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>>Donna: Delicious coffee, Susan.
>>Susan: Thank you. A little strong. [laughter]
>>Donna: As always. That's why I love coming to your home.
>>Susan: Thank you. >>Donna: You know I always wondered
how
did you get the inspiration to
create the beautiful jewelry that you've designed?
>>Susan: Um, well
I've always collected stones. I've always loved stones.
Wherever we go in the world, I'm picking up stones.
My kids do. Wherever we went with them
to the beach, to the mountains, to the desert,
we always found something of that place that we could bring home.
And I think it is a connection for me to the natural world.
i'm fascinated about
the way that things form --
the enormous heat, cold,
pressure that goes into
creating a stone.
And so, for me, really
the whole concept was about a way to provide a stage
for these beautiful stones to perform on.
And um the actual way is a kind of funny story.
I actually had taken up knitting and was making scarves and decided,
you know, it'd really be cool to put some stones in with the wool
and so I was making tassels with the wool. And then I developed this terrible rash
on my hands and the doctor said,
'Just deep six the wool. Maybe it's that what you're reacting to.' So I had these stones.
And I ended up making myself a bracelet -- a necklace, rather. I figured how hard could that be?
And I did. I made a lariat necklace, wore it to a meeting that I went to
and one of the ladies there said, "Where did you get that?" And I said well I made it.
And she said, "Can I buy it from you?" >>Donna: Oh, wow.
>>Susan: So I sold it off my neck and then I >>Donna: [laughter] The very first piece you made!
>>Susan: My very first and only piece. Um and
she called me back about a week later. She said, "I was visiting my mom and
she would like one in different colors, and could you make earrings for both of us?" So I
ended up
starting this as a hobby and just discovered that I loved it. >>Donna: You loved it very much. >>Susan: I do love it
>>Donna: And that you have a natural talent for
jewelry design, and all your designs are one of a kind, right? >>Susan: Yes, that's correct. I never replicate things. Donna: And when you said,
you know you were talking about the sheer forces of nature that go into
making stones,
your
your business name is "EarthWhorls" and below it
it's the a perfect tag line that says,
"Earth's Bounty into Fashion," >>Susan: RIght.
>>Donna: and that is the stage that you chose. >>Susan: Yes. >>Donna: Why did you choose the name "EarthWhorls?"
>>Susan: Um, for me it IS all about the Earth. It's all
about the celebration of these incredible gifts.
And when we were traveling in Canada, we came upon a...
a patch of land out in the wilderness. We were actually bike riding and taking a hike
uh, -- cycling,
riding, not motorcycle [chuckling] -- and a natural
formation in the earth in this
stone millions of years ago
were these whorls,
W-H-O-R-L-S, they were called; these whorls.
>>Donna: What is a whorl? >>Susan: A whorl is a swirl, a natural creation, a twirl, a curl,
if you will.
um, a uh, um
Certain seashells have that inside them,
and certain tiny, little sea creatures
actually
form
like the nautilus, they kind of form in these whorls -- these curls,
a more common title.
But I loved
the way it sounded.
I'm a poet by profession originally
so words are very important to me. The sound of words is very important to me. And I
just loved the way it sounded. I loved putting
Earth and whorls together and uh
people do stumble over it a little bit. They say, "Oh, you mean Earth Worlds?" No. No 'D' in there and there is 'H.'
So... >>Donna: EarthWhorls.
>>Susan: Yeah.
>>Donna: And hence the name "EarthWhorls.com."
>>Susan: "EarthWhorls.com" where we have a lot of jewelry to look at.
>>Donna: Oh, thank you so much for sharing that with me, Susan. >>Susan: My pleasure, Donna. Thank you. >>Donna: Cheers. >>Susan: Cheers.