dearketto: handcrafted jewelry
My Shift project for the 2022–2023 school year.
I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with my art.
Throughout my life, I wanted to base my identity around an interest — something that I’m good at and could be recognized for. Perhaps it’s my desire for external validation, but even so, I wanted to have a passion that I could ground myself on. Since I was young, this interest for me has been art, such as drawing and graphic design. While I do enjoy it and developing my style, I’m very critical of my own art. It’s fulfilling, but somehow draining at the same time. I like drawing, but it’s not something I can do all the time anymore.
At the beginning of the school year, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for my Shift project. My project was digital art last year. It was a hard project because I had to motivate myself to draw, and learning itself was difficult. However, it was fulfilling and I’m glad I went through with the project as I had wanted to dive into digital art for a while. Because of that project, drawing came back into my life. But what now? I felt like I should do something catered towards UX design, my future career path. It felt the most productive and beneficial.
After the founder of a startup came to talk at Shift, I felt inspired to make something of my own. The idea of designing a tattoo booking app arose in my mind, and I excitedly saw the vision for it becoming a real tool. I used this idea towards my Digital Product Design class project to design the app. It was a pretty fulfilling experience, and I continued to work on it some more after I had finished the project for the class. However, after a bit, I realized I wanted to move on, considering that it would take a lot of time and resources to develop.
During the fall Shift retreat, I briefly read a book named Steal Like an Artist stowed in the pocket of a car seat. A certain part stood out to me: “Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use — do the work you want to see done.”
I had gotten my ears pierced twice before in the same spot, but they never healed. My mother said her friend had the same problem where her ears wouldn’t heal no matter what, so I accepted my fate. It’s not a big deal, but I do love wearing jewelry. Therefore, I wear clip-on earrings, most of which are from online stores or Asia as they have a lot more options than America. With my limited selection of earrings here at home, I decided to follow the book’s manifesto and make the earrings that I want.
My older sister used to make jewelry as a teenager, so she had a large supply of jewelry-making tools and materials stowed away in her room. My jewelry-making journey actually started back in 2020 during quarantine — after my last AP exam my junior year of high school, I sat at my desk for hours making a bracelet using my sister’s supplies. The next time I made jewelry was during senior year, where I made a simple pair of earrings from the few beads and charms I bought from Michaels. After that, I gave up. Even though I had been interested in jewelry for a while and knew what I liked, I didn’t have a clear vision for what I wanted to make.
I had wanted to get back into jewelry-making for a while, but with school and everything else going on, jumping into it seemed daunting. However, I’ve always had a strong desire to return to it, and when weighing the options that I brainstormed for my Shift Project, jewelry-making seemed the most viable. I just had to commit to it and buy the materials. During Thanksgiving break in November, I was finally free for the first time in a while. I took a trip to Michaels and spent hours in the beads aisle sorting through the strings of beads. Despite how long it took, I felt invigorated. I was excited to start again.
I started off small, making earrings and bracelets for my friends. Wherever I went, I looked for potential sources of inspiration and materials. Practice really is essential to improvement — I feel like I’m now able to make more complex and stylized pieces that match the vision I had for my jewelry. I’ve been able to make phone charms, keychains, hair clips, and necklaces. It’s always exciting seeing what other jewelry makers do, and coming across stores where I can find new materials. Whenever I want to take a mental break, I’ll sit down at the coffee table, bring out my supplies, and start making.
One of my goals was to sell at an art fair for my Shift project. I always had the dream of selling my artwork to people. I had been selling my jewelry to people who contacted me, but I wanted to try selling my jewelry publicly. And I finally got to do it — I sold my jewelry at a student artist market at U-M. In preparation, I bought a resin kit, and I spent hours on making everything. Despite that, I never got tired of it. It was a great experience — lots of people I knew came to support me, and strangers bought my jewelry as well.
I feel like I’ve finally found my passion! Who knows what will come in the future — it’s just the beginning. There are still so many things I want to try, but I’m happy with how things turned out. It was thanks to Shift that I was able to develop this project. Whether I make money off of it or not, I just want to keep exploring my passion for jewelry, and hopefully others will enjoy it too.
Thank you for reading! If you’re interested, follow dearketto’s Instagram here.
