
That's right.

00:29:54:00 - 00:29:56:10
Mark Nelson
You know, we're all part of that artist artistic family.

00:29:56:13 - 00:29:57:04
Teresa Kiplinger


00:29:57:06 - 00:30:00:04
Mark Nelson
So just telling our, our stories in our own little ways.

00:30:00:08 - 00:30:27:06
Teresa Kiplinger
Yeah. Yeah. And I'm just going to hijack the show here for two seconds and thank Mark. Oh because when I was beginning jewelry making Mark's videos and his peaceful presence helped helped me through being, very confused about jewelry making. All the couple first years I was in my studio by myself. Mark was the voice of peace and just letting the solder flow and don't sweat it.

00:30:27:10 - 00:30:32:16
Teresa Kiplinger
So, thank you, Mark, for that. And I'm sure I'm speaking for many, many jewelers out there who learned a lot from you.

00:30:32:18 - 00:30:56:15
Mark Nelson
So I'm really grateful that I was of some help and it's all I to be. So well. Thank you, Teresa, so much for joining us today. And, really look forward to further conversations that we get to have and listening to the, podcasts and seeing whatever you post on Instagram. Your work is just so amazing and touching and it's moving for sure.

00:30:56:17 - 00:30:57:16
Mark Nelson
Thank you again.

00:30:57:18 - 00:30:59:14
Teresa Kiplinger
Thank you so much for having me.

00:30:59:16 - 00:31:01:18
Mark Nelson
We'll talk to you later, right? Yeah. Okay. Okay.