We caught up with the brilliant and insightful William Tracey a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
William , appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
At the age of 25, with absolutely zero intro or experience with any art medium. A close friend of mine, Tyler, showed me how to wrap a sea shell with wire and add gems. I was instantly hooked.
Something about the connectivity of energy I feel flowing through my body when I hold and twist the wires, attaching them to the surfaces of a multitude of gems. This alone was enough for me to expound on as much as I could learn.
Being driven the way I am in every facet of my life. Starting an art career was to be no different. After my first few months of dabbling with wire. I gave myself the task of “touching” or working with wire every single day. Some days feeling unmotivated, I’d still pick my wire up. If only for 15 minutes, I was bending and focused on learning. Weeks became months and months became a year/s. My first two years spent wrapping probably hundreds if not a thousand various simple not mind blowing designs. But I attained knowledge of how wire bends and a fairly decent concept of stone setting.
Getting more comfortable with my skills, I pushed out into the community to start meeting and working with other Wire Artist/Jewelers. This connection helped unlock the potential I was feeling and loosely seeing in my current art. With their help and my determination I was able to learn more professional stone setting techniques, source higher end materials, and just gain confidence in my own abilities. Getting to where I am now in my skills sets. Never be afraid to ask.
I would say I’ve never stopped growing or learning. Studying and practicing daily The first few years really just opened the doors for the rest of the growth I’ve achieved. Staying driven through the grind of daily life and making the time to study my practice is always the goal. I made making art a habit in my life.
Obstacles that stood in my way were probably similar to most folks in this medium. Sourcing materials that meet the minds wonder has created financial strains at points in my art career. So I’ve never quit working a day job or pursuing my other small business. Without strain financially, I feel my mind is truly free to create.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My whole life I was looking for a chance to express myself. I just never knew it would be considered art or would come in the form or precious metals and gemstones.
Growing up I was always attracted to jewelry and Gemstones, but wasn’t until the age of 25 that I saw my first wire wrap or inclination that I could be an artist. I noticed how one could secure any gems with wire while creating sometimes odd but uniformed designs. With the help of my buddy, Tyler, I became instantly hooked. Studying daily and practicing profusely for almost 2 years. Those first two years created the dream that I now carry and live in today. A need to create things the world has never seen, or design Wire Wrapped Jewelry that gives a fabricated feel.
Fast forward to year 5-8 of my career. I have pushed constantly day in and day out. Learning my craft, meeting new folks to help connect the dots, and sourcing the highest level materials possible. I believe the collaborative effort seen in the Wire Wrapping Community is a huge part of not only my growth but just the growth of the overall industry.
Absolutely, any shape can be achieved with this medium. It’s the driving factor that pushed me into wire sculpting. Creating something so large it couldn’t be worn, while using jewelry techniques. If that didn’t make me crazy, maybe the fact I chose an Elephant to design as my first try at sculpting, must have. It just felt like the hardest shape I’ve never really seen anyone tackle the way my mind saw it. I can still envision the first time I saw the Copper Elephant in my mind with, the blades of grass made from gems and eyes beaming at me. Meticulously studying the anatomy of the elephant and spending what felt like hundreds of hours watching, drawing, scraping failed attempts. I committed to a total of 150 hours to create the pride and joy of my career. The one piece that set in motion my the future that I now hold.
A future as W.E.T. Designs. Chosen my initials to honor not only my growth, but also my word to my clients. Each piece of art I make comes with authenticity of the time spent to learn the highest level setting and design capabilities. With a comprehensive knowledge of prong setting, channel settings, frame building, seamless tech, and jewelry design. We are very confident that we could bring any Wire Dream or idea maybe not thought of in wire, to life!
Going forward I would only love to continue pushing the envelope of what is possible. Creating larger sculptures and more expensive jewelry pieces. If you can dream it, we can make it come to life. If you would like to collaborate, W.E.T. Designs loves working with other artist. Using logos, mixed mediums, or even multiple wire artists. Art to me, is about community. Together, we are Better
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The driving factor for all my work, or goal if you will. Is to make my viewer wonder. If my work doesn’t make you think about how it was possible then I’ve missed my mark.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
As an artist the most rewarding feelings come from being complimented. Maybe it comes in the form of sales, yes. But in many more ways it comes in the form of social media interactions and personal interactions via word of mouth. That is the best feeling which always leaves me blushing.
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William Tracey