In 1989, Bill moved to Colorado and got a job at a crystal jewelry shop on the Pearl Street mall in Boulder. There he met three jewelers who would teach him various ways of making jewelry. The first was a goldsmith who taught him how to hand fabricate pieces in silver and gold. The second, a silversmith whom he learned lost wax casting, enabling him to produce items in quantity. Finally, he met a Navajo Indian from New Mexico who taught him how to inlay semiprecious stones. Bill has combined his extensive experience apprenticing and the knowledge he has acquired through the years into his own unique style.