After being downsized not once, but twice, Jan Ebling is experiencing entrepreneurial success as an artisan jeweler. On December 12, Peoria Art Guild’s Artist’s Gift Show will offer her work to the public as part of their annual event.

Double Downsizing

Ebling has been an artisan jewelry designer for a decade but had not envisioned it becoming a full-time business. “I started out making things for myself that I couldn’t find in Peoria,” Ebling said. “Then friends started asking me to make jewelry for them – and then they began to encourage me to sell my work.”

A former visual display manager in Peoria, Ebling accepted a regional manager position. When she had an opportunity to return to her Peoria roots and go into publishing as a photo stylist, she took it.

Ebling said, “I was in that business from the late 1980’s to the late 1990’s and then the company I worked for, PJS publications (now a division of VS and A Communications Partners, L.P)  moved out of the area. I had worked my way up from a designer to an art director for PJS before the company was bought out.”

Later, she worked as an image editor for Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, until it also left Peoria. “I worked there for about five years and loved my job,” Ebling said. She worked primarily with technical books and it was her responsibility to obtain photos from the likes of NASA and MIT. “I was constantly learning. That’s why I loved it so much,” she said.

Translating Passion Into Income

After being downsized for a second time, Ebling took inventory of her skills. She coupled her education in the arts from Illinois Central College with her passion for artisan jewelry and photography to create Jan Ebling Designs.

She originally sold jewelry on consignment in Peoria but she says those mom and pop stores are gone. She now relies on the internet and the Illinois Artisan’s Guild to market her work.

Ebling continues her focus on photography and sells extensively over the internet via Fotolia. Her photo work takes her to exotic locations like Australia and Hawaii where she says she is so thrilled to be photographing that she seldom takes time to enjoy the surf. The effort has paid off. The Australian government is one of her largest and most frequent customers.

She also markets her services as a photographer’s assistant. Again, few of her clients are local and she makes most PA contacts through photographers and via the internet.

Artisan Jewelry

But her passion is jewelry. “I am an artisan jeweler,” Ebling explains. “I am not a fine jeweler.” Ebling’s trademark is her wirework. She includes it in all of her jewelry whether it be holiday items, like the Holiday Moose, desert glass, elements, or her charm collection.

In order to connect with the right market, she applied for the Illinois Artisans Program, and was jury-selected on her first attempt. As a part of the program, she sells her jewelry in the Illinois Artisans Shop in Downtown Chicago, at the The Museum Store at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, and at the Southern Illinois Artisans Shop at Rend Lake.

She sells jewelry online on Etsy and says marketing custom designs online requires a tremendous amount of  work from photographing each item, which is unique in design and color, to creating textual descriptions, shipping, and providing customer service. Nevertheless, it cotinues to be a profitable experience for her.

Ebling is fond of earth-friendly efforts and often incorporates recycled items into her designs. She creates her desert glass collection using recycled stained glass she purchases by the pound from a Peoria stained glass studio. The desert glass project, what Ebling refers to as “repurposed glass,” is a variation on sea glass jewelry she made years ago before it came into vogue.

While visiting Death Valley, she discovered a piece of what appeared to be sea glass, glass that has been broken and tossed about in the sea -- but it was far from any sea. Finding the glass in such an unexpected location inspired her to search for sources of glass in different places. The use of recycled glass has become a permanent part of her jewelry collections. Her elements collection includes semi-precious stones along with wood and other natural elements.

The charms collection includes work she sells on Tennis Affinity founded by Sandy Sanders, who was also downsized by PJS. Her “Cure” keychain, in pink murano and crystal beads and pink Cat’s eye beads embellished with silver “Cure” ribbon, pewter “Believe” and silver-plated tennis racket charms are an homage to Peoria’s own Susan G. Komen.

Regrouping

Ebling says that getting your name out there is the most important aspect of doing business in Peoria. Locally, Ebling says that ci|creative, at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie, has a been a nice facility for presenting indoor shows.

Her goal is to create artisan jewelry that everyone can afford. “It does mean I have to sell a lot more, but that’s okay,” she says. “You have to have a passion for what you do. You cannot slack off. You really have to focus and it has been really important for me to network with other artists.”

Upcoming Events

On Friday, December 11, Jan Ebling is scheduled to be one of the guests on News 25 Today. She will be participating in the Peoria Art Guild’s Artist’s Gift Show on Saturday, December 12, from 10 am to 4 pm at the Peoria Art Guild Gallery Shop.

You'll find her online any time at:

• Jan Ebling Designs
• Fotolia
• Flickr
• Tennis Affinity
• Twitter
• Facebook