i. me
I am a person of many deep and enduring passions. I am the daughter of an astrologer and a multi-talented artist/woodworker/craftsman, granddaughter of the best leatherworker I have ever known. From my mother I have a deep fascination of the moon and stars, of auras and tarot, healing crystals and magical herbs. From my father (who has always done such an outstanding job of cultivating my creativity and boyish hobbies), I have a steadfast love of the natural world, art, and working with my hands. From my grandfather (an extremely skilled sculptor of leather kachinas, among many other things) I have an obsession with cacti and the Southwestern desert (he lived in Tucson, and we would visit) and an appreciation for well-tanned leather.
My primary artistic interests involve jewelry-making, painting and illustration, taxidermy, and sculpting. I also enjoy embroidery and printmaking, though I don’t do either much anymore. I attended a liberal arts college with, of course, a studio art major emphasizing in painting and computer illustration, and graduated in 2014 with a BFA. Out of necessity, I’ve always been a resourceful do-it-yourself type, and I have a strong entrepreneurial drive; I find that running Sage Fox is extremely fulfilling, and one day I aim to make it something I do full-time.

ii. bones & taxidermy
When I was seven, my family moved to the country. We had twenty acres, and about eighty more acres surrounding us that were abandoned. I took to the woods immediately. For years, I spent the majority of my free time lost in the forest, fording creeks, wandering across bare grassland, and climbing trees. When I found my first animal bone, I was mesmerized. I began to actively search for and collect bones, dead insects, shells, and other interesting things I would find on my forays. There was something about the bones that seemed so unexplainably rare and powerful. To me, it wasn’t something that could be bought; they were priceless and important, and I valued my collection highly.
I have always been an “animal person,” which is evident in all of my subject matter. My interest in animal bones and the tanned skins I had procured here and there over the years–as well as a good deal of time spent in museums–led to my interest in taxidermy. I decided it was something I wanted to try, and like every other thing I’ve decided I wanted to do, I spent about a year thoroughly researching everything I could find about it before finally delving into it. After my first few successful attempts at mounting small game, I wanted to get deeper into the craft, so I cast out some feelers and managed to get in contact with a former taxidermy association president and competition judge who still ran a shop and was happy to take me under his wing. For two years, I went to his shop during the weekends as often as I could to work with him. I learned a great deal, and while I unfortunately had to move states in 2014, taxidermy is something I would love to pursue again once I don’t live in a tiny apartment in the middle of a city–it’s not the best place to be doing that kind of thing.

iii. jewels

My entire existence has been defined by art. There was never a time in my life that I can remember that I wasn’t wholly devoted to some artistic endeavor. I sculpted a great deal as a kid, and I would take apart old costume jewelry to use for earwires and jump rings so I could make my own tiny sculptures and creations into jewelry (I have also been rather passionate about bodily adornments for a very long time). I would make earrings from the fallen feathers of the chickens and peacocks we had; I would string vertebra onto chain and paint designs on interesting bits of wood to tie onto thin ribbon. I learned to become very resourceful when finding supplies to create jewelry and art, and this is still how I operate today (but now I usually purchase earwires and jump rings instead).

iv. sage fox

While I had been selling illustrations and paintings since I was 15, it didn’t occur to me until the summer of 2011, after my freshman year of college, that I could share my jewelry with others as well. I quickly got to work branding my fledgling business and trying to decide what I was going to sell. Naturally, I started with feathers and bones. At first, my execution wasn’t very refined as I had only been making things for myself, and I’d never read or studied anything about jewelry-making. I invested in better tools and spent many late nights trying to perfect my techniques. Along the way, I’ve experimented with other various materials and styles; as of the spring of 2015, I have finally been able to pursue my dream of metalworking, and I am so excited to start incorporating hand-fabricated metal designs into my collection.
It’s been a long and trying journey, but I’ve found the thing I love most: sharing beauty with others, especially the beauty of the often-overlooked wilderness.

I’m so happy to share it with you.