Handmade jewelry

The only metal claim worth checking

Sterling silver is 92.5% silver, alloyed with copper for strength, and it is marked 925. That is a real standard with a real number behind it, and a seller who has it will say so, because it is the most valuable thing they can state. Silver plated means a microns-thin layer of silver over a base metal, which wears through. Silver tone means the object is gray.

For anything worn against skin every day — earrings especially — the difference is practical rather than snobbish. Plating wears off at contact points within a year or two and the base metal underneath is frequently nickel, which is the most common contact allergen in jewelry. Sterling does not have that problem. Every piece on sterling silver states 925. How to tell real sterling silver goes further, into stamps, magnets and plating. Sterling silver vs stainless steel compares all three materials on tarnish, nickel and whether a jeweller can ever resize them, and how to keep sterling silver from tarnishing is the care routine that goes with the metal.

Buying jewelry for someone whose taste you half know

Jewelry is the highest-variance gift on this site, because unlike a board or a candle it has to match a person rather than a room. Three heuristics reduce the risk substantially.

1. Buy earrings rather than necklaces. Earring style is more forgiving than necklace length, and a necklace at the wrong length simply does not get worn.
2. Buy the closure they already wear. Someone with pierced ears who wears studs every day will not switch to statement drops because you gave them a pair. Leverbacks are the safest all-day closure — they latch, so they do not fall out.
3. Buy the material rather than the design. Sterling, copper, sea glass and pressed flowers are all identifiable at a glance, and a person with a stated preference for one of them is easier to satisfy than a person you are guessing about.

Rings, and the one number that decides them

Rings are the category where everything else about the purchase can be right and the gift still fails, because it fails on a size between 4 and 13 that you usually do not have. Handmade sterling silver rings is built around that: adjustable, wrap and spiral bands that cover a range of sizes rather than one, how to find a size without asking, and the two fixed-size picks marked clearly as needing a measurement.

Materials worth knowing about

Beyond sterling, three materials on our pages are worth a sentence each. Copper is warm, cheap enough that the stones get the budget, and it darkens over time in a way that can be polished back or left. Sea glass is genuinely found rather than made — broken glass tumbled by water for decades — so the supply is limited and the colors are never quite repeatable. And pressed flowers set in resin are actual botanical specimens rather than printed images, which you can confirm by holding a piece to the light and seeing the petal structure.

What we do not carry

Anything sold as a healing crystal with a therapeutic claim attached. There is a large volume of that on every handmade marketplace and some of it is beautifully made, but the claims attached to it are unverifiable and we will not repeat them. Where a stone appears on our pages it appears as a stone — a garnet is listed as a garnet, not as a garnet that supports vitality.

We also carry no engagement or fine jewelry. It is a different purchase with a different risk profile, usually made in person, and a website that has not handled the piece has no business advising on it.