Last month, Victoria (Vikki) Reinhard celebrated 30 years of working her dream job of owning her store, Creative Outlet, that allows her to make a living off her pasttime of making silver jewelry.

Creative Outlet boasts two stories of authentic Native American jewelry and other assorted wares, but the downtown Loudonville store didn't start out that way.

The business started out as Vikki's own creative outlet for her silversmithing projects as well as selling local artisans' work. Reinhard taught herself how work with silver outside the classroom during her college years.

In college, Reinhard studied to be a teacher and eventually moved from Syosset, New York, to a Mohicanville farm. In her first year of teaching, she found that she didn't have enough time to make her jewelry. She decided to open Creative Outlet, using her teaching degree as a back-up plan if the store failed.

"I figured I couldn't make any less money than what I was making in teaching," she said. "And, if it didn't work out, I would just go back to teaching."

Reinhard never had to teach again.

Five years after opening the store, however, Reinhard traveled West and fell in love with the Native American culture she found there. She said she knew that trip that she wanted to change the direction of the store.

"I stepped off the plane in Albequerque and it was like love at first sight," she said.

Now, she no longer features local artists in Creative Outlet, but instead she buys from Native American dealers at large jewelry shows in the the southwestern part of the United States at least four times a year. Creative Outlet represents over 200 Native American artisans belonging to tribes such as the Zuni, Hopi, Anasazi, Souix, Navajo, Cherokee, and Cocopah; but includes others too.

Reinhard said the more she learns about the folklore and the purposes of the jewelry, the more she appreciates it.

"Once you get interested in one part of the culture, then one thing leads to another," she said.

Many of Reinhard's pieces are interspersed with others' work, but the wall to the right of her cluttered work bench displays some of her handiwork. Currently, she is working on commemorative 30-year wedding anniversary bands for her friends.

"They wanted something other than the traditional gold," she said. "Something that would better represent who they are now."

Although Reinhard has been making wedding jewelry for decades, she anticipates other challenging customer requests. Over the years, she has made memorial jewelry with cremains hidden behind gemstones and inscribed countless personal messages into rings and bracelets.

Reinhard admitted that she doesn't always come up with the ideas, but she said she likes listening to her customers and finding what they want -- whether that means ordering shipments or taking requests to trade shows.

Kay Zieber wears several anklets Reinhard made for her. Zieber has camped nearby for 36 years and has visited the store ever since.

"I love it when someone brings in a stone and just tells me: 'I trust your judgment,'" she said.

While the store is known for its jewelry, Creative Outlet also sells a variety of moccasins, crystals, ponchos, quilts, musical instruments, tribal pottery, home decor, and artwork.

"They have everything," Zieber said. "Just the other day I found a little pocket knife for my dad and I have never seen one so small."

The store also sells tickets to the 25th Annual Great Mohican Pow-Wow this month at a discounted price.