Showcasing Artisan Custom Jewelry

Marty is a metalsmith, lapidary, and silver and goldsmith.  Her work is hand-crafted and heirloom quality.  When she was about 15, Marty started hand-painting purses with her mother, who was an artist just like her mother.  She was always artistically inclined and studied art in high school and jewelry in college, and was tutored by artists along the way who would show her how to, for instance, forge, hammer and make lost wax castings, a 6,000 year old process of making molds and pouring superheated metals into them.  Think of bronze sculptures.

Marty first ventured into retail business around 1972, in galleries she was a partner in, to having her own store near The Homestead in Hot Springs, VA, bringing her a clientele of visiting buyers.  She had a studio upstairs in the Art Colony at the world-famous Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, WV for over 25 years.  She was taught lapidary by her husband and favors that process of cutting, slicing, trimming, sanding and polishing rocks, fossils, minerals and meteorites, turning them into pieces of jewelry. But her specialty is the West Virginia State Gemstone, Lithostrotionella, better known as West Virginia Fossil Coral.  She has shown her work in as many as 28 art shows a year and it’s on display for sale at Tamarack, which features the best of West Virginia. Tamarack is one of only two galleries that represent her work.  Wild Side Gallery in Port Angelos, WA is the other.  They were once in Key West.  She now wants to specialize in creating hand-crafted, fabricated, forged jewelry, in a contemporary in style with silver smithing techniques.  Her creations include handmade, wire-wrapped, fabricated, handwrought, cast, silver, gold, gold-filled, gemstones, pendants, necklaces, earrings, chokers, rocks, fossils, minerals, meteorites and one-of-a-kind.  Thanks for looking.  You can select and purchase here in her store or on ETSY and on eBay.

On the Pendants Gallery page you'll view and appreciate Pendants by Marty.  They can add so much to a person's individuality. Whether it's a precious gem or an item of sentimental value, the uniqueness of Marty's imagination and experience creates a one-of-a-kind piece.  Your pendant can hang on Sterling silver or gold-filled wire or chain. If you choose a wire-wrapped cabochon, shaped, polished and domed with a flat bottom or reverse, you are choosing a piece as unique as the stone is by itself. The pendant is definitely a focal point.

Chokers are to ride on or just below the collarbone up to very high on the neck. Some are layered with longer necklaces for a nice contrast. One could mix various lengths with a variety of gems for that elegant look.