What’s New

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.

Back from Consignment: Cloud Mountain Turquoise Pendant

I get an old friend back in inventory.

Cloud Mountain PendantOne 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.

New Pendants: White Buffalo on Sterling Silver

I finish two new White Buffalo pendants in time for next week’s art show.

White Buffalo Turquoise PendantYesterday, 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.

White Buffalo Turquoise PendantYou 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.

Added to My Online Shop: Gemstone Bead Chain Bracelets

Finally photographed and put online!

Malachite Chain BraceletI’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:

  • Larimar
  • Malachite (shown)
  • Smoky & Tourmulated Quartz
  • Hologram Quartz
  • Smoky Kingman Turquoise w/Copper
  • Rose Quartz
  • Pearl & Carnelian
  • Pink AB Druk Czech Glass
  • Carnelian
  • Lapis Lazuli
  • Amethyst
  • Onyx
  • Kingman Turquoise w/Spiny Oyster Shell & Bronze & Copper

(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.

Back in Stock: Narrow Cuff Bracelets

My ever-popular narrow copper cuff bracelets are back!

Narrow Copper CuffsI’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.

Website Update Continues

I continue to update the content on this website to include new products, remove old products, and have a better representation of the work I do now.

KingmanTurquoiseI started this website back in 2018 when I was making mostly wire-framed pendants. Since then, I’ve branched out to earrings, bracelets, prong and bezel set pendants, and beaded necklaces. I’ve also begun making “statement pieces” — like the Kingman Turquoise and Orange Spiny Oyster Shell piece shown here — to expand and show off my silversmithing skillset. And, although I travel a lot, I’ve begun offering jewelry making classes in my Malaga, WA, jewelry studio.

Sadly, over the years this website has been sorely neglected. But I do know people come here to look at what I make and sell, especially after seeing my work at the art shows where I appear mostly during the summer months. I understand the importance of keeping the site up to date and am working hard to do that.

In addition to adding new jewelry pieces as they become available, I am also deleting much of the older content — basically anything dating from before 2022. My older work is not a good representation of what I make now. In fact, some of it is rather cringe-worthy.

One thing I did do back in those days was research and provide information about the different stones I use in my work. So before deleting all the old stuff, I need to pull out that information so I can update and use it. In future postings. That’s what’s taking a long time.

I hope you’ll bear with me as I get the site up to date. It’s tedious work and not very much fun. But it needs to be done. Stay tuned and keep checking in!

New “Fold-Over” Pendants in Sterling Silver

I bring back the ever popular little “fold-over” pendants with a range of different gemstones.


Carnelian on sterling silver.


Kingman Turquoise on sterling silver.


Lapis Lazuil on sterling silver.

Although most of my pendants are “one-offs” and very different from one another, my little “fold-over” pendants are usually made in batches and are similar in style, with different designs and gemstones. I’m in the process of making a new batch and these are the ones I’ve finished so far.

Each pendant is set on a hand-cut sterling silver backing with a handmade bezel. The backing is then stamped with various patterns and designs and the top of the backing plate is rolled over to become a bail before the metal is darkened and then polished to bring out the highlights. Each pendant comes with an 18″ sterling silver chain.

You can see what’s currently available in my online shop by clicking here. Keep in mind that I’ll also be selling them at the various art shows I’ll be attending this summer and at the galleries and gift shops that sell my work.