Rebecca left a comment on one of my earlier posts and included a link to her website. I was very impressed by the elegance and beauty of her jewelry designs. When I found out she was trying to start a business of her own, I knew I had to interview her!

What services/products does your business provide?

Rebecca Thomas Designs provides sterling silver wrapped wire jewelry accented with various semi-precious stones and glass beads. I offer pieces that I’ve made and also do custom and commissioned work. I also am available to teach jewelry classes, and hope to have a series of technique and project sheets available by the end of the summer.

How long have you been in business?

Truth be told, this business started under another name in the summer of 2003. A poor peformance and a series of moves led to the business not operating for about a year. I just started reorganizing and putting my pieces out for the general public again last fall. The new website and business name were launched only in the past couple of months.

Where is your business located?

The international headquarters for Rebecca Thomas Designs is located in Bothell, Washington!

Is it a home-based business? Online-only business? Retail storefront business? Full-time, part-time?

It’s a home-based business that conducts business both online through eBay and an online consignment shop (www.oldegarage.com) and offline through friends and coworkers. Eventually, I expect the website to be the major point of sale.

It’s definitely a part-time business that takes anywhere from eight to twenty hours of my week, depending on other demands on my time that week.

What kind of traditional 9 to 5 job(s) have you had in the past, if any? What are you currently doing as you build up your jewelry design business?

By training and experience, I’m actually a museum educator. When I couldn’t find work in my field anymore, I first tried editing for a test publishing company, and then was a recruiting coordinator at one of the largest companies in the Puget Sound area. The past few months have seen a blissful return to teaching. I am currently working three part-time jobs. I teach for Sylvan Learning Centers, Science Adventures, and Kelly Educational Services. This summer, I will actually be working full time for Science Adventures and part time for Sylvan.

Did jewelry designing start out as a hobby for you? Where did you learn to make jewelry?

Jewelry design has long been one of my crafts of choice. It’s easy. It’s cute. It’s a great way to express who you are. I made my first beaded piece with my mother when I was about 8. We made similar mother-of-pearl necklaces as a kind of mother-daughter bonding activity. Toward the end of elementary school/beginning of middle school, I learned to make friendship bracelets. Not the simple braided ones, but the nice macrame ones. I actually had a small business in middle school selling the simple striped flat bracelets to classmates for fifty cents. I don’t remember where I learned the basic flat design. At summer camp a few years later, I learned the round pattern, and not long after that I started learning more complex patterns. I learned the square knot pattern favored in hemp designs only in the past couple of years.

Five years ago, I started participating in a medieval recreation group. After watching people make 4-in-1 chain maille armor, I decided I wanted to learn. Several people offered to teach me, but none of them ever actually got around to it. A health problem drove me to move home in 2002, and it was early that year when I found a book on viking knit (a technique I still have yet to learn). I bought the book, took it home, started reading it, and discovered that the back half of the book covered jump ring techniques. There, in black and white, was the technique I had been wanting to learn! Of course, I distract easily. I didn’t start with the flat mail patterns. I started with the Byzantine chain, followed quickly by the Box chain. The techniques were so simple and fun that I was immediately hooked. I started playing with design combinations and have created at least a handful of necklace and bracelet designs over the past three years. Some have gone to auctions, others have gone to friends. Most of my first attempts are hiding in my own jewelry box, and for the most part I only wear my own pieces.

What led you to start your own business?

I suppose one could blame my parents for my current path. My mother is a serial entrepreneur who has, among other things, sold crafts that she makes. My father has a twenty-year-old side business selling his plastic canvas creations. It just seemed to be a natural path. I chose jewelry as my path because it was simple, I enjoyed it, and it allowed me a creative outlet at a time when I felt like I couldn’t be heard. Now, I’m starting it as my first business because I have so much of what I need already to get it up and running. (I expect to be a serial entrepreneur, just like Mom!)

Continued in Part II of this interview, where Rebecca shares what is hardest about starting her own business…