Robin, I have thought of and done the same. When I moved to
Albuquerque from Honolulu, I needed to get my name out there and
thought of the same idea. Although Albuquerque is a far cry from
Tensile Town, the closest thing to a celebrity (other than Julia
Roberts living in Taos) is our local news caster. I contacted Diane
Anderson of Channel 7 and met with her to see if she would wear some
of my pieces while airing the news. She agreed and I loaned her a
Tahitian Pearl & diamond necklace (lariat style) that I won an award
for in a statewide competition in Hawaii. She wore it a dozen times
or so and then exchanged that for some earrings and necklace combo.
Then every time I made up a new design/set, I’d let her try it out.
I never got any leads from it although I made a good friend! She’s
not a movie star, but everyone in town knows her and it still didn’t
seem to get me any business. I ran out of new stuff I could loan her
just about the time her husband was getting nervous about her having
a few thousand dollars worth of jewelry to be responsible for every
now and then. I haven’t done anything of the like since then, but I
still haven’t made it up to Taos either!
Travis Duggan
Placitas, NM
Jeweler, Boatbuilder, Father of a 6 mo. old baby girl