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Artist Ally Childress
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The studio was designed around what was available, resulting in a spacious place with large windows and a glass door that bring the surrounding nature right into the space.
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After rolling out slabs of clay, Allyson works on texturing and playing with different shapes. This is where the design process begins.
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While jewelry is her main creative outlet, Allyson also upcycles denim jackets, pairing them with mud cloth for a totally unique and gorgeous wardrobe staple.
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“It was an amazing experience that strengthened our relationship,” she says, recalling there being nowhere on the boat to create art. She was used to makeshift studio spaces, having made do with kitchen tables, screened porches and a storage unit as workspace. But on the boat, there was nowhere, so the couple agreed that a studio was their priority.
Completed in January 2019, Childress’ studio sits just slightly beyond their house and garden on the Corrotoman in Weems. Together they designed it after a trip to Lamberth’s to find as much reclaimed material as possible. With an eye toward sustainability, windows and doors that had been pulled out of renovations or misordered were chosen, along with lumber intended for discard. The studio was then designed around what was available, resulting in a spacious place with large windows and a glass door that bring the surrounding nature right into the space.
Reached via ladder, the studio’s loft is Childress’ sewing area where she upcycles secondhand jean jackets by customizing them with fair trade mud cloth. Downstairs is her main work area—kiln, worktable, supply shelves—where she creates custom jewelry under the Daily Magic brand. After graduating from Mary Washington University in 2010 with a B.A. in studio art, Childress sought a means of working with clay that would produce some sort of wearable art. She’d always been interested in making jewelry but didn’t know how.
Once the studio was completed, Childress and her husband set out on a cross-country road trip. Childress brought along “The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity,” a self-help book full of techniques and exercises to help artists gain self-confidence by harnessing their creative talents and skills. “That book helped me get in touch with my inner child and reconnect to what it was I liked,” she says of realizing that while she thought she hated pink and sparkles, the truth is, she loves both.
With a new outlook, she made a point to get out and explore the places where they stopped. It was Santa Fe that would be the most significant. After deciding to take a ceramic jewelry workshop while they were there, something clicked for Childress. “I thought, this is the missing piece,” she explains. “Now I know how to make wearable, functional jewelry using my ceramics background. I was so excited.”
Having finally found her outlet, Childress knew she wanted to offer something similar once back in Virginia, so she asked the workshop instructor about material sourcing. “It was a wonderful moment for me to realize how artists can work together,” she says. “Instead of her saying it was her thing, she was open to sharing her knowledge with me. That was a big turning point for me.” During the drive back across country, Childress used any available time to order supplies so they would be there waiting for her upon arrival.
When they got home in October, she hit the ground running by creating an experience listing on Airbnb, offering jewelry making workshops to visitors and locals. “I wanted to put myself and my workshops in front of people,” she says. “It’s an experience they aren’t going to find just anywhere.” The result was her first guests arrived at the end of October and they’ve already returned for a second session.
Surrounded by nature with views of a cove off the Corrotoman, Childress’ workshops are designed to guide guests through the process of making their own ceramic jewelry. With the ability to roll their own slabs of clay—as well as an array of shapes, textures, patterns and underglazes—guests get to personalize their creations according to their whim. Once completed, participants choose from a range of glazes to enhance their pieces. Childress then fires and glazes the work so that it’s ready for pick up in two weeks. For visitors, she ships the pieces directly to their homes.
As she continued to work on her own jewelry line, Daily Magic, Childress says she’s seen great strides in her progress and now offers her jewelry at artisan markets in addition to online. In Richmond, she’s participated in the RVA Moon Market as well as the Brunch Market at Lunch and Supper.
Being in front of the public, she’s learned, has a myriad of
special benefits. “At the Moon Market, a woman came running up to my table, saying she’d bought a pair of my earrings from the Yellow Button in Harrisonburg and had been following me on Instagram,” she recalls. “She’d driven two and a half hours to buy a specific pair of my earrings that she’d seen online.
My whole year was made, or at least my whole week!”
Looking at pieces in the Daily Magic line, it’s not difficult to see why customers are attracted to them. Earrings, both dangling and studs, call to mind the heavens with shapes—stars, crescents, triangles, circles—in luminous and uniquely beautiful colors. Look closer and you’ll see that crystals have formed from the glaze she uses, giving the earrings an almost mystical look. The name, Daily Magic, is intentional. “The idea of putting on my earrings is that you’re adding a bit of magic to your day,” she explains. “It’s a special sparkle that makes the person feel better just wearing them.”
Childress used to think of art and creativity as rigidly compartmentalized: you open a box, you create, you close it and go back to what you were doing. The reality, she says, is more about striving to live a creative life while getting her art out into the world. “The garden, the studio, the land, they’re all part of the same thing, not separate boxes,” she says. “What I’m trying to do is create magic for others to take out into the world as well.”
Follow Allyson on Instagram @live.daily.magic or shop her website livedailymagic.com/wearable.
Allyson’s husband, Clay owns and operates Gaia Contracting that connects people with nature through no/low chlorine pools and nature inspired ponds, edible landscaping, solar and rainwater harvesting systems, and elevated tree platforms and dwellings. You can find more info at connectwithgai.com.
Find Washington, DC-based photographer Stephanie Dougher on Instagram at @stephdeephoto.
