Molly McCammon Brose didn't plan to have her jewelry designs show up in the pages of Vogue and Glamour, but she's not complaining.

"I started out going door to door at retail stores with my jewelry in a suitcase," Brose says. "I had to buy a professional outfit, so I wouldn't look like I was 21 and just out of college. Cold calling can be pretty humiliating."

Made by Molly jewelry is now available in more than a dozen stores and on the Web. The line includes necklaces and earrings, as well as art cards, clothing, and necklace racks. "I'm self-taught, but my jewelry is a conglomeration of all the things I learned at Kenyon," says Brose, who graduated in 2002 with a studio art degree.

The national magazine exposure came after Brose became friends with Laura Hillenbrand, who attended Kenyon and wrote the bestseller Seabiscuit: An American Legend. Hillenbrand was preparing for a photo shoot with Annie Leibowitz when she had a "jewelry emergency" and called on Brose for help. Brose supplied one of her handmade necklaces.

A Made by Molly necklace begins as a miniature, abstract watercolor painted on cold-press cotton paper, framed with acrylic glass and treated copper or sterling silver. The necklace is then created around this pendant with striking color combinations, beautiful glass, and vintage beads.

Brose turned to jewelry-making her senior year, when she was burned out on painting after her demanding senior exhibit at Kenyon. She had recently taken a sculpture course that introduced her to new materials and techniques. "It opened a whole new world for me," she explains. "I just saw the jewelry in my head and started making it."