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Magnifying lenses perched on his nose and pliers in his hand, Taylor Gilbert, a student here at TPS, adds yet another silver ring to the necklace he is making. That ring represents just a part of the several hundred hours he spends welding literally tens of thousands of little rings into intricate pieces of jewelry.

 

Taylor recently started his own jewelry making business, Taylor Made Jewelry, which sells work both online and in public and in-home exhibitions.

 

Using FastWeb, a site that claims to be the world’s largest online database of scholarships, Taylor came across the McKelvey Foundation Entrepreneurial Scholarship. This scholarship is for young entrepreneurs wishing to attend college. He applied, and then mostly forgot about it. But a month later he was called for an interview, and a few weeks after that he got a call from Dr. Arnold Hillman. He had won. “I managed to stay calm while I was on the phone with her,” said Taylor, “… Once I hung up, I immediately proceeded to dance around the basement with my mother.” His dad, Mr. Jeff Gilbert, was at a P.O.D. concert when the news came. Mr. Gilbert said that when he got the good news he "shouted [back] into the phone how pleased I was with his faithfulness and diligence. Then I told the others I was with."

 

Taylor plans to use the $50,000 scholarship to attend Towson University in Maryland this fall where he will get a BS in Metal-Smithing and Jewelry and a minor in Asian studies.

 

It all began with Taylor’s fascination with chain mail. His first pieces had large rings and were made of steel wire. Endless rows of linked chains, however, soon lost their charm. To end the boredom and perhaps earn some money, he decided to turn his chain mail project into a jewelry business.

 

Taylor worked to make his rings both smaller and of better quality. “At this point, I discovered the insanity of using rings which require magnification to manipulate them,” he said, and then added, “There's cool, and then there's pointless.”

 

 “After making some basic jewelry out of non-precious materials like this for a while,” he said, “I unconsciously decided that I would go back to making chain mail armor right after I dug an underground bunker with a toothpick.”

 

To improve his technique, he reads books on jewelry making, takes classes, and at one point was even subscribing to five different jewelry magazines (though now he’s down to two). He attended four classes at The Art League in Old Town Alexandria and a Kentuckian summer camp for “all the weirdest artsy teenagers in four states.”

 

“I am finally producing work that doesn't end up in the small plastic bin in the back of my closet where most of my early work currently resides,” he said.

 

Taylor laughed when asked about his workshop and said, “I have a nice bench … but I do most of my work on a TV tray in front of a movie.” Mr. Gilbert said that he trips over Taylor's equipment "every day all the time. [Taylor] likes to work in the living room. But I would rather have that if it means we get to see more of him and be together more as a family."

 

  

Taylor Gilbert/ Mail Bead Pendant With a Briolette, Monkey's Fist Earrings, GSG Bracelet 

 

Besides coming up with his own designs, Taylor also does custom pieces. Last December Taylor had an exhibition in his home for family and friends at which he sold quite a bit of his work. “I had one family who must have covered their entire Christmas list in that one night,” he said. “I'm not sure which of us was happier at their success.”

 

Taylor is the youngest member of the Washington Guild of Goldsmiths. They held an exhibition this January in which Taylor sold one of his pins. Sometimes his youth confuses buyers. Before the exhibit Taylor mused that “it should be fun to have people ask me, wondering if I have some genetic disease that makes me look like a teenager, if I am actually one of the artists.”

 

For now Taylor plans to sell his work to already established dealers and show selected pieces in craft shows. He also holds a part-time position at a store called Jewelry By Design. “Think of it as a paid internship,” he said. “I'm doing a lot of basic shop maintenance, such as cleaning, carrying, and organizing, but I'm also doing some basic jewelry-related stuff. I get paid, and I get to see the inside workings of part of the industry, so it's a pretty good deal.”

 

His parents are delighted, though surprised, at Taylor's talent. "We NEVER saw it coming," admitted Mrs. Janna Gilbert. "What a wonderful example though of watching our kids gifts, talents, passions and calling develop as they are encouraged to pursue their interests. Taylor has driven this one."

 

Reflecting on the purpose of his work, Taylor said, “I wish to craft because I wish to express the beauty of God and His creation to the world. Of course, to communicate effectively through art, one must also love the art itself. The talent for creation without the love of the creation itself produces things that are attractive but lack the passion that makes them truly beautiful. To create true beauty, one must possess the love of the art in addition to a higher motivation to create it.

 

“I have a deep passion to create because I love the art. But I also see myself as a created being, loved by his Creator and filled with a passion to show His beauty to others through the act of creation. It is my passion to demonstrate that the beauty of the world demonstrates the Artist behind it, and art can describe that beauty to humanity.”

 

There are “wondrous adventures in the fascinating world of sitting in a chair connecting a heap of tiny rings together,” he said.

 

 

 

Visit his official business website at www.taylormadejewelry.biz (a new design is coming soon!) and his behind-the-scenes blog at http://www.taylormadeblog.blogspot.com/ for further information.

 

For more information on the scholarship he won visit: http://www.mckelveyfoundation.org/national_scholarship.html

 

 

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Four TPS students advance to the National Fine Arts Festival in Orlando in August TPS Student Receives Appointment to the United States Air Force Academy TPS Students Take High Honors in the National Latin Exam Taylor Gilbert Wins Entrepreneurial Scholarship For Jewelry Business