WHO: Emily Mae Widrick is a 24-year-old, third-generation silversmith from Carthage.

By crafting sterling silver jewelry, Miss Widrick gets in touch with her roots and a long-lost world in which everything was handmade.

Miss Widrick's grandparents, aunt and mother helped teach her the craft. In December she started her own business, Silver Streams Jewelry, and participates in the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce's Farm, Craft & Antique Market.

The young entrepreneur graduated from Carthage High School, where she played lacrosse. In 2007, she graduated from Rutgers University in New Jersey with a degree in psychology. She also played lacrosse at the university. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, fishing and four-wheeling.

Miss Widrick is the daughter and stepdaughter of Tammy A. and Joseph J. Parker.

HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU LEARNED SILVERSMITHING? "I'd go up to my grandparents starting in eighth or ninth grade and I would look at their jewelry and say, 'I like this, teach me how to make that,' and I'd make it for myself. It was a slow process, once in a while. I have learned a ton since I decided to make it and sell it."

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF MAKING JEWELRY? "My favorite thing is just being able to do what I want, make what I want, not be in trouble if you mess up. I guess just being in control and doing your own thing."

HOW DO YOU GET IDEAS FOR YOUR JEWELRY? "Sometimes by making mistakes, and looking at my grandparents' and my aunt's jewelry. I do a lot of stuff from theirs.

"And you'll be walking down the street and you'll see somebody wearing something cool, and I never try to do the exact thing, but it's the same idea, and that's part of how I learn how to do things too.

"I actually get a lot of ideas from my boyfriend, too. A braid pattern was my boyfriend's idea. He'll say, 'Why don't you try braiding it?' because I braid my hair. I guess a lot of different ways."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT KNOWING A CRAFT IN A WORLD WHERE EVERYTHING IS MANUFACTURED AND MASS-PRODUCED? "I don't really think anything about it. I do get a lot of surprised looks from people when I tell them I make all of it.

"The silver comes in big reels of wire, and I even make it into the rings. I do every part of it.

"I think the world would be better off if it was like the old days, because people really care how things are produced; they're not mass-produced and going to break the next day you wear them. And I think the world would be a lot more interesting."

WHAT'S SOMETHING MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT SILVERSMITHS? "I would say the thing that people don't know about silversmiths is it's really hard work. It might be fun and enjoyable, but it's really hard work. It's very stressful at times."

If you would like to recommend someone to be featured in a Times Q&A feature, contact Times staff writer Kelly Warth at kwarth@wdt.net.