It's Great to Recycle! Make Beautiful Jewelry From Leftover Silver Scrap

Artist Profile - Denise Paradis, Diamond K Studio

Denise Paradis, Artist and owner of Diamond K Studio creates one of kind jewelry pieces from fine silver, copper and glass. She is also an art instructor at Creative U located in Carefree Arizona. Denise has been an artist all her life and recalls early experiences of crafting ornaments with her grandmother and mother. Through the years she has worked with many techniques including painting, etched glass and various embellishments for clothing. In 2006 she began to make jewelry and has never looked back.

Her jewelry piece featured in this article is called “Graffiti” and was made by artfully placing sterling silver scraps from previous jewelry projects and fusing them together with a propane torch.

It’s amazing to think what one can do with leftover materials.  Denise teaches the techniques for working with silver scrap along with other introductory to intermediate jewelry metal working classes at Creative U. 

Denise is for the most part a self-taught artist and spent many years refining her techniques. She doesn’t feel strongly influenced by any particular artist; rather it comes from her own unique interests and a supportive family background.  When asked what are the more difficult aspects of an artistic pursuit she states that defining your own style can take time, particularly if you enjoy working in different mediums such as PMC, traditional metalsmithing and glass.  She draws much inspiration from working with clients in the creative and supportive environment of the studio that defines her workplace.  You can find her work available for sale at her website: DiamondKStudio.com.  Her jewelry is also on display at the gallery of Creative U and sold at Roxie’s Boutique in Cave Creek, Arizona.