Silversmith Places Faith Above Fashion In Her Jewelry

By Julie Saffrin

Upon entering Deirdre Olson's studio in Minneapolis one realizes immediately that here, old-world meets new. A coffeemaker sits atop an ancient cast-iron radiator; a giant bouncy ball acts as Olson's chair while she works on her computer at her antique roll top desk.

Deirdre's Handcrafted Jewelry, Olson's sterling silver collection of inspirational jewelry, is a mix of traditional and modern. From cross necklaces and beaded rosaries, to prayer bracelets, to designs of God's creation, every piece dazzles to polished perfection.

"A lot of my pieces come from life experiences. I'll have a Christmas party to go to and think, 'I'll make a Nativity pin for my outfit,'" Olson says. "The sort of jewelry I design tends to be whimsical or tell a little story."

Currently her sterling artwork is represented in over 70 galleries and gift shops nationwide. All of Olson's jewelry bears her signature, Dei, for Deirdre, and the .925 stamp, an internationally agreed upon standard that denotes sterling. "Silver's a wonderful medium because it's a beautiful metal and priced so most people can afford to buy it."

When asked if a fondness for wearing jewelry fueled her passion for sterling, the small-boned entrepreneur plops on the giant green ball as she shakes her head. "Ironically, no. I was and am a tomboy. My interest came about by being fascinated with working with metals," she says. Olson grew up in Oak Park, a suburb on Chicago's west side, in a household that rarely watched TV. "We used our imaginations a lot when we played. I was a quiet child and always had focus. I can play for hours right here," she says, pointing to her roll top.

It wasn't until her senior year of high school that she took her first art class. Later, as a sophomore at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisc., she took a silversmithing class. "I walked in that class and knew it was what I wanted to do."

After graduating in 1990 she headed to Helsinki, Finland for post-graduate work, studying sculpture, then did some traveling, including a nine month stint in Prague, teaching English as a second language.

As she left Czechoslovakia she prayed, "What do you want me to do with my life, Lord?" Her prayer was answered when she arrived back in Chicago and a family friend inherited jewelry-making equipment and asked Olson to make use of it. Her brother phoned from Minneapolis and suggested she come to live in the land of 10,000 lakes.

In 1991, Deirdre's Handcrafted Jewelry was born. "I love Minneapolis. It's closer to the outdoors and it's a slower pace than Chicago," Olson says. "It's a great place to be in business for yourself. Stores are willing to take a risk on something new here."

She walks into a corner room that looks like it might once have been a closet but now functions as her workshop. It is there, surrounded by her jeweler's desk, oxypropane torch, industrial-sized bench shears, processing chemicals, and a buffing wheel, that Olson is in her element.

Olson begins work on one of her popular handmade pieces, the Vine and Cross pin, by picking up a flat one-inch by one-inch sterling piece and drilling a tiny hole off center on the metal. Dislodging the fine blade from the jeweler's saw (a miniature version of a hacksaw), Olson threads it through the metal's hole, then reattaches the blade. "For me, the creative process is very much a spiritual process," she says over the sawing sound while she free-forms a leafy cross design onto the silver. "God is the author of all creativity and when I am being creative, I feel like it's prayer and I'm in touch with God and He's speaking through me through my hands."

Using an oxypropane torch, she solders on two back pin pieces, simultaneously squirting flux onto the silver, which brings the firescale up to the metal's surface. "Copper is an element in sterling but it melts at a lower temperature than silver. The flux retards the firescale and helps keep the copper where it is supposed to be." The brooch is placed into pickle, a liquid that removes any residual flux that turned to glass from the high heat of the tiny torch.

Olson puts heavy-duty work gloves on and turns on the two-spindle buffing wheel, which contains two polishing agents-grit and grease. "Polishing silver is a process of creating millions of little scratches," she says, concentrating as she buffs the sterling. "Those scratches are what reflect light." She stops the machine and ponders what she's just said. The spiritual implication is clear: God works in all things and uses it for the good to reflect His glory.

She looks at the brooch covered in black grime and places it in the ultrasonic machine; ten minutes later the tarnish has gone. As she sets the sterling down on black velvet, a multitude of twinkling stars reflect the light above. Olson smiles. "Making jewelry is a way to spread the gospel in my own little way."

Deirdre's Website

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