Like the fragmented pieces of early designs buried away in a shoebox, jeweler Corkie Bolton hid the pain of her youth behind the veneers of addiction. She sold off all of her jewelry-making tools to a support an addiction that concealed a hard-earned degree in metalsmithing from the Pratt Institute. But she kept her senior project, a mailbox with a personal inscription, I dreamed, laughed, worked, learned, yelled, cried, grew here. Today, the voice behind growing Instagram community Metalsmith Society, Corkie displays the mailbox above her studio bench as a reminder of how far she has come. Corkie joins host Courtney Gray to share her intimate path of addiction, sobriety, second chances, true love and the opportunity to open oneself up to dreaming once more.
Like the fragmented pieces of early designs buried away in a shoebox, jeweler Corkie Bolton hid the pain of her youth behind the veneers of addiction. She sold off all of her jewelry-making tools to a support an addiction that concealed a hard-earned degree in metalsmithing from the Pratt Institute. But she kept her senior project, a mailbox with a personal inscription, I dreamed, laughed, worked, learned, yelled, cried, grew here. Today, the voice behind growing Instagram community Metalsmith Society, Corkie displays the mailbox above her studio bench as a reminder of how far she has come. Corkie joins host Courtney Gray to share her intimate path of addiction, sobriety, second chances, true love and the opportunity to open oneself up to dreaming once more.
Courtney Gray:
Welcome to season two of For the Love of Jewelers, a podcast connecting people engaged in the craft and industry of jewelry making. Brought to you by Rio Grande Jewelry Supply, and hosted by yours truly, Courtney Gray. While navigating through this time, we realize the need to stay home, be safe and stay inspired. We are truly all in this together. I'm honored and excited to take you on this journey to discover not only the how, but why we make jewelry. My goal is not only to inform you, but to empower you by sharing the passion, perspective, and perseverance of your fellow makers and professionals in all facets of the craft. Let's dive in. (singing)
Courtney Gray:
Hi, guys. Today we have Corkie Bolton. She has been making jewelry since she was in high school, graduating from Pratt Institute with a degree in metalsmithing in 2007. But that was only the beginning of her story. There was a point after graduation where the economy wasn't doing so well. She started to abandon the dream of being a jeweler. She started a career in the fitness industry, but still held on to one bench and her acetylene torch. The turning point was years later after overcoming some personal struggles and moving to Boston, where she met a woman whose grandmother had been a metalsmith.
Courtney Gray:
She generously gave Corkie her grandmother's beloved tools. This incredible act of kindness was a huge sign from the universe that she needed to be making jewelry. She launched her line in 2016. Corkie embraces the spirit of community over competition. She launched Metalsmith Society in early 2018, an Instagram community where jewelers can share information, ask questions and learn. Corkie is also married, and a mother of two. She's a New Yorker and has a thing about bagels and pizza.
Corkie Bolton:
I do.
Courtney Gray:
Corkie, welcome. Isn't that weird to hear somebody read your bio? Face to face?
Corkie Bolton:
Though, whenever I hear mention of my origin story though, I still get a little chill from it, even though-
Courtney Gray:
Yeah.
Corkie Bolton:
It makes me happy to hear that. Thank you so much for having me.
Courtney Gray:
Absolutely. It's a pleasure. I have been looking forward to connecting with you for quite a while, and heard such great things. In fact, somebody compared me to you. They said, "Corkie's like the younger you, Courtney," and I said, "Hey, wait, I'm not that old yet." But it's really an honor to meet you. I know your views and the way that you reach out to the community really aligns with my vision as well. It's an honor. Yeah.
Corkie Bolton:
Well, super kind of you. I'm extremely flattered, and really, it's always a privilege to be considered for any type of thing like this. I'm really, really happy and stoked to talk to you about jewelry and Metalsmith Society and being a mom.
Courtney Gray:
Yep. Mother of two. We can both relate to that. We'll definitely have to talk about that.
Corkie Bolton:
Maybe we can talk about pizza and bagels.
Courtney Gray:
I know. I would love to hear about the pizza and bagels. Yeah. What part of New York are you from?
Corkie Bolton:
Well, I grew up in Westchester County, and then I lived in Brooklyn for 10 years when I was attending Pratt Institute. Stuck around for a little while, and it is funny that my bio mentions Boston since that was a shorter window of time, but definitely a really important time. Got with my husband and got back into jewelry making. Yeah.
Courtney Gray:
I love reading your bio. It was just so real and tells me a lot about you already. Love that you're very open book like this. Do you mind just sharing with us about that whole transition for you of moving careers around and finding yourself back at the bench?
Corkie Bolton:
Yeah, absolutely. It's such a important part of who I am as a person and even the kind of jewelry that I make. I was so fortunate in that growing up in Westchester County, New York, my high school had jewelry, and it was a public high school. I always like to mention one of my art teachers in particular, Mrs. [Deey 00:04:15]. There were so many good ones though. But she had studied at SUNY New Paltz and knew how to make jewelry, and what an asset she was to our high school because she just made it happen. She got the acetylene torch, she made the little area, she got some enameling kilns and I really got a very nice introduction at such a young age when I was impressionable.
Corkie Bolton:
I knew that I wanted to go to art school. But when I went to Pratt, I really quickly knew that jewelry was what I wanted to have my bachelor's degree be concentrated in. I just loved how it was ... You could make these treasures that could be passed down from person to person, and that it could all fit in a shoe box. Because my family had done a little moving around. We'd moved out of a house and my parents had divorced and they had their apartments. I was this kid that was so prolific in what I would make, ceramics and paintings and large scale things that it got to a point where I'm like, "I need a storage unit for all this stuff that I'm creating." I love that jewelry was so small and wearable and functional.
