By Harley Nefe
There are many arts and craft festivals that take place across the High Country, especially in the summer, and at these events, there are various vendors who are excited to share their creations with others. Anything from drawing, pottery, tie dye, woodwork, jewelry, and more gives consumers lots to explore and appreciate.
Ashe County resident Jessica Russell is just one local artist in the area; however, her products are more than just materialistic items – each piece holds a slice of history and a part of her personal story.
“I remember how this started,” Russell reflected. “I remember it clearly. It started in 2015. I was just getting clean. I was about six months clean, and I had a pocket full of money, and I felt bored.”
“It was raining outside,” she further described. “I was laying in my bed just wondering what to do, scrolling through Facebook. Then I saw my mom’s friend, who is like a family friend that I have known my whole life, post something that said, ‘We’re having jewelry wire wrapping classes today at 1. All are welcome to join. $30.’”
“And I said, ‘Oh, why not?’”
At the time, Jessica didn’t realize just how much attending the class would transform her life, but it did.
“I went there, and I fell in love,” she said. “I made something pretty, and I still have the piece.”
Since that opportunity, Jessica began connecting with other artists online, where she was inspired to continue exploring the craft of wire wrapping.
“I was like, ‘I want to learn that, that, and that,’” Russell shared. “It has taken a long time, but there was so much to learn, and because of that – it makes it fun.”
“When she first started showing me the pieces that she made, which was a few years ago, they were pretty nice,” said Tanisha Clark, Jessica’s best friend. “She has given me some pieces throughout the years. She is very creative and talented. She’ll use her imagination and just make pieces from the top of her mind – different styles and what not. She went from creating something that was kind of childlike to something that is literally a true work of art – very professional and beautiful.”
Having the ability to advance her skills and learn new techniques and designs motivated Jessica to pursue this passion.
“Her artwork – I always said she could make a career out of this,” said Raymond Bloniarz, Jessica’s stepdad. “She started off kind of simple, and she has gotten to the point where she has done some exotic things. I’m really impressed.”
One of Jessica’s regular customers, Dana Andrew, shared, “The first stones I bought – they were pretty, but her skill level has quickly gone past any other wire wrapper that I know. I know some other wire wrappers, but they have been doing it for 30 years.”
Jessica, on the other hand, has only been dabbling in her craft for around eight years.
“It’s like she’s been doing it for many years,” Clark said. “She literally made one in a few minutes when she was trying to teach me one time. She was showing me all of her techniques. I couldn’t do anything that she was doing – literally. It’s like she’s been doing it for decades.”
“A lot of thought goes into it, but some of them I can do with my eyes closed,” Russell explained. “It’s muscle memory.”
Jessica further said she comes from an artistic family.
“Art runs in the family,” she shared. “My uncle is a woodworker; he makes cellos and fiddles. Mom could draw, and Dad was a musician. My dad was really proud that I was artsy because they were artsy. My mom, dad, and aunt were all so proud of my jewelry.”
Russell continued, “My mother was very supportive and proud. I wasn’t even that great then when she was alive, but she wore them all, and she bragged about them all. She wanted them all, and if I didn’t give them to her, she would give me this angry, pouty face.”
“I lost all my family at once,” Russell explained. “I still think about them a lot. It’s only been two years since Mom is gone, and it will be three years in October that my dad has left. All that happened at once, and it was a lot.”
Wire wrapping became Jessica’s way of coping with her life’s hardships.
“Her life has been tough – losing her father and her mother in a short time,” Bloniarz shared. “I know it still hurts her, but she’s getting through it.”
“She works hard,” Andrew described. “She has lived through an extremely difficult life, and in the last few years with the death of her parents and uncle. She’s coping with it gracefully.”
Jessica also has experience attending other jewelry-making classes such as beaded work; however, nothing compares to her appreciation for wire wrapping.
“It’s always in the back of my head, and I love it so much,” Russell explained.
“I just realized why I love it so much,” she continued. “Going through therapy and taking EDMR – I’m doing that same left, right brain thing when I’m creating jewelry. If I’m sitting here, and I start to think about my problems, I get depressed. But when I’m making jewelry, and I’m thinking about the same things, I don’t feel that way. It’s therapeutic.”
“My jewelry has a way of saving me,” Russell described. “Being a recovering addict, you’ll always have a monkey on your back, and there’s not a troubled time that goes by where you don’t think about using. But when you have something that you really love doing, and you could risk losing it if you were to step back, that’s worth protecting. I’ve worked so hard to get here.”
When Jessica first began her craft, she wasn’t familiar with the different types of stones. However, by networking online with other artists and vendors, she learned.
“Now, I know thousands,” she said. “It’s just second nature to me.”
When it comes to selecting stones to use in her jewelry, Jessica likes to find unique pieces – ones that she has never seen before.
“The ones where the longer you look at them, the more details you see,” she described.
Each rock is its own piece of art, and they hold different meanings for everyone.
“Everything is unique; no piece is identical,” Russell explained. “They can be similar, but in some ways they will always be different. They each have character – it represents humanity.”
