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Jan Raven
Jewelry
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My “artistic muscles” began to be exercised when I learned to knit in 2000. At about the same time I started playing around with wire and experimenting with forms and links. I even reverse-engineered a wire dragon sculpture that a friend had. It was a wonderful academic exercise involving several dozen steps. This friend later suggested I should combine the two interests and knit with wire, so when I saw Nancie Wiseman's book, Knitting With Wire, I did not hesitate to buy it.
I discovered that I enjoyed neither the process nor the result of knitting with wire, but the small section on “Viking knitting” struck a chord. I taught myself the basic technique, then started experimenting with weave pattern and density, and how best to incorporate beads and gemstones. In recent years I have continued to explore working with wire, and have made this endeavor the main focus of my work life. I find the medium to be fascinating, and particularly enjoy exploring the patterns that I can make with wire.
