Behind the Scenes: The Real (Messy) Process of Making Your Jewelry

So, guess what: making jewelry isn’t always as aesthetic and Instagramable as it might seem. It’s not all shiny tools and perfectly organized workspaces. More often than not, it’s messy hands, cluttered benches, and a lot of trial and error. But all of that is part of what makes a piece so special.

If you're curious about how things come together, here’s a peek at the real process behind the scenes and some random process and 'making of' photos:)

My old packaging was these cute little tins, I've upgraded my packaging since this photo. All the packaging and packing of orders is done by me in house.

The saw, the bench, the shiny dust (don't breathe this!).

A close up of my blade (I use 5/0) cutting out one of my birds, I must have cut literally hundreds of this bird, I could cut it out in my sleep! (The photo is a clickable link to the birds studs in question)

Chaos somewhat organized.

I melt down my silver scrap from time to time and roll out silver sheet in my studio, it's hard work and time consuming but saves money in the long run.

My scrap silver (just over 1kg) collected over about 4 years.

I got this lot refined professionally and purchased premade silver sheets and findings. Sometimes it's just nice to have premade flat shiny silver sheet:)

A pierced copper rose pendant in the works of being finished- you can see how thin the blade is that I use.

My mother's sketch designs for the 'sleepy snail' stud earrings (this photo is a clickable link to the earring listing)

More organized chaos.

A bunch of trial shapes, I like to cut them out in copper, which is way more affordable than silver, and that way I can decide if the design works on a small scale- not all shapes look good shrunk down to earring size.