Corkie Bolton:
The list goes on and on. Going to Pratt was such an awesome experience, and it taught me so much. I got to really focus, especially the last year and a half I was there on making jewelry. But as mentioned in my bio, for people that are my age, they especially remember that time in 2008 when the economy you really had a struggle, and that was when I graduated. I was fortunate enough to be able to have many different jobs in the jewelry industry, even though some of them were short lived. I had the privilege of working for another jeweler who had a really successful business. Her name is Elizabeth Garvin. She's still doing stuff. She's wonderful. That was a really small team.
Corkie Bolton:
I got to learn how to do a little production work and how to solder 30 pairs of earrings in a row. I had a job at a Polish diamond fine jewelry company on 47th Street. I got to see what that was all about and some of the happenings in New York City 47th Street, that whole hustle. Then I also worked at Saks Fifth Avenue for a while, just selling things. There were a lot of great experiences that I had, but I also was dealing with some personal struggles. I had, since high school, dabbled in drinking and smoking weed and experimenting, but there was a darker side to it for me was definitely an escapism, and I tended to go toward that, "Oh, I'm doing this to numb out."
Corkie Bolton:
As much as I really kept it together in college and really worked hard, I was also partying really hard. It continued on after graduation, where I was losing myself a bit and really losing the dream though, to make this relevant about jewelry making. I was very much giving up, getting jaded, and I would think, "This is too hard. I can't do this. People that are successful, they're lucky, they have a trust fund, they have a wealthy partner," and I had a lot of these thoughts that were really negative. Yeah. It was also truthfully, and I think this is a reality of our industry, there were some jobs too that I really couldn't even pay my bills, even though they were very valuable experiences.
Corkie Bolton:
But I was $13 an hour, I'm living in Brooklyn. It was challenging. I very much identify I'm an alcoholic, I was drinking alcoholically. I started selling off my jewelry equipment. I do mention there's actually in the background ... I'm not sure if people will see the video of this, but Courtney can see into my studio, I do still have the one bench that I wasn't willing to get rid of that my father had bought for me. But during this time, I had very much started finding people on Craigslist that wanted to buy some of my stuff, my tools. I even sold a tool back to Pratt Institute that I wasn't using any more. I was really down on I'm never going to make this happen for myself, and I was really depressed. Now the uplifting part of the story, fortunately for me, I, in December 30th, 2010 ...
Corkie Bolton:
This is some years later after I graduated, and I was having struggles for a few years. I got sober and started attending AA, and still living in New York City, and just slowly day by day, I just got better. That was really such a gift for me truthfully, because it just made space in my life slowly for dreams to come back, and my whole attitude and perspective changed a little bit and just ... I know we're going to move on to other questions and whatnot, but the other part of that bio is that when I did move to Boston, at that time I had already been sober for a few years, I met a woman, Lisa.
Corkie Bolton:
She just so generously ... Her grandmother, Mary, who she was very close with had passed away. Mary had been a silversmith for over 20 years with a successful business. She so generously offered me whatever tools I wanted to take. She didn't know what a lot of them were, and that was such a huge moment. For those that are listening that maybe have heard me be interviewed before, I do have to mention this story almost every time because it's just an amazing moment for me where I was like, "Okay, yeah, fine, I'll do this. For universe."
Courtney Gray:
Yeah. Pushed you in that direction a little bit. Well, I'm a big believer in timing of things. I always pay attention to when things come through like that, or when they show up in our lives. Sometimes if you don't listen when it's up, you can miss the opportunity or the window. I love that you just decided to jump through that door, so to speak, and get back into it. Those messages come loud when they ... For me. Yeah.
Corkie Bolton:
Again, I still even telling the story right now, it's body chills every time because it's like the tools that I had given away when I was at my darkest were sitting in front of me. Because it's jewelry tools. Right?
Courtney Gray:
Right.
Corkie Bolton:
But it was the same saw that I had given away, the same mandrel.
Courtney Gray:
Wow.
Corkie Bolton:
I was just really ... I was shocked by it. When I did return, I immediately jumped back into teaching and trying to find local nonprofit places where I could get hired for a weekend workshop. That's where I came back into the game.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah. [inaudible 00:11:49] until you went right into teaching. Cool. Yeah, I didn't realize that about you. Are you still teaching, Corkie?
Corkie Bolton:
I, as recently as maybe two years ago, taught a workshop. I think just COVID and being busy. But I do private lessons sometimes, and one of my hopes with my new studio space is to have some workshops in the future, for sure.
Courtney Gray:
Very cool. Yeah, the studio looks great. We were practicing today, we're playing together, Corkie and I, on videoing this podcast and being able to release it in multiple ways so we can you can listen at the bench or you can turn on YouTube and get a view into her studio and my office if you care to. It's nice to be working at home. Is your studio at home? Are you-
Corkie Bolton:
It is. It's off my garage.
Courtney Gray:
Nice. Ain't that lovely? Yeah. Especially being a mom, and we could definitely dive into that, I think, Corkie, it's not easy. Mother of two. How old are your kiddos?
Corkie Bolton:
Both of my kids have summer birthdays and they're turning four and six.
Courtney Gray:
Whoa! Okay. Yeah, so you have your hands full. I will say it gets a little easier. Mine are 10 and 14. It just changes a little bit as they grow and you grow and you get used to being a parent. It's a five year learning curve, though, I think. Once you get past the five year hurdle with most things in life. I don't know if you can relate to that. But being a parent or being a professional entrepreneur, starting a business, it takes ... It's good five-year minimum kind of endeavor to make it happen and get used to how you operate, so to speak.
