I enjoy making dreams come true. I learned to cut stones when I was a teenager. My father taught me. But at that time I had never known that he had ever even been anywhere around the jewelry industry. I found out that he learned to cut stones while he was a POW in Laos in 1968. His "job" at the camp was to spend 18 ho … Read more I enjoy making dreams come true. I learned to cut stones when I was a teenager. My father taught me. But at that time I had never known that he had ever even been anywhere around the jewelry industry.
I found out that he learned to cut stones while he was a POW in Laos in 1968. His "job" at the camp was to spend 18 hours a day cutting sapphires and rubies for his captors to sell on the black market.
As he told me this story and showed me how to cut, I became imprinted with a new admiration for him and always think of him as I cut to this day.
I started designing jewelry shortly after that and decided to learn more about the craft. In the years that followed, I earned my diamond certificate from the Gemological Institute of America. I have made several trips to the opal mines in Australia. When I retired from the US Air Force in 1994, I launched my career into the jewelry industry.
Several years ago I discovered CAD design software for creating jewelry and haven't looked back. I love working in 3-D and creating the one-of-a-kind jewelry that everyone dreams about.
Don't settle for what's in the case, when you can get exactly what you want for probably less.