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Jewelry Making Tips with Metalsmith Society
Metalsmith Society is a community on Instagram where jewelers share jewelry making tips. On this podcast Metalsmith Society founder and author Corkie Bolton discusses tips from the Instagram page, provider deeper insights, answers questions, and highlights bonus content often shared by community members in the comment section.
Jewelry Making Tips with Metalsmith Society
Holiday Gift Guides With Special Guest Allie Perry
In today’s episode we get into a festive spirit as I chat with contemporary goldsmith Allie Perry about her process for curating small business holiday gift guides. We’ll explore the joy of supporting local makers, the thought behind her selections, and how these guides spotlight unique, handmade treasures. Plus, we dive into my own Gift Guide for Jewelry Makers, highlighting tools, supplies, and gifts that are perfect for anyone passionate about jewelry making.
Save 10% on the Toybox Alpha Two with code METALSMITHSOCIETY at toybox.com/METALSMITHSOCIETY
Visit Allie’s Small Business 2024 Holiday Gift Guide
Explore my 2024 Holiday Gift Guide
Follow Allie on Instagram: instagram.com/allieperrydesigns
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Music attribution: Stock Music provided by RomanSenykMusic, from Pond5
Welcome to Jewelry Making Tips with Metalsmith Society, the podcast for anyone passionate about jewelry making. I'm your host, C Bolton, and on this podcast I will discuss jewelry making tips, social media marketing, running a jewelry business, along with insights from special guests in the jewelry industry who share their expertise and stories. Whether you've been making jewelry for a while or just starting your journey, this podcast is your go-to resource. So grab your tools, dust off your work bench and join me All right. In today's episode, we are going to have some fun while I chat with jeweler Allie Perry about holiday gift guides. And for those that don't know Allie, she is a contemporary goldsmith who lives and works in Connecticut, close by to me in Rhode Island. She's an avid nature lover and has one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces that are frequently inspired by the land and sea. Her playful personal style extracts joy from the mundane and helps bolster her message that jewelry should amplify the quirks in our character while keeping fun at the forefront she also has an amazing instagram where she does snapple fun facts.
Corkie Bolton:Is that what it is?
Allie Perry:an snapple fact time, where I guess the fact is I have my snapple cap every day I mean, mean I'm very amused by that.
Corkie Bolton:You always have authenticity and honesty in your posting and I have to say from one jeweler to another, I identify with that. So welcome to the show and thank you.
Allie Perry:I'm happy to be here. I think authenticity is super important in social media, so anything I can do to help people realize that those of us inside your little screen are real people and we have fun and make mistakes and do all the things everybody else does, I think that's super important well, yes, and I think, before we begin chatting about holiday gift guides, since the holidays are upon us, we're recording this in november, you know.
Corkie Bolton:I know you have some holiday pieces on your website and I've just dropped some holiday pieces on my website and so I'm trying hard to post daily on my instagram for quirkyboltonjewelry and I just find myself creating pretty ridiculous reels because it's all that gets attention. If I just post a piece, it's like you know I'll get, like you know, the a few hundred views. Yeah, definitely some of my hardcore fans liking, commenting, bless them and then like but then, if I like, embarrass myself or like, yeah, make it funny. What's your experience?
Allie Perry:Absolutely the same. If I pour hours into recording every step of a process, video, edit it together, make it this beautiful piece. It shows the whole process. Nobody cares. Other gold goldsmiths, some other jewelers, they'll be interested in the process, but it doesn't go anywhere. The ones where I post something off the cuff because it happens to pop into my brain and I'm like, ah, this is funny and ridiculous, that's what everybody loves, that's what everybody relates to. One of my highest viewed reels was me vacuuming a spider off of my ceiling, like I remember this.
Corkie Bolton:that went viral, Did it not?
Allie Perry:It had millions of views and it was me literally vacuuming a spider off my ceiling with my dust buster, saying, ah, I hope the refiner takes spiders. It was so off the cuff and it was because I probably had nothing else to post that day. I was like this will be funny, but I post a lot of things just for my amusement, thinking it will go nowhere. That was definitely one of those.
