Who Am I?

Who am I, you ask?

Hi, I'm Kathy Rutiman and I am the creator of this website, handmade-crystal-and-pearl-jewelry.com, and the designer of the jewelry displayed here. But this hasn't always been the case...

For the last 34 years (except for 1 1/2 years, in my Hippy past, that I took off to travel around Europe, Asia And Egypt) I've worked in the medical field, as a Medical Technologist. "What's that" you ask? Well, Med Techs usually work in hospital laboratories and, basically - Whatever they take out of you, they send to us. We do all kinds of scientific stuff to it and then let your doctor know what's happening with your health.

For the last 15 years, I was the Supervisor of the Afternoon Shift and, surprisingly, this led directly to my current jewelry career and the current answer to "Who Am I?" today ...

I always tried to give creative Christmas gifts which, hopefully, most employees would like. By making them myself, I could keep them affordable. This wasn't too difficult when I had about 12 employees.

But, every year the number of employees grew and the task of finding gifts became more and more challenging. Over the years, the gifts included: beaded key chains, decorative jars with "stuff" in them, like vegetables and dried beans, mosaics, pottery, several varieties of Christmas wreathes/centerpieces and a collection of handmade greeting cards.

When the number of gifts required exceeded 35, I knew I had to find something small (try carrying 35 large Christmas Wreathes into work)and still meet the criteria of being unique and some thing that would make the majority of people happy.

The task seemed to be insurmountable. I began thinking, "Who Am I?" to think I could solve this problem.

I had jewelry in the back of my mind for quite a while, but thought it was too hard. But now necessity made me sit down, examine how a bracelet of mine was made, search the net for resources and start experimenting.

That year I made everyone an anklet or bracelet (luckily Medical Technology is largely a female occupation) and Eureka! they were a great success. People said that I had a talent for this and I really loved making jewelry.

I continued to make jewelry as gifts, including Wedding, Prom and Thank-you gifts, for about 5 years.

All went well until I developed an autoimmune disease, which progressively worsened and eventually the symptoms required me to retire at the age of 57.

I still needed to make a living and selling my jewelry seemed like a logical solution.

I started working on this website in July, 2008 and as you know, us old folks aren't as computer savvy as we need to be. So this venture has been one of the more difficult things I've ever attempted. Please be forgiving when exploring www.handmade-crystal-and-pearl-jewelry.com.

So computers aren't my thing, but I love to make jewelry and I hope you love my jewelry, too.

And so it seems, my website, my jewelry career and the answer to the question, Who am I?" is and will continue to be a work in progress.

And, as the saying goes, the buck stops here. In my quest to deliver the highest quality jewelry, I pledge to do my best to fix all problems and never let any compliments (which I'm sure are on their way. They just haven't arrived here yet!) go to my head. I'll continue to strive to improve the website and my jewelry. I Promise!

All comments, good ideas, compliments or opportunities for improvement are welcome and can be sent to me using the form Contact Me

I am anxious to hear from you!