One of a Kind Custom Jewelry
I love working with my customers on custom pieces! There’s nothing more rewarding than to have the customer so happy and hear the words, “It’s just want I wanted.” I put a lot of effort into each piece, making sure that it is exactly what the customer had described to me, but the reward is worth the effort.
I wanted to highlight a few of the custom pieces that I’ve done, to give you an idea of things that are possible. The bracelet at the top of this post is actually one that I made for myself, Each image represents something important from my life. On either end of the bracelet is a dolphin tail - dolphins are an animal that I have admired throughout my life. In fact, there was a point at which I decided that my career path was going to be working with dolphins, and I managed to get a job at the only marine biology lab at Penn State and ended up going on a month long research cruise. Unfortunately for my plans, family took priority and I ended up redirecting my goals. I realized the difficulties of working with dolphins from the middle of Pennsylvania!
Horses are another animal that I have truly loved my whole life, and the image of the horse on this bracelet was taken from a photo of my beloved mare. The flower is a gardenia, and was the flower I was given at high school prom. High school was such a special time in my life - so many fond memories. My dad was a woodworker, and everything he made had a heart hidden somewhere on it. The heart is a tribute to him. The eagle was the favorite bird of my mother, and to me represents the ultimate freedom. Lastly, the diamonds and gold represent my loved ones, my husband and my four children right in the middle, and smaller diamonds for other loved ones whom I’ve lost but are with me constantly. I love this bracelet, and wear it every day!
This bracelet has a wonderful story behind it. A customer and her sister came into my booth at an art show several years ago. She showed me a bracelet similar to this and told me that their father had gotten it for their mother for her 16th birthday, in Germany. Their mother gave it to the one sister, but since then they have tried to find an artist who could make a duplicate for the other sister. They said they had talked to every jewelry artist at shows, and everyone had said they didn’t know how to make the chain. I won’t copy someone else’s work, so was hesitant at first, but there were no markings on it and it was over 50 years old. As I studied the bracelet, I realized how it was done. I love making chains, and this was a great challenge. They were absolutely thrilled when I sent them photos of the finished pieces, and they came to see me at the show the following year to thank me again.
My Opa (Grandfather) gave the bracelet to my mom for her 16th birthday in 1952 in West Germany. My mom gave to my sister, who admired it for years. I also fell in love with it every time I saw my sister with it on… its really quit mesmerizing. And after many, many years of trying to find someone to replicate it, we met you. Thank you so much for your beautiful artwork, time and patience to figure it out.
I’ll highlight one more of my favorite custom pieces. It’s hard to choose, since so many have a wonderful story behind them. This piece was quite special and a definite labor of love. My sister in law unexpectedly lost her husband a couple of years ago. She wrote to me last year and asked if I could make her a special chain to wear her wedding ring on. Through our discussions, one thing morphed into another and she also wanted to be able to carry some of his ashes with her. I came up with the idea for this locket, which fits both. The flower is a marigold, which is the flower for October, his birth month. It was especially important to me that her ring couldn’t get lost if the locket accidentally opened, so I made sure to add a couple of extra safety measures.
If you’re ever interested in custom work, I would be happy to work with you!
