By day, I run a marketing communications and public relations agency. 

My work is interesting and creative, but it is still work. When my youngest daughter was leaving for college, I knew I needed to find something that would draw me away from the office.

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A million miles from my day job

Silversmithing proved to be the perfect escape. In the evenings and sometimes on weekends, I take classes at Fine Line Creative Arts Center, and that is where I have learned how to cut, shape, hammer, cast, solder and transform sheet metal and wire into jewelry. That is also where I have learned how to use precious metals to frame and display the miniature works of art that I see in semi-precious stones.

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Everything about metalworking -- from concept and cutting to soldering and finishing -- transports me to a warm, calm place. Even when something slips or breaks or melts, I just press forward, eager to finish creating each one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry.

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About the Name:
Jen Original Jewelry Designs

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"Jen" is Chinese for "truth" or "real"

Many years ago, in what would have been my junior year of college, I traveled to Taiwan as part of an exchange program between the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and National Taiwan Normal University.

 

My first Chinese instructor gave me the name 古珮真 (pronounced Gu Pay-jen). The name was intended to sound loosely like my surname, Cooper, followed by my given name, Jane, which is how names are ordered in Chinese. 古 (Gu) means "ancient" and is a somewhat common surname in Chinese. 珮 (Pay) usually is combined with other words to mean "adorn" or "respect," and 真 (Jen), the calligraphy character that appears on the home page, is Chinese for "truth" or "real." I am especially fond of this transliteration of my first name, and "Jen" is what my husband, whom I met and married in Taiwan, usually calls me. 

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As I thought about picking a website address and name for my hobby business, I settled on Jen Original because the stones and metals are real – true originals. All of my work is one of a kind. Again, Jen Original. 

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