Wire Artist of the Month February 2011: Marie Frazier

I am a self-taught wire wrap jewelry artisan, who has only been making wire jewelry since September of 2009. My passion for wire jewelry began with my love of rocks, and the beauty found within each and every one. I am married with 2 children, and a beautiful grandbaby.

One thing that is different about me, is that I find my own rocks, which happen to be Lake Superior Agates, or "Lakers" - the state gem of Minnesota. I cut them, make my own cabochons, and wire wrap them. Not a lot of folks use Lake Superior Agates in their pieces...and for me, this is my primary objective. The Lakers are truly my passion to wrap, and show off the stone; for me, wire wrapping is all about showing off the stone's beauty.

I love making my pieces, because it provides me with an artistic "escape" if you will. A place I can go mentally, and physically, and create beautiful pieces, all the while having a time of meditation and peace while I work. My own little world.

Marie's Featured Piece, Lake Superior Agate in Sterling Silver

Lake Superior Agate in Sterling Silver is a beautiful banded pink agate, tumbled by the artist, and wrapped in dead soft square and half round sterling silver wire. This beautiful pendant measures an overall height of 2 1/4", and the stone is 1 1/2" x 1", with a flat back and a domed top. Among other Lake Superior Agates, or "Lakers", pink is a hard-to-find color. Most Lakers have red, orange, or yellow coloring. Because of the coloring, and banding, this particular stone would be considered a premium collectable stone.

How do I find my Lakers? It is quite literally hours upon hours of bent-over staring at the ground, and at rocks, trying to see them. Lakers are known as the "elusive agate", because they are just not easy "see" or find! Lake Superior Agates are among the oldest, hardest, and most highly collectable stones in the agate world, and there are very few people who actually make cabochons out of them. Lakers are also a semi-precious stone, which is just a fun fact a lot of people don't know. Not all agates have that "label", because they are not all that hard, like Lakers.

I guarantee that my stones will not fall out of one of my wraps! I have had to "unwrap" a couple pendants because I didn't like the end result, and had to use pliers to pry the stones out of them.

I have a rock pit (of sorts) in my back yard, about 250 feet from my house, which a lot of people would just love to have, and I just spend tons of hours back there hunting these beauties.

I cab my stones on an older machine, with SIC wheels & belts, they take me a bit longer to get done, but I enjoy it, so it's worth it. Choosing the stones is just a matter of seeing one I like that day, and cabbing it.. Today I may look at them all, and see a couple I want to cab, but tomorrow I may see something completely different. It just simply is which one stands out for me that day.

Beautiful execution of design with soft wire with relation to the stone; wraps are great. Artist's concept "flows" very well within the combination. Lovely lapidary work too, amazing stone!

About wirejewelry's Wire Artist of the Month Program

Each month, we pick a talented wire jewelry artist and their work to highlight. We know we have some incredibly talented customers, and we seek to encourage and highlight those members of our community by highlighting one wire artist every month.

Would you like to be featured on wirejewelry.com?
Click here for our Wire Artist of the Month Submission Form.

Previous Featured Artists