Interview with Linda Larsen

I promised to introduce you to the AJE team members by asking some obvious and some quirky questions. First up is Linda Larsen who is the mega creative woman behind Objects and Elements and writes a wonderful blog FULL of free tutorials.

Please describe the kind of components and designs you create:

I don’t make the kind of components that the rest of you do, but I do have original designs on my website of bezels I’ve designed and had cast. I hand make them from sterling.

How did you get started making components?

Mainly due to customer demand


Describe a bit about your studio. Is it clean and well organized? Or chaotic?

Very Organized with lots of chaos on the benches where I’m working on things.

What is your favorite thing about your studio?

My tools


What is your favorite color? Is it also your favorite color to work with when designing?


My favorite color is red and I rarely use it in designing…interesting question, I’ll have to think on that one…


What is on your nightstand right now?

My ipod that I listen to when I go to bed.  My brain is a hamster wheel and is difficult to turn off! 

What is the last book you read? Would you recommend it?

I love “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell, I just finished reading it for the third time…actually make that listening to it to go to sleep so I missed some and had to re-read it. 


If you won 20 million dollars, what would you do with the money?

Remodel my fixer upper house, put some in the bank, travel and help my kids and other people with the rest. I do micro loans to women in third world countries through Kiva and would love to be able to give lots more! 

What is something you have never done that you would love to do or learn?

Live in Europe for a year, Paris would definitely be on the list!

Where was your favorite vacation?

A Mediterranean cruise with close friends.  It was like a dream, so beautiful and so much laughter and fun!



What is one of your goals for being a team member of AJE?

Share my skills and experience and learn from other artists. 

Art Jewelry Elements Debut

Hello and Welcome to the grand opening of the Art Jewelry Elements blog! We are super excited to be offering this brand new collaborative blog to all jewelry designers who want to elevate their designs to the next level. While our team is very diverse in skill set and media used, every one of our team members creates handmade elements (or components) to be used in art jewelry and has had work published or about to be published. We also make jewelry with our components and know the quirks involved with working with handmade components.

Our goal is to build a community of people who love art jewelry, love making art jewelry, who aspire to make art jewelry, and to those who just like looking at pretty pictures. We will focus on building your art jewelry business, getting published, challenging you to stretch yourself and flex that creative muscle, lots of tutorials, tool and product reviews, studio organization, giveaways, news, trends, and so much more. 

Meet the Team: 

Today is just a quickie meet and greet. You will get to learn more about each of us through a fun interview.

Jennifer Cameron: That's me! Team leader. Primary media are glass (lampworking) and wire. 

Kristi Bowman: Creates her gorgeous elements using CopprClay and BronzClay. She was also my bead soup blog party partner for the 4th BSBP, which was awesome because I love Kristi's work. 

Linda Larsen: A mixed media artist who writes the BEST tutorials on her Objects and Elements blog and will have tutorials to share here too. 

Barbara Lewis: The queen (and author extraordinaire) of torch fired enamel components. She is also in the process of moving and opening a bricks and mortar studio in Florida. It might be a while before we hear much from her. 

Melinda Orr: Works magic with metal and patinas and is the founder of Creative Bead Chat on Facebook (it's an open group, so if you are on facebook, ask to join!)

Karen Totten: Last but not least is Karen, our resident ceramic guru who creates the most gorgeous components. I've used a few in my work.

This is just the beginning of what is to come. While we still have some work to do on the blog and our various social media site designs, please stop by, say hi, and stay a while.