About Lily

One summer while living in Athens for grad school, Lily started a small veggie garden in her front yard.   She grew peppers, zucchinis, and herbs with some success (and some failures!) and really fell in love with the process of planting seeds and nurturing seedlings into food-bearing plants.  Lily now lives in Atlanta with her husband, and they have a little backyard oasis that provides inspiration for her jewelry.

Lily earned her MFA from the University of Georgia in 2015 and her BFA in Craft and Materials Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2012.  After graduating from UGA, she moved to Atlanta where she started her journey as a small business owner.  In 2018, Lily was able to go full-time with Lily Smith Studio and she now sells her work at farmers markets and art festivals in the Metro Atlanta area, as well as at stores around the US.  She loves passing on her knowledge to other makers, and is currently teaching enamel jewelry classes at Garage Door Studio in Avondale Estates.

About the Materials

Maybe you've been perusing the website and are wondering what everything is made out of.  I'll tell you!

All Lily Smith Studio jewelry has sterling silver ear wires, ring bands, and chains/clasps on the necklaces.  That means it's made of 92.5% silver, and 7.5% copper.  No nickel!  A couple of earrings and rings feature some brass.  Brass is an alloy made up of copper and zinc.

If you have a silver allergy and would be interested in an alternative metal (like gold-filled or titanium), just let me know and I can work with you to make earrings that you can wear happily!  I can also convert most dangly earring into a clip-on for folks that don't have pierced earrings.

Silver and brass exposed to oxygen will oxidize; this is commonly known as tarnish, and it's a natural process!  Personally, I love the way metal darkens over time.  However, if you want to keep your metal nice and shiny, you can purchase a polishing cloth, give it a good rub, and it'll remove the tarnish and make it sparkle!  I also recommend taking your jewelry off if you're using harsh chemicals, as those can expedite the oxidation process.  In addition, wearing your jewelry more frequently actually wards off tarnish.  So wear your Lily Smith Studio jewelry frequently, and it'll keep looking great!

Enamel is a layer of glass fused to copper (on both sides).  It's a powder glass that I sift on to the metal and fire, either by torch or in a kiln, at 1450 degrees.  

All of my books have 96 pages of sketchbook paper, which is great for either writing or drawing.  Really anything except water color!  Occasionally I have a book with water color paper and it will be marked as such.  The covers are made from book board, and are either covered in book cloth or decorative paper, or a combination of the two.  They are bound using bookbinding thread, which is made to hold up to substantial use.

Have any other questions, shoot me an email!  I'm always happy to talk more about what goes in to my work!