This begins a new “Made in Eastern North Carolina” series highlighting local people and their contributions to the area.

Creativity is expressed in many ways.

Audrey Curles teaches kindergarten at Tyrrell Elementary School, but in the summertime she makes and sells jewelry.

Curles lives in Manteo with her husband Shawn and two children Finn and Isla.

She has found a variety of craft shows where she can sell her work.

“It is pretty easy to find places,” she said.

Curles is in the process of setting up an Etsy shop where people can buy anything handmade. The website has grown significantly in the last few years.

Etsy.com about section states:
“Our mission is to reimagine commerce in ways that build a more fulfilling and lasting world. We are a mindful, transparent, and humane business. We plan and build for the long term. We value craftsmanship in all we make.”

Curles mostly makes simple earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.

“Rings might be somewhere down the road,” she said.

The make of each jewelry item can vary.

Beach items work for such purposes.

Shells, driftwood, and sea glass can be drilled and wrapped around other material.

A soldering gun is used to create a silver edge around glass items. Silver, gold, or copper wire can be molded with a steel block or hammer to give a certain kind of texture.

Material can be obtained from online stores, Facebook groups, and stores like Michaels, a large specialty craft store.

“It is never one place,” Curles said.

Jewelry is sold by the piece.  Good places to try are restaurants and gift shops. Owners then try to sell the jewelry in their shops.

The Farmers Market in Manteo, Old Windmill Point, and the Outer Banks Brewing Station are all locations that hold regular craft shows.

Anyone trying to follow in Curles’ footsteps will not have one set of instructions

Youtube instructional videos help sometimes. There are jewelry making classes at the College of the Albemarle.

The best learning and experimenting takes place on one’s own time though.

Curles refers again to time gathering materials for different projects on the beach.

“Most of those materials you can buy. When it is something that you have found, that is more valuable to me, I would say,” she said.

Curles’ Etsy shop has had a few items posted for sale.  If interested in taking a look, the shop name is ManteoMermaid and can be found by doing a search of shop sellers on www.etsy.com.