Corkie Bolton:
Well, for sure. Anyone who's maybe a young parent or a parent of a very young kid, when I started Metalsmith Society in 2018, my son, Dean, was six months old. I was home with him all the time, and my daughter had preschool four hours a week. I'd put Dean down for a nap, and I would scour Instagram and try to connect with people. I would do my post every morning while they're in the high chairs, and it just slowly grew.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah. It sounds like you're reading my book. Honestly, I started a school when my first child was one, and I still breastfeeding. It was answering calls on my headphones, having the headset. I even got the software that you could talk and type so I could be hands free. It was just those little pieces each day that belt something eventually, and it was like just going to do what I can during naptime.
Corkie Bolton:
Yes.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah. Yeah. I can totally relate to that. Tell me about your husband. Where'd you guys meet? In New York?
Corkie Bolton:
Well, actually, him and I, we both had a mutual friend, Jessica, who he grew up with, and her and I went to Pratt together. Him and I met two decades ago, vertically. We had just been friends and then we saw each other again at a wedding in Virginia. He was living in Boston, I was living in New York City, and I was just like, "Hey." I'd already become sober and I was just willing to travel to Boston to date him, and vice versa. We would take the BoltBus back and forth and see each other on the weekends. Yeah. The very first date, he always says it could have been extremely awkward or awesome because I had to come for the weekend because I was coming from New York. But I think we'd hung out. We knew each other enough that we knew it was going to be awesome. Here we are. Yeah.
Courtney Gray:
That's so cool. Yeah. Another one of those universe things where it's like, Hey, who are you, and why do I keep running into you?
Corkie Bolton:
When I tell you I was going to this wedding, obviously by myself, traveling by myself. It was a lot of us converging from different parts of the country to Virginia, where even the people getting married, one of them had grown up there. It wasn't like they lived there either. I go to this place, the hotel that has very sketchy cell phone service, so I couldn't get in touch with anyone. It was like the elevator doors opened, with a bing, and Kyle was standing there, my husband, my now husband, and I was like, "Kyle."
Courtney Gray:
Wow. Yeah.
Corkie Bolton:
[crosstalk 00:16:21] It's just funny.
Courtney Gray:
That's so cool. I can totally relate to that one too, Corkie. I just kept crossing paths with my husband on the street, at a show. There he is playing music again. He's in a bandwidth so and so. We connected a lot through music scene in Austin, and I just kept running into him.
Corkie Bolton:
Love that.
Courtney Gray:
He's New York Italian, so he's always kissing people on the cheek as a greeting, and I took it very personally. I was like, "Why is this guy kissing me?" But he kisses everybody. He's Italian. But I could just feel his, there's something here. The timing again, it wasn't right for a while. He's 25 years older than me. There was that whole thing, and then it was just like ... That last time we ran into each other, it was like, "This just makes sense."
Corkie Bolton:
That is the best. Well, I should add to I had to ... After flirting with him all night, the next day I tracked him down in his hotel room, knocked on the door, and I was like, "Hey, I'd like to go out with you sometime. Here's my number." Now we have children because of that. I like to remind them because I think that speaks though a little bit to my personality. I've had to go after things-
Courtney Gray:
Sure.
Corkie Bolton:
... in life.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. I mean, they don't always present themselves. You have to ask for what you want, and show up and follow through. Yeah. I did the same thing, Corkie.
Corkie Bolton:
Take a risk.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah. I was like, "When are we hooking up, man? I'm tired of waiting around on this." He's like, "Well, stay and watch a movie." "Okay, sure, baby." 10 years later, married and two children, wonderful kids and will get on you. I'm glad that that-
Corkie Bolton:
Love that.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah, that timing aligned for you. Talk to me about your work a little bit, to share with us that process for you and what you're working on now and hope to work on in the future.
Corkie Bolton:
Jewelry or Metalsmith Society?
Courtney Gray:
Let's talk jewelry. I do want to talk to you-
Corkie Bolton:
Jewelry.
Courtney Gray:
... about Metalsmith Society.
Corkie Bolton:
Sure.
Courtney Gray:
But yeah, I want to hear about your work.
Corkie Bolton:
I think my biggest driver for my jewelry work has been a relentless chasing of getting better at techniques. Some people are inspired by certain things in life. I am certainly inspired by nature and botanicals, and I'm obsessed with houseplants and I make plant stands. But that's just the aesthetic inspiration. What really, really inspires me is for the last six months, for example, I see a gorgeous thick bezel, and I'm like, "I want to get really good at doing that." I go get help from my friend, Emily Marquis, who's a teacher in Connecticut. I took classes with her. She showed me how she learned. I practice, practice, practice. I say that my work is still ...
Corkie Bolton:
I have not landed in a very specific aesthetic where someone would look at my work and be like, "That's a Corkie Bolton. 100%." I admire jewelers that have really arrived in that sense. I'm too busy switching up the type of fabrication I want to do or the techniques that I want to use. As another example, I love GRS and I took an engraving class two years ago with Sam Alfano. It was amazing. I had planned to go last summer, but due to COVID wasn't able to. I am returning in August, and I'm going to be taking an advanced stone setting class with Todd Daniels. I'm so fortunate and so excited. But this is really going to affect my work, gaining these skills, and that's where I've been.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah. You still consider yourself in the learning phase? It sounds like.
Corkie Bolton:
Yes.
