Growing a new artistic specialty

BLUFFTON — Each piece of jewelry created by Kim McCann Fultz is as unique as the plants and flowers she uses to make them. These earrings and beads contain bits of nature encased in epoxy resin. According to Fultz, this is the latest path in her art journey that includes an education and background in fashion design and sculpture. "Honestly, a few years ago, I never thought this is where my art would take me. But it has, and I love that fluidity," she said. Fultz previously displayed her paintings, installations and drawings in galleries and museums throughout the world. Then she got to a point where she wanted to create pieces that were more accessible to the public. That brought about the start of her business in 2019, called Kimbo. Fultz now finds inspiration as close as her own garden in Bluffton. "I typically use all of the material in my garden or in my environment," she said. "I don't intentionally take them if they're living and thriving and doing well. I usually wait until they succumb to a harsh winter, they go dormant or they just expire for some reason." Such was the case of one of her tomato plants that grew upwards of 9 feet tall this summer. "I had a hard time trying to keep it upright all the time. Sometimes the limbs would snap off from being too big or too heavy," she said. "I knew I wasn't going to get any tomatoes from it, so that's when I would take some of the leaves and yellow flowers that never went to tomatoes, and I'd use them in my earrings and beads." Fultz said she likes to design and create pieces by incorporating her surroundings as much as possible. "So most of my materials are found where I'm living," she said. "But then I also use recycling and repurposed materials to create new designs. So I'm creating not only something I think is exciting, but I'm giving that recycled material a new life." The process starts by finding and drying items she wants to use. "Then I might crush them up into smaller pieces for some of my stud earrings. If they're a bigger size, for example, the yellow flower in the tomato plant, I could even leave it whole," said Fultz, adding that sometimes it's a combination of the two. These are mixed with a two-part epoxy resin and poured into a mold. After at least 48 hours of drying time, Fultz removes the hardened piece for cleaning and finishing. Each flower or plant has a different formula for success. And, of course, there's also studio time spent sketching and fleshing out a new concept. From there, Fultz begins the research phase of seeing how the materials interact together. Fultz has two sizes of earrings available, a 10-millimeter pair that sells for $20 and smaller, 6-millimeter earrings available for $15. Beads come in both 16-millimeter and 12-millimeter sizes, which are priced at $5 and $4, respectively. Fultz has also created pieces for people using their dried flowers or plants from a funeral, wedding or baptism — any occasion that someone wants to have a unique memory or remembrance. "I've had people wanting special requests for me to have their flowers used in earrings or beads. So now I'm taking theirs. It's not just my material, it's their flowers," she said. "It makes people happy. I'm glad I can help with that." Online: kimboartist.com