Author: Maria

April Shop Days Scheduled

I’ll be around for about two weeks in April and will be available for one-on-one classes in my jewelry shop.

Split Bar Dangle with Bead
Sterling Silver Split Bar Dangle earrings with malachite bead.

Some folks might know that I’ve been on the road for much of 2024, but I’m returning home and to my jewelry shop in mid April for about two weeks. Although I’ll be busy building inventory to send out to the shops that sell my work when I can’t do shows, I will have time to do hands-on, project based training for one or two people at a time most days I’m back.

My classes are held in my Malaga, WA studio, which is fully equipped to make all the jewelry I sell in person, in shops, and online. You can see a studio tour video on YouTube. Depending on your existing skill levels, I can teach you how to make just about any of the jewelry I make. I charge by the hour in 1/4 hour increments with a 2-hour minimum. This includes instruction and use of all tools needed for the project. Materials fees, which vary based on the project, also apply. Right now, I’m set up to teach a maximum of 2 people at a time.

If you’d like to explore silversmithing or other jewelry making with me, I recommend that you browse through my online shop and find a jewelry item that you’d like to make. Then get in touch, and let me know what you’re interested in. I can give you an estimate of the time and materials cost and we can set up an appointment for a class.

Gearing Up for Two Leavenworth Art in the Park Shows

I become a jewelry-making machine in preparation for two back-to-back appearances at Leavenworth Village Art In the Park.

Although I haven’t updated this site in a few days, don’t think I haven’t been busy. I’ve been in my studio every day, making new inventory for my upcoming appearances at Leavenworth Village Art in the Park. This is a great little art show every weekend in downtown Leavenworth, WA. I generally appear on select weekends before and after peak summer months.

Two Pendants
These pendants are so new, I haven’t even properly photographed them for my online shop. They are Tibetan Turquoise and Lapis Lazuli, both on sterling silver. I have a wonderful lapis and silver beaded necklace to go with the blue one.

Although my earring and bracelet inventory is pretty healthy, I was in dire need of making new pendants and beaded necklaces. I’ve glad to say that I’ve gone from just 6 pendants in inventory to 54, including the two I just finished last night that haven’t even made it to my online shop yet. In between, I managed to make 6 or 7 new beaded necklaces and stock up on two of my more time-consuming earrings. Although I’ve been adding these new items to my Online Shop every morning, I haven’t had time to add them to this site.

If you like my jewelry and live in Washington State, why not make a day trip to Leavenworth to see my work in person? If you’ve never been to Leavenworth, it’s a fun little town with a Bavarian theme, nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. In addition to lots of shopping and dining opportunities, there are endless trails up along Icicle Creek to get you out into the cool woods and mountains.

If you can’t make it to Leavenworth and you like my jewelry, I highly recommend you visit my Online Shop and buy whatever it is that tickles your fancy. I sell the same inventory at my shows and once something is sold, it’s gone for good. Don’t miss out. I’ll be fulfilling orders on Friday and Monday with first class shipping to US destinations.

I’ll be there with about 15 other artists on Thursday to Saturday (and possibly Sunday) of this weekend and Thursday through Monday on Labor Day weekend. Consult my online Calendar of Events for details of all my upcoming shows and classes.

More New Pendants and Beaded Necklaces

I add a variety of new items to my online shop and in preparation for two back-to-back art shows in Leavenworth, WA.

I was busy in my shop for most of last week, continuing to make inventory for upcoming shows as summer winds to a close.

I started the week by making six beaded necklaces to match pendants I’d already made. You can find all of these in the Necklaces section of my online shop; I’ll be displaying them with the pendants I made them for at upcoming shows, even though they can be purchased separately.

Bumble Bee Jasper Necklace Howlite Necklace

Kingman Turquoise Necklace Onyx Necklace

Picture Jasper Necklace Ruby Zoisite Garnet Necklace
New necklaces in my shop. Left to right, top to bottom: Bumble Bee Jasper and sterling silver, Howlite and sterling silver, Kingman Turquoise with sterling silver and copper, black Onyx with sterling silver and copper, Picture Jasper with sterling silver, and Ruby in Zoisite and red Garnet with sterling silver.

Then I got down to it and made a few more pendants.

Kt Square w Cuts and Neck
Kingman Turquoise, orange spiny oyster shell, and bronze cabochon bezel set on sterling silver.

I had this nearly square Kingman Turquoise with Spiny Oyster Shell and bronze cabochon that was really calling out to me. I bezel-set it on a nearly square sterling silver backplate, which I accented with hand cut lines and stamped sterling silver balls. I used a tube bail; the photo here shows the pendant with the Kingman Turquoise beaded necklace shown above, which is sold separately.

Malachite Pendant
Malachite cabochon bezel set in sterling silver.

Because I was completely out of stock on pendants with another popular stone — malachite — I chose a small round cabochon and set that with a completely new style, using square wire wrapped around the bezel to form part of the bail. I’m not sure how much I like this design, but the stone is certainly pretty. I’ll be making a malachite necklace to go with this this weekend.

Silver Cross
Sterling silver cross with Kingman Turquoise accent stone.

And finally, since I was so happy with the way the prototype copper cross I made last week came out, I made one in silver using the same techniques but upgrading the bail. I really like the rough, handmade look of these pieces.