Courtney Gray:
I don't think any of us ever exit that as jewelry makers. It's one of the most broad crafts and most ancient crafts, I think, in existence. I love that part of it, just the history behind it and that longevity, the heirloom quality that you mentioned, creating something that fits in a shoe box and also can be passed down for generations, or buried in the earth and resurfaced. There's just something really the permanence of metal that I really appreciate.
Corkie Bolton:
Well, I'm nodding in agreement for those that are just listening. But it's like you could choose one modality and be like, "I'm going to focus on doing Keum-Boo for this whole year," and watch where that takes you. It's wild. There's so many different techniques you could be good at. I don't want to be a master of none ... jack of all trades, per se. But I am fascinated in some of these advanced techniques that are really hard, like engraving. I don't say they're hard to discourage anyone interested out there. It just requires learning and lots of practice, which I'm up for. Because that's the part that's ... I left that out. There's always been this part of me that I'm very satisfied at getting good at things. I am a bit of a perfectionist. Whenever, even as a child, there's been something where you finally get it, you knock all the pins down bowling and you're just like, "Yes. That's me." I'm like, "I finally got that bezel and it looks beautiful," and I get so excited.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah. How do you face the challenges within the skinny spots, so to speak, or the failures really that come from learning and pushing yourself in that way?
Corkie Bolton:
Well, I will say this, and this is also something that I think would be helpful to maybe someone listening who's more of a beginner, if you make a necklace, and let's say you're trying to do some sort of clasp on it or bail and you're setting a particular kind of stone. The first time you do it, you're just like, "Yeah, okay, it turned out okay," and you're just really like ... I guarantee, if you take the time to do it a second time, you will crush it. That's how I deal with my failures, which are many. Oh, my gosh, I have a drawer of broken stones. I have pieces that are so unfit for Instagram, they are not Insta-worthy, but I did learn a lot through each process.
Corkie Bolton:
That is one of the challenging things with what we do, the permanence of it, because someone who's drawing can just draw and then just recycle that piece of paper. We could technically ... I mean if you want to go there, we could also do that. I don't think we have to save everything we ever made. But there are a lot of art styles where it's a lot more forgiving when you're practicing and learning, and jewelry is ... You're investing in materials, you're investing in stones, and so it's definitely ... There are going to be some bumps along the way. But yeah, that's how I really like to overcome that, is if I'm feeling not great about something, I just do it again and-
Courtney Gray:
Do it again.
Corkie Bolton:
... I guarantee better the second time. Always.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah, and even the third. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, stone setting, you're about to dive into that world, it really is one of the more technique heavy within the craft. I think it's really takes try, try again, flush that 20 stones. People used to approach me to teach, Corkie, when I ran the school here in Austin, and they'd say, "Well, what do I need to do to teach a Creative Side?" I would say, "Set 100 bezels and bring them in and let me look at them."
Corkie Bolton:
Wow.
Courtney Gray:
That's a big tall order, but really we have to go through those struggles, so to speak. I don't mean to speak of them as failures necessarily. I think that's part of learning, is ... I love Ronnie Cory, always said failure's where the learning begins. I think that's huge. You need to go through those struggles because students are going to bring up things that you would never imagine, and you need to know how to overcome those hurdles, so to speak. Yeah. Practice, practice, right? Keep at it.
Corkie Bolton:
Well, it is. I have to remind myself, just because I went to college, just because I had a few jobs, I was out of the game also for many years when my kids were really young, when my daughter was born. I was home all the time. Breastfeeding as well. Just all the things. I have to remind myself that I need to practice. When I'm going to ... Not every piece I make is going to be for the shop, and that can be hard when you're someone who is running a small business and you're investing in materials. But yeah, sometimes making that same pair of earrings 10 times, the 10th pair is going to be a lot better. But a lot of us we will just say, "Okay, I'm going to make this one ring, one time and [crosstalk 00:25:33]."
Courtney Gray:
Right. Move forward. Yeah. That's a common thing. I think we want to be able to market or sell everything that we make. Yeah, the process is-
Corkie Bolton:
Yes.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah, you end up with a shoebox full of unfinished pieces, or ones that you're not as so proud of, Insta-worthy.
Corkie Bolton:
Sample sale.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah, right? Yeah. Yeah. The history. Actually, I like looking at those first pieces. I still have them, and they're so rough and raw. I was more of a wax carver than a fabricator. The evolution of your craft, your skill, it's fun to look back at. It's like looking at your drawings as a child. I still have all those as well.
Corkie Bolton:
I have, out on my window ledge, just right here actually, my favorite piece that I made from my senior show at Pratt.
Courtney Gray:
Nice. Yeah.
Corkie Bolton:
You want me to show it to you?
Courtney Gray:
Yeah, I do.
Corkie Bolton:
That's it. Okay.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah, bring it up. It's a great studio Corkie's got, if you guys aren't watching. How many benches do you have now? Three or four in there?
Corkie Bolton:
I have four. One is ... Sorry, [inaudible 00:26:40] rolled away. One is for shooting content. One has my engraving setup and a microscope. And I've been experimenting with it and using it for even when I'm just hammer setting bezels. It's awesome, and now I'm doing my polishing with my flex shaft under a microscope. It's really game changing because I can see what I'm doing.
Courtney Gray:
Wow. Yeah. Yeah.
Corkie Bolton:
I'm very fortunate to have that tool because it has been a big game changer. Then my original bench that I couldn't get rid of, I'm soldering on that right now. In college, I made this mailbox that I'm holding up for Courtney. It has my address on the back from the house that I grew up in stamped on it. It has an etching of the tattoo that my brother and I have on our backs. We have matching tattoos. I'm really tight with my brother, Haze. Then the mailbox opens up, and out of it comes the chain. I'll have to read it because there's a bit of a glare from the sun. But when my brother and I ... We grew up in this house on Ellis Place in Ossining, New York.
