Wholesale Order Complete!

I've been fortunate to have a few steady customers for my ivory and jade jewelry.  The line I offer these customers is what I refer to as "production" work.  There are patterns I can easily repeat, thereby making the resulting pieces quick to produce and quite affordable.  They are all combinations of fossilized mammoth ivory, jade, garnet, black onyx, sterling silver and gold filled.  These items do well with the tourist market.

One of these steady customers is Three Bear Gallery, in the Denali Park area, owned by artist Shane Lamb and his wife Erin.  They recently opened a store in downtown Palmer too.  I suspect they will split this order between the two locations.

Erin placed an order the other day requesting it for May 1 delivery.  Here are a few photos of the completed order.

Yes, these are laying on a big white garbage bag.  I feel the need to explain.  I have a rolling art table in my studio. It's covered with the plastic bag because my mixed media and stamping projects can get messy and I don't want to ruin the table.  It's sort of located behind the area where I do most of my jewelry work.  The art table seems like a good staging area for my finished jewelry before it gets tagged and put away with the rest of the finished stuff.

And you need to understand that my "studio" is extremely tiny, measuring only about 10' x 16'.  Every square inch counts.  It's amazing what I have crammed this little space.  Rick keeps threatening to add a 2nd story, but he's only joking. I think.

Freeform Beadwork Necklace

I received a call a few weeks ago from a customer who had purchased one of my freeform beaded necklaces at the Half Moon Creek Gallery -- we're talking 3 or 4 years ago!  His wife loves it so much, he wanted to surprise her with another one, in a different color scheme.  Would I make one??

I replied hell, no "I may have something in my inventory that would suit your needs."  He doesn't have to know that this "new" one is equal in age to the one he purchased so long ago, right?

To make a long story short, here's the necklace.  I met him in Anchorage today (I do a lot of business at the coffee shop in the Barnes & Noble!).  He took the necklace, I took the cash.  I headed straight to the shoe store, if you must know.

In the center of the focal part of the necklace is a highly polished shard of fossilized walrus ivory.  I purchased a whole bunch of these beauties from a local native man who has connections on St. Paul Island.  I drill several holes in them to secure the beadwork.  Well, I used to.  I don't think I have much patience for this type of work anymore.

Ancient Ivory

For the past 12 years, I have sold many pieces of jewelry containing ivory. The ivory I use comes from a reputable source who manufactures beads from fossilized mammoth ivory. It is not raw ivory harvested from living creatures, resulting in the death of the creatures. Mammoth are an extinct species, and are not protected by US Wildlife Law. See this link for more information.

Much of the ivory jewelry I sell is represented on my website, Orion Designs, and not in my etsy shop. It has a wide appeal to Alaskans and visitors to the state who are looking for a "piece of Alaska" to take home with them. The jewelry is very wearable, mainly because of the neutral color of the ivory beads.

This bracelet is the only ivory piece I have currently listed in my etsy shop. It is classic in styling, yet quite modern. By combining the ivory with Bali sterling silver beads, the past and the present meet in this very wearable bracelet.