Woman makes school-tailored jewelry
Houston Chronicle, United States
HENRIETTA, Texas — If a high school girl could make fashionable earrings using a material as plain as cardboard, think what she could do as an adult with all of Hobby Lobby’s creative resources.
Dana Latham, a stay-at-home mom in Henrietta, returned in June to a hobby she’s pursued off and on since high school: making jewelry.
This time, she’s making necklaces.
The chunky, beaded or beribboned necklaces include a dangling center piece that Latham customizes.
This time, she’s not using the cardboard that she used as a teenager. She’s making festive pieces from — of all things — dominos, creating a product she sells under the name Cattle Call Designs.
Since June, Latham’s jewelry — particularly her necklaces that feature the name of a favorite school — has been a mom-telling-mom phenomenon.
“I’ve been very surprised,” Latham said of the popularity of her beaded neckwear. “I kept thinking it would die down. But it’s just kept on growing.”
Moms in Iowa Park, at Ben Franklin Elementary, Rider High School and at Zundelowitz Junior High have requested customized pieces for their little girls’ soccer teams or for themselves — an easy way to show off school pride.
The one-of-a-kind necklaces start with a single domino — or two or three glued together. She shellacs that centerpiece with a photo, western-themed picture or school name then studs it with rhinestones.
She strings the embellished pendant onto a ribbon or a string of chunky beads or stones. Each one is unique.
The more elaborate creations include a variety of charm-like decorations.
This new chapter of Latham’s jewelry-making hobby began as the first one did years ago in high school, back when she turned cardboard into the large earrings that were so popular in the 1980s. Then as now, she simply made the jewelry to complete her own outfits, recalls her mother, Peggy Lundy.
This time, Latham was again making jewelry for herself that she couldn’t afford elsewhere.
Her sister, Ben Franklin Elementary nurse’s aide Mandy Barmore, began wearing the chunky necklaces. She has since sold some for her sister “right off her body,” Latham said.
Barmore owns 22 of her sister’s necklaces. “Now I wear one every day,” she said.
Inspired by one of those necklaces, Ben Franklin teacher’s aide Mandy Salas asked Latham to make her a necklace using a Christmas picture of her three children. She’s bought several of Latham’s creations, but that one’s her favorite, Barmore said.
Since Latham prefers to customize her creations, “the possibilities are endless,” she said. “Anything you can find a picture of can be turned into a necklace.”
For a while, her biggest hurdle was finding enough dominos. She scoured flea markets and antique stores for the older, more interesting colored dominos she preferred.
Now, her biggest problem is finding time to make the necklaces. Friends have suggested that she take her wares “to market” or sell them on a Web site.
“How big do you want to be?” they ask with a twinkle in their eyes.
Most women who buy the necklaces eventually buy more than one, Latham said.
Her pieces, which sell from about $10 to $100, are currently sold at Mosley Trading Co. on Highway 287 in Henrietta and at Spa Bella European Day Spa and Salon at 1811 8th St., in Wichita Falls.
Latham also plans to host a “necklace party” Dec. 1, giving some proceeds from sales to the Cattle Baron’s Ball.