Corkie Bolton:But you're connecting with your fellow quirky people. You're reminding me. Just this morning I spent some time on threads. I don't often go on, but I was like looking and someone posted a jeweler I believe that posts about their jewelry get two likes and then posts about their sandwiches get 2,000 likes and I like re-threaded it. I sound so old. I did what I. I re-shared that thread. What the youths do yeah, whatever, the youths are doing. I'm turning 40 next year, so I'm definitely a couple years ahead of you.
Allie Perry:I got one foot in the grave already.
Corkie Bolton:If you think, think 40 is old, no, I know, no, it's not old, but I'm firmly a millennial. Yeah Right, you know so. But yeah, that had me crack it up.
Allie Perry:The funny part of these off the cuff reels. That's kind of. I started snap effect time during the pandemic because I wasn't doing a lot of things, I wasn't making a lot of things, I didn't have a lot of actual jeweler stuff to share with people and thought, well, I'm stuck at home, everyone's stuck at home. I tend, personally, to make a game out of everything. So I'm like let's make this a game. And I used to do it just at home, like it was just a fun thing that I did. And one day I got it right and I was like mind boggled because I never thought guessing it correctly was going to be a possibility. I was like this is so fun, I'll share it with people.
Allie Perry:My snap effect times have like this core group of people that guess with me every day, comment every day, send me dms about it every day. I felt like in the beginning it was just going to allow people to get to know me, because sometimes making jewelry showing process steps, they're not getting to know me, they're looking at what I'm doing. I thought this would be a fun way to get my personality out there. And there are people where, if I don't post, they're like are you okay, what is going on today? You didn't post in the perfect time, so it's become really funny. It's taken on a life of its own. Let's put it that way.
Corkie Bolton:I just love that and that puts the community and the social and social media for sure, I mean, at the end of the day. I think that you know, like I did a post the other day talking about why I've been calling a few of my pieces like misfit pieces, and then I posted a photo of me when I was 16 and I used to have my eyebrow pierced and I was like going to raves and punk shows and I've always identified with this, this vibe of like wearing what I want, making the jewelry that I want, and I think that's a very like unique customer and I know you are of the same cloth, so a hundred percent.
Allie Perry:One of the struggles I face with social media is that I have blue hair. I talk like a sailor, I'm honest to a fault which doesn't always go over well with people, but the jewelry that I have most of my experience doing is fine jewelry. It's diamonds, it's gold, it's platinum, it's. It's this elevated jewelry that doesn't match with me talking like a sailor and having blue hair. Sometimes my customers are a little surprised. My in-person customers are a little surprised when I sort of roll up to meet them at the coffee shop and I have blue hair or it's platinum blonde or something crazy that they're not used to.
Allie Perry:But we're not alone. I have always identified with the other Misfit is a great way to put it. I don't want to wear what everybody else is wearing. I don't even care what everybody else is wearing and I don't care particularly what you think about what I'm wearing. I think we all have this sort of spark inside of us that we need to share, and it gets dimmed in so many people because they're so concerned with what everyone else will think about it right.
Corkie Bolton:I mean, I fully wear Crocs outside. Yeah, do what you want. That there's actually. I'm gonna like I'm just paraphrasing a meme which also feels like very millennial of me but someone created a meme that it was like the jeweler and the person wearing the jeweler and let's just imagine, like you and me in our hoodies yes, like we're the ones making the jewelry and then, like person wearing the jewelry is all like blinged out with diamonds. Maybe they do their hair every day.
Allie Perry:I'm more of a throw it back kind of gal but I think that perspective that we have to bring to it is helping people. Post pandemic, I hear from so many of my customers oh, I would love that piece of jewelry. I don't have anywhere to wear it to, or I have so much jewelry in my jewelry box I have nowhere to wear it to. If you want to rock your diamond necklace with your t-shirt and jeans when you go walk your dog, do it like oh yeah do it, wear it, enjoy it.
