Erica Stankwytch Bailey

Oval Pendant / Break

Erica Stankwytch Bailey is a new member to Etsy Metal. She creates intriguing forms with color, texture, and shape. You can view more of her work in her Etsy Shop, as well as on her website.


1. Where do you live, and where are you from?

I live in Fayetteville, North Carolina and with the exception of college and a couple short but sweet adventures abroad I hav always lived here, born and raised.

2. How did you get started working with metal?

I took my first metalsmithing class when I was 17 years old, but it wasn't until I was in college and took a metal design class that I knew it was where I wanted to be. I was and still am absolutely enamored with the way that metal moves, the malleability of it.

Climb Bracelet

3. What are a few of your favorite pieces at the moment?

I am creating some new work right now- really using the hydraulic press in new ways. This is such a great time in the creative process- my bench is full of new ideas and successful experiments- so these pieces (though unfinished) are really high on my list. I have also been doing a lot of asymmetrical work lately and I really like the juxtaposition that is created between the wearer and the work.

4. What inspires you (artists, objects, interests)?

There are so many things that inspire me: all things ocean/reef (echnoids, jellyfish, coral, etc.)- there are so many creatures in the sea that are truly beautiful but equally as dangerous-that relationship intrigues me. I can spend days on the beach picking up fragments of shells- never actually using the shard itself in a piece of jewelry but being moved my the process of decay- worm holes, wear, etc.Fossils are another big inspiration- I once spent an entire day looking at the oceanic fossils at the Smithsonian in DC. This could be a really long list so I will stop here.


Coral Earrings

5. Do you have any other artistic interests?

As for other artistic interests- I am pretty much a full-time metalsmith- though I do shoot my own work, so I dabble in photography.