Circuit board framed stencils have smooth aperture walls that are used primarily for 16Mil pitch and below. But, for one Rochester woman, she chooses a different use for these little pieces of technology.
Amanda Preske owns a Rochester-based jewelry making company that is incredibly unique. Circuit Breaker Labs takes miniature circuit boards that have been recycled from computers and telephones and uses this raw material as a base for bracelets, earrings, and necklaces.
Preske cuts each circuit board into tiny pieces, coats them in a plastic resin, and then attaches them to a metal backing. She has been making each piece by hand in her tiny apartment for the past decade, since she was 14. After moving from Camillus, Onondaga County to Rochester to attend the Rochester Institute of Technology, Preske opened an Etsy shop online and the rest is history.
“I have always been into art and making things,” Preske tells the Democrat and Chronicle. “Jewelry suited me well. I don’t know why. I just like working small and I like things that have some utility.”
The studio has received a newfound fame within the past month after a video of Preske’s production process was posted online. Viewers from across the country have been pouring over the designs, and Preske has noticed that the shop’s sales have dramatically increased. She has even gotten offers of free circuit boards from different technology wholesalers.
On top of this, Preske stands out within Upstate New York as one of the only craftsmen to make jewelry from unconventional materials. When she isn’t working in her tiny studio, she travels all over the northeast to craft shows to promote her product.
But, Preske isn’t looking to expand her business or to hire any extra employees. She enjoys being the sole owner and operator of her business, and the most important part to her is having fun and making jewelry.
“Any artist will say how exciting it is to open a fresh box of paints, or colored pencils, and just having all that raw material right in front of you ready to do anything with,” she explains. “It’s like that when I go and collect circuit boards. It’s the same thing. It’s like Christmas.”
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