Allie Perry:Jewelry is not meant to sit in the box. We don't need a special event to wear things that make us happy or bring us joy. Wear it. Who cares if you're just walking your dog or, you know, going to buy lettuce? Wear the fancy stuff. Take advantage of the things you have to enjoy while you can enjoy them.
Corkie Bolton:Definitely. Now, one thing I've always known about you is that you are someone that is always passionate about your small business other small businesses same as me and so one of the reasons I did bring you on here today is because I've been looking at your holiday gift guide and I also do an annual gift guide for metalsmith society, not my jewelry brand so I definitely wanted to have you on there so we could talk about our gift guides, and I know that you started yours. How many years ago? Well, I think this is the fourth year.
Allie Perry:I think I started it in 2020. It was either 2021 or 2022. This might only be the third year.
Corkie Bolton:Amazing. So I would just love to hear about why you started a small business gift guide. And tell us about your gift guide.
Allie Perry:Sure, the first. The gift guide itself highlights small makers. When I say small business, I mean one person, people like me who are every aspect of their business. I focus on small to micro businesses. I guess you would say People who hand make a lot of the stuff. Most have been based in the United States. This year I did include someone from the UK, but I want to highlight small companies who maybe don't have an advertising budget or maybe who don't have a big social media following, who don't have the reach that I have and not to say that my reach is gigantic, but if it's bigger than someone else's and I could use it to help spread the word, I'm going to do it.
Allie Perry:The first year it started is because I was in a discord with a bunch of other small owners Most of them are woodworkers. I was the only but we were talking about how do we do this, cause we were all just sort of getting started working for ourself at that time. How do we get the word out? How do we do something? That's not dealing with us fighting the algorithm or just hoping that whatever we post online gets shown, and I said I'll do a gift guide. I'll do a gift guide. I highlighted everybody in that group who wanted highlighted, plus some people outside of the group and in my it was just going to be a one-off. I'm going to help my friends, we're going to do this. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it's you know a couple hours of my day. It's not going to hurt any for me to try this.
Allie Perry:And then I sent it to my email list and people were like wow, that's great. I love to shop small, but I don't know how, I don't know where to shop small. And I said, oh okay, this is resonating with people. So I kept doing it every year and sort of I most of the people I find I find through social media. So I just discovered somebody who I want to include next year. They're in my notes app.
Allie Perry:I wrote, I write them down, I write their handle down. I keep track of the people who I see what they're doing on social media. I sort of vibe with what they're doing. I like their product, I like who they are and how they're going about what they're doing and I want to help those people get more exposure. But sometimes it works, Sometimes it doesn't. I don't include anything like promo codes. They're not paid spots in the gift guide, so I don't really track the metrics of it. Which is a business? No-no, we should have some way to track. You know, how many people does this bring in? What kind of sales does it convert to? But I'm not doing it for that. I'm doing it to help people with their small business when I can't financially. There are plenty of small businesses I want to support that. I don't have the money to support all of them, so if I can support them with my time and with this gift guide, that's what I want to do.
Corkie Bolton:A hundred percent. Love that, yes and and truly. You know, for anyone listening, it is the way that we do support each other as small businesses. When someone shares your work or tags a friend, it's so huge, it's so huge. I mean, it's the way that we spread the word, like, do you let all these businesses know that they're on your gift guide and you send them a link.
Allie Perry:Yes, I reach out beforehand because how I put it together is I'll go to their whatever online storefront they have and steal some of their photos. I'll steal their bio. I'll like use information that they already have and I don't feel comfortable doing that without someone's permission. So, generally, I'll reach out, I'll explain what the gift guide is, I'll send the link to the previous year's gift guide so they could get an idea, get a sense of what it is, and say I'd love to include you. I don't expect anything out of it. Some people share it, some people don't. Again, they're free to do with it as they wish. I get their permission and I put it on, and then we hope for the best. So far I haven't had anyone say no. Everyone is usually really excited and thankful that they're being included in something.
Corkie Bolton:Well, I was bringing it up more because it could be good cross promotional.