Corkie Bolton:
When I was 12, my mom had to sell it. Her and my dad had gotten a divorce. She couldn't afford it anymore, and it was hard for us because I think it was very symbolic of the actual divorce. It's one thing when your parents are like, "Yeah, we're getting a divorce," but then when you're leaving your house and everything is changing, it was such a hard time. The last night that we were at this house, my brother wrote all over his wall in Sharpie. That's very Haze thing. Just makes me smile because ... That's not a cool thing to do if you're about to sell a house, although they were going to renovate. The house need a lot of work. But he wrote, "I dreamed, laughed, worked, learned, yelled, cried, grew here," and he marked it with an X. I get teary-eyed just reading that. I know. It was just so-
Courtney Gray:
Oh, my gosh.
Corkie Bolton:
It was such a time. My senior thesis at Pratt, it was all about me baring my soul and telling these childhood stories, and that's the person I've always been too. But it's not really for production jewelry.
Courtney Gray:
Right. Well, I don't know. Yeah, I could be. That's so profound. Yeah. You're making me tear up. We can't do that. We only have 15 minutes, Corkie.
Corkie Bolton:
I even made this ribbon clasp. It's a little ribbon and it has December 1997, and that's when my parents got the divorce and moved out of the house. Anyways. But God, I love looking at ... It was such a privilege to go to college and be able to have that time to focus and to make something with a little clasp. Sorry, a little hinge and something. Yet, even with this conceptual jewelry, it's still wearable, and that's where I was at. But I agree to bring us back those earlier works. I like to keep it right on my windowsill and look at it, and-
Courtney Gray:
Well, that's a really special piece too. I mean, that's just a nice reminder of that relationship you have with your brother. Is he older than you or?
Corkie Bolton:
He is, yeah.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah. How many years?
Corkie Bolton:
He's three and a half years older.
Courtney Gray:
Okay. Yeah.
Corkie Bolton:
Yeah. He's great. We FaceTime all the time. We visit. He has kids, too. I'm really lucky. We're tight. He plays guitar, so he has some artistic skills himself. But yeah.
Courtney Gray:
Awesome. Yeah, you're very fortunate. That's so cool. Talk to me about are you ... I saw a post on your Instagram about you getting into gold. Is that happening?
Corkie Bolton:
Thank you for asking about that. I'm sorry, we're hitting ... The sun's coming. Now I'm [crosstalk 00:30:51]
Courtney Gray:
I actually love your lighting. It's really-
Corkie Bolton:
I'm a dramatic shadow now.
Courtney Gray:
I know. Dun! Dun! Dun! Well, after the profound piece that you just shared, it's appropriate.
Corkie Bolton:
Yeah. I'm just going to slide right over here so I'm not in a Sun beam, like a cat. Thank you for asking about that. I really love wearing gold. I think that makes me a little fancy. I'm not a fancy person, really. That's the funny thing. I like athleisure. In a given day, I'm usually rocking a Metalsmith Society sweatshirt, or whatever, and some sweat pants. But I love the color of yellow gold, and I think that's all very personal, what you feel looks nice and what makes you feel good. But I do think that making jewelry that you would actually want to wear yourself is pretty key. Because I think if people stay true to that and they're making things that they're like, "If you saw this in a boutique, would you be so excited to buy this? Would you like me to do it?"
Corkie Bolton:
Working in gold feels like the next best step for me because I really love wearing it. My most recent thing I did last week was I set a really small opal in gold, and I did it under the microscope and it was a thick bezel and it was a small scale. It was just bringing together the culmination of a lot of the skills that I've been working on for the past few months in a really nice way, that's very satisfying. Truthfully, it can't be said enough, but I mean the profit that you're going to make on gold pieces is far better than silver. For someone who doesn't have a lot of time at the bench like myself, it actually makes more sense for me to make a few gold pieces a month, and hopefully sell them versus I can't crank out 50 silver pieces. It's just not possible.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it does add a ton of value. This is a common thing that comes up in these conversations for sure is, and of course as a teacher, people are can be very intimidated by taking that leap. It's so much more expensive, and right now it really is. But that fear of, well, what if I melt it, and what if I can't work with it? It's actually easier to work with than silver, I find. But ...
Corkie Bolton:
I got one good bit of advice about working with gold one time, and it's the thing that I always impart when anyone asks me, is that when you're soldering it, you just need to pause. You take your flame away and you pause, because there's this thing, and I'm not ... My knowledge, I always say we could write volumes about what I don't know about metalsmithing, even though I'm the person who is coordinating this fabulous community of ours. Scientifically, I can't really speak to why this is, but gold solder just takes that extra second to solidify. I don't know whether that's because it conducts heat better or whatever. But when you just pause, literally take your torch away and go pause, and then move your hand. Because the biggest mistake I see with people soldering gold is that they go to move it and it literally just will go like [inaudible 00:34:15]
Courtney Gray:
Yeah. Another one of those learning curves, for sure. Yeah. But the nice thing too is that you can focus the heat on one piece. You're not really having to illuminate the piece with heat, and so [inaudible 00:34:27] Yeah, it's a different game and lovely.
Corkie Bolton:
It's also much nicer than engrave on, and do bead settings and some of those things that I'm trying to learn, because it's harder, it's less gummy.
Courtney Gray:
Perfect. All right, we definitely need to talk about Metalsmith Society and how this came to life for you. Also, I'm just curious, how did you rock this out so quickly? I mean all of a sudden, you just blew up. Share with us about that journey for you.
Corkie Bolton:
Going back to one of my jobs in the industry with Elizabeth Garvin, I had a co-worker named [Hega 00:35:08]. I had a bunch of great co-workers there. But Hega had been working there for a really long time. Very knowledgeable jeweler. Hega, if you're listening, hello. I love you. This is a story I tell a lot, is that I was pregnant with my son and working on a custom job in white gold, and a setting snapped off of the piece and I had already set an opal on another part of the piece. That was a sad day. Anyone that's ... Shout outs if you've worked in white gold because it's brutal, shout outs if you've been pregnant, shout outs if you've been working on a stressful custom job. It was just a trifecta that I could not handle on my own.
Corkie Bolton:
Thankfully, and I mean this sincerely, I am someone that knows how to ask for help. I did it when I was struggling with alcoholism. I've done it as a young mom when I didn't know what to do and I was struggling with being a parent. In this moment, I thought, "Okay, what is my support system here? Who can I reach out to?" I emailed Hega, I hadn't talked to her in years, and Hega's awesome. She immediately emailed me back, and her suggestion was to buy a potato, carve out a channel, put the piece in the potato, expose the area that I needed to solder and get in there quick with ... I used an oxygen acetylene torch. It was small, hot, hot flame. I think I did go down to medium solder instead of hard to help. It worked. For anyone, though, that's listening on that, you still have to use that tip with caution.
Corkie Bolton:
I always have to have a disclaimer. Because any of these heat protecting tips, you never know. Larger stones, more heat. But for the sake of the story, and is the truth, it worked. It planted the seed of it would be so nice to connect with other jewelers because I'm getting back into the game but I don't have a community anymore because I got my bench at home, I have little kids, I'm only doing a few hours a week. Instagram was definitely already a thing I was utilizing for Corkie Bolton Jewelry. Follow me there. No big deal. This idea came down the road that wouldn't it be nice to connect with other people, jewelers, that would be willing to share how they did things but nothing proprietary?
Corkie Bolton:
Nothing that would allow anyone to copy anyone else's designs. I'm not looking for someone's exclusive, the way that they have this special stone setting technique that they do that's their aesthetic. I was brainstorming and I was like, "Okay, Metalsmith Society. That sounds really badass." Then my husband was like, "Yeah, it does," and he's always my person that I'll bounce ideas around. He's not a jeweler, but he'll be like, "That sounds legit." I remember like it was yesterday because it was February and we were attending my friend's son's first birthday party the morning I was making my first post. I can't remember, but I think I also hired a graphic designer pretty immediately.
Corkie Bolton:
The Bearded Creative Simon. He's also on Instagram. He's awesome and does freelance work. He created the Metalsmith Society logo. I just took money out of my jewelry business because I was like, "If people are going to respond to me, I think I need an official icon. I need it to be ..." I never did that with an intention that I'm going to have merch or anything like that. I'm just going to stand up. But this was one of the original iterations. Sorry, got away from the mic, but that he created for me. I basically would ask permission from people on Instagram. I would reach out to them and say, "Hey, I noticed that you shared this really interesting setup. Would you mind if I share that? I will give you full credit," and that's how it began. I spent a lot of time on Instagram.
Courtney Gray:
Still are you? Is that a good portion of your day, or how does that balance out?
Corkie Bolton:
I hate to admit this. I had to find more life balance because there was a certain time ... Your phone will tell you by the way if you go, and it's sad. It'll tell you how much screen time you're spending.
Courtney Gray:
Oh, yeah.
Corkie Bolton:
I think at certain times, I was spending six hours a day on Instagram. It was too much. Because I would also ... It's so convenient. I'd be pulling my phone out at times that I probably shouldn't have, and I'd be like, "Someone sent me a tip. DM." There's a few things I have to admit is that, one, a lot of times I do have to post and ghost. Are you familiar with that term?
Courtney Gray:
No, but I can imagine, yeah. Describe that.
Corkie Bolton:
A post and ghost is when you just put out content and then you don't look at it again. That means, I'm so sorry, but I don't always see all the fabulous comments. But I like to often say the gold happens in the comments, because this community that has come together is so kind and awesome that I see people helping each other in the comments, and that oftentimes who's ever tip I'm sharing, they will very generously take some time out of their day that day and they will answer the questions. Honestly, they are the one that's best equipped to answer the questions anyhow. That's one way I've struck the balance, is I do try to look at some of the comments, and of course, I love resharing stories that people share, whether they're using a tip or they very kindly purchased merch. Certainly, if I'm doing sponsored content, I try to be engaged and active as well. But I had to find a little bit more of a balance with that, for sure.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah, absolutely. You do this because you love making jewelry. You can't spend ... You got to get that time at the bench too. How do you compartmentalize these different endeavors and different streams of revenue that you're creating in your work? I'm practicing this in a different way, after COVID especially, I think. Forced us to slow down. It's like, go home, everybody quarantine, lock the door, stay home and really look at things differently and reevaluate. I think it's been a really good time for that. It's been a silver lining of this, I think.
Corkie Bolton:
Yeah, absolutely. I think, first off, one thing that I really focused on last year was my email list and the importance and power of it, because as many people have said, Instagram is just like an introduction to, and even with 170,000 followers, which is where we're at right now ... I say followers, people in the community, people ... The percentage of engaged people is far less. We all follow a lot of accounts, and so a lot of people might not see the daily posts and they might not see some of the awesome promos we have going on. I'll give you this example, and I swear I'm not doing this because this is Rio Grande, but I am doing a promotional series right now with Rio Grande and they're offering a really cool discount on some Swanstrom tools that they have and Swanstrom exclusive to Rio, and it's great. But very easy to miss a post like that, because I post every day. I have posted every day since I started this thing. I've never missed a day. That's a lot. Yeah.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah, it's a commitment. Yeah.
