Meet Rachael
 What I Make … I
specialize in costume jewelry made almost exclusively of vintage
components. I love vintage crystal, glass, and Lucite, and spend almost all of the time that I'm not doing research or making jewelry, tracking down new sources of vintage beads. I get as excited over finding a new bead as I do over getting a paper accepted! Vintage Swarovski beads are my first love. I especially like crystal with the "aurora borealis" coating (the coating that looks like an oil slick), which Swarovski no longer makes, since the process of making this coating was toxic to the environment. Today, Swarovski makes primarily clear crystal and clear crystal aurora
borealis (not the old aurora borealis, but a new environmentally safe
coating) beads that are the familiar round faceted shape. They make some
colored beads, but mostly in small sizes. It is nearly impossible to
find today the larger colored beads with aurora borealis coating, in
many different shapes, that I use.
Things You Need to Know … I
make primarily necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Most of the jewelry
that I show on this site consists of necklaces, but I can make earrings
and/or bracelets to match any necklace that I've made (no extra charge
for earrings). I will make the earrings as simple or as glitzy as you
want them. My necklaces
have 3-inch "extenders", which makes their lengths adjustable.
If you like a necklace but want it longer, contact me. In many (but not
all) cases I can remake the necklace with longer strands.
How I Got Started (The story) … I
work at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School's psychiatric
hospital. Every year the
patients here hold a fair, at which they sell crafts that they've
made. At one of these
fairs, I met a patient who made the most beautiful earrings.
I became a regular buyer of her earrings, but as we got to know
each other better she began to urge me to learn to make my own jewelry.
She said that my life was far too one-dimensional.
She thought that I would be a better person if I did something
besides work in the lab all the time. I protested that I had neither the time nor the patience to make
jewelry. We went back and forth on this for about six months.
Finally one day, she showed up in my office with beads and
headpins. I had no choice but to cooperate. I
designed my first pair of earrings, and I was hooked. I owe a lot to this patient, who turned an incorrigible
workaholic scientist into a person who is perhaps a bit less
incorrigible and a bit less of a workaholic.
Email: info@rachaelsjewelry.com
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