Garden Gifts Jewelry Shop: an interview with a fantastic pressed flower jewelry artist

I have the honor to present an interview with Cindy, from (non-Etsy!) shop Garden Gifts Jewelry.

How did you get started working with real flower jewelry?
My in-laws, Bev & Lawrie Garvin, are the ones who taught me everything I know about pressing flowers and making beautiful jewelry.  They also make this jewelry and sell it wholesale to the Gift shop in the famous Butchard Gardens in Victoria, BC Canada.  It  is a lot of fun to get together with Mom and Dad and trade ideas, plants and pressed flower.  There is a lot of experimentation involved in our process so it is always fun to learn from each other whenever possible.

When I first started making the jewelry I sold it at all the local Farmer's Markets.  As I started to feel more confident I expanded to Christmas and Artisan shows.  Every year I would see repeat customers.  If I did not show up at a show customers would contact me at my home.  But that takes up a lot of time.  After about 5 years of doing that  I decided to open an on line or web based store.  I also have another web based jewelry business with my husband.  Re-Cycled Accessories is a line of jewelry made with recycled bicycle parts.  So two websites, a full time job and a passion for cycling, running and swimming keeps me pretty busy.

What are your favorite flowers?
My favourite flowers to work with are Delphiniums.  I love the deep colours and the different varieties.  Roses and Pansies are also nice to work with and
are a favourite of many people.

What can you tell people just starting out?
My advice to anyone starting out is to start with fresh picked flowers, preferably ones that have just opened.  The pressing is the most important part. If you don't get a good press you may as well forget about going to the next step.  If a flower does not come out of the press looking 100 percent then don't use it!  There are a lot of flowers that do not press well.  Don't be disappointed.  Just find out which ones work best for you.Succulent flowers are very hard to press because they are so full of moisture.  Play around with different kinds of presses including the microwave type.  Practice, practice, practice and take notes, lots of notes.

Check out my flower jewelry at
http://www.gardengiftsjewelry.com/
check out my recycled jewelry at
http://www.recycledacc.com/

 Thank you so much, Cindy. I think this is the loveliest flower jewelry I have ever seen!


Instead of a "hint of the day", I get to pat myself on the back a little. Yesterday I received the catalog from the Korean International Pressed Flower Competition. With it came my certificate indicating I had  placed as a finalist in the competition. Since this is the only competition I have ever entered as a jewelry artist, I am astonished and supremely honored!  Here is the piece of jewelry I entered:

 Thank you for stopping by. I love comments and questions.  Chris