Jewelry Artist Podcast: Francesca Watson, Self-Described Jewelry Enabler

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There are no half measures with Francesca Watson. When this jewelry artist, instructor, and general dynamo is in, she’s all the way in and thinks you should be, too. When Jewelry Artist podcast host Katie Hacker recently asked her if she tried to calm nervous jewelry students and “talk them off the ledge,” Francesca didn’t miss a beat. “No, I don’t talk them off the ledge,” she replied. “I tell them to jump!”

ABOVE: A pair of rings from Francesca’s Redemption series. The series strikes a chord with many women, and these rings include her favorite elements: texture, keum boo, and cabochons; photo courtesy Francesca Watson

Francesca spends a great deal of her time these days teaching or figuring out how to teach in today’s pandemic environment, and focuses on this in her podcast appearance. So I asked her more about her own jewelry making. And in that spirit of “Jump!” — let’s cut to the chase and see what she has to say.

Memorable Pieces

MW: Tell us about a favorite piece, or a few of them: what do you like about these, and what have other people told you about that work?

FRANCESCA: My Redemption series pieces are my most personal and the pieces that people seem to respond to most strongly. They were the first pieces I designed from an original concept, rather than being inspired by something external, and my process in making them is almost ritualistic. Each one is completely unique, and without fail women are drawn to a specific piece almost immediately. They say some variation of “That one just spoke to me.” The pieces are a metaphor for the lives of women: life leaves marks and we get a little ragged around the edges, and we have a tendency to try and dress up the outside. But the good stuff is inside, and you have to look for it.

MW:What do you think is the most successful piece you’ve made, and in what way do you think it is successful?

FRANCESCA: I think my collaboration pieces with Robert Lopez are my most successful pieces — they’re dramatic and unusual and are unlike any other work I’ve done. They pushed the limits of my abilities and challenged me to look at the work and the component elements in new ways. Working with another artist so closely and coming up with pieces that were cohesive and exciting was enormously satisfying.

Solutions

MW: What do you enjoy most about jewelry making, and why is that?

FRANCESCA: I love the problem solving inherent in fabrication. There’s something enormously satisfying about overcoming technical challenges in the process of transforming sheet or wire into something functional and beautiful. I’m always interested in how something is made.

MW: If that is not a particular technique or material, what is one, and how so?

FRANCESCA: So, cabochons of course. I am completely addicted to stones. Beyond that, I love rollprinting metal — texture just makes my heart sing — and adding keum boo. I almost never make a piece anymore without either texture or gold, if not both.

Things to Learn as a Jewelry Artist

MW: If you were given the opportunity to study a new aspect of jewelry making now, what would it be?

FRANCESCA: I’d love to learn more about fabricating settings for faceted gemstones and working more with gold. Someday.

MW: Who would you want to study that with if it could be anyone ever, and why?

FRANCESCA: The graduate jeweler program at New Approach with Blaine Lewis is on my bucket list. I think more than anyone teaching today, Blaine has been an innovator in training professional jewelers.

MW: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a jewelry maker?

FRANCESCA: Patience and mindfulness. I’m finally at a place where I can be truly in the moment, take my time, and not rush the process. It has translated to many other areas of my life, and I wish I’d figured it out 20 years ago!

Don’t we all! Listen to Francesca Watson on the Jewelry Artist podcast below and learn more about this thoughtful and determined jewelry artist and instructor.

Merle White is Editor-in-Chief of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist.