Long before I became a jewelry designer and maker, I was an artist! My creative journey began early in life; as a young person and student, I turned every project into art. In my college art program, I was introduced to jewelry. What started as an exploration quickly became a fascination. I discovered that I could take an idea in my mind and transform it into something tangible with my hands-thus creating miniature wearable sculpture.
And then there was wax!
I began carving waxes and working with torches, learning the foundations of what would become a lifelong relationship with jewelry, craftsmanship, heat, and the creative process. The wax allowed me to sculpt and shape ideas in three dimensions, while the torch became an essential tool for transforming those ideas into finished beautiful jewelry.
I was hooked!
llyn strong fine art jewelry is located in Greenville, SC, and specializes in creating custom-made fine art jewelry. Browse our online inventory of fine art jewelry. Contact us today at 864-233-5900 or visit our storefront at 1322 E Washington St Suite C1, Greenville, SC 29607. Let us help you reimagine, re-think and re-invent your jewelry collection!
Over the course of a long and rewarding career at llyn strong fine art jewelry in downtown Greenville, SC, I developed my own artistic voice as a jewelry designer and maker. My work has always been about more than simply creating something beautiful to wear. It has been about the relationship between the material and the artist- seeing the possibilities within a piece of wax, a gemstone, or a piece of metal, and allowing the creative process to reveal what the finished work should become.
For decades, my hands were immersed in the world of three-dimensional art.
I carved wax.
I shaped metal.
I worked with gemstones.
I used heat and flame.
I created objects meant to be held, worn, and lived with.
And then technology happened- and I have always loved tools!
To enhance and promote my business, I invested in cutting edge technology with a 3-D wax printer, a laser welder, and an induction casting machine. That was well over 30 years ago. All of this enabled me to create at a greater and more detailed level. One of my goals has always been to create 3-dimensional jewelry with a very painterly feel.
Then, unexpectedly, I found my way back to where it all began!
After a long career as a jewelry artist and turning my business over to my daughter, Sydney (who is managing it beautifully!), I discovered encaustic painting- and something immediately felt familiar.
Encaustic is an ancient painting technique that uses beeswax and heat to create layers, texture, depth, and movement. The artist works with wax and a torch, manipulating the surface and allowing heat to become part of the creative vocabulary.
Sound familiar?
In many ways, discovering encaustic was like meeting an old friend in an entirely new place. The tools were familiar, but the canvas was different. The wax was familiar, but instead of carving a form that would eventually become a piece of jewelry, I was building an image. The torch was familiar, but now it was being used to fuse layers of wax, move pigment, create texture and reveal what was underneath.
After spending so many years creating in three dimensions, I began creating in two.
The same curiosity that led me to carve my first waxes was still there. The same fascination with heat and transformation was still there. And the same desire to experiment, discover, and create was still at the heart of my work.
Encaustic gave me an entirely new way to think about a material that I had known for most of my artistic life. In jewelry, wax is often a means to an end. A form is carved or sculpted and through the lost wax casting process, that form ultimately becomes metal. In encaustic, the wax itself becomes the artwork.
It can be layered, scraped, polished, textured, fused, and transformed with heat. It can hold color and natural materials. It can conceal one layer while revealing another. The surface can change with every pass of the torch. For an artist who has spent many decades working with her hands and understanding how materials respond to heat and pressure, encaustic opened an entirely new creative world to me.
My artistic language simply moved from the jeweler’s bench to the painting’s surface.
There is something especially meaningful about discovering that the next chapter of your artistic life has been there all along.
I didn’t leave jewelry behind when I began painting. Instead, I carried everything I had learned with me.
The patience of a jeweler.
The instinct of a sculptor.
The discipline of a craftsman.
The curiosity of an artist.
And, perhaps most importantly, my lifelong relationship with wax and flame.
My encaustic paintings are another expression of the same creative spirit that has guided me throughout my career. But the scale has changed. The medium is being used differently. Jewelry is designed to be worn, while paintings invite us to pause and look. But the heart of the work remains the same- take a material, explore its possibilities and see what can emerge from it.
After decades of creating beautiful things in three dimensions, I have found a new freedom in two. And somehow, I feel like I have come full circle.
I began as a young artist discovering jewelry, carving wax and learning to work with a torch. I spent a lifetime turning those skills into fine art jewelry. And now, through encaustic painting, I have returned to wax and flame- not to recreate the past, but to discover what they can become next. Sometimes an artist doesn’t really change direction. Sometimes she simply comes home to her roots and discovers an entirely new way of growing.
I would like to thank everyone that has supported and helped me along this journey, especially my daughter, Sydney, who has taken over the reins in such a capable and beautiful way at llyn strong fine art jewelry.
To view my latest works:
llyn strong fine art jewelry
1322 East Washington St.
Greenville, SC
llynstrong.com
llynstrongart.com
Kessler Gallery at the Grand Bohemian
Greenville, SC