Meet Karen Trexler, our Cool Tools resident artist. Karen discovered her interest in jewelry and metalsmithing in 2009 when she took a jewelry class in high school. Thoroughly hooked on making and interested in expanding upon the basics of metalsmithing that she acquired from this class, she continued to study metalsmithing and jewelry design in college and received a BFA from Ball State University. Karen then continued her studies at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and received her MFA in the spring of 2018 before joining the Cool Tools team.
In this video, Karen uses bezel wire and silver sheet metal to solder together a bezel. She then solders the cufflink to the bezel, before setting the stone and completing the piece. This technique delivers so many possibilities with the option of using many different stones!
