Custom work asks me to be resourceful, to think creatively, to reach past what I already know — and figure out what the piece actually needs. I love it every single time."
One of my favorite things about doing markets…
Is the conversations.
Not just the sales, but the people I get to connect with. The woman who stops to pick something up and ends up telling me her whole relationship with jewelry. The one who hasn't worn earrings in years and doesn't know why. The one who is shopping for someone else and lights up when she finds exactly the right thing.
Last fall at a big art show, I met a mom and her daughter who were exactly that kind of people. Warm, curious, genuinely interested; the kind of folks who make a whole day worth showing up for.
The mom was drawn to the earrings immediately.
You could see it. But then came the hesitation I recognize. I don't have pierced ears. So I probably can't wear these. I smiled. Because I love this moment.
I do clip-on options. Non-pierced, comfortable, the same beautiful designs, just made so everyone gets to wear them. The look of relief on her face was immediate. Suddenly everything on the table was back on the table for her. Her daughter bought her a pair of sunflower studs that afternoon. Watching someone get a gift they didn't think was possible for them — that never gets old.
But the story didn't end there.
Before they left, the daughter pulled me aside. She had an idea. Her mom was a devoted UVA fan (University of Virginia for anyone not from around here), and she wanted to know if I could make something custom. Orange earrings. Clip-on, of course. And if at all possible, could they say UVA on them?
I love a custom challenge. I said yes immediately and then went home and thought about the logistics.
The orange part was easy because she had already picked out the perfect pair in my existing inventory, just the right shade, just the right shape. That problem solved itself in about thirty seconds. The lettering was a different story. Getting three tiny letters onto a small pair of earrings with any kind of precision is not exactly clay work. I work in clay. Not calligraphy.
And then my former scrapbooking self tapped me on the shoulder.
I have a beautiful set of rubber alphabet stamps —
Small, clean, exactly the right size for a pair of earrings, left over from my scrapbooking days. I had almost forgotten about them. But there they were, waiting patiently in a drawer for a moment exactly like this one.
I mixed up a quick custom blue to match UVA's colors, got my stamps ready, and pressed those three little letters right onto the clay.
They were perfect. Crisp, clean, exactly right. I was so proud of those little beauties I could barely stand it.
That's what custom work is, at its best.
It's not just making something pretty but it's solving a puzzle that ends with someone getting a piece that was made specifically for them. A mom who thought she couldn't wear earrings, wearing a pair her daughter chose for her. A UVA fan with clip-on earrings in her team's colors, stamped with letters I almost didn't know how to make.
Every part of that afternoon came together in a way I couldn't have planned: the inventory that happened to be the right color, the stamps in the drawer, the daughter who thought to ask. Custom work asks me to be resourceful, to think creatively, to reach past what I already know how to do and figure out what the piece actually needs.
I love it every single time.