About Me

I decided to blog about me. I feel that if you know a little bit about an artist's personality, you find more (or less) appreciation for their work. So here's a brief autobiography about the person behind O June Jewelry.

My name is Omega June. I am the youngest child out of five children. Yes, my real name is Omega. No, my oldest sibling is not named Alpha. My family is of Filipino decent. I was born in Reno, Nevada. I spent most of my childhood in a small town called Fernely, which is now getting more and more visible on the map. After high school, I went straight to college. I moved to sunny Phoenix, Arizona and attended DeVry University where I finished my undergraduate degree in computer engineering technology in 2003. Yes, I am a total nerd! Then I moved back home to Reno and ended up earning an MBA from the University of Phoenix in 2007.

I wish making jewelry would pay my mortgage, but that's just not the case. I am working for a gaming company as a firmware engineer. I actually love my job. I tell my boss all the time that I'm glad that I have a job where I am constantly being challenged. But honestly if I had a choice, I would prefer to be a stay-at-home-mom so I could spend all day everyday with my beautiful daughter. I am happily married to a wonderful man and we have to most beautiful daughter, a stinky dog, and a cat with an attitude. Our family is perfect! When I'm not chasing my toddler or yelling at my husband to take out the trash, I'm making jewelry.

I started making jewelry because I enjoy it. I love looking at a finished piece and thinking, "wow, I made that!" After making my first necklace, I became a bead addict. When I find beads that I like, I buy then without thinking twice. I actually had to stop going to my local bead shop for a while after I received my credit card statement!

I am a self-taught jewelry designer and today I am still learning new techniques. I think jewelry making is a great hobby where you can never stop learning. I'm not one of those artist who keep an art journal and make jewelry designs on paper. Instead, I see what's in my bead trays and throw something together. I love reading books about jewelry making and other jewelry blogs. I would never copy another artist's work, but instead just learn from them.

(Margo Potter wrote a great blog about artist's intellectual property. It's worth a read. Here's the link.)

Right now, I'm learning wire-wrapping techniques. I offered to make all my friends simple bead rings for free just so I could practice. Here's how they turned out.

If you're laughing, I'm definitely laughing with you. These rings are very messy and have suffered unnecessary abuse from my pliers. But hey, they're pretty good for a wire rookie, don't you think?

Maybe I'm getting a little of the main subject. I have more wire projects that I am currently working on and will post a blog about them soon!

So this is a little about me. I hope you like me so far! Keep reading my blogs and you'll get to know me more over time. If you're on MySpace, check out my profile at http://www.myspace.com/ojunejewelry. If you have any comments or suggestions about my work, I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading my blog!

O.J.