Although she's only 25 years old, Molly Dingledine has been in the jewelry making business for a decade. In fact, her mother still laments the passing of Molly Made, the beaded jewelry she made and her mother sold when Dingledine was in high school in Charleston.

"It was really bright and funky," she recalled. "But after my work got more sophisticated, I said, 'Mom, we gotta quit.' "

These days, Dingledine lives and works in Asheville, where she makes sterling silver earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings. "Bright and funky" has given way to understated and graceful, emphasizing shapes found in the natural world.

Building blocks: From as far back as she can remember, Dingledine was always making things. "I was always interested in putting things together, like little forts in the backyard and Legos," she said. "I think my talent really is in building things and 3-D, the mechanics and figuring out how things go to together." Some of that she got from her parents. "My dad is really good at building, very precise. And my mom, the saying about her is if you stand still too long she'll paint you. She's always doing projects on the house and is really creative."

Dingledine was 12 when her family moved from Charlottesville, Va., to Charleston, where she took a pottery class at a local gallery and enjoyed it so much she started taking private lessons. But jewelry was her true love. "I've been making jewelry my entire life and I was always really into beads."

Art education: Deciding to not go to art school, Dingledine enrolled as an art student at Elon University near Burlington. "I hated it," she said. "I think part of me was freaking out as a freshman away from home. But mostly I didn't like not being in a creative environment." She did an about-face, transferred to Savannah College of Art and Design and studied metals and jewelry. "I remember walking through before I went there and seeing cases of jewelry that new students had made and I thought, 'I can make that after one class?' " She also took classes in glass-blowing, glass-fusing, sculpture, photography, painting, "the whole shebang," said Dingledine, who won several student awards in jewelry competitions. "I think every art class I've taken has made it into my work."

Mountain magic: Dingledine knew about Asheville because a family friend used to own a summer camp there. "I kind of got the bug in my head to come here," she said. "I really can't pinpoint what it was. I just really felt drawn. The day I got here with my 17-foot moving truck I thought, 'this is home.' "

That was the summer of 2005, when she also lucked into sharing studio space with established jewelry makers Joanna Gollberg and Geoffrey Giles. "They are awesome studio mates," she said. "I think part of where I am and being farther along compared to some other people has a lot to do with them."

New leaf: Last year she introduced her first collection of jewelry, called Turning Over, hammered silver in six organic shapes. "It was inspired by nature, especially leaves and pods," she said. "I moved to Asheville in the fall and I was so floored by the beauty and the season. I started collecting things and looking at these natural forms. It's a play on words, too, like I'm turning over a new leaf, the fact that I was finished with school, that huge chapter of life. I was excited and nervous. It's everything about being open and free and having all these things before me."

To the dogs: Part of Dingledine's work is one-of-a-kind and some is done on a production line. "I'll cut out hundreds of pieces at a time." One of her items is a dog tag. She made her first one for her springer spaniel, Baylee. "She's my best friend," she said. She put that line on the back burner, but still makes them for friends and on commission.

Dingledine initially worked part time as a waitress but is now doing jewelry full time. "I'm in the middle of a business course. After I was in business for half a year, I realized 'I'm in business.' So now I'm in the middle of a business course to learn about market, keeping my books, things for people starting up a business."

Expanding lines: The artist recently started to work with African black wood. "I'm setting round pieces of wood into silver bevels and embedding small silver granules and pearls. People say they look like constellations. It wasn't my intention, but it goes with my whole theme of everything interrelated. Circles have been a big theme in my life --friends, family, relationships, circles of women."

In person: This year Dingledine is adding retail outlets, as well as selling at shows. This will be her first year at Artsplosure. "I love doing shows, getting out there and talking to my customers. It reaffirms that I'm doing something that somebody is responding to," she said. "I'm proud of the fact that I can take all my inspirations and everything that really moves me in life and I can tie it all together and make something that people can relate to. It's really about my love and admiration for the natural world. Something that's a theme in my life is that nature was here before we were. It can tell us everything we need to know. "

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