It's fair to say that Katelyn Anderson wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth. But she might very well make her fortune thanks to a blend of her own creativity and partially disfigured but finely polished piles of silverware.

At the very least, the 17-year-old Walnut Grove artist hopes to pay her $4,000 dorm fees when she attends the fine arts program at Trinity Western University this fall.

Anderson makes jewelry out of silver spoons - and forks - and she is among about 150 artists who will be selling her wares at the Arts Alive! festival in downtown Langley City on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Between weekend festivals like this one in her own backyard, and regular appearances at the Langley Community Farmers Markets on Wednesdays at Kwantlen Polytechnic University on the Langley Bypass, Anderson hopes to sell enough jewelry to cover her accommodations next month.

"I've always been into arts, even in elementary school," Anderson explained.

With a father ,Kent, who writes, her mother Karen who draws and paints, her brother Kirk who writes and does photography, and her sister Kelsey who draws, paints, and teaches voice and piano, the youngest sibling said her family's artistic bent has rubbed off.

"There was lots of art in my life, from the beginning," she said, listing her involvement with theatre, ceramics, choirs, and most recently jewelry design.

It was a trip her parents took to England a few years back that Anderson credits for twigging her serious interest in making jewelry.

She'd taken a metal work class in Grade 8 that had given her some understanding of making jewelry, but it wasn't until she saw a ring her mother bought at Covent Garden in London that she decided to dabble at silver spoon ring - after all, it couldn't be that difficult.

Armed with some utensils from the antique mall in Fort Langley, she and her uncle headed into his Creston workshop during an Easter visit in 2009. It wasn't as easy as she thought.

They didn't emerge until they'd hammered out the first semblance of a ring. Anderson called it an abomination, but her brother liked the twisted piece and can still be seen wearing it with pride.

In the meantime, Anderson persisted. She talked to her metal work teacher when she returned home, and spent the next several months mastering her technique.

Friends would ask "more spoons?"

Her reply: "Of course more spoons. Why is that a questions?" Anderson recalled with a chuckle, explaining that she's not one to give up easily.

But what she honestly thought would be a fun pastime mushroomed into something much more. In fact, soon she was making more than just rings. She was moulding the silverware into necklace pendants, earrings, and bracelets.

Selling some of her wares - both ceramics and jewelry - at various craft fairs and art shows last fall, she quickly found the customers gravitating to her sterling silver products - and more importantly - they were buying them.

"It got huge," she said, almost unable to keep up with the demand last Christmas.

"I'd hear all the time that it was a very unique idea," Anderson recounted.

With several hundred pieces to her credit now, she has a basic product line down, and continues to test and try new designs. One of her biggest surprises came when she stepped away from the traditional silver spoons, in favour of a silver fork.

The tongs added an entirely new dimension to her work, allowing her to modify shapes and designs dramatically.

"I didn't think it would get this big. I thought it would be something fun to do on the side, as a hobby. Huh! It's bigger than I could have ever expected," she said.

So when it came to finding a job after graduation earlier this summer, Anderson dreaded taking another job in the food service industry. Instead, she opted to go to work for herself.

With a macro equipment loan from her parents, she and her sister started an artist collective, and Anderson has devoted the past few months to making and selling her jewelry.

Asked how much time she spend making the jewelry, her mother (and bookkeeper/manager) said Anderson commits an average of a few hours a day. The artist explained it differently.

"When I'm not studying my History 12 distance education course, I'm doing this," she said, polishing another ring made from the handle of a spoon that carries a distinctive engraved railway company marking.

Asked if jewelry making is her lifelong career ambition, Anderson adamantly said "No." But she envisions herself in the arts.

"For now, I just see this as a way to pay for university," Anderson said.

rhooper@langleyadvance.com