A LITTLE ABOUT ME

Attaining the Dream of Becoming an Independent Jeweler.

I have been involved with the creative arts as long as I can remember. I think my passion for 3D design and creation started with building snowmen and snow forts when I was a little kid. I have always found a great deal of joy in drawing, coloring, painting, modeling clay, and carving wood. When I was in middle and high school, I took every art class available. 

I used to design tattoos when I was in college, but that never really did much for me. I took a 3D design class at Iowa State University, which rekindled my passion for the arts. The human body has been a source of adoration and beauty for me, so the sculpting of bodies in clay was a blast. But, it wasn't until I took my jewelry class at ISU that I really started to have the lightbulbs go on in my head. If the human body is such a beautiful thing by itself, I could make it even more beautiful by making things to adorn it. 

I started my apprenticeship as a goldsmith for a jewelry store in Waterloo, IA in 2003. I advanced pretty quickly through their bench tests and took to the technical side of jewelry quite well. With the first couple of years of training under my belt, I decided to move to Eugene, Oregon in 2006.

I began working for a local, high-end custom jeweler and worked there for the next five years. I completed a couple of classes at the GRS training center in Emporia, KS, where I picked up the fine craft of hand engraving and pave setting. In 2011, I moved to Bend, Oregon, where I worked for a local jewelry company for a little under a year, then decided it was time to step up the proverbial game of mine and go out on my own.

I started Waylon Rhoads Jewelry Design, LLC in August of 2013 in Bend, Oregon, where I really started to spread my wings, and develop myself as an artist and a business owner. That little studio in the upstairs of an old building in the heart of downtown Bend, was an outstanding venue for my adventure in time and space! I spent 90% of my life in that space for four and a half years straight! With the help of some of the best people I’ll ever know, we created over 500 unique pieces of jewelry for over 500 clients. We also developed original designs for our showcases and for a few galleries in the region. The level of growth I made in those years is remarkable. Before I left Bend, I had clientele in 31 US States, and 12 nations across our Earth. I learned a lot about how to do things right and several things about what not to do, in my time in Bend. And it helped to launch my career and enabled me to return to the land where I was born.