Corkie Bolton:
Yeah. What I like about email list is the most important things that happened for the week, the fundraisers that we do, the educational opportunities that are free to people, it's just a way that I can reach out and engage with people that are super ... The people that are on my email list are the super engaged people. You asked about compartmentalizing, that's one thing is I focus on those really dedicated folks that are willing to give me some time of their day to read the content that I put out. I usually do one email or two week, usually tops. That's been really good. I have developed some really fabulous relationships with tool companies in the industry. But I have to say, I think some people who are ... It's so weird to say that I'm an influencer, but I know that that's what it is.
Courtney Gray:
Sure.
Corkie Bolton:
My resume is pretty off the grid after being home with the kids. But I guess that's what I would put on it. But the thing I focused on is I haven't taken on more people. I'm not trying to sell Coke products to people or things that aren't relevant to us. I've said, "Okay, let me be really focused, only show things that I believe in, that I've tried." For everything that people see, there have been tools that I've been like, "That's not for us," or I try it and I'm like, "I don't really think that that would be right for the community." It's always authentic, and I can say that with honor. I haven't really tried to grow that or blow it up because I don't want it to become all about that.
Corkie Bolton:
I don't want everyone to feel like they're constantly getting an ad or you being sold to. Because I recognize I also genuinely love about this page that you can do something with a potato. You don't need expensive tools to make jewelry. Even when I am showing off a tool, I try my best to also make it educational so that it's just informing, and that's the spirit. It's like there's some sponsored work, but then really the community has meant the world to me, because one of the biggest things I did was I created a Patreon page. The Patreon page is basically just a platform for people if they want to donate as little as $3 a month or 36 annual. I got into it because I support a lot of my favorite podcasts on Patreon.
Corkie Bolton:
I've tried to make it really extra beneficial for people. Rio gives you a $20 free ship code when you join my Patreon. So like I've tried to have some perks and I have some fun merch that I do only for them. But I just bring it up to say that, I mean, join my Patreon. But also genuinely, I couldn't do it without the support of the community because people have been generous, even if it's just $3 a month or they buy a tee shirt or they send me a tip. That support has kept me going. I don't want to get any bigger. I just am really happy where I'm at where I still love it and I still want to do it, and I can still have balance with my family. Did I answer your question or was that crazy tangent?
Courtney Gray:
You did. No. Yeah. I think that's what I was asking is, how do we separate out these things that we do? For me, and I don't mean to over talk about, I'm just excited to get to know you to more, Corkie, and I can totally relate to just all the things you're sharing with us. I've got a band, I'm a singer, I'm a mother of two, I am a daughter of my mom who's getting older, I'm a wife, I'm entrepreneur, a serial entrepreneur. I can't stop. Now I'm doing more consulting in the industry. It's just all these different things that we juggle with being ambitious and perseverant people, I think it really takes a lot of practice to say, "Okay, I'm clocking out of that, and I'm doing this."
Courtney Gray:
Yeah, I recently started clocking my time differently, just to have a tangible way to separate those parts of my world and try to be more present in each and do the best that we can in each division of our life. But I love getting to share with you. I want to talk to you for another hour. I know you got to go get your kids.
Corkie Bolton:
I know. We can totally-
Courtney Gray:
You really do.
Corkie Bolton:
... talk for another hour. Well, actually, I have five more minutes.
Courtney Gray:
Okay. Cool.
Corkie Bolton:
We don't have to-
Courtney Gray:
Yeah.
Corkie Bolton:
That's what I do, is I always manage my time in this way to allow a little window because I know.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah, yeah. The buffer, right? Yeah.
Corkie Bolton:
Yeah.
Courtney Gray:
The cover yourself buffer. Well, just share ... Is there anything else you want to share with your community, now that you have this opportunity to speak to everybody?
Corkie Bolton:
I just want to say thank you to the community, and I want people to know, from the bottom of my heart, I don't get a chance to read every email or DM. It's big for me to mention that because it actually used to cause a lot of anxiety. I'd be like, "I don't want someone to think that their tip wasn't good because I didn't respond." I might not have seen it. Am I thinking about ways that I can overcome these challenges? I am. Maybe I'll hire some help this year. I don't know. It's a goal for sure. But I just want to thank people from the bottom of my heart because there wouldn't ... I know people are really grateful for the page, but I am too and it's really been an amazing opportunity.
Corkie Bolton:
It's connected me with so many amazing people. I feel really privileged and I hope to give back as well to the community. But I just want people to know that if you reached out to me and you had a problem ... Because when I first started, Courtney, someone would just DM me with a photo of a ring they were working on, and I'd talk them through it.
Courtney Gray:
Wow.
Corkie Bolton:
I just don't have the time. I still will try to help sometimes. People will still ... But my DM are really terrifying, scary, because there's so many.
Courtney Gray:
Right. Yeah, it's too much.
Corkie Bolton:
I don't want to discourage people from reaching out to me. Email me. I have a new email just dedicated to tips. It's tips@metalsmithsociety.com. The other thing I'd like to mention is that a really big deal and what was made possible through Patreon is I have a search engine where you can find tips. I feel like I don't talk about it enough, but tips.metalsmithsociety.com is a Google Search, practically, for just Metalsmith Society. If you search a keyword like bezel setting or scotch tape or potato, any tip that came up with that keyword in the caption will pop up. Because that's the other thing, is that I've tried to find the path of least resistance for everything I've done here. I saw that I had an issue where a lot of people were messaging me because they needed my help to find a tip that I'd shared. Well, I've shared over 1,300 tips now. I thought, "Okay, what's the solution?" My husband's a software engineer. We figured out a way to make that happen. That's really been awesome.