Allie Perry:Yes, yes, and every year I try to have a variety of things and not two of the same. So like I'm not going to have two people who make soap, for example, I'm going to spread them apart'm not going to have two people who make soap, for example, I'm going to spread them apart. I'm going to have one person one year and the next person the next year. So when you look at the list, you're not choosing between makers that are competing against each other. On my list, that's the last thing I want. You're choosing sort of across a variety of fields and I kind of want something for everybody. I usually put something for kids, something for adults.
Allie Perry:Soap Is anyone with skin Like I try to make it well-rounded, so there is something for everyone, and if you wanted to share the gift guide with a friend, they would also find something for everybody on their list.
Corkie Bolton:I love that and yes, it's more about the business itself is listed, not specific items, so I like that. It's very general, very cool. Do you personally own any items from your list this year, or just are they on your?
Allie Perry:wish list. I do have items from my list this year. Um, I should have my list called up in front of me. First of all, I always include every year I make a handcut stone silver snowflake ornament. So I always include the snowflake ornament in the gift guide I have wait, let me pause on that.
Corkie Bolton:Pull up. Yes, you have one of your beautiful items on your gift guide and I looked at it. It is this expertly sawn out sterling Christmas ornament and I made a sterling ornament one year that was very cut out, centric, such as this, and I have to say it's outstanding, beautiful job.
Allie Perry:I love yeah, it's not for everybody and those started because when I worked in a past life, when I worked retail, we worked a lot of hours, but not all of those hours were filled with customers. So I started making paper snowflakes in my spare time. I would just cut out like we do in kindergarten. I would cut out paper snowflakes, but they tended to be very, very intricate, and then we would decorate the store with them. I would cut them out and tape them to the glass or tape them to the wall, whatever. And when I decided, oh you know, I would love to have some sort of holiday tradition in my own business, what could that be? And I said, well, snowflakes, everybody, people reach out to me in the winter. Are you going to start cutting your paper snowflakes? So I started cutting a silver one and now it's an ornament and it's my own little winter tradition.
Corkie Bolton:It's a collector's item. That's very like alpha view. Yeah, I love it. Cutting up decorating the store. You, you, you stayed overnight in the store. You slept there and everyone woke up the next morning and was like what happened?
Allie Perry:That's right, I love it. That's amazing. I love the holidays.
Corkie Bolton:Yeah, okay, I messed up your flow. So, yes, your own ornament. And then you were going to let us know about some of the items that you maybe own from these makers.
Allie Perry:This year I have. There's a soap maker on here. I have her soaps. This year I have. There's a soap maker on here, I have her soaps. There's a toy maker on here. He hand makes wooden toys, think airplanes and trains and things like that. I don't have any of those, but I have one of the custom made mallets that he has that he makes.
Corkie Bolton:They're gorgeous. I looked them up, very cool.
Allie Perry:Not only are they beautiful, they're comfortable, it's so pretty I don't want to use it. It's functional. Functional I could use it for if I had like wooden dapping dyes and punches, if I had sort of that sort of thing, I could use it safely. But he also knows I am a huge lover of puns, so he laser engraved I'd hit that on my mallet because it's perfect for me. So like I don't want to. I'm not generally very precious about my tools. I'm the first person to modify a tool, cut a handle off. Like I'm the first person to make changes to make a tool work for me. But this is so beautiful that every time I pick it up it just makes me so happy. I don't want to like whack something with it and put a dent in the face of the mallet.
Allie Perry:It's art, it's absolutely art and then the last one that I have from this year are my stone items from Rocky Ware, neighbors of you. They're in rhode island someplace. They go to the beach and they collect rocks, which is a hobby of mine. I can't tell you how many rocks are in my life, my car, my pants and the laundry pockets, like they're my husband and I both, but there are rocks everywhere oh same.
Corkie Bolton:Every time I open my dryer there's just seashells and rocks coming out, mostly because of my kids, but it's's just same. We're always looking for treasure.
