We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Molly Sharp a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Molly, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Being a full-time jeweler has been a dream of mine for over 45 years. I finally realized my dream about 25 years ago, but it wasn’t easy. Many jewelers study metalsmithing at the university level obtaining a bachelors or even masters degrees in the subject. Not me. I sort of came in through the back door, so to speak.

I took my first metalsmithing class in Greenwich, England where I lived for ten years.. It became a hobby for many years as a continued taking workshops and classes in England and then in the States after moving back. I sent myself t0 Penland School of Crafts in NC and Arrowmont School of Arts in Crafts in TN as often as possible and practiced, practiced, practiced. I became proficient in the skills I was taught and the ones that spoke to me. I was forced to develop a cohesive body of work when I wanted to apply to the prestigious Southern Highland Craft Guild in Asheville, NC. Little by little I began teaching to others what I had learned and developed. Eventually I was asked to teach at other jewelry or craft schools around the U.S. and in Mexico and England and in my own studio at home.

Unfortunately I find there is some stigma attached to those who don’t have the credentials to teach at some of these schools. Not only do I find this irritating, but unfair. Surely life experience through self-study and teaching count for as much as a degree from a college or university. Especially since learning the business side of the business is just about half battle. From what I understand, colleges and universities don’t teach that.

Molly, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Is it even possible to make a living being a full-time jewelry. Probably not! At least that’s what everyone who cared about me told me. Too risky they said. What with raising two children as a single mother, you need a full-time job that pays regularly and has good benefits. Be responsible.

Let’s back up a bit. I had taken a metalsmithing class while living in England with my then husband and two children under the age of three. It was love at first hammer! I just knew this is what I wanted to do. It sang to me, it touched my inner soul, there had never been anything else that I had been so drawn to in my entire life. Sounds a bit corny, right? But it was true. However, it turned out there was much work to be done before I could even start to think about developing the skills I would need to follow my dream. I had two kids to raise and a marriage to work on, so I put my dream aside for now but continued taking jewelry classes when and where I could.

Ultimately the marriage failed and I moved back to the States with a six and seven year old in tow. I had to start a new life with a place to live, a car and, most importantly, a job. What would my dream job be my brother-in-law asked. I answered, a bench jeweler; working for a fine jewelry store to hone my skills so I could ultimately start my own jewelry business. That sounds like a risky business he replied. I was discouraged, naive and scared. He was probably right. I needed a good paying job with benefits.

So I didn’t pursue going down the jewelry road, not then anyway. I listened to all those people who cared about me and worked many different jobs as administrative assistants and graphic designers which paid well enough with decent benefits but always kept jewelry making in my sights. I set up my own studio in my home and kept taking classes as I could and even began to teach some beginning metals classes in the local museum where I worked.

A few years, passed. My children grew up and one went off to college and the other into the Coast Guard. Alone at last! I was excited to find a two-week metalsmithing course at The Penland School of Craft in North Caroline, but it was expensive and I just didn’t have the means to attend, but the school was offering a work/study program which would cover my tuition, room if I was lucky enough to be accepted into the program and I was!

That’s when the magic happened. It was pure magic when I met David, a potter who was also in the same program. It was pure magic when I went back to my home in Florida to put it on the market. It was pure magic when the company I was working for let me scale down my days from 5 days a week to 3 days a week so I could pursue my new career. And it was pure magic when I sold my house, moved to North Carolina, married David, opened an art gallery with him and became a full time jeweler.

I was terrified. I never worked harder in my life. Nobody told me I could make a living being a jeweler, except David. He was doing it. Lots of people were doing it where I live in North Carolina.. I could do it and I am doing it.

It’s been 45 years since I first picked up a hammer and torch and I’m still following my dream. Now a mostly teach students in my beautiful studio just above my husband’s pottery studio which he designed and built for us. My hope is I can pass along to others that spark that struck me

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Making silver and gold jewelry has always been a dream of mine. I’m not a wearer of jewelry particularly. It’s the process I love. From designing a piece of jewelry to creating it with hammer, saw and torch, to selling it to an appreciative audience and to passing the skills along to others; is all part of it. But the most rewarding part of it all is when I seen that gleam, that spark in the eye of a student. That ahah moment when she lights up with delight in finding a medium that speaks to her, just as it spoke to me.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The lesson I had to unlearn is don’t listen to anyone who tells you not to follow your dream. I know this has been said time and time again, but it is so true. If you’re wiling to put in the time, the work, the effort it can be achieved. If you’re will to get “all you ducks in a row,” it can be done. It might take years. I’ve worked hard to become who I am today. I’ve worked with blinders on to pursue my dream. Where many others like to dabble in this creative pursuit and that creative pursuit, I’ve always had my focus on just one thing; making and teaching jewelry for a living.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mollysharpmetalsmith.com
• Instagram: mollysharpmetals
• Facebook: Molly Sharp Jewelry and Workshops