Courtney Gray:
I think it's noble to mention that, Corkie, because we can't be everything all the time. As much as we would like to have two or three of ourselves, I think that's just not possible. You do have to prioritize differently when you become a mom. Yeah, your time just becomes so much more valuable. Yeah. Just do the best you can. Right? Working with what we got, girl.
Corkie Bolton:
Absolutely. The last thing I think I would say is that our pillars of the community that I created are kindness, community education, and I'm just really grateful that people have continued to be super kind to each other. Because I can honestly say, if every day I went on and people in the captions were being mean to each other, and I'm not saying nothing's ever happened, and there's been a handful of times where I've had to block or restrict people's accounts because they just don't get it. But all in all, this is three years plus of doing this daily. People are kind to each other and supportive of each other and willing to answer a question.
Corkie Bolton:
This is just a community of people that are interested in jewelry making. Some other platforms scare me a lot, even YouTube, because I think people can be ruthless and they'll just make comments. I'm a sensitive person. When someone comments to someone and it could hurt a beginner or make them feel not welcome, that would really affect me in the beginning. I have grown a tougher skin, but I've also just ... It's a zero tolerance policy, but I don't even have to enforce it because everyone that I see is so kind to each other, and that means a lot to me, and it's why I keep it going, because it wouldn't be fun anymore if it was just people are trolling each other again. It's just-
Courtney Gray:
You put yourself out there, you're always going to get some negative. Some people love and some people don't, but it's like keep it to yourself. It's not proactive or productive in any way to beat on somebody. Who's that helping? It does not. I totally love your principles, the values that you've instilled in your project, and we are grateful, Corkie. I think it's been a really good community builder. I love that you're all about no competition, it's all let's collaborate. I mention this a lot myself. I just think it's so much more powerful if we can all work together instead of competing against each other. It's like how can we partner? What can we do? How do we get creative together and collaborate? Love that you stand for that, love that you're taking the time from your life to share that with the community. It's a fabulous group and I love people in this craft. They're just mostly very loving and generous and so [crosstalk 00:53:40]
Corkie Bolton:
So generous, and I'm just so ... I can't say it, 100 times so grateful. I'm so grateful. It's really ... I know I put in the time, but people showed up, and no one's more surprised than me.
Courtney Gray:
It means you're-
Corkie Bolton:
I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it either.
Courtney Gray:
It's another universe science. It means that you're headed in the right direction when things align like that. Yeah. Well, trust it, girl. Let's keep in touch.
Corkie Bolton:
For sure.
Courtney Gray:
Thank you for sharing with us today. We may have to do a part two because I know there's 20 more things we want to talk about, but-
Corkie Bolton:
I'm here for it.
Courtney Gray:
All right, girl. Yeah, let us keep in touch and everybody definitely give your last shout out of where to post or see the posts on Metalsmith Society and how to join.
Corkie Bolton:
Yeah. Occasionally, I'll receive a really cute email that's like, "How do I join the society?" Then I respond, I always respond. I'm like, "You already did just by mailing me." I mean it's-
Courtney Gray:
Just [crosstalk 00:54:35] boom.
Corkie Bolton:
Literally, everyone is welcome. You follow the page of Metalsmith Society. My website has a lot of resources that are awesome. A blog article that I did with Rio Grande is one of the most visited pages. It's a guide to purchasing metal. It explains what's soft, what's half hard. It's really helpful if you're trying to pick out wire to make rings or other beginner projects. That's really cool. There's also a page on there where to take classes. It's just organized by state and country, and you can find local workshops. Creative Side used to be on there. It's great to support those local spots. There's that. Then my jewelry at Corkie Bolton Jewelry, I love having other jewelers and makers in the community just come on over there. I try to share an occasional nugget there too. But I have to say when I get burnt out, my jewelry page takes the brunt of it because I just peace out and I'm gone for two weeks, but anyhow. Then also corkieboltonjewelry.com. But that's where to find me.
Courtney Gray:
We'll put these in the wording, too, guys when we post this. But Corkie-
Corkie Bolton:
Thank you so much.
Courtney Gray:
Thank you. Great to finally get to meet you face to face, and hopefully it's just the beginning of a relationship for you and I to continue talking about education and how we can support the fabulous community out there.
Corkie Bolton:
I'd love that. I want to post a tip from you. Let's go.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah, I might have something up my sleeve. I don't get at the bench as much as I used to. Of course, my creative energy is elsewhere, but absolutely, yeah. Let's [crosstalk 00:56:09]
Corkie Bolton:
I can see your bench in the mirror behind you.
Courtney Gray:
Yeah. Yeah. It's inactive right now, but we'll get there.
Corkie Bolton:
All right.
Courtney Gray:
We'll get one thing at a time. All right, Corkie, go get your kiddos, and thank you again. Onward and upward, and we'll see you soon. All right. Thanks for tuning in, you guys. I hope you have enjoyed this episode of For the Love of Jewelers. Stay tuned for the next episode by subscribing through Spotify, iTunes, or by searching podcast@RioGrande.com. I encourage you to rate us. Write a review and share with friends and colleagues. I hope you're all finding ways to stay inspired. I'm your host, Courtney Gray. Until we get to connect again, onward and upward.