Allie Perry:There are literally rocks everywhere in our lives. They turn them into jewelry or key chains or at one point they made ornaments. And I love that connection when I'm stuck in my studio, which is a place I love to be. But when I'm stuck in my studio on those days when I'd rather be at the beach, or rather re-hiking, I liked to have those like they're hanging around where I can see them. So I have that connection to outside when I'm in my studio.
Corkie Bolton:Yes, I was very excited to see that they are located in Rhode Island and their items. They have really affordable items. They're all one of a kind, every item. Your gift guide in general will be listed in the show notes. Obviously, if people are listening or if they're, you know, at home and at a computer, they can listen and then peruse the guide as well. But you'll find the links to all of these awesome shops. Hey, jewelers, while we're all about crafting treasures at the bench, let's talk about something that can spark creativity in the little makers in your life, because every great artist starts somewhere.
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Corkie Bolton:So I'm going to talk a little bit about my gift guide, and I know that you have many of the tools on it and that you work with some of the same small businesses that are on my list. So this is the part where I thought that would be really cool to have you hop on there and we can kind of gab about it a little bit. But I started mine. I think it was 2019, but the funny thing is is like I updated my blog and then like I think only 2020, to maybe like last year or on the new blog.
Corkie Bolton:Anywho, I was starting to write like this is my sixth annual, and then I looked on my website. I was like I don't know if you can find all six, it's fine, but for me it was, you know, a way that I could think about the year and some tools that were either brand new or new to me thanks to members of the community and I always would mention that community member if it was something that you know they had put me on to and it just became a fun way to create some content. It's sort of my holiday tradition and also I love how it could help folks find our community. Like for me, I make the guide and then I make like all these Pinterest pins and videos and I try to like link it all back.
Corkie Bolton:I do have affiliate links for most of my items and and for me it's a great opportunity because I'm only showing things that I've used and love and it just supports me in my work because my main job is metal society. So yeah, it's been really cool and a lot of the companies that I work with on there they're just regular supporters of Metalsmith Society. So this year I kind of went pretty deep and I did 18 items and you know, like you, the first thing I did was I shouted out myself.
Allie Perry:I mean shameless plug. We have to do it as small business owners. If we can't advocate for ourselves, who's going to advocate for us? Have to do it as small business owners If we can't advocate for ourselves.
Corkie Bolton:who's going to advocate for us? Absolutely, I think. Recently I did a post on my jewelry site and then I went over and I switched my account to Metal Smith Society and then I posted a comment like if I'm not going to support myself, who will?
Allie Perry:That's right.
Corkie Bolton:So one of the things I did in recent years was with my jewelry brand and I know that you did the same thing is created some birch, and I think it's important for other jewelers to hear that or supporters of small business in general, that these items, but these items having you know merch, a hat, a mug that is on brand with your business it can really help with income when jewelry sales are slow.
Allie Perry:Yes. The other thing it does is it helps other jewelers support you. There are plenty of jewelers that I would love to support. I don't not that I don't want to buy their jewelry, but I don't even wear my own jewelry, so like that wouldn't be a good fit for me. I still want to support them and that allows me to do it. It allows me to have their mug or their sweatshirt or whatever it is and support them in a way that feels good for both of us 100.
Corkie Bolton:so I kind of thought about my jewelry and I was like, eh, I'm actually thinking about rebranding, because it's just Corky Bolton jewelry in this very simple font and I think it needs to be a little bit funkier.
Allie Perry:So, yeah, I feel like every, every year I say I'm going to rebrand, and every year I haven't yet. But I feel you, I feel like the brand should match the jewelry that we're putting out there into the world match the jewelry that we're putting out there into the world.
Corkie Bolton:So I'm on a call with a designer in December, potentially for the new year, so I'll follow up with you and let you know what happens there. But the concept that came to me was a support local jeweler shirt, because I even thought jewelry customers could wear that too. I mean, it's really anyone that is wanting to put out there to support, you know, local jewelers makers, and so that's number one on my list is that I have some merch I'm actually wearing like an embroidered support local jewelers hoodie, but I don't have it available. I always get a sample and then wear it for a long time and then I decide if I'm going to put it on my website. But it also just helps drive traffic to my website. I don't pay for any ads or anything else, so so that's an. That's that in a nutshell. I want to jump down to an item of yours that I put on my list, which is my items aren't listed but zero flux. Given mug, tell us about it. It made me laugh.
