Hello! And welcome to Brackish Baroness, your slightly-salty copper jeweler based in Tampa, Florida!
My name is Angela, and I am a full-time PhD student and Graduate Assistant at the University of South Florida. I am the primary designer and facilitator of shiny things and bad jokes about Mesopotamian Copper Merchants. I'm also a Tampa Bay (St. Petersburg) Native who finally returned home after an exhausting 19 year tour of the United States that took me to Rhode Island, New Hampshire, California, and Virginia. My husband Jeff is the one that plays with the torch and comes up with 3D printing designs to incorporate into my jewelry or just for knickknacks.
During a period of unemployment as a result of my husband's frequent moves (PCS: Permanent Change of Station) I found myself looking for ways to pass the time. My husband had purchased an enameling setup for his own jewelry work a few years prior, and it turned out that I had a knack for the process. Before I knew it, I had a small arsenal of copper shapes, wire, and and jars and jars of powdered glass taking over a small folding table in our tiny townhouse. Something had to give.
I made a lot of medieval-based options for our reenactment group, and gave a way tons as gifts in the shape of alligators, but the stacks of weird pendants and shapes kept growing. A friend in Jacksonville (Where we lived at the time, you'll notice a lot of my enamels say they were fired in Atlantic Beach, not Tampa) suggested I try one of the local markets, and my first Saturday, I made back my booth fee with enough for a few beers later. It wasn't a lot, but it was a lot of fun. We started lugging a torch and anvil with me to the market, and the hand-hammered bracelets made to order on site were an instant hit.
Over time, I've expanded to more traditional jewelry with genuine gemstone beads and pendants, but I still focus on using primarily copper as the base metal with the occasional guest star of sterling silver. I source my gemstones, copper shapes, and findings from small businesses based in the US, including a recent rockhounding trip to Herkimer, NY, where the famous Herkimer "Diamond" quartz stones are sourced.
My jewelry and 3D printed objects helped us get through the COVID-19 Pandemic, and turned this hobby into a lucrative side hustle that brings in enough spare change to support my final years as a student hopefully forever.
But why the name?
Well, in my above-mentioned medieval sphere, I have the rank of baroness, and I'm slightly salty. ;) That and the OG alligators, of course.
Come see me at a Tampa Bay area craft show soon!