A Passion For Special
Karen Rohrbaugh discovered her passion for making jewelry unexpectedly as she navigated stay-at-home-motherhood. Her educational background lay in education - she received her Master's in Education from Bucknell University, and was ultimately certified as a guidance counselor. However, after she had her daughter, she began working part time at a horse farm and doing freelance artwork from home. She did a lot of art for the woman that she worked for on the farm, and one day, she made her a bracelet out of tail hair from her favorite horse. When people saw that piece, everyone kept saying they wanted one for themselves, and Karen’s journey into professional jewelry making ended up taking off.
Karen began branching out into other areas of jewelry making and learning how to do other things. She met a goldsmith, Emily Jennison, through her horse connections, who taught her most of the metal smithing skills that she now knows. Karen describes Emily as her mentor, and they currently share a booth together at The York Merchant.
At The York Merchant, Karen carries hand-engraved pieces, which are one of her favorite things to create. Hand engraving is one of the newest skills that she’s learned, and is one that she’s most intrigued with. Karen also carries pearl pieces and metal work with uncommon stones. She likes unusual things that people don’t see everywhere, and aims to showcase products that are truly one of a kind.
Karen finds much of her inspiration through trying to create new and different things. People come to her because they are looking for things that are different than what they can buy at a standard jewelry store. She constantly tries to push her own envelope to come up with non-traditional products. She values incorporating the skills that she already has and the skills that she wants to get better at into one of a kind pieces that can never be duplicated. Karen truly has a passion for special, and constantly strives to provide this unique service to others in her jewelry making.
75% of Karen’s business is custom work. She does a lot of recycling old jewelry into new pieces. Being a lifelong equestrian, her love for horses inspires her custom horse hair jewelry work. Karen also produces custom memorial jewelry, allowing individuals to wear their loved ones close to them forever, with hand engraving options on all of her pieces available as well.
To learn more about Karen’s specialty jewelry, please visit her website at https://ksrspecialtyjewelry.com, or contact her directly at karen@ksrspecialtyjewelry.com.