Tiffany James is an Athens local who works from her ranch home as a crystal jewelry maker according to her Craigslist ad, but according to her boyfriend, Richard Welsh, and herself, James is much more than that.
James, a 22-year-old jewelry maker, is an Athens native who practices many unexpected hobbies and “is compassionate and loving especially with goats,” Welsh said in an email. Throughout the past four years, she has bounced from hobby to hobby, things from; hooping, making her own tea and spray painting, but she always comes back to wrapping, weather it be wrapping crystals, pendants or homemade rings.
"I just think it is important to support local art so that other people know that you can do it ... there are a lot of people who hold back from (pursuing local art)," James said.
Athens is James’ hometown and she never plans on leaving.
“It has my heart, unfortunately,” she said.
When James was 18 years old, she got involved in jewelry making. The inspiration came from her best friend’s fiance who gave her a crystal at a bar, James said. She originally started with beading but recently has been focusing on crystal wrapping, which is the art of wrapping hand cut or natural crystals with wire to be used in jewelry making.
"I sell a lot of my jewelry at the restaurant I used to work at in Plains and on my Facebook page,” she said.
James also trades her jewelry for antique lanterns and other trinkets, but business depends on her passion at the time and where she is selling. Typically it is easier to sell crystals in villages like Yellow Springs, where citizens have a higher appreciation for her art. James' prices are determined by the size and style of the crystal as well as the wraps she uses. For some pieces, she has to use sterling silver wire for people who have sensitive skin.
Some people believe certain crystals hold special powers or values that influence and affect the person wearing them, and James agrees.
“My favorite is the tiger's eye,” she said. She added that she likes that crystal not only for it’s appearance, but it’s sentimental value to her and its perceived protective powers.
“I absolutely love her jewelry making, in fact I encourage her to do it all the time,” Welsh, who met James two years ago when he moved to Athens from Allentown, Pennsylvania, said in an email. “I may be a little jealous that she has an eye for that kind of stuff and I don't.”
James and Welsh spend a lot of their time away from the distractions of real life, out in the wilderness collecting edible mushrooms to sell and trade to other locals. If the mushrooms they find aren’t of nutritional use, the mushrooms will sit in James’s house until she uses them for spore prints, Welsh said in an email.
Spore printing is an artform in which the underlying grills of a mushroom are printed onto a surface using water to create a design, according to the North American Mycological Association.
James is known to live life in the moment and think outside the box, Welsh said.
“I would tell a stranger to be careful what they wish for and be cautious because you never know what she’s going to whip up that day,” he said in an email.
James encourages people to support and pursue local art, it can be scary at first but “it’s fun and it helps you be happy in life, and that’s important,” she said.
