Artist of the Month: Crystal Baxter
By: Audrée Peters

Crystal Baxter always got frustrated because she could not find the large jewelry she loved to wear.

“I love big, bold pieces, and the only place I could find them would be places like Saks and Nieman’s, and they were a thousand or two thousand dollars or more each,” she recalls. “So I thought I could do it myself if I could find the beads. I could make them look like (the store) jewelry, much cheaper, because I know they mark them up so much.”

That was 20 years ago.

“I started doing it and it just kind of got out of control,” she says with a laugh, indicating all the jewelry she has created, and the endless supplies.

She says that people admired her jewelry and asked her to make some for them, as well.

“I find it very relaxing after working all day,” she admits.

Baxter is a dentist who specializes in prosthodontics – implants, bridgework and dentures – who had a practice in Chicago for 25 years and opened a “dental boutique” for her cosmetic dentistry after she and her husband, John, moved to Fountain Hills. She says that using the lab equipment has given her the knowledge to work with metals to create some of her pieces.

When word got around about her jewelry, she was soon displaying in the galleries in Chicago, and in a glass gallery in Europe. When she moved to Arizona, she was also asked to keep a display of her jewelry at a Scottsdale boutique, until the owner retired.

The focal point of each of her necklaces are a large “center bead” which becomes the pendant for the necklace.

“I start with a one-of-a-kind bead, and then I work from that,” she says. “It’s sort of like finding a family for each center bead so that they seem happy. It’s hard to explain to somebody who doesn’t do beading, but you can put it together and take it apart 20 times if you have to, and you just know when it’s not right, when the center bead isn’t happy and doesn’t like what’s around it.”

Baxter says it’s really challenging to get beads to look good together from both a color point of view and shape point of view.

She says she likes large necklaces, “and I really mean for them to be noticeable,” she adds. “I don’t really care for subtle little things. You can go to Macy’s and buy that kind if you want, but I design for somebody who really wants their jewelry to be noticed and for people to notice that it’s not bought from a department store, that it’s something really different. I also design for people who really like to support one-of-a-kind artists, because each center bead is really a one-of-a-kind little piece of art.”

She creates necklaces, bracelets and earrings in a broad price range that include everything from ethnic themes, metal beading and natural stones, to opals, quartz and iridescent beads, and are all one-of-a-kind pieces.

“I really enjoy working with opal,” she says, “but you can never get two opal pieces that are alike, so each one becomes a challenge.

“Some have more browns, some more blue, some more clear, so it can kind of drive you crazy, but it’s distracting, and it’s fun. And other stones, like topaz, also often look good with opal.”

She has also used a lot of vintage Swarovski crystal, but it is hard to get now because it has been discontinued.

“I also like old beads from like the ‘40s and ‘50s when I can find them. Sometimes I take apart old necklaces I find at flea markets or antique shows and put them with something else. I also like to design with genuine stones too. Not in precious stones like diamonds, but with things like the opal, with which I’ve been very fascinated. But I have just about everything in the drawers.”

She is referring to an entire wall of built-in cabinets in her living room that contain dozens of narrow drawers and shelves where she stores her beading supplies.

“I’ve got to buy everything,” she says with a laugh. The drawers are her treasure chest of choices, from oriental beads and dozens of one-of-a-kind beads that are the centerpiece of her creations, to rolls of chains, and beads from tiny separator sizes to the different size beads that complement and complete the pieces.

The drawers sparkle with exciting gems of all sizes from lapis lazuli, topaz, rosy quartz and milky opal, to earth stones, lava, and clear quartz.

“There’s a big variety in my pieces,” she says. “I love everything and I collect everything. But because I work with all these different media, I really need a ton of stuff. Then I get going on one kick and use up all the beads of one sort, and I’m back in my drawers looking for something else to do.”

She takes pride in creating one-of-a-kind pieces, so she is very selective of the pendant center beads she purchases. Over the years she has gotten to know which bead artists are the best, and seeks them out for her purchases. And some of the beads are so exclusive, they are signed by the bead artist.

Among her favorites are beads made with dichroic glass which, she explains, is a media used for medical and dental glass. The artistic designs are layered within the clear glass of the bead and have a luminescent texture.

“All of these center beads are baked or they’re blown, so there’s heat involved in making most beads. But a person who works with dichroic has to be fairly talented, because it burns off easily if you don’t handle it right, and that is very expensive.

“And there are no two pieces alike, so the dichroic beads are unique. I have some that are totally collectible because the artist went blind from diabetic retinopathy, so she’s not making them any more. I even have one necklace I made that I wouldn’t sell for any price now.”

Baxter designs and creates jewelry on consignment, as well.

“Sometimes people will ask me to design for a wedding party. With that I generally go with the smaller crystal pieces because the bride can’t have anything that will detract from the dress. But some of the mature brides want noticeable jewelry to go with a simpler dress. And that’s kind of fun.”

She also reworks existing jewelry, resets pieces and lengthens or shortens necklaces. She makes some of her pieces with an antique look, but says she tends to like things modern and space age, although it depends on the piece and what someone wants.

“It’s the individual look of the necklace,” she says.

Baxter can be reached for questions at (480) 836-8318 or jcbax@aol.com.