About Garry VannAusdle | Custom Jewelry & Tile Designer

With 37 years of experience and totally self taught, Garry's interest in carving all started with a carving purchase.  While living in Long Island and working in construction, he purchased a stylized bird head carved from a whale tooth by Ken Sparague.  Not long after purchasing the carved whale tooth, he began teaching himself carving.  Garry started carving bone and wood and within two years, he was able to carve a bird head equal to the one he had purchased.

~Carving~
Not long after that, Garry moved to Virginia to a farm south of Charlottesville, where he started carving full time.  In his pursuit for artistic experience, he experimented with a wide range of carving materials.  These include bone, ivory, walrus tooth, prehistoric mammoth ivory, stone, wood, steel, gem stone, shell and meteorite.  The subjects he carved were as diverse as the materials he used, but he always worked in a realistic style.  He worked on his carving for 17 years, when his interest started moving toward making jewelry.
~Custom Jewelry~
After 20 years of carving in solid materials, Garry decided to move to New Jersey to learn custom wax design for jewelry making.  Garry soon was able to approach jewelry stores who needed custom wax designs.  To perfect his wax carving techniques, he would work on the design tirelessly until he was satisfied.  He is now able to complete most jobs within two days with 95% of designs being accepted by the client on the first showing.  After five years in New Jersey, Garry moved back to Virginia, began creating and marketing a custom jewelry line at area craft shows.  Most of his clients are still currently found through craft shows and word of mouth.
~Hand-Carved Ceramic Tiles~
While marketing his line of custom jewelry at craft shows, Garry's interest in custom ceramic tiles was sparked in 2000.  He practiced and perfected his custom tile carving and firing process for over six years.  His first show with tiles in 2006.