Cute // Current

Unlocking treasures and keeping them forever.

The music of Lady Gaga could be heard playing throughout the tiny studio apartment as a dozen of small plastic containers and bags are taken out

of a medium sized denim backpack and placed onto the floor. A closer look into these containers revealed an assortment of beads of various colors, thin wires, hooks, and tools such as pliers. Sitting in the middle of all that “chaos” on the floor with her legs crossed is a young, cheery faced woman, who is carefully deciding what color and style beads she should use for her next project as she softly sings along with the music.

“I love listening to music while I’m working. It’s what keeps me going.”

Randi-Lee Keffer, a 22 year-old Junior transfer student majoring in Deaf Studies at California State University, Northridge, decided to turn her lifelong hobby of jewelry making into a home business. She calls her jewelry line “Randi-Lee’s Treasures”-treasures she hopes people will be able to unlock and enjoy forever. On this particular day, Keffer decided to create a pair of stunning blue crystal-beaded earrings and demonstrated how she makes them. As she selects the necessary materials required to produce her project, she talks about how she got into jewelry making and why she decided to turn it into a hobby.

“I’ve been making jewelry since I was a little kid. I’ve always loved jewelry in general so I decided to make some of my own.”

Keffer says that her passion for jewelry making really started when she was a child attending church. Her mother’s friends would always go to her and ask if she could fix their broken jewelry pieces and later on, her friends at school started asking her to do the same thing for them. It was at that moment she realized that she should turn her skill into a profit.

“It only made sense to start charging my services because after a while so many people were coming up to me and asking if I could fix something for them. So, why not make money off of my talent?” she said while softly laughing.

As she continues telling her story, she manages to concentrate on putting the tiny pieces of wire and beads together. With a few snips here with a pair of wire cutters and a small bend there, the first of the earrings is complete within minutes and Keffer proudly shows off her art with a huge grin.

“I really do enjoy making jewelry for people. It makes me so happy when someone sees a pair of earrings that

I’ve created and compliment it. They immediately ask where I got them from but as soon as I tell them that I made them, they are surprised and impressed.”

Randi-Lee also mentions that every piece of jewelry she creates is from the heart and that every emotion that is inside of her, happy or sad, goes into her work. Every piece of jewelry is being sold for $5 each and are one of a kind, meaning no two pair of earrings, bracelets, or necklaces are alike.

“I love what I do and love to show everyone my jewelry. Nothing makes me happier.”The music of Lady Gaga could be heard playing throughout the tiny studio apartment as... more