Hand-crafted silver, copper, and gemstone jewelry.
A blog post on my personal blog details why I left Etsy in favor of a Square-based shop.
I don’t often share personal blog posts on this site, but I wanted to make an exception since this post is so relevant to my jewelry business. It explains how I sell my jewelry and why I made the switch from Etsy to a Square-based online shop.
Several riffs on the same basic pendant design.
Three versions of the same basic design: Sterling Silver ring with Onyx stone, Copper ring with Kingman Turquoise Stones, and Copper ring with variscite stone.
Inspired by a photo in the now defunct Lapidary Journal magazine, I’ve completed three riffs (so far) on a design that combines silver, copper, and small gemstones.
I start by making and texturing a sterling silver or copper ring. Then I hand cut, texture, and solder on sterling silver and copper circle wedges or halves. I add bezel cups for various sizes of small gemstones such as turquoise or onyx, as well as a ring and hand-formed bail. After applying patina and polishing, I set the stones and the piece is done.
I like making these because they’re all subtly different and the combinations of shapes, textures, metals, and stones is limitless. They range in size from a diameter of 1.7 to 1.8 inches with another half inch at the top for the bail.
I’ll be making custom beaded necklaces for each pendant — provided I have the coordinating beads — that will be available separately. (You can see the one I made for the piece with the onyx stone in the first photo.) The pendants will come with an 18″ sterling silver chain if you prefer not to buy the beaded necklace.
What do you think? Care to sketch up a variation that you’d like to see and wear? I’d love to make your designs a reality and this is a great piece to make variations of.
I few pendants that managed to avoid being listed in the online shop are now online.
I don’t know how I missed them, but in reconciling my online shop inventory to what I actually have on hand, I found five pendants that had never been listed.
Two of them are my rotated square style pendants, which I make with round stones. I made a batch of 5 of these about a month ago and never added them to the shop. I sold three to a wholesale client last week. These two are left:
Two of my rotated square style pendants: Bumble Bee Jasper (left) and Picture Jasper (right).
And then there were two wire framed pendants that actually made it into my inventory database but, for some reason, did not appear in the online shop. They’re there now:
Here are two sterling silver wire-framed pendants: Red Tiger Eye (left) and Rosetta Lace Agate (right).
Dicrotic glass cabochon prong set on hand-textured sterling silver.
And finally, there’s a rather large pendant I made a while back, before I was doing more bezel settings. It’s a gorgeous piece of hand-crafted dicrotic glass prong-set on a piece of textured sterling silver.
You can find all of these (until they are sold) in my online shop or at art shows I’ll be appearing at throughout the summer.
Five new pendants added to inventory.
After last week’s visit to the shops in Winthrop and Twisp that sell my jewelry, I had to hustle to start building up stock. So I started with some items I already had partially made: my “fold-over” bail pendants.
Kingman Turquoise with bronze on sterling silver.
Kingman Turquoise and Orange Spiny Oyster Shell with bronze on sterling silver.
Labradorite on sterling silver.
Lapis Lazuli on sterling silver.
Rose Quartz on sterling silver.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I make these in batches, completing one step on all pieces before moving on to the next step. For those who are curious, the steps are as follows:
Because of the assembly line process I use to make these in batches, if I start early enough, I can usually make 4 to 8 of them in a day — that’s how I can keep them affordably priced. The trick is to get them into the tumblers at roughly the same time as early in the day as possible. While they’re tumbling, I can usually get started on a new piece that isn’t part of a batch.
All of my fold-over bail pendants are made of sterling silver (and stamped as such on back) or copper with good quality gemstone cabochons set in them. They come with an 18″ sterling silver chain. They retail for $69 and can be found in my online shop or at many of the shops and galleries where my work is sold.
A visit to a wholesale client and gallery leaves me low on pendant inventory.
Good and bad news….
I recently went up the Methow River to two of the shops that sell my jewelry. The first was The Iron Horse in Winthrop. I first started selling there back in summer 2022 and they made a very large first purchase of my work. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that they’d sold every pendant and most of the earrings and bracelets I’d left with them last year!
I finished making these two pendants on the same day I left them at The Iron Horse in Winthrop. The top pendant is Owyhee Jasper on sterling silver and copper; the bottom one is White Buffalo on sterling silver.
A fifteen minute session with their buyer pretty much wiped out my pendants and beaded necklaces inventory. Indeed, she purchased two pendants I had just finished that morning that were never even properly photographed! (I snapped photos for my records before I left them with her.) She also stocked up on my new tube and bali bead earrings and a few other earring styles she’d bought on my previous visit.
