A Vermont jeweler announces the launch of Sandra Bomhower Jewelry, custom
design jewelry in gold and silver featuring diamonds, drusy, and a huge
selection of colorful stones, including local beach glass and beach
pebbles. The effect is elegant jewelry with an Asian feel.
“I let the stones guide the design; it always starts with the stone,”
says Bomhower.
Bomhower favors drusy, a sparkly gemstone formation, and plays with
contrasting stone textures. She pairs lustrous pearls with dark water-worn
pebbles from Lake Champlain and Maine collected over the past few decades.
The smooth black matte finish of the pebbles is subtle and organic against
the shiny high karat gold and gleaming silver she wraps around each stone.
The detail of each piece is complete. When she strings on silk, knots
between tiny pearls and gemstones are virtually invisible. She hand-dyes
silk to match the gemstone color.
“This shows the stones off more, and the silk disappears,” she
explains.
The petite and bubbly Wilder native studied jewelry in high school and
earned her stripes working at the bench for twenty-two years for Paul
Gross at his Designer Gold shop in Hanover, NH. In 2009, Bomhower relocated
to Post Mills and opened for business last summer selling jewelry at
festivals and galleries in Maine and Vermont.
Bomhower, an instructor of pearl knotting for the League of New Hampshire
Craftsmen in Hanover, strings pearls and gemstone beads into necklaces for
some of her pendants. The gemstone strand necklaces can be worn separately
making them as versatile as they are beautiful.
Besides her line of beautiful hand fabricated jewelry featuring colorful
gemstones in gold and silver, she is available for custom design, repairs,
and stringing. She also offers small classes and private instruction.
In September 2009, while enroute to Maine and stopped in traffic, a car
ran into Bomhower's and she spent several months recuperating. Bomhower
started showing in Vermont and Maine in 2010. After being juried into the
Vermont Handcrafters organization, she showed at their 58th annual show
last November at the Sheraton Conference Center in South Burlington.