HA!-designs®:
There's More Than A Fly in
Heidi Abrams' Clay - Page Two

"I was 12 when I decided I wanted to be a jeweler. I would find beads, rocks, wire, shells, you name it, and I'd string it. Growing up on Long Island, I admit I hated the beach (I burn crispy and fear the open waters) but would be

dragged by various well meaning family members and friends, so instantly I would try to preoccupy myself with shell searching to avoid actually going in the water. I got some of my best stuff on those sweaty afternoons. I think my Gramma is still holding on to some of those first pieces of mine... oh, to think what they'll be worth someday... mmmmm... Ok, so maybe not a whole lot, (you can stop giggling). Anyway, I started making little things for friends, then word got around school during the first seed bead craze of the 80's that I could make the stuff these kids were buying at the mall - so I convinced them to buy them off of me instead. I was never the same.

By the time I was 14, I was selling at every local craft fair or festival I could afford . . . I didn't care.... as long as I had a chance to sell something. Anything, as a matter of fact. I tried jewelry, wreathes, plants (mostly weeds from my yard, but people bought them anyway), shells, rocks, and anything else I could think of or find. Those summers were the best.  

In high school, I majored in art, and with absolute dilligence (or stubborness, depending on your point of view)  I pushed as hard as I could, showing at galleries, placing in shows, then finally graduating with honors and winning various art scholarships for my portfolio. After leaving high school hell (that's right kids, I promise... it only gets better once you leave) I trotted off to New York City to study jewelry at The Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking, graduating with my bench jewelers certification, I was soooo ready. But I continued on with school, studying jewelry design at the Fashion Institute of Technology for a year while working for various jewelers and watchmakers, getting more hands on experience. But I became restless with the city, and decided to head north, upstate to the famous Woodstock, NY.

So I was 19 and decided to open my first shop. Yup, that's right. Right in Woodstock... I took the remainder of my college money and opened the doors of The Polka Dot Penguin ® in 1996. I sold novelties, toys, and anything else with a sense of humor... including my jewelry. It was liberating, exciting, and creative... but it was also exhausting, both physically and monetarily. No regrets here, though,  I learned more in my few years as a shopkeeper than I ever imagined! But, when I closed my doors in 1998, I went back to my jewelry, selling to local shops, down in NYC and back to the street fairs and craft festivals I always enjoyed.