About Terri.
Terri is a retired interior designer who has spent a career turning things on end and exploring the unexpected. Hoping to find a new outlet for her creative energy and unlimited imagination, she’s turned her talents to designing and making jewelry with her own twist.
Adapting her well-honed design sensibilities to her new endeavor, Terri combines old and new, elegant and funky, vintage and recycled elements from around the world and from your neighbor’s garage into one-of-a-kind wearable treasures. Her palette consists of metals, glass, gems, ceramic, fabric and found objects that she combines to produce fantastic unique adornments. Her work is influenced by her world travels quirky sense of humor and love of color. You never know what you’ll find at Very Terri Boutique.
Terri's Creative Process
My collection is about the mix of materials, color, texture, found curios and a playful attitude. I hope it can be enjoyed for its creativity and uniqueness and for its boldness and sculptural beauty.
Collect
I have always loved shopping! I started collecting beads, findings, baubles long ago. I look for small items with “good bones” and save them for future creations.
Shopping when I travel is a favorite pastime and always takes me to places that other tourists don’t frequent. I research flea markets, junk stores, and consignment shops wherever I go.
The people I meet are exceptional and our friendly negotiations (often in several languages) are such fun. I search the internet for oddities, beads, sterling items, virtually (ha!) anything that has an interesting color, shape, material or texture.
Organize
There is no way I could do this craft without intense organization!
I take old jewelry apart to re-use the elements. I sort beads by color and size. Small delicate chain and chunky ones are kept in separate containers and further sorted by material (silver, gold, bronze). Each bead type or chain style is stored in a tiny zip bag so I can tell immediately how many (beads) or how much (chain) I have of any one item.
Of course this is very time consuming but it is one of my favorite parts of the work!
Imagine
This is the best part. Sometimes I spend a day or two putting things together and nothing clicks. Then, seemingly out of nowhere I have more ideas than I can develop…and so it begins! I’m often still working at 3am.
Once I get in the “zone,” I’m unaware of the time passing or that I haven’t eaten or taken a potty break. I just LOVE being in that ultra-focused space and never want to end it.
This phase is about creativity, free-flowing thought.
Build
Sometimes I lay out 5 or 6 necklaces and work on them simultaneously.
Some pieces come out of my imagination full blown. All I have to do is put them together. Jewelry making is problem solving according to a friend of mine.
This is where the detail develops; how do the beads connect, what’s the pattern, fittings come into play-whether or not to use caps, closures or spacers and which ones? How to keep the weight down and determining the best length.
This phase depends on craft or skill though I may still creatively add or change elements .