Spotlight on SToNZ

A collection of pendants

Susan Saltzman of SToNZ is an Ohio girl born and bred, raised in the Cleveland area, married to a Cleveland boy and where together, she and her husband have raised their twin daughters.

“It’s a wonderful place to raise a family. Our home is surrounded by woods, and we are only a short drive to just about anywhere we want to go. Lake Erie is my inspiration and I have been visiting its shores since I was a baby, swimming, walking, picnicking, and collecting natural treasures from its beaches.”

Susan describes herself as having been an artistic kid. Her parents supported her interest by signing her up for “every art class they could find”, including silversmithing. She was voted “most artistic” by her high school graduating class!

                                                    ears                                             neck                                                    wrist

After graduating from the University of Michigan in graphic design and illustration, she returned home and found a job as a greeting card artist at American Greetings. “We called it ‘high school with a paycheck’ and most of us couldn’t believe our good fortune that someone actually wanted to pay us to do what we loved.” After her twins were born, she decided that working from home was the way to go, and continued to use her skills doing freelance work. She found though, that she missed working with silver, and decided to dig out her metal working tools and re-connect with what had once been one of her favorite mediums.

beach glass ring

The bowls filled with her collections of Lake Erie beach stones and sea glass that inhabited her studio inspired her to create jewelry using these natural elements. And it was at just about that time that she discovered Etsy and SToNZ was born.

                                                              bracelet "Kitchen Sink II"

The creation of a piece of Susan’s jewelry begins with drilling holes in beach pebbles and seaglass, using a drill press and diamond drill bits. She uses traditional silversmithing techniques to work the sterling silver such as sawing, hammering, drilling and soldering to form the metal components for her pieces. Often, the materials guide the final design, and she likes to focus on one piece at a time rather that doing a production line. Finally, she adds an oxidized finish to the silver, giving it a subtle richness and character. Check out her blog for a tutorial on her technique for adding tube rivets to her beach stones! http://beachstonz.blogspot.com/search/label/tutorial

pirate's treasure!

Even though her successful jewelry line is carried in shops and galleries, Susan says that etsy is still her favorite place to sell. “Selling on Etsy has allowed me to find my buyers all over the world. Or should I say, for them to find ME! I just love the people I have met because of SToNZ. My customers are smart, interesting, nature loving women of all ages, and they often share the same nostalgia for the beach that I do. It’s always fun to have a customer send me a favorite stone or beach glass gem, so that I can make it into a personal piece of jewelry for them.”

                                                                          green glass

Although Susan admits that she’d much rather be making jewelry than marketing it, she does a darn good job at both. She has a blog and a facebook page where her fans receive special offers and first look at new listings, tweets a little, maintains a flicker photostream and is an active member of several etsy teams where she can find inspiration, share information and business tips with other Etsy sellers. She carries business cards and wears her jewelry wherever she goes which often attracts people’s interest. She also finds that she gets a lot of the best kind of advertising, word of mouth. A YouTube tutorial video is a future possibility as well! 

                                                                 oh look! key rings!

When I asked Susan what she liked to do for fun when she wasn’t having fun in her studio she said “Walk my Wheaten Terrier, drive to the beach in my Mini Cooper convertible, read novels, cook, travel, go to estate sales, concerts, museums, spend time with friends and family…

My husband plays drums in a classic rock band for fun, and I love going to their gigs. I’m their biggest groupie.”

                                                                    aqua glass 

And other areas she might be interested in exploring? A book lover at heart, she’s always dreamed about Illustrating a children’s book, even working in a bookstore or library would make her happy, or perhaps an antique business with her husband… well for the time being, she’s just having too much fun with her jewelry!

Susan’s biggest challenge? Other than the necessary evil of paperwork that goes along with a small business, her biggest challenge is just finding the time to make all of the ideas in her head. “I wish I could clone myself. I’d get so much more done!”

Well Susan, I suggest you get those tools out and start working on that clone right away!

Where you can find SToNZ on the web:

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/stonz

Facebook:  http://tinyurl.com/fbstonz

Blog:  http://beachstonz.blogspot.com/

Flickr:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/stonzware/

Twitter:   http://twitter.com/stonz

SOOPSEE:   http://www.soopsee.com/profile/stonz

Indiepublic:  http://www.indiepublic.com/profile/SToNZ

Art Limited:  http://14705.portfolio.artlimited.net/