Julia Converse Sober came to jewelry making through experimentation with polymer clay and wire. Enjoying the contrast between colorful polymer beads and the sheen of various metals, she began adding hardware and other found materials, increasing both her construction skills and her inventory of tools. Eventually she decided to play with fire and enrolled in metalworking classes at Northern Illinois University, courtesy a tuition waiver benefit from her position as university Radiation Safety Officer.

As she developed conceptual themes and learned meticulous craftsmanship in the metals program at NIU, Julia continued to make and sell jewelry, teach workshops in polymer clay techniques and design, and contribute articles and projects for magazines and books. Her career in radiation protection and her lifelong dream of living on the West Coast intersected in March 2007 when she moved to Seattle to take a Health Physicist position at the University of Washington.

Julia enjoys observing everyday objects carefully and thoroughly - industrial equipment, mechanical devices, and scientific imagery all play parts in her visual vocabulary. Individual jewelry pieces often incorporate kinetic elements in device-like configurations. Fabricated components rotate and spin to reveal different views from different angles. Polymer elements in rich colors and surface designs are contained and contrasted within fabricated silver structures. Julia approaches and appreciates each piece of jewelry as a small wearable sculpture unifying disparate elements, to be fully discovered only upon intimate examination.

Julia's work and projects have appeared in Jewelry Crafts and PolymerCafe magazines and several Lark publications including 400 Polymer Clay Designs, The Art of Jewelry: Polymer Clay, and 500 Earrings. She is a member of the National Polymer Clay Guild, The Northwest Polymer Clay Guild, and the Seattle Metals Guild. Her work was recently included in Facèré Jewelry Art Gallery's "250 Earrings" show in October 2007, and is available for purchase through Facèré Jewelry Art Gallery in Seattle.