Gypsy Rain's Jewelry Box

People often ask me how I came up with the name for my jewelry business.  At one point we had a cat name Gypsy and another cat named Rain.  While Gypsy has gone on to kitty heaven, we still have Rain hanging around - though, he prefers to do his hanging around our garden and under the carport these days.  When Michael and I were still dating, he got to talk me through the night (via a long distance telephone call) that Gypsy died.  At that point he thought that my jewelry business was named after my cats.  But, that is not the case.  Years ago, when I was in high school, I knew several young girls who were pregnant or had recently given birth.  All of this baby stuff got me to thinking about what I would name my own daughter if I ever had one.  One of my best friends was pregnant and we found a baby naming book at the library and had been going through to pick out names for her child.  One afternoon, I sat with the book and decided that if I was ever to have a daughter, I would want a name that was completely original and unique.  That was how I came to pick Gypsy Rain.  And I never forgot it.  Several years later, I found myself married and pregnant with my first child.  We didn't know what we were having since the first ultra sound had been to early to tell and the second one would later yield no further help since my child had it's hand between the legs and would stubbornly refuse to move it.  However, I just knew that my first child would be a girl and  I announced to my husband and family that I still wanted to name my daughter Gypsy Rain.  Well, my mother and husband got together and conspired to have the doctors knock me out so that they could name her if I didn't pick out a more acceptable (in their eyes) name.  So, I figured I better do something before they named my child John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt (or one of the many other names my sisters had recommended).  Thus, Alexis Taylor was chosen and a little girl it was.  It should be noted that my daughter has, for years, told all of us that she hates her name and she wishes that they would have let me name her Gypsy Rain.  Of course, if she was named Gypsy Rain, she probably would have preferred Alexis Taylor.  It's a teen thing, I think.

So, not having been allowed to name my daughter as I chose, I decided that I would put that name to use when I created my first email address (gypsyrain@juno.com as I recall).  I also used it as a screen name for ICQ and mIRC chat for a few years.  (I would also like to add that one night I was chatting with a friend in Australia on ICQ and he told me that he had some friends over that were expecting their first child and they loved my screen name and asked for permission to name their child Gypsy Rain.  Needless to say, I was thrilled!)  I have never stopped using my screen name and email address, although I frequently have to add a number or something to it these days since it seems the screen name has become popular since I started using it.  When I began making and selling jewelry I asked people to help me come up with a name for my business.  After a few days of ideas that, while nice, didn't quite fit for my personality.  One morning I awoke and thought, Gypsy Rain's Jewelry Box!!  Duh!  Why hadn't I thought of that before?!?  I had even dressed up as a gypsy for my sister's costume wedding (another fun story) so had a photo that I could attach to my twitter and email page (at least until I lost weight and decided the picture looked hideous and I needed to change it).

Now you know the story behind my business name.  Soon we will start posting pictures of some of my designs.  But, first, we have to finish getting my new workshop set up so I can get back to designing.