Cheryl Kasper
Opals
Cheryl grew up in a rockhounding family and first took Faceting at Wildacres when she was 15. At William Holland, she has taken Silversmithing, Gem ID, Soapstone Carving, Lampwork Beads, Beading, Stained Glass, Casting, Chains, and Opals. Following in her father’s footsteps, Cheryl has a passion for this mysterious and exciting stone. She has been working with opal since about 2000. A true opalholic (and a Libra), she went to the outback (Australia) in 2007 to mine for opals in Cooper Pedy and Lightning Ridge where she studied opal carving from Daniela L’Abbate. She specializes in Black Opal and Fossilized Opal.
Dot Kasper
Beading
Dot has a true love of beads and their history. She is fascinated by the personality of each gemstone, and loves shopping for the unusual. She enjoys sharing this enthusiasm with her students and family. Dot has taught workshops for SFMS at Wildacres, Elderhostel groups, Cobb Gem and Mineral Society, and, her favorite place, William Holland School.
Renee Kelley
Cold Connections
Enameling
Renee began her jewelry career in 1971, managing a bead shop in Binghamton, NY. She began putting designs together for bead samples and started doing shows. Renee was mainly self-taught because of the lack of teachers in the early years. She has traveled up and down the East coast doing shows for several years. In 2007, she took 4 awards at fine art shows. Renee’s jewelry skills include lampwork beads, enameling, beading, wire wrapping, copper working, silversmithing, and glass fusing. She has been fusing dichroic glass since 2001, and has developed many great ideas, including engraving pieces and adding to them.
Judy Kelly
Beading, Seed
Lampwork Beads
Coming from a design background, Judy Kelly decided to check out the Lapidary Arts field in 1995. She loved jewelry and was delighted with the idea of making one-of-a-kind pieces. To accomplish this, she tried several disciplines including glass fusing, wire, chain and lamp work. Then she discovered bead crochet which became her main love for incorporation with the other learned skills. She found bead crochet could be used to enhance other medias or bring together several medias.
Mary Lou Kick G.G.
Faceting
Gem Identification
Mary Lou owner of Gemcutters, Inc. has been in business since 1981, serving jewelers and customers across the United States. She enjoys introducing others to her passion for gemcutting and Gemology in her Faceting and Gemstone Identification classes at the William Holland School of Lapidary Arts in Young Harris, GA. She earned her Graduate Gemologist degree at the Gemological Institute of America in 1988. You may purchase Mary Lou’s novel, “On the Cutting Edge of the World of Gems”, which can be purchased at William Holland or on Amazon.com. This novel combines the exciting world of gems and jewels, with intrigue that extends to a foreign land in an unfamiliar culture.
Jack King
Cabochons
Jack lives in Cornelius, NC. Since the age of 12, Jack has been a rockhound where he spent every available weekend climbing the hills around Spruce Pine and Franklin. His dad made his first tumbler out of a 55-gallon steel drum and his first gem-cutting machine was a B&I Gem maker from Sears. Jack has attended classes at Wildacres and William Holland and has been a private student of Sarah Lee Boyce for years. Although his primary passion is opal cutting, he loves cutting any material into cabochons. He prefers to cut free-form stones that his wife Kathy wire wraps. Jack started teaching for William Holland in 2008.
Diane Kuzara
Beading, Seed
Diane Kuzara began coming down to William Holland as a beading student from Brownstown, Michigan. After several classes and finding a special interest in seed beading, she found a love of teaching the art. Diane has now been teaching at William Holland since 1999, been the beading teacher for the Midwest Mineralogical & Lapidary Society for the past 11 years, demonstrates and/or teaches at all the local gem and mineral shows in Michigan as well as surrounding Ohio and Indiana Shows. Taking her class is fun and relaxed and her students get really enthused in learning the art of seed beading!
Pete Kuzara
Cabochons
Peter retired from Ford Motor Company in 1997; his title was an engineering technologist. He started coming to William Holland School in the late 1980’s. He has taken Cabochon classes from Gene Baxter, Nestor Garcia and Yates Donnan at the school. Peter has cut from Hearts to Squares and some styles and patterns he created himself.