Meet Susan Jeansonne-Hadden | Jewelry Designer and owner of Jeansonne’s Fine Designs

We had the good fortune of connecting with Susan Jeansonne-Hadden and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Susan, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
i had just been notified my son’s father had died and we would be receiving Death benefits. I did not want to waste the money renting an apartment so I bought a house. Good decision but left me with little money and i had a 10 year old son who was looking forward to Christmas and i had very little extra money. I was 44 years old at the time. I used to make beaded earrings when i was in my 20’s and still had all those seed beads stashed away so i pulled them out bought some stretchy cord and started making simple necklaces, bracelets and anklets. I took them to work with me and sold them for 5 and 10 dollars a pop. the ladies at my job loved them and bought as many as i could make. i realized with in 6 weeks I must have a knack for this and started adding stones and sterling silver to my pieces. I researched the best stringing materials and improved on my techniques. Being a single mom and having a full time job that just wasn’t making ends meet was a great incentive to keep improving my work and increasing my attending shows. I was not only able to make ends meet but we were able to go on vacations and afford some of the little extras that are always needed raising a kiddo. i loved the creative processes and the constant learning was exactly what i needed. This whole process also helped to teach my son that if you wanted extra things in life it took hard work.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am very passionate about my jewelry making and can be a little obsessive ( my husband is laughing A LITTLE?) I take pride in what i create and really enjoy creating jewelry using a lot of the old techniques so a lot of hammering a sawing. I the jewelry design world there are so many of us that you really need to be unique in your style to stand out. i have always been very strict about creating one of a kind pieces and i am known for not recreating anything. I do have some pieces, my standard Celtic knots that i create that are similar but everyone of them has been hand sawed. I don’t use casting to reproduce my pieces though i do buy findings, patterned wire and fancy gallery wire to make rings and bezels with. I never use bezel cups are pre-cut settings. I make everything for scratch.

When i started making jewelry it was stretchy cord and seed beads. I proceeded to buying high end stone beads and sterling silver findings to make my jewelry with so they were higher quality. I went to the bigger gem and mineral shows to hand pick every stone and findings for each piece. I talked to and made friends with my suppliers learning from them which stones were the best, what made a pearl good or bad. I still do that to this day and some of my vendors are people i have worked with for 20 years!When the housing market crashed and women were not able to buy as much jewelry as the wanted i started doing fine wire wrapped jewelry using Swarovski crystals and created multi colored jewelry. This was delicate jewelry that was designed to go with many different outfits. The earrings i created with this technique are very light This allowed me to continue showing and making money during a time when money was not easy to come by.

I had always wanted to work in silver and wanted to learn from someone who was amazing. I met Melanie Kline through my mother and had asked her is she was willing to teach. Melanie is an award winning Silver and Gold smith. About 5 years after i asked her she emailed me and asked me if i still wanted to learn and i definitely said yes! My soon to be husband gifted me with my first semester of classes. I was thrilled to say the least. That was in 2016. The classes changed my entire line of jewelry and my shows started becoming more successful!

My techniques have definitely changed since then. I do a lot of pierced work on the back of my pendants which creates a very unique piece of jewelry which allows for wearing my pendants using the front or back of the pendant as the focal point. I create a lot of custom pieces now which is something i wasn’t doing before then.

The hardest parts were learning which shows were good for me. How to handle the weather conditions for outside shows. LOL lost my very first canopy at my first outside show before i was even fully set up! I have had tables flipped over from high winds and actually had a tent flipped over by a wild wind that tore up many big tents and destroyed a lot of other’s art work. Stuck it out and ended up having a great show. When i was still working a full time job and running my business i had to stay in Colorado but now that i am retired I attend shows in Colorado, Arizonia, New Mexico and Utah. I am mostly on the Celtic circuit and that has been the best I have ever made as a Jewelry designer.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am laughing at this question as we live off grid on 200 acres of which we own 80 of them and lease the other 120 due to owning the Fairview Silver mine. It isn’t a working mine at this time but does have a lot of silver in it. We are looking for a hard rock miner to work it and am hoping to be a able to use our own silver in my work. We live in an unincorporated are called Bedrock in the Paradox Valley. There are maybe a 120 people that live in our valley, mostly Ranchers and people who enjoy living in a very small community in a gorgeous valley. We don’t have phone service or TV. We do have internet calling and service that way but it is very hit and missed.

When someone does come to visit we take them out hiking to see all the wonderful rock art and scenery here. My husband is a well know Archaeologist who recorded a lot of the rock art in this area. People love going on hikes with him as he is a wonderful speaker and is well versed in the history of the area. The closet restaurants are an hour away in Moab Utah so dinner is bar-b-Que which would either be ranch grown beef or pork along with star gazing as there are no street lights in our valley.

The Bedrock store in the valley is well know due to being in the movie Thelma and Louise.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My son Jeremy Jeansonne-Evans for encouraging and putting up with a mom that worked 7 Days a week at long stretches of time. My Father who always encouraged me and when i had a bad show was always quick to remind me that i made more money than i would have sitting on the couch watching tv. My mother who always praised my work and enjoyed wearing my jewelry. Last but not least my husband who handles the household, cooking and taking care of the animals while i am on the road or working in the studio.

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