Jewelry Artists

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Yessesnia Diaz

My First Kumihimo
 Meet the Designer-Artist


Where do you live?
San Jose, California

What inspires you as a designer-artist?
Anything really, from color palettes in a living room to, the way the sky looks that day! I love coming across something natural with beautiful colors, taking a picture and converting it to a piece of jewelry. I started beading at the age of 9 with a kid's loom starter set my father purchased for me at a local store. From then I started making jewelry with wire and beads form the local Michael's. I remember in high school I would make a piece, wear it to school and someone would always want to buy it off me.

What medium do you work with mostly?
I use many different techniques for my work depending on the mood of that year. This year it has been bead crochet and kumihimo. Through the years I have learned peyote, herringbone, knitting with beads, and well so many techniques that I now incorporate into my work.

Why did you become enchanted with this style of jewelry-making?
I am that type of beader, the one who learns a technique, masters it and then needs to learn another one, more challenging than the last. Because of this, I went from simple stringing and loom work with seed beads, to the more complex crochet beaded ropes and now kumihimo.

Where and How do you sell your jewelry?
Right now my jewelry pieces are sold via Facebook, and word of mouth. I have a Facebook page that I like to just share my beading adventures in, from there people contact me and ask me to sell them a piece. I have 2 sisters who also sell the finished pieces for me (although they end up with most of them for themselves).

What is the name of the piece you submitted with your success story?
My First Kumihimo

What inspired this design?
After years of staying away from this style of jewelry making, I saw a picture of kumihimo piece in a forum and said ok that's beautiful! I went out to my Beverly's here right next to my office and bought a starter kit! These were my first two pieces that I finished that day! I came to find it so much faster and easier than bead crochet! Although I still love bead crochet, I have now begun to incorporate beads to my kumihimo and the ropes come out beautiful!

How did it come together?
These pieces where my test pieces to see if I would like this style, turns out I did and now I found myself ordering more supplies here on Fire Mountain Gems to make my Christmas gifts this way.