After creating her first jewelry piece almost a year ago, junior Kaylen Foradori can’t put her soldering iron down. 

Foradori started playing around with a $10 soldering iron she inherited from her father last December. She remembers scrolling on Instagram one day and finding a video of someone melting silver over a big crystal. Enticed, she started digging for materials to create her own pieces.

Since last winter, Foradori has made over 30 handmade, intricate, and one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces.

“I think I’ve gotten bolder since I first started,” Foradori said. “Each piece I’ve done has taught me a new way of executing my vision.”

The time Foradori takes to create her jewelry pieces varies from three hours to two weeks, depending on the piece’s intricacy. 

Foradori describes her creative process as lengthy but engaging. Foradori’s process entails hours of work and numerous steps. 

The process starts with inspiration, which Foradori never gets from just one place. It ranges from a shirt she may see someone wear, to a show she just started watching.

Each piece is given a general theme such as nature, or bows, that Foradori tries to adhere to whilst still keeping true to her style.

“Sometimes I’ll have bows around a piece;  sometimes it’s little swirlies or leaves,” Foradori said. “It’s just whatever I’m inspired by at the moment.”

Foradori starts by sketching her initial idea and adding to the vision as she goes until she thinks it’s perfect.

“It usually takes a bit for me to commit to a piece,” Foradori said.

 Once a sketch is perfect in Foradori’s eyes, she starts to plan how to make the piece come together. This process usually entails quite a bit of trial and error.

Foradori commonly uses crystals and shells, which she sources from local shops, as the focal piece in her pieces. She prepares her materials by wrapping the focal piece in copper tape to secure and protect the piece.

Once the copper tape is secured, Foradori gloves up and turns on her soldering iron. The metal she uses is real silver and secures itself to the crystal or shell that Foradori uses. As she makes the actual piece, she often strays from the sketch and adds more personality and inserts her own style. 

Foradori’s clients usually find her through her Instagram, @soldersoda to reach out for commissioned pieces. The account features images of Foradori’s pieces laid out, or modeled by her friend and client, junior Chloe Broz.

“We were at lunch when she asked me if I wanted to be a part of her photoshoot for her jewelry,”  Broz said. “ I thought it was really fun. If Kaylen asked me, I would definitely do it again.”

Broz is also the owner of one of Foradori’s first pieces of jewelry. Foradori gave her the piece shortly after she started to make jewelry.

“It’s the coolest necklace,” Broz said. “It has a rose quartz, and she soldered on the outside of it to make it look all pointy. Recently, I kind of broke it, so i gave it back to her, and she gave it a revamp, which is really cool because you can see such an increase in skills and craftsmanship.”

Junior Sadie Shaeval, who has known Foradori since her freshman year, also owns one of Foradori’s signature pieces. She keeps the original piece hanging from the rearview mirror of her car.

“She made me this really cool jellyfish keychain,” Shaeval said. “There are seashells at the top and then little crystals in the middle, and there’s some dangling pieces.”

As Foradoris’ friend, Shaeval has watched as she has progressed and changed her style over the course of a year. 

“I can tell she’s definitely explored her style a lot since the beginning,” Shaeval said. “There’s a lot of variety in her pieces now, and she includes a lot more details.”

Foradori dreams of continuing to pursue her passion of jewelry making through college and perhaps the rest of her life.

“I’m very excited to keep exploring my style and jewelry making in general,” Fordori said. “My ultimate goal is to have a physical shop, but I’m more focused on the now and expressing myself through my jewelry.”