Written and submitted by Dan Lutts

Victorian Blue Sky Earrings

Are you looking for a unique Christmas gift for a friend or someone you love — or for yourself? If you are, you should check out Dale Cougar Armstrong’s exquisite, one-of-a-kind wire wrapped jewelry on sale at the Museum Store.

Actually, Dale Cougar Armstrong has gone beyond being a mere wire wrapped jewelry artist. She’s really a wire artist. What’s the difference? It’s a matter of both imagination and skill. Armstrong describes the difference this way:

I am a wire artist — not a wrapper. A wrapper follows a pattern and cannot get out of the box. A wire artist learns how to work the pattern and then lets it evolve into other designs.

Dale Cougar Armstrong

Dale Cougar Armstrong has spent her whole life in rocks and minerals. As a kid growing up in New Hampshire, she and her family went all over the White Mountains looking for abandoned pegmatite mines. In college, she studied both fine arts and geology. Later she opened her studio, Cougar’s Creations, in Riceville, in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee.

Armstrong is a master artist who has won awards for her jewelry. But she’s also interested in teaching the art of making wire wrapped jewelry. She has taught numerous classes throughout the country and has made DVDs about making wire wrapped jewelry. She also teaches group and private classes at her studio, Cougar’s Creations.

Insect Pin

Dale Cougar Armstrong’s wire wrapped jewelry is popular throughout throughout the country. The Museum Center feels privileged to be carrying selections of her work for you to buy. The pieces on display change periodically, so you’ll find a different selection each time you come.

The Museum Store also is the only shop within thirty miles of Cleveland that sells Dale Cougar Armstrong’s beautiful, one-of-a-kind wire jewelry. We offer a wide range of her magnificent earrings and matching necklaces as well as individual pairs of earrings, necklaces, and pins.

Wisteria Necklace

So do your gift shopping at the Museum Store. It’s the only place around where you can find all kinds of beautiful, one-of-a-kind jewelry, pottery, and other items by local craftsmen and craftswomen who are considered tops in their trade.