“My art is different because I love my stones so much,” she continued. “I have a collection, and I have thousands of them, and I just want to show off the pretties. I don’t want to cover the stones. It’s not about my wire work; my wire work helps, but I love rocks. I like them because they are millions of years old. I like the history.”
Jessica’s appreciation for rocks and their age represents her respecting her past.
“I went from being bullied by abusive parents, teachers, and the crowd I was hanging out with,” Russell shared. “There was domestic violence and all this other stuff. I have overcome a lot, and it’s only up from here.”
Jessica’s stepdad also testified about the transformation he has witnessed in her life.
“She has matured quite a bit since I first met her over 25 years ago,” Bloniarz shared. “When you’re in your twenties, you have this party attitude. She’s grown out of that type of behavior; I think we all do. When you get to a certain age, that part of your life is hard to keep up with. She has straightened out her life. She has had some low points, and I have to give her credit for that. She has come a long way since I first met her. She has worked hard to get to where she is today.”
“People are paying not really for the rock, but for the years it has taken me to get to this point,” Russell said. “My pieces are just something I love to do.”
Jessica is constantly working to develop and improve her craft. She’s not afraid to experiment and try new designs, especially when she receives particular requests from clients. Her latest idea has been to create earrings.
“I’m really proud of them,” she said. “I’m always told that people can see the love that I put into each piece.”
Jessica can wire wrap a variety of shapes including hearts, squares, ovals, tear drops, and more.
“The way I wrap pieces is always intentional,” she shared.
Tanisha said that her favorite pieces of jewelry come from Jessica.
“My number one favorite pendant piece is a cat,” Clark said. “Her wire wrapping kind of looks like a cat when you look at it.”
Clark continued, “I would describe her work as very unique. It’s so beautiful. Just the way she wraps them – it doesn’t even look like it’s wrapped wire. It looks like one complete piece. They are like pieces of architecture. She makes them look so effortless. She comes up with her own designs, and she brings them to life. Jessica is a talented, imaginative person, and she’s a very hard worker and almost a perfectionist.”
Jessica makes sure that she is happy with each of her designs before she allows them to go to their new homes.
“I’ll look back at my past work, and I know that I made it, and clients love it, but now, I’ll think, ‘That’s a mess,’” Russell described. “I’ll be doing something, and I’ll show my clients, and then I’ll want to do them over, because I can’t send them off like that. I’ll remake them if there is something wrong.”
“She will reach out and send me her ‘best’ pieces, but when I look at them, they are all wonderful,” Clark explained.
“I don’t even know how to describe her advanced work,” Andrew said. “It’s stunning. The elegance of her work is what catches my eye, and the speed in which she learned to do it. She can go from being extremely intricate to extremely basic. She has never disappointed me. She’s a go-getter. She’s a good person, and she deserves every accolade she can get. I love her art, and I continue to buy way too many. I probably have 25 pieces, and I give them away as gifts.”
Some of Andrew’s favorites include opals, sapphires, and diamonds.
“I wear them often,” she said.
Jessica sells her work online using social media platforms.
“It just seems like over the last few years her work has exploded and has become very popular with people, and I am really proud of her,” Bloniarz said.
“I know my jewelry isn’t for everyone, but I have 900 people in my group on Facebook that really like my stuff,” Russell said. “People invite their family and friends to the page – it’s a ripple effect and word-of-mouth. People notice.”
Her small business can be found on Facebook by the name of Fox Spirit Hand-Crafted Jewelry.
“After my mom died, I went to the beach, and I rented a room. While I was sitting outside, a fox ran in front of me, I took it as a sign and decided on the name for my business,” Russell explained.
Jessica said she sees the fox as her spirit animal.
“We are both gingers, and they are playful and funny and mysterious,” she described.
“When it comes to people, Jessica is giving,” Bloniarz said. “She’s always trying to help people out one way or another. She’s always accepting of people. She’s open minded, and she doesn’t judge. She can be pretty fiery when she needs to be. She stands up for herself, and she doesn’t let people walk all over her. She has a goofy side, too. I’m very proud and thankful for her.”
Clark also described Jessica’s personality: “She just likes to make people smile. That’s all she does for me. All she wants to do is make me smile. She’s a great person. She’s a beautiful person inside and out. She’s a beautiful person who just wants to make other people happy. Just seeing her happy makes me happy.”
Looking towards the future, Jessica shared that she just wants to continue doing what she loves with her pliers and wires.
“When I reach retirement age, I want to sell everything except for my rocks and my cat,” she said. “I want to get a camper, and then just travel the United States making jewelry.”
Clark shared, “Watching Jessica grow throughout the years and seeing the positive changes she has made and strides she has taken, has been like watching a piece of art take form. Much like the jewelry she creates, it has been a very inspiring process. She has grown tremendously and essentially recreated herself. She is a true representation of one of her signature pieces, The Tree of Life. She was able to shed the old and be born anew. Her growth reflects in the beautiful pieces she creates. I am very proud of the person she is and proud that she is my friend.”
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