All of these pendants are available in the Pendants area of my online shop and will be at my upcoming shows — until sold.

Keep checking in for more items as I make them. I can’t update this site daily, but I hope to be able to keep doing it at least once a week as I add inventory, show dates, and classes.

New Pendants and a Prototype of a Christian Cross Design Now in My Shop

I add four new pendants to the shop, including some fresh new designs.

I spent most of the week working on projects in my garage, but I did get to spend a few days in my jewelry studio making new pendants for upcoming shows and my online shop.

Ruby In Zoisite
Ruby in Zoisite cabochons on hand stamped and pierced sterling silver. Buy it online.

The first is a variation on a design I’d done in the past for a triangular stone. In this case, I’ve got two Ruby in Zoisite (or ruby-zoisite) stones bezel set into a pierced and stamped sterling silver back plate. I do all the cuts and stamping (and related filing and sanding) by hand, so there’s a lot of work in this one. It came out great (in my opinion) and although it comes with a sterling silver chain (like most of my pendants), I plan on making a beaded necklace for it that combines ruby in zoisite, garnet, and sterling silver. Look for it soon.

Ribbon Variscite
Ribbon Variscite on sterling silver. Buy it online.

Next up is the first of two “ribbon” stones. The first is ribbon variscite, a relatively rare and costly stone that I picked up two years ago at the Tucson gem and mineral show. The variscite appears in a vein like a ribbon it its matrix. I did a simple back plate design for this one that has evenly spaced cuts around the bezel setting.

Bio Chrysoprase
Bio Chrysoprase on sterling silver. Buy it online.

The other ribbon stone is bio chrysoprase, a rare form of quartz with a great green color in a line through the stone’s matrix. It’s an almond shaped stone and I used a design similar to one I’ve done before, framing the stone in a hand-textured sterling silver structure and setting it with prongs. This design is a lot of work — there are 10 individual solders! — but I think it’s so worth it.

Copper Cross
Copper cross with Kingman turquoise cabochon. Buy it online.

And finally, something completely different for me — by request: a Christian cross. I’ve been thinking about how I wanted to make this piece and decided to try a prototype in copper before I dive into silver. The design requires thick sheet metal — 18 gauge — which, in silver, can be quite costly. So I experimented with copper to get the right shape, stamping design, and cabochon positioning. I think it came out nice and I will be making more of these in sterling silver over the weeks to come. Until then, if you like copper, you can get this one at a very reasonable price.

I’ll be at Leavenworth art in the park for two consecutive weekends starting on August 24, so if these pieces don’t sell from my online shop, you can find them there — along with any other new pieces I create over the next 10 days.

Why I Left Etsy

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.

Why I’m Leaving Etsy — and Maybe You Should, Too?

Segmented Ring Sterling Silver and Copper Pendants

Several riffs on the same basic pendant design.

Ring Onyx Pendant

Ring Turquoise Pendant

Ring Variscite Pendant

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.

Other Pendants Added to Online Shop

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:

Bumble Bee Jasper Square Picture Jasper Square
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:

Red Tiger Eye Wire Frame Rosetta Lace Agate Wire Frame
Here are two sterling silver wire-framed pendants: Red Tiger Eye (left) and Rosetta Lace Agate (right).

Dicrotic Glass Prong
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.

New Fold-Over Pendants in Stock

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.

Foldover Kingman T Bronze
Kingman Turquoise with bronze on sterling silver.

Foldover Kingman Turquoise and Spiny Oyster Shell with Bronze
Kingman Turquoise and Orange Spiny Oyster Shell with bronze on sterling silver.

Foldover Labradorite
Labradorite on sterling silver.

Foldover Lapis Lazuli
Lapis Lazuli on sterling silver.

Foldover Rose Quartz
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:

  1. Cut sterling silver sheet in two different sizes of the same elongated teardrop shape. These are all hand cut. I’ll normally cut more than I need for the pendants I plan to make so I have some already done for next time I make them. That’s why the ones I made this weekend were already partially made.
  2. Sand the edges of each cut piece to smooth them.
  3. Choose the stones for each piece. I have a dwindling inventory of small gemstones that are perfectly sized for these. I try to pick a variety.
  4. Make the bezels for each stone. None of these are “standard” sizes so I need to make a bezel from scratch for each one. I start with fine or sterling silver strip and then size, cut, solder, pickle, and shape it.
  5. Solder the bezels onto the teardrop back plates for each pendant, then pickle, wash, and dry them.
  6. Stamp the backplates with a variety of designs. I have no set design so these are all different every time I make them.
  7. Apply a darkening agent to blacken the silver.
  8. Use a variety of techniques to polish the pieces so the silver is bright while the cuts made by the stamps remain darker. This involves manually polishing and putting each piece through a series of tumbling processes that take four to six hours.
  9. Wash and dry each piece.
  10. Set the stones. I need to remember which stone goes into which piece since they’re not interchangeable!
  11. Roll the bail around bail-making pliers to create the bail.

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.

Low Inventory on Pendants

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!

Owyhee Jasper
 
White Buffalo

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.

New Earrings: Tube & Bali Bead Dangles

A combination of several types of beads for interesting and often colorful dangles.

Tibetan Agate Tube & Onyx EarringsAlthough 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.

Crazy Lace Agate Tube EarringsSee 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.