Beaducation: The Blog: Featured Maker: Lauren Shaddow at Lauren Shaddow Handcrafted Jewelry

Supporting artists is one of our favorite things. When they are local to us, we get a little warm and fuzzy. Lauren Shaddow at Lauren Shaddow Handcrafted Jewelry is located in Oakland, California which is just about 45 minutes away from us. Perhaps she will swing by and visit us next time she's on this side of the bridge.

Lauren has a very cool style, simple yet intriguing and her metal stamping is on point. Plus her packaging is super cute, perfect for gifting. Let's meet Lauren:

A few years ago I was scrolling Pinterest and saw some cute metal stamped jewelry made from spoons that I thought looked really interesting. I had made jewelry off and on since I was a kid and was really intrigued on how those pieces were made. After watching a few tutorials on YouTube, I bought a small starter kit that had some basic letters, a tiny bench block, and a hammer, and started stamping. My first few pieces were absolutely terrible but I really enjoyed the process and stuck with it.

That simple starter kit had started an addiction. Before I knew it, I was buying new design stamps and fonts and I was making more jewelry than I could ever wear. I already had an active Etsy shop where I was selling my crochet accessories, so it seemed like a natural next step to start selling some of my jewelry online.

I sold my first cuff bracelet within a few days after listing it for sale and have been growing my business ever since. What started out as a hobby has turned into my career.

After several years of building up my business while working full-time, I have been able to leave the corporate world behind. Being able to do something I love as a job is a dream I never thought possible and making other people happy with my creativity is its own reward.

I love to learn new techniques so I’m constantly watching video tutorials, trying new ideas, and practicing my skills whenever I can. I recently picked up soldering and have learned some basic metalsmithing techniques which I’m starting to incorporate into my designs. Right now, I’m having a lot of fun making stacking rings. Cuff bracelets were the first stamped pieces I ever made and are still my favorite to make.

Taking a clean blank and transforming it into a piece of wearable art is extremely rewarding. It allows me to display my creativity on a canvas that will last a lifetime. There are so many layers to metalsmithing that I feel I will never stop learning or being challenged. I’d say I’m just at the beginning of my journey in stamping and cannot wait to see how it evolves.

I work with sterling silver and aluminum for most of my designs, but I also enjoy working with copper. I use a lot of Beaducation Original stamps in my work. My favorite stamps are the pine trees, succulent plant, and aloe vera. That being said, I kind of love adding to my stamp collection regularly as I don’t think I can ever have enough.