Hi, I’m Roxy, and you’ve found my little spot on the internet. If you’re reading this, you’re either A) bored and trying to burn through a few minutes, or B) you like my work and are curious as to the sort of person who produces such amazing and fabulous (or more appropriately, just plain strange) work. If you’ve perused all my pages you’ve probably figured out that I meddle in a lot of different mediums. I blame this on the ADD that I contracted from spending too much time around my mom (who has the worst case of adult ADD that you’ll ever find). As far back as I can remember, I’ve loved to create things, and just be generally artistic. My parents haven’t always understood my genius, like the time I was two and realized that the walls were a great canvas, but they liked them white, so I just decided to decorate the walls that they didn’t see. For the most part, they’ve been really encouraging about all my endeavors. Mainly, they’ve worked hard to teach me both the value of a dollar and inventive ways to get people to give you a dollar. This started when I was five, and started making simple necklaces to sell at my parents’ booth at the art shows we did. They made me a little stand to hang my necklaces on, and it was my job to sit beside it and sell them to people. And that was how I first learned to make money- selling necklaces for a dollar a pop, to people who thought it was adorable that this little gypsy kid was trying to make money.

I really don’t think my life has changed too much since then. For those of you who are wondering, I do have a BFA from the University of Georgia. My specialization in college was fabric design. I was really into weaving and dyeing- if you can’t tell from some of the pieces I have on here- which are about the two most unemployable skills you can have. Despite my love of dyeing, the rest of the world tends to think of my work as “tie-dye”, and hence disregards it. So my fabric work has taken a back seat to the more marketable things that I make. Let’s see, that explains one vein of my work, shall I explain the other briefly before getting to the heart of the matter?

Where does the furniture making fit in? I often wonder that as well. The only training I have with furniture came from a week long class I took with Brent Skidmore at Arrowmont. So a lot of my design/material/construction choices are intuitive. Which is to say, I sort of make it up as I go. I blame the Truck for the furniture. The Truck, was the special project I took on at 14. It was a 1942 Chevy, that was a shell of it’s former self. For some reason I looked at that truck and saw something beautiful. What 14 year old girl with no mechanical knowledge, wouldn’t want to restore an old truck? Long story cut very short, I bought the truck and had it fully restored two years later. Not bad, huh? If you’re thinking that it couldn’t have been that bad, then take a look at her picture at the bottom of this page. Anyway, having restored the truck, I thought I could fix anything, and this is where I started buying antique/junk furniture to fix. From there I figured I could just build my own. That’s how the furniture fits it- it’s my challenge to myself. Because sometimes, you just need one more project to work on- ha, ha.

Back to that topic of trying to find inventive ways to make money.... My parents had hoped that I would go to college and get “a real job”. But they’ve been such terrible role models my whole life, that I ended up just following them. Allow me a moment’s explanation. My parents have been crafters for, oh I don’t know, possibly 40 years now. They’ve made stuff and sold it at art shows for a living for that long. In addition to that, they raised three kids at art shows. So thanks to them, I have this weird gypsy itch in my blood to be at art shows. I’m sure you’re curious as to what they make. Well, I should say what “we” make, because my “real” job is working for them making glass bottle wind chimes. That’s right, I’m a professional wind chime maker. You can see our work at www.bottlebenders.com, and find out more about my crazy family on there. Now you’re starting to understand where the glass work fits into this weird puzzle. I’ve dabbled in glass for a while, but it wasn’t until I graduated and came home (for a short time, that was the original plan anyway) that I really started to see the potential in it. I use window glass for a lot of my work, and enamels to give it the bold color and wild designs. Glass, I’ve found, is an amazing material. I say this because people love glass. They are intrigued by it. And this makes them want to buy it. The best part is that when people buy my work I get to keep making it. So I finally got to apply that early life lesson- finding inventive ways to get people to give you a dollar.

Roxy Kay is my shot at trying to start my own business. It’s not an easy thing to do, I’m learning now. But every time someone likes my work I feel encouraged to make more. And every piece I sell helps me to be able to make a few more. I strive to make the highest quality work that I’m capable of, and I promise that if you’re not satisfied with something I’ve made I’ll do the best I can to make it right. I’m always happy to answer questions, and I love hearing input on my work. So please don’t hesitate to email me.

I guess I should also mention some of the stores that carry my work. You can find my work at The Dream Giver’s Gallery (Toccoa, GA); Hall Manor Mercantile (Toccoa, GA); Stone Mountain Park’s Glass Shop (Stone Mt. GA); Anna Ruby Falls’ Gift Store (Helen, GA); A Troll in the Park (Gatlinburg, TN); and The Old Mill Pottery (Pigeon Forge, TN).

Um.... I guess that’s everything that’s fit to put on my webpage. I’m an avid storyteller, so if you ever want to hear more about my eccentric family, just ask. I might even tell you a little bit about myself.