November 30th, 2010 by Carrie
I am often asked about sea glass jewelry. Is it real? Where does it come from?
Natural sea glass has become more difficult to find as its popularity grows. Many artists use recycled glass, breaking and tumbling it to resemble sea glass. That’s why you might see colors not ordinarily found on the beach. It is particularly difficult to make earrings from real sea glass since most women want each earring to be similar if not exactly alike. So, most glass is tumbled to make more pleasing, matching shapes and to soften some rough edges.
Maine jewelry artist Marian Fretz of Bucksport makes beautiful glass earrings, pendants and bracelets.
She calls this “sea glass” in her bio – meaning it is glass made to resemble natural beach glass. The setting is a “killick” which is the lost art of binding a grooved stone with rope and sticks to make an anchor. Her earrings are made special by carefully making notches to hold the “rope” (sterling silver).
Marian’s work is exceptionally well made and very reasonably priced. And we just received a full selection of colors just in time for summer!
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June 14th, 2009 by Carrie
Posted some images of Silver Spoon jewelry on my new facebook page. Check it out here
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March 14th, 2007 by Carrie
Some of the new merchandise has begun to arrive in the store. Another signal of spring! I love this time of year.
One of our surprise finds at the Philly show was Susan Packard, a jewelry artisan from Sugar Hill, New Hampshire. Her work came in last week.
Susan collects stones. But not just ordinary stones. She keeps an eye out for unusual and extraordinary stones. Stones in her collection have wonderfully unique colors. Some look as if they’ve been carefully hand painted rather than dug up out of the ground. Others look like seascapes or landscapes.
Some stones’ unique features may not be apparent from the surface. In fact, most of Susan’s pieces are made of a thin sliver of stone. By slicing, a stone’s interior is revealed in a whole new way. Susan sorts through the slices for just the right size and shape, encircles them with sterling silver, and attaches a bail. Presto! A most unique pendant.
Stone Pendants by Susan Packard
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