I've always had the creative spark, but it has expressed itself in different ways over the years. I did a little music arranging in high school (and decided that wasn't for me); later it was poetry, then filk. But when I got into making jewelry, something clicked. These days almost all of my creative energy goes into that, and I can tell I'm getting better -- I keep wanting to take apart some of my earlier work and redo it!

Fortunately, I'm not in a position where I have to make a living with my jewelry, because while it pays for itself, it hasn't really paid me anything yet. But even in a slow economy people will buy T-shirts because they're clothing (and hence not sheer luxury), so Russ' business pays the bills.