Kathleen Wort
I specialize in hand forged sterling silver jewelry. What makes my jewelry unique is that I use antique steel dies from the early 1900s, and a 20 ton hydraulic press, to ‘press’ and hand forge most of my pieces. This emulates an old process jewelers used 100 years ago called ‘die striking’ (using a drop hammer and steel dies), which is now becoming obsolete. The end result is a quality, solid piece of sterling silver jewelry! Please see my website for more details on my process!
I also enjoy using authentic (originally thrown in New Orleans) doubloons and turning those into earrings and necklaces.
I created hat jewelry to embellish my festival hat and people loved it so much that I currently offer many different kinds of hat jewelry (hat bands) for sale as well!
You can find me on many weekends at the Abita Springs Art and Farmers market on Sundays. Also I go to various other festivals and art shows around the area such as the Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival, Covington Spring for Art and White Linen Nights, Abita Brewery Art Market, Mandeville Rockin’ the Lake, Madisonville Art and Music Festival, and many others!
Kathi was born in Pennsylvania and lived most of her life in the Houston, TX area, where she raised 3 children. A graduate of Texas A&M University, she spent most of her career as an IT professional. After retirement and moving to Louisiana in 2017, Kathi picked up the hobby of jewelry making. Once she took her first metal-smithing class, she never looked back! Kathi loves making jewelry using sterling silver, copper and other metals, and specializes in hand forging her work. Kathi currently resides in Abita Springs with her husband, Eric and their dog Benny.
