TAH Handcrafted Jewelry
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TAH Handcrafted Jewelry is created by Timothy A. Hansen.
In 1973, I enrolled in my first jewelry class at Claremont High School in Claremont, California. That first experience prompted me to continue taking jewelry classes through graduation in 1976. In 1977, because of the interest I had developed in this craft, I started working for Figg Custom Jewelry, a small jewelry manufacturing company that was in Claremont at the time. I graduated from Citrus Community College in 1979 with an Associate in Arts degree. Then, after studying aerospace engineering for a year at California State Polytechnic University Pomona, I became a full time employee at Figg. Since this was a small company, I learned many different aspects of the jewelry industry. My duties included jewelry design, jewelry fabrication, jewelry photography, punch and die grinding, punch press setup and operation, computer systems maintenance, order entry, invoicing and purchasing.
In 1984, I obtained my business license in order to make custom jewelry in my free time. This allowed me to explore and learn other jewelry making techniques such as casting, stone setting and engraving. I was the purchasing Manager when I left Figg in July of 1993. In May of 1994, I distributed a "TAH Handcrafted Jewelry" catalog to several gift boutiques, the response was not as well as I had expected. In January of 1995, I began displaying my jewelry at art fairs. This turned out to be a better way for me to sell my jewelry than the catalog. It allowed me to meet potential buyers and to have the time to design and fabricate my labor-intensive custom and one of a kind jewelry.
In late 1995 I was asked by Larry Bidwell to organize and teach a jewelry fabrication class in conjunction with the Glendora Gems Lapidary Club. The Lapidary class was sponsored by Citrus Community College and held at Goddard Middle School and later Glendora High School. The club had instruction in lapidary, gem and mineral identification, jewelry casting, jewelry fabrication and wire wrapping. In the June, 2007 the class lost the use of the buildings at Glendora High School. The Classes have moved to Pomona. The Pomona Unified Schoold District is offering Lapidary in the Adult and Career Education Schedule.
In September of 1998, I purchased a computer with intentions of opening an on-line catalog. This has turned into an online store that is evolving as I learn more about the Internet and add content to my web-site. I'm using Macromedia Dreamweaver to create my HTML and Adobe PhotoShop for photo editing. I have also been using the computer as a design aid for my jewelry. I'm using Adobe Illustrator and PhotoShop at present. Using these programs, I have been able to design custom jewelry and submit the designs to customers for approval through e-mail.
Publications:
Three photographs of my work appear in the Metal Gallery section of a book titled "Making Beautiful Beads". The book was edited by Suzanne Tourtillot and published by Lark Books in May of 2002.
Riva Greenberg wrote a review of one of my bracelets in her blog at DiabetesStories.com web site. Her article was picked up by DiabetesHealth.com where several people have commentd on it in the blog.
Diabetic Living Magazine featured one of my siabetes awareness bracelets on page 15 of the Winter 2010 edition in an article titled Gifts that Give. diabeticlivingonline.com
Art Show Awards: