FAQ
Do you ship all over the world?
Yes! I do ship all over the world and often do. The majority of my handmade jewelry IS bought by friends in other countries. There are sometimes customs to be paid when you receive your package in your country so be sure to know those because they are out of my control and unknown to me.How do I store my jewelry?
I often forget to remind my customers that the recycled jewelry boxes I send my pieces in contain a layer of *fluff*. That fluff was created to help your natural metal jewelry oxidize less quickly. Oxidation is natural & safe. it is just what natural metals do when there is the presence of oxygen and any moisture at all! Please hold onto your box with that fluff for your piece to stay in when not being worn. Most of my pieces are given a darkening patina and that will fade with time. The more often it is polished or cleaned will also lessen that patina. I advise not wearing your jewelry in the shower, swimming, or on your hands while you wash them because soaps can affect your metals happiness as well. There are even many popular stones that are set in jewelry that can crack or discolor in water so I always advise against water anywhere near your pieces. Opals are one such stones that do not like water! There are polishing cloths that you can keep on hand to clean your piece with called “Sunshine Cloths” that work well. If you ever have a question about how to polish or clean something that I have made for you, please don't hesitate to send me a message! I also made a blog post talking about what cleaning solution I use to polish silver, copper, and brass here.
Why don’t you make gold jewelry?
As many might, or might not know, gold is very often surrounded by cruelty. It is not uncommon for new gold to be mined by people held as slaves or even young children lured with the promise of helping to care for their families financially! I spend a lot of time researching what I buy and where it comes from so that it is animal free and cruelty free. I feel safest using recycled gold that I melt myself and turn into usable material for my Keum boo projects. The ancient Korean art form is not using solid gold, though, it is just a layer of gold that melds with the fine silver to make one piece through high heat and pressure.
Where do you get your stones from?
It has been very important to me since day one of my jewelry making to try and trace back the beginnings of items that I purchase to make your jewelry with. Recycled metals, animal free polishing compounds, earth friendly pickles used for cleaning metals, and where the stones I cut and use came from. Buying US mined stones and minerals is one way that I can not only more easily trace back where the stones came from and how they were mined, but I can also buy them straight from the miners who found them themselves. I then know they are paid fairly by me and how they treat the earth when looking for them. Lots of gemstones and minerals are mined by folks not paid fairly, and with no laws and regulations in regards to how safely they are mined, or how much damage is caused to the earth and environment that is irreparable. I do have stones that were gifted to me, purchased from vintage or pre-loved designs that I deconstructed, but most of them are stones I chose as rough from the miners themselves and cut here at home on my machine.