If you’re in Winthrop, I hope you check them out. You can find The Iron Horse at 229 Riverside Ave, Winthrop, WA 98862. Tell them Maria at ML Jewelry Designs sent you.
Afterwards, I went to The Confluence gallery in Twisp and left five pendants with them. They’ve been selling my jewelry for about four years now and had sold out on all of my pendants, too, although they still had enough earrings on hand. You can find The Confluence at 104 Glover Street South, Twisp Washington 98856.
That left me with an inventory of only six pendants for my online shop and upcoming art shows. Needless to say, I’ll be busy in my jewelry studio over the next few weeks. Keep checking in to see what’s new.
So the good news is that I sold a bunch of pendants to retail shops that sell my work, thus getting them out into the wilds of Washington State. The bad news is that my online shop is nearly empty and I’ve got a lot of work to do.
A combination of several types of beads for interesting and often colorful dangles.
Although I’ve been making beaded earrings for years now, I’ve changed things up by adding tube beads and sterling silver bali beads to the mix. Tube beads are long, slender beads, usually between 1/4 and 1/2 inch long; bali beads are flat spacer beads with tiny round bead shapes around their edges. The combination of those beads and the standard round 4mm gemstone beads and 2mm sterling silver beads I use in necklaces make a more interesting and elegant pair of earrings.
See for yourself! Here are two examples of the five styles currently available: Tibetan Agate, Onyx, and Sterling Silver and Crazy Lace Agate and Sterling silver. I’ve got more styles coming soon.
You can find these (until sold out) at one of the following places: various art shows I’ll be attending, at the galleries and gift shops that sell my work, or on my online shop.
I get an old friend back in inventory.
One of the drawbacks of selling on consignment is that not everything sells. The gallery in Ellensburg where I sell a lot of my jewelry on consignment seems to do better selling my smaller and wire-framed pendants. (In fact, on my visit there the other day, she just about cleared out all of the wire pendants I had!) What doesn’t sell comes back to me and I was very pleased to see this old friend, a piece of Cloud Mountain Turquoise bezel-set on a hand cut and textured sterling silver backplate. Even the custom beaded chain came back with it.
You can find this (until sold) at one of the following places: various art shows I’ll be attending, at the galleries and gift shops that sell my work, or on my online shop.
I finish two new White Buffalo pendants in time for next week’s art show.
Yesterday, I put the finishing touches on a pair of similar but definitely different White Buffalo turquoise pendants.
This is real White Buffalo from Tonopah, Nevada — the only place this stone occurs naturally — that I purchased at the Kingman Mine in Arizona several years ago and had a local lapidary polish into cabochons. They are both set on solid 22 gauge sterling silver using bezels and feature sterling silver balls and tube bails that can accommodate 4mm beaded necklaces or just about any chain.
They’re shown here with a Howlite and sterling silver beaded necklace, which is available at additional cost. Otherwise, they each come with an 18″ sterling silver chain.
You can find these (until sold) at the various art shows I’ll be attending, at the galleries and gift shops that sell my work, or on my online shop.
Finally photographed and put online!
I’ve been making these for a while and they’re very popular for their bright colors and durability. Now I’ve finally got them online where everyone can see (and buy?) them.
The full description:
Made with individually crafted 21 gauge fine silver or copper wire, each link is joined when made so there or no unsoldered rings to split open and break. These bracelets are durable! Available with a variety of gemstone and other stone beads, bracelets have either sterling silver or copper (depending on primary metal) lobster clasps. Approximately 8 1/2 inches long, they can be easily shortened if necessary, by clipping off the last link with a wire cutter. (Be sure you want it shortened before you make the cut!)
The bracelets currently in stock, all in fine silver, are:
(Yes, I’ve been busy.)
You can find these (while supplies last) at the various art shows I’ll be attending, at the galleries and gift shops that sell my work, or on my new online shop.
My ever-popular narrow copper cuff bracelets are back!
I’ve just added new copper cuff bracelets to inventory. Three different styles are currently available, but I expect to add more this week. Each bracelet is 1/2 inch wide, stamped or hammered, and antiqued to bring out the texture. They’re standard size, approximately 6 1/4 inches long and somewhat adjustable.
You can find these at the various art shows I’ll be attending this summer, at the galleries and gift shops that sell my work, or online at my new online shop.