I have been twisting wire and fondling gems for almost two decades.

I was born in Calgary and grew up in Southern Alberta. I spent summers in the Rocky Mountains with my family hunting and fell in love. It is one of the most inspiring, intense, and beautiful places in the world.

I went into geology in College but ended up taking Social Work. Soon my love for rocks won out and now I am back at it as a gems dealer and wirewrapper.

My name is Szarka but I am also known as Dianne Carter and Dianne Molnar, my maiden name.

Who am I, good question.

Is who I am what I've done, where I have been, what I wear, what I think, how I act? I never know what to say.`I can give you a run down of my past and then you can make your own judgements on who I am and maybe then you can share it with me so I know too?`

I was born in Alberta, went to school ........ a lot. Wanted to save the world and tried hard for 13 years. I soon realized I needed to save myself or there would be nothing left for the world. I burnt out mediating between families, teens, Social Services, the Court System, Mental Health and society at large and gave away everything to move into a flaming pink school bus all tricked out with solar panels and a hand built interior with a wonderful man I met on the Internet.

We travelled the Western States while I crocheted cotton halter tops for middle aged drunk women at music festivalsI made jewelry, custom made hats, clothing, and worked the gem trade. We travelled Barter Fairs, Flea Markets, Art Shows, Festivals, Powwow's, Pig Roasts. We did every venue I can think of. I worked with Galleries and coffee shops, high end restaurants, and little old men in motor homes who then resold my pieces to galleries. It was a lot of work but it was a blast.

I traded wire wrap for truck batteries, essential oils for amber, beads for brain tanned deer hides. I met so many humans and all preconceived notions of any kind were turned upside down. I stayed in Palm Springs to spots on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. I stayed in Vegas to Niland California at the slabs.

Now I sell on the Internet as Magpie Gemstones and on eBay as Turquoise Magpie and here as ............ me.

Once the bus lfe was over what to do was open and along came eBay. Friends I had in the trade wanted me to buy for them so I started supplying beads stores. I had many contacts in the gem trade and they wanted me to sell for them, or get involved in this partnership or that. I decided against it all and wanted to sell beads, make some jewelry, and home school my daughter. I am grateful this is what I am able to do.

I know that working for myself is more like a 16 hour day than a regular 9 to 5 but being able to be home makes it all worth while.

A lot of people ask me how I learnt to make jewelry. I had a crystal and some wire and just kept twisting for years until now. I am not a master yet, I do not believe, and it has been almost 2 decades.

Wire is the ultimate way to discover humility. If I approach it with a feeling of smugness or surety it teaches me quickly that it is in charge. If I cajole, beg and hope it will do what I want it to most times now it will listen. Not always though. It is kind of like life.

Well now that I have bored you to tears, thanks for reading this far and I hope your life is simple, sweet, and filled with the small things that give your heart joy.

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If you sense something mysterious, powerful, or enchanting in Szarka’s jewelry, if you feel something from her designs, you are not the first person to experience this phenomena.

Szarka's work reflects her walk in life. She is well versed in herbal medicine and is in touch with the Earth's powerful gifts. She spent her summers and falls in hunting camps in the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies and was fascinated with rocks and nature. Her childhood was full of time spent soaking in the beauty of the Earth. Her grandmother who was an avid gardener and animal rescuer and whom she was very close too, taught her to study nature and to read what it trys to tell us.

She started out going to College in Calgary, Alberta in the field of Geology. She changed that to Child and Family Counseling after finding a degree in geology would only land her a job in the oil fields of Canada. Another degree from U of Vic, a Masters in Hypnotherapy, a private practice, and finally a degree in First Nations Studies. All lead her to go deeper into herself and the experiences of humanity and the world.

Szarka began making her own beads in the mid eighties out of clay, femo, paper; whatever she could make a bead from. A Mayan gentleman on Vancouver Island showed her a few simple wire wrap techniques with stove wire. Soon after, Szarka began showing up at the local Saturday market with a table full of crystals and wrapping crystals her customers picked out. A year or so later, she had pieces of her work in galleries and shops. As the saying goes, the rest is history, or in this case, herstory.

Szarka's work definitely mirrors her beauty, creativity, feminine power, as well as her love and respect for the treasures the earth has to offer. Her work speaks to the spirit within all of us, be that in a whisper or the loud chatter of the Magpie.

~Written by Kyote, Szarka's best friend, husband, and confidant~

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The following links will take you to Szarka's other web sites.

Blog

Ebay Store

Wholesale Gem and  Bead Store

To contact Szarka please email ssszarka@gmail.com or call 512 392 3091.