Through the years I have taken classes in casting, wax carving, rendering, CAD, and silver smithing.

The last few years I have used You Tube to teach myself beading stitches like brick stitch, ndebele, peyote, peyote with a twist. My friend Karen DeSousa taught me kumihimo. 

One of the reasons I took the time to learn these things is because I truly like learning and feel a sense of satisfaction when something I make pleases me and others. The other reason is because I design clasps, pendants, connectors and other components for jewelry and the more I learn about how it is made, the better my designs are. 

It is also good to give examples that show the flexibility of the use of my work.

Kumihimo - cones and clasp www.phxfox.com

Ndbele necklace - clasp from www.phxfox.com