Ki is excited to bring jewelry artisan Rita Reade to the Junk Bonanza vintage market Feb. 19-20 in San Diego! Rita, the amazing artisan behind mammabellarte.com, has graciously agreed to conduct ongoing demonstrations of jewelry soldering for our Bonanza attendees!
Another bonus? She has made 100 of these beautiful, two-sided Junk Bonanza charms! The Bonanza is privileged to give them away to the first 50 people in line each day!
Rita also cohosts the Vintage Marketplace shows with Christie Repasy, her sister-in-law, and other family members. Next up is the Spring show March 11-12 at Galway Downs in Temecula, CA.
Born and raised in Sicily, Italy, Rita says “love brought me to California a the age of 23.” “I have always been creating little things back home,” she said, “but it was my move to the USA and the language barrier that made me learn a few new skills. You don’t have to actually communicate to be able to create, right?
She shared a bit about her process, creating from her home in rural Rainbow, CA — a place she also can be found cooking, baking and practicing her hobby: product photography.
“Woodworking is my first love; every birthday or anniversary I would get a new machine. I used to be called the ‘birdhouse lady,’ since birdhouses where my main thing to build. After that I started making frames and restoring vintage furniture. That’s how I started selling at markets. Then, 6 years ago, I learned to solder and really loved incorporating vintage hardware, old brooches and rhinestones to my solder pieces. I have a large workshop in our property where I create all the woodwork and soldering art.”
Rita sells most of her work online and through her sales, and is bringing pieces to Junk Bonanza as well!
This artistic dynamo also teaches; she is conducting a class Feb. 13 at Whimzy! in Tustin, CA. “An editor friend told me a couple of years ago that ‘sharing is caring’ and I believe in those words,” she said. “That is why I teach soldering.”
What does she do for fun? Rita says she always makes time for eating pizza and for watching movies with her husband and boys, Alan, 22, and Raffaele, 19.
