Horseshoe Nail Jewelry from Lisa Rideout

We are featuring work by Whitefish jewelry artist, Lisa Rideout during the month of September. Searching for a change of lifestyle for she and her son, Lisa Rideout decide to move from her home in Kansas City, Missouri, to Montana about eight years ago. As she readied herself for this huge change, her cousin gave her a cross made out of horseshoe nails to hang on the car’s rear view mirror. It became the symbol of family, strength and hope for their new life as they came across country, through the Rockies to the Flathead Valley. That trip was a long one and the horseshoe nails that dangled from the mirror became a great source of inspiration to her as she found a new home and settled in Whitefish.

One day, about five years ago, she discovered a box of rusty horseshoe nails in a friends barn sale and she snapped them up in a second—establishing the first inventory for RideOut’s HideOut, the name of Lisa’s creative business. She made gifts for family and friends from the horseshoe nails, and then moved on to selling necklace designs with the other jewelry she created as a hobby. Today, Lisa’s wearable art has grown from men and women’s neckware, to bracelets, to children’s necklaces and accessories. Each horseshoe nail is hand-crafted to fit a specific design in her product line, with the more elaborate pieces including colored wiring and crystals for that extra bit of bling we all love to show off once in a while! Her designs continue to evolve and change as customers repeat her visits and as new people discover her work.