Allie Perry:Goes back to me and my colorful language. I'm the I. The first thing I noticed about you is wearing your own merch, cause I'm wearing my own merch too. It's like a latest piece. It says Fafo, school of metalsmithing. I'm very, I'm very comfortable in colorful language and I love puns. So zero flux, given this kind of, like my little play on words.
Allie Perry:I goes back to what I said earlier. I'm not super interested in other people's opinions about what I'm doing, wearing, saying so. It's not that I don't care about how I'm perceived. I don't want to be perceived as a bad person. I don't want to be perceived as anything other than who I truly am. But like I'm not going to lose sleep over if somebody gets upset by if I say the F word. I don't know if you want me to curse on your podcast, but like I'm very comfortable with stuff like that. So zero Thanksgiving felt it fell in with the rest of my. I have a one with an anvil that says I'd hit that.
Allie Perry:I have a lot of puns, a lot of wordplay, a lot of tools. I have a sticker that says quite the pickle and it's on my pickle pot. So like they were just little fun things that to me I have. One of the very first rings I made in my very first class was a little band that I stamped the letters sprue, you, because I learned what a sprue was and I thought that was hilarious. That sort of sophomoric humor that I've had my entire life came out in my merch and people they think it's funny. I don't think we need to be so serious all the time. Definitely I wanted to have some fun stuff to have people and I don't use mugs for mugs. I use them to put scrap paper in or pens or my tools like my solder picks and stuff. I thought it would be a fun thing to have on the bench as a gentle reminder. You know, don't care so much like.
Corkie Bolton:Take pride in your work, present yourself as a good person, do good things, but don't take it all so seriously and you know I love the entire collection and I I wanted this on the gift guide because, you know, for jewelry students that want to give their jewelry professor and a little appreciation gift, or for folks that are in a yankee swap with other jewelers, or if you're someone that you want your partner or friend to buy something from a small business for you, you can always send them the hint yes, because I don't think anyone else is out there with a holiday gift guide for jewelers, because we're pretty niche group of people.
Allie Perry:And I love that about your list, because family and friends want to give us things that make us happy, and a lot of times I want to support our business, but they don't know what flux is. They don't know, like you could say, half of the terms that we use every day and are comfortable with. They wouldn't even understand what those were or how to get them, and some of them you can only get with a trade account places. So your gift guide gives them the opportunity to like, buy things that normal people can buy and give to jewelers who will really appreciate and actually use them.
Corkie Bolton:Yes, now some of the items on here are a bit like luxury. So first let's talk about lion punch Forge, our friend Chris's titanium solder pick. You've used it, I've used it, we love it.
Allie Perry:I love just about everything Chris puts forward. I also like supporting Chris. I'm on his product team, his product release team, so if he has something new he wants to test, sometimes I'll test it. He is very much. He shares the idea that we're talking about that working together is better for all of us. Yes, so if we can support each other, there's plenty of room. A lot of people think, oh, I'm not going to support another small business, they're going to steal my customers. That is not how it goes. There's plenty of work to go around. There are plenty of customers to go around. Supporting each other is how we do that and it lifts us all up. Chris is also very interested in making tools that work for the jeweler, so if he makes something and gets feedback oh, I wish it was this or that, or I love this.
Allie Perry:but he takes all that into account and makes his products better constantly, so he's actually listening. His products aren't ego-driven like some other tool makers I've encountered. They are really about making a good tool that does a good job for us at the bench.
Corkie Bolton:Absolutely. Now I've had access, I'm very grateful to many a soldering pick and I have to say that this one is one of my all-time favorites because Chris included this little built-in stand. Yes, that elevates the tip of it, so the tip of your soldering pick is never getting all crusty or nasty or sticking to the surface of anything. It's not rolling away and they're anodized and they come in like rainbow, blue, pink and it makes it very easy to find on your soldering table.
Allie Perry:Yep, yep, and I think things should look nice. I wish we could go back in time when everything was designed beautifully and had beautiful details for no other reason than to make them pretty. I think a lot of that is lost in modern manufacturing. People just want to make it the fastest, as cheap as they can, and the design element has gone away. So I love that. He makes things good looking, he makes them in different colors.
Corkie Bolton:He allows us to sort of personalize our tool collection that way absolutely I agree with all that, and I also just like that this soldering pick doesn't need to be seasoned and that you could just immediately start, cause I use pick soldering a lot. You know, I heat the, I heat the solder, I turn it into a bowl and then I stick it to the tip of the soldering pick and then I apply it to my work, so it's really perfect for that. Now, this item is $75, but what are you paying for? You're supporting a small business. He's custom making each of them and I would say it's going to last. It's going to last forever. It's going to last forever and, like you said, it's something special on your bench that you use every day. So definitely love that. Next we go into the Whaley third hand. Have you tried it?
Allie Perry:Not that one specifically, but a third hand is like air to a jeweler you absolutely need one and really you need three probably. Third hands are how I get everything done. I too do a lot of pick soldering, but it means a lot of my things are sort of suspended in air or they're set up a certain way or they're being held in a certain location. So when I do apply that sometimes small bit of pressure with the pick, it's not going to fall or collapse or spin or move because we don't want it to move. So third hands should be on every jeweler's bench, at least one, and they should be multiples, honestly, in different sizes and lengths and weights absolutely agreed.
Corkie Bolton:I've met a lot of jewelers that have a single bench and they do their soldering on their bench, and that's like people that have 30 years experience that work in a jewelry store or someone that's just starting out and they only have a small space available. In fact, I just DM'd with a woman this morning that is doing everything in her kitchen right now, and so that's where you know I relate with starting out sort of there. So having a third hand, like you said, it could be your way to prop everything up and keep like a small area. I agree on having many. I would say you don't need to buy multiples of the whaley. It is more of an investment. What's nice about it is that it has a ball joint, so it makes it really easy to kind of get things into position. So again, this isn't a must tool, but oftentimes for holiday gifts or when we're treating ourselves to an exceptional tool, we look for something that's a little bit more elevated than you know what we might have.
Allie Perry:And I'm a huge fan and supporter of buying one really good version of the thing that you need. So to buy one really good third hand, you can go get less expensive ones for your second and third ones or save up. You don't have to buy them all at once. Save up and buy a second version of that really nice one. I would personally rather spend more money one time on one tool that I know is going to last me forever. I've played the game of buying the cheap tools because in the short term they're cheap, there's no money out of pocket but they don't last in the long run. You end up spending more repurchasing your cheap tools than you would have if you just bought the good one first.
Corkie Bolton:It's so true, totally agree. Okay, the next item. I'm curious. I really wish I could shout out the person that first put me on to dovetail work pants, but have you ever tried a pair?
Allie Perry:I haven't. I am an athleisure girl all the way. I'm in sweats or leggings, all the time.
Corkie Bolton:All right, respect to that. So I'll speak on this one a little bit. What I like about this company is that it's woman owned, all the designers are women and they're building the work pants for women. I love that. I mean, it's seriously amazing, because we have different needs, our bodies are shaped differently, like I used to get like a pair of Dickies pants and those are cool too, but like there's nothing about it that is thinking of the woman, yep, yep. So I I really like this company's mission and they sell gift cards. I just think for someone that is a gardener, a jeweler, a woodworker, people that just get messy. I like wearing mine. I'm guilty of wearing athleisure and I have like accidentally dropped the flex shafts on like my nice leggings and then like the burr was still moving and then it like ripped it a little or top bits of metal that melt through those synthetic fibers.
Allie Perry:Yep.
Corkie Bolton:Yeah. So Allie and I are not advising that you wear athleisure. Always follow safety. In fact, one of the items on your gift guide are some very nice work aprons, so be sure to check those out as well. They're leather.
Allie Perry:Yes, I have an apron. If I'm doing something and I know I'm going to get a bunch of stuff in my clothes I have an apron in my shop. It's lightweight. I personally don't like things on the back of my neck, so I had to find one where it like crossed over in the back instead of having that loop. But an apron is a good way to wear what you want. But still, we have to be safe in our job. We work with a lot of things that are potentially dangerous to us, so I'm all about safety gear if we can find good, comfortable safety gear.
Corkie Bolton:Absolutely Many other years. I've put like a dust collector on my gift guide, because if you have someone that's a jeweler in your life and they don't have a dust collector, it's like you're investing in their health. It's you know, and it's going to collect all those metal particles, keep them from flying in their face and they can send those particles back to a refiner and get money. But I digress. Okay, the next item is from another small business and friend of ours, nashif Designs. It's hard to pick one thing, but, like you said, michael, who designs these 3d printed solutions for jewelers. He's always innovating, always taking feedback, so I put his plier organizer. If you just have 10, I don't know how many it holds.
Corkie Bolton:I should know that, but it looks like it's 12, if I remember correctly all right, good, good memory come together, but I think it's 12 per yeah, so if you have budding plier collection, it really keeps them nice and upright. It's compact. What are your thoughts?
Allie Perry:it's good for the bench. I am very, very old school in that I have old wire hangers, sort of yeah, it's screwed to my bench. That's where all of my everyday pliers go. I have. There are probably a dozen pairs of pliers that I reach for constantly and they're some of them are twinned, so if I have chain nose pliers I can have one pair in each hand. But I also have a few dozen other pairs of pliers that were kind of kicking around in boxes or drawers because I modified them for a job and then they weren't really everyday pieces or they were big heavy cutters that I. They just weren't things that I used all the time. So you can use that Nashlack plier organizer on your bench because it has such a small footprint and it allows you to store different sizes in one compact area. Personally I have the two hooked together and all of my other pliers are on the that rack on a shelf. I have a cleat wall in my studio so I can move my storage around, but they're right there.
Allie Perry:The fact that I can see them all is the biggest help for me, because I'm very much. If I don't see it, it doesn't exist. If I throw a tool in a drawer. I'll forget it's there, especially if it's kind of an auxiliary, secondary tool. The fact that I can align them all, put all my cutters all my round nose chain, nose square, like I could organize them and have them visible in one spot, is perfect. I love it and I love all of his stuff. I've tried a bunch of his tools and every time I used it it's something that I think, oh, I don't really need this. I've had another storage solution. It works fine. And then I try something he makes any of his brewer organizers and I'm instantly smitten. I'm like, oh, how have I not been using this before? So if you're on the fence about anything from him, anybody who's on the fence, just do it. Buy one, buy two. Their stuff is honestly so well thought out definitely agree.
Corkie Bolton:I think his saw blade organizer is another one. That's just a great little stocking stuffer and as an engraver I do a lot of pave. I have his bulber organizer that's actually filled with bulbers that I got from Stuller and I mean it is a game changer, because as soon as I'm done with the 1.5, I put it back in the 1.5. Even with this in place, I still don't sometimes put the 1.5 back. Ellie, I can't help myself.
Allie Perry:But I try my best, my little those. They look like sort of plastic fingers that stick up. I love those organizers. They're cheap, but my errant burrs end up in there and then I just have to guess later about which one like what was that?
Corkie Bolton:so yes, I definitely agree on that. I don't know if we're gonna make it through every single item on this list this would turn into a long episode, but I do want to talk about craft optics because they're new to me this year I've been using them for a couple of years now.
Allie Perry:They're for me. It came out of necessity. Almost all goldsmiths eventually work under magnification. Most people choose to use the optivisor. An optivisor for those of you who are listening and don't know is something that folds down like a little visor. The lenses fold down in front of your eyes so you can magnify what you're working on. They come with lenses that are changeable. The magnification is changeable, but if you already wear prescription glasses, you have to wear them over.