Warlock (circa 1949 to present)

Life started for me in the sun-baked city of McAllen, Texas. Born of a Tennessee patriarch (strong Cherokee) and a northeast Texas matriarch of Irish descent, my early years were spent bouncing around south Texas and southern Louisiana. By age ten, my parents settled in the Heart of Cajun Country where I reached my maturity.

After a stint as an electric squid (U.S. Navy, Electrician’s Mate, Electrical Power Generation) I returned to Cajun Country and became a Doodlebugger. For those who ask, a Doodlebugger is someone who looks for oil.  During this time I also attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana taking courses in COBOL and FORTRAN IV.

Life is what happens when you make other plans and I never had the chance to put my newly acquired programming skills to use. I moved to northern Louisiana working as first a machinist, then a mechanic, a service manager for a new car dealership, and finally a shop manager for a construction equipment shop before returning to college. 

The time spent as a mechanic taught me that automobile manufacturers were woefully negligent in providing true knowledge of the actual workings of their products. I would use this revelation to attack the problem in the in the future.  The experiences I gained as a service manager taught me that Customer Satisfaction is the most important aspect of any business.  

Again, life interfered and my plans to become a mechanical engineer were thwarted but I did gain work experience as a Sous chef while attending college.  Little did I know how this would shape my future.

Life brought me to Houston, Texas where I joined a manufacturing company as a machinist.  Apparently, someone there liked me because I rose through the ranks to become a senior engineer. That’s a neat trick for anyone without a degree.  However, the good pay and rosy future were thwarted by the collapse of the oil tool manufacturing industry in 1982.  Still, this aspect of my life would be another tool to shape my future.

Using my experience as a machinist, mechanic and service manager, I joined a technical training company.  For fourteen years I traveled the country giving seminars and training presentations.  My formal education in English Composition, and the very useful public speaking class from my last stint in college allowed me to both create and present customer service oriented programs.

Again, life happens.  I spent several years bouncing around with little focus in my life until I met SandWitch.  At that time, all of my life’s trials and tribulations came into focus.

We named our company SandWitch and Warlock and originally wanted to garner our expertise as chefs and open a business catering service that would offer something other than the sodden fare found in most corporate functions.  We invented new delicacies such as “Apollo Moo” (a beef sandwitch with a Grecian influence), “Rosemary’s Lamb” (sliced lamb and herbs sandwitch), “Italian Inuit” (fried zucchini with salmon skin cracklins) and several other mouth watering delights to put excitement into those tedious staff meetings.

Before we could get established as a catering company, it was necessary to get Scarlett’s Soul Candy onto the Internet.  We had closed her store and tried on line marketing through this website.  Not much happened so we decided to go to Ebay and over the next couple of years have evolved into what we are now.

“What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” A question I heard from friends and family during my first year as a transplant from Virginia to Texas! I had to wait until the age of 52 to pull up stakes and start a whole new life in a totally unfamiliar place. After I had been here for a while, asking the above question was unnecessary!

Being an independent minded person, Texas has turned out to be the perfect place for me! I still miss my friends and family back in Virginia, and now and then, I get a pang of homesickness for the beautiful Spring and Fall weather there. That’s what they make planes for!

I started working at the age of 14 and haven’t really stopped! My intention was to become an interpreter with the United Nations, so I studied foreign languages and became proficient in three with a working knowledge of seven. I also began my astrological studies about that time. As it turned out, life had other plans for me.

My love of jewelry came from my Mom’s side of the family. My grandmother and my mother’s sister had quite a collection! I have been collecting vintage and antique jewelry for quite some time. When my late husband passed away, I sold some of it and opened a little shop just outside of Houston, thinking that this would be an interesting thing to do during my “golden years”. I made dried floral arrangements, sold lovely hand-blended bath and body products, and put in a line of handcrafted jewelry that an acquaintance of mine from Virginia made. Again, life had other plans for me! Ryder Cooks walked into my life and with his encouragement and help, we now have a successful Ebay store and I am making my own jewelry! Of course, I married him! Life does not end at 54!!

I come from a family of artisans, each with their own unique talents. Working with tools comes naturally to me and I love color! I like to imagine a piece of jewelry that I would have worn had I lived during a particular era. I like the unusual, so each piece has uniqueness to it. I also believe that it should be available to all so I price accordingly. I’m an “instant gratification” kind of girl so I know that “having” is always better than “wanting”!

From the many careers I have enjoyed during my lifetime, jewelry making is by far my favorite! The energy I receive from working with natural stones, crystals, and metals is very satisfying, and the thought that people from all over the world love pieces that I have made is almost overwhelming!

My favorite motto is, “Life is like a bank; if you don’t make deposits, don’t expect to make withdrawals!” My greatest enjoyment is in giving. That’s my “Soul Candy”.

Smokey adopted us the day we moved into our new location. He was abandoned by his previous owners and was very thin but healthy and a real schmoozer! He has been with us since July of 2007. Smokey has a plethora of talents; napping, of course, is at the top of the list. He is a real gourmand and a lover of fine fragrances. Presently, he is taking care of external security on a part-time basis but is in training to be our new Creative consultant.