Lerum turns love for beads, rings into hobby
The West Shore’s Tina Jo Lerum grew up
in Vancouver, Canada, with parents who instilled in her a love for
travel. It was the traveling she did with them that also fed what
would become her hobby, passion and business — jewelry.
“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve collected
beads and rings,” she said. “Wherever I went with my parents, my
souvenirs would be beaded necklaces and rings.”
As a teenager, Lerum said she wore many
rings on her fingers — perhaps too many, she admits now. Someone
suggested that she consider making them.
An opportunity arose while she was in
college to take a short course in jewelry making from a retired
jeweler.
What she picked up from the course,
aside from the basics, was joy in working with metals.
Her love for travel helped bring her to
the West Shore. A spur-of-the-moment trip to Mexico led her to Bob,
the man who would become her husband. Bob lived in Lakeside, and,
eventually, Lerum came there too.
When she moved state-side, and as she
was working on her citizenship, she also began turning her hobby
into a business and what later became Tina Jo’s Designs.
Her first craft fair was the Whitefish
Art Festival in 1988 and she’s continued and grown her work ever
since.
Aside from her initial short course,
Lerum has been largely self taught, a method she encourages others
to pursue as well.
One of the most challenging parts of
her learning was acid treatments for metals. It took her over a
year to learn, she said. She noted that she was fortunate to have
access to the chemicals for metal work as her father was a chemist.
That part of her work she warns others not to attempt without
proper safety precautions and knowledge.
“I love hammering, using different
chemicals,” she said. “I like that metal has a changeable
quality.”
Lerum has been told that her jewelry
tends to have a multicultural flavor, which is fitting given her
travels and the beads and styles she has picked up through them.
She points to the earings she’s wearing to show their international
influence — a snowflake from Switzerland and a bead from Japan.
She seeks out new beads everywhere she
goes, and when friends and her parents travel, she sends money with
them to bring back their finds both in individual beads and
strands. She also has hot spots to check out when she makes return
visits to Vancouver. She’s only recently started looking online as
well.
Some of her prized finds she refuses to
break up — like a strand of prayer beads from Nepal and beads she
discovered at a flea market in Germany that were actually from
Afghanistan.
She researches her finds as she likes
to let people know the history and origin of the pieces in the
jewelry.
Lerum said she feels fortunate whenever
someone purchases her pieces.
“Anybody could do this,” she said of
her jewelry compositions. “Even the metal work, anyone can if they
practice a lot.”
For those who are interested in picking
up jewelry making as a hobby, Lerum said the best way to start is
just to experiment. Though she hasn’t taken one herself, Lerum said
she’s heard rave reviews about the jewelry courses at Flathead
Valley Community College.
“Also if you have the luxury of time
and can just play around, do it,” she said. “I’m so lucky. My
husband said, ‘You figure that out and I’ll support you.’ I used
that time to figure out something about my own signature.”
She cautions newcomers to think
carefully about the decision to move from making jewelry as a hobby
to a business.
“You have to work hard at keeping the
love for it,” she said of doing it as a business.
Finding balance, she said, is key.
“My ‘passion’ can take me to extremes,
and while I believe in the value of visiting the extremes for brief
periods, I’ve learned that aiming for balance is what keeps my
energy and creativity flowing,” she said.
Lerum’s jewelry can be found at
ARTFusion in Bigfork, the Kindred Spirits Gift Gallery at Glacier
International Airport and a variety of art shows. For a list of
upcoming shows or more information, contact Lerum at
tinajo4@centurytel.net.