FRACKVILLE - Valerie J. Perez has a lot of work to do in the next few weeks.
The Frackville woman, who has been making and selling jewelry under the company name Cavana Design for about 10 years, plans to bring her wares to Pottsville for the seventh annual Block of Art slated for April 19 through 21.
"I'm cranking up the factory for the Block of Art," said Perez, 44.
Block of Art transforms downtown Pottsville's indoor spaces into a premier gallery walk with multiple indoor venues, art exhibits, performances and workshops. It also features outdoor music and events.
The several hundred works of art are displayed and sold. They include paintings, photographs, jewelry, ceramics and sculptures from local, regional and international artists. Volunteers organize and staff the event.
Perez said this year marks the fourth time she will participate in the event.
The name of her business, Cavana Design, came from the name of her father's restaurant in New York City, where she was born and her father was a boxer. He opened the restaurant after he couldn't box anymore and called it Cavana for her and her sisters - her older sister's name is Caroline, she is Valerie and her younger sister is Natalie.
"My father passed away, which is why we moved here (when I was 4), so I decided when I started my business, that's what I was going to call my business," Perez said.
Perez has been making jewelry since she was 16 years old. She took a jewelry-making course at Pottsville Area High School.
"I've been doing it ever since," Perez said.
When graduating high school, she received a scholarship to go to the art school of her choice. She attended the Tyler School of Art, a part of Temple University, Philadelphia, to pursue a bachelor's degree in metal and jewelry making.
Perez said she uses a process called hand fabrication, meaning she works with pieces of metal that she cuts out and joins by soldering with a torch.
"You have to plan ahead in how many pieces you have and how you're going to construct it because when you're soldering, you're using different grades of solder," she said. "When you initially start, you want to start with a higher solder and work your way down."
Perez said her work takes a bit of planning, as she has to engineer how she's going to put it together.
"You want success at the end and you don't want to have to go back and do more work than you actually have to," she said.
Perez's work involves a bit of forging, which she said is what a blacksmith does but on a smaller scale.
While some pieces take an hour to create, other more complicated pieces can take as many as 10 hours depending on the size, amount of soldering joints and the process it takes to make them.
After a piece is soldered, it goes into an acid bath that eats away all oxidation and cleans the metal, Perez said. The piece goes into the acid bath between every solder and is polished before a stone is inserted into it.
Perez also now works with coal and hopes to promote it at this year's Block of Art. Since she breaks down larger coal pieces into smaller pieces, each piece of jewelry is unique.
"I think it's a great way for me as an artist to incorporate something that has such a historic reference in this county and something people sort of take for granted," she said. "It's a way for me to take something people think is just dirty and ugly and make it into something pretty."
Perez will be at Block of Art on April 20 at the Art Mart. For more information about her jewelry, visit www.cavanadesign.com and for more information about the Block of Art, visit www.block-of-art.org.