About the Artist

Maike van Wijk creates one-of-a-kind handmade jewelry and home adornments. Her Wax and Wire Jewelry has been featured in various art shows around Chicagoland. 

Steel wire is hand-bent into organic and abstract shapes, and embellished with waxed paper, beads or other meaningful items. Her art is an expression of the joy and gratitude she finds in everyday living, with an aim to share that tranquility with others.

After a wax and wire workshop Maike’s encaustic collage work shrunk into necklace pendants, wire collars, bangle bracelets and earrings. The pendants, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, keychains and ornaments can be customized as special gifts for loved ones.

During the holiday season Maike’s Marvels’ wax and wire snowman and angel ornaments are quite popular. Her ornament collection has expanded to ladybugs, dragonflies, butterflies and other whimsical creatures.

Creating greeting cards for friends and family since 2003, Maike began expanding to larger collages in late 2009 with the discovery of encaustics. Exploring the organic process of reheating pigmented wax and fusing collage materials such as photographs, word imagery and natural objects into it gives her a sense of freedom and delight.

With roots in The Netherlands and Germany, Maike is trilingual and enjoys incorporating cultural memories and linguistic quirks into her work. She is the past President of FUSEDChicago.

Artist Statement

Hand-bending steel wire is a dialogue between the wire’s properties and my vision for a piece. Making the shapes directs where the pendant will go from there. Adhering the handmade paper with encaustic medium is relaxing as there is a rhythm in dipping the paper into the beeswax and resin mixture and then adhering it with a small iron and cutting the paper to size. Each piece has its own personality and my work has been described as dreamlike.

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Photo Credit: Bordeaux Studio