Studio Spotlight - Honey from the Bee

Janet Bocciardi is the artisan behind the Honey from the Bee studio. She makes lovely, artistically designed one-of-a-kind jewelry. Her pieces are original and they have a strong inspiration from nature. Janet started making jewelry just for herself around 1998 while living in Vancouver, Washington. She said she’d been a craft and fiber fanatic since she was a kid, but it was the opening of a bead shop near her home that literally sold her on beads. She went into business officially in 2004 when her career in high tech came to an end. She started out selling her jewelry at art shows and to her friends. Online sales came into the picture several years ago.

I had noted that Janet lives in Port Angeles, Washington; but, Janet didn’t always live in Port Angeles. She grew up on the East coast and has lived in a lot of different places. After high school she moved to California and later to Washington State after she and her husband had vacationed here a few times. I can certainly understand why they made the move to Port Angeles. It’s a beautiful rural wooded area set between the Pacific Ocean and the foot of the Olympic Mountains. What an inspiration for creating artistic jewelry!

Janet noted that nature was certainly a huge inspiration to her. She also said that she and her husband have traveled a lot, which has opened her eyes to other cultures, art and architecture. She also finds inspiration in books, period movies, decorating, her dogs, and with other artistic mediums. I completely agree with Janet’s statement that she “can find inspiration in anything, but it's when she feels the passion to create something from those inspirations that makes her happiest.”

I wondered what other artistic endeavors Janet had dabbled in. She said that she dreams of spending more time drawing and creating mixed media works. Janet said that she “loves” fiber and enjoys knitting to relax. She’s also finding that she enjoys weaving, and wonders where this will all lead her, but she’s sure that metalworking and beads will always be a part of her work. Janet admits that she is quite possibly passionate about too many things!
And where does Janet create her artistic jewelry? Usually in her family room she says, which is showing the effects of doing a lot of work lately. But, like many of us, she has been known to use the porch, deck, pool side on vacation, or the kitchen table as her studio on occasion.
And now that you know more about Honey from the Bee’s Janet Bocciardi, go take a look in her ArtFire studio.

Here are some other links of Janet's you may be interested in:

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Posted for the Pacific Northwest ArtFire Guild by: Katie Forbes of GracefulArts