Crafting jewelry with reverence to land & sea

Somewhere on the rugged coastline of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, 3,000 from her native Methuen, Sarah Calautti settles in for the night after a long day of working at her craft. Tucked into bed with her dog by her side, she is surrounded by familiar belongings; yet her view out of the windows is ever-changing. From the gentle sway of treetops to the wild roar of the Pacific, Calautti’s backyard is most often a natural landscape. Yet on occasions, her view before closing her eyes might be the lights burning in the windows of the charming Victorian buildings of Port Townsend.

Calautti’s home is a 27-foot-long school bus, converted into a comfy living space complete with a studio for her silversmithing. And while this way of life is anything but conventional, she feels that she has settled down slightly after many years of an even more nomadic lifestyle.

Growing up in Methuen with a strong passion for art, especially sculpture and photography, she lost faith in the possibility of becoming an artist somewhere along the way.

“I quit my pursuit of the arts cold turkey,” she says.

Pursuing a degree in alternative medicine with a concentration in native plants, she attended Johnson State (now Northern Vermont) University. In her junior year, she spent a semester in Montana as part of an exchange program.

“I fell in love with the area and felt that it was time for me to be someplace new,” she says.

Heading back to Vermont, she packed her belongings and drove back across country to Montana, finishing her college education remotely from there.

Landing a job at a native plant nursery, Calautti also began teaching science part-time. But she had been bitten by the travel bug and came up with a plan. Purchasing a “short” school bus, she went online and studied tutorials on converting it into a living space. With no experience and the help of a few friends, she tore out the seats and re-built the vehicle into a basic living space.

“While it was still in the bare-bones stage, I quit my jobs and drove the bus back to New England, where I had some connections in Vermont at a small farm where I could work,” she explains.

Earning enough money to continue the work on the bus, she stayed in Vermont until she completed her renovation. A year later she headed West again, this time settling for a time in Arizona.

This became Calautti’s pattern for a while, taking seasonal work in the East, then driving out West for the following season, back and forth in her converted bus. Several years ago, her lapsed passion for art came creeping back.

“I had always loved jewelry,” she says,” but couldn’t really afford what I liked. I thought, how hard could it be to create my own?”
Purchasing basic tools and materials and referring to YouTube tutorials, she began making silver jewelry.

“Teaching myself silversmithing was a pretty smooth process,” she says. “It just clicked. I think that my sculpting background helped, since I was basically creating very small sculptures.”

With an online presence, Calautti began selling her silver rings right away.

“I also began selling them locally,” she says. “I would make a few rings, park my bus strategically, and if I sold one ring for $150 I could buy enough gas to get to another location.”

As her business rapidly gained traction, she realized that she needed a bigger bus.

“I had no studio in the bus,” she says. “I would drag out a little wobbly table and a plastic tote full of tools and sit outside to make my jewelry. It was not sustainable.”

Selling her current home, she found a larger bus, this time with the seats already removed. Once again, but now with more experience and a better floor plan, she stripped down the vehicle and converted it into a living space, complete with a bathroom, kitchen, outdoor shower, diesel heater and a full bedroom. Most importantly, she added an ample studio space.

Now fully equipped, Calautti began a new pattern: Taking her home and business up and down the West Coast, following the pleasant weather patterns. This past year, after six seasons of traveling the coast, she took a breath and settled in on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.

“I have been in one place for a year, now,” she says, sounding a little amazed.

While she has remained in the area for the past year, Calautti is hardly root-bound.

“I don’t have a permanent spot,” she says. “I bop around different places in town, using street parking. If I have a string of days where I don’t have to be in town for anything, I will drive out and camp in the woods. There are a lot of free campsites in the National Forest.”
Calautti creates mostly silver rings, with the occasional pendant.

“All of my work is hand-fabricated, not poured into a mold,” she says.
Using either sheets of sterling silver or silver wire, she hand-cuts or shapes the silver, then solders the pieces together with an open flame torch. Most pieces contain stones, from polished moon snail shells to sea glass and West Coast agates that have been tumbled in the sea.
“I am kind of a chronic collector,” she laughs. “I spend a lot of time walking with my dog and picking up little pieces of glass and stones that are a direct reflection of the places where they are found. Setting them into my jewelry seems like a natural progression.”

Originally naming her jewelry business Sidesaddle Silver, Calautti re-branded the company when she settled in the Northwest.

“I craft my pieces in reverence to the land, the sea and to their quiet beauty that endures through time,” she says. “The new name, Ómós, means ‘tribute, homage, respect, reverence’ in Gaelic. My process is very organic; I feel as if I am the conduit for the work, as it takes on a life of its own. The name resonates with what I do.”

Calautti feels that she has found her place in making jewelry. As for staying in one spot, she admits that she misses places that she has visited, so she plans to continue traveling as often as she can.

“But I think that I have also found my place in this area,” she states.

These days, she sells regularly at farmers markets, exhibits her work in local galleries and has a growing inventory of her stunning high-end jewelry. From a pop-up table with two rings for sale to a thriving business with a growing reputation, this artist has come a long way. And with her home on wheels … she can go a lot farther!

More info: Omosjewelry.com
Patricia Bruno is a Methuen native, currently living in Haverhill. A writer and photographer, she is also the owner of The Winged Rabbit gift shop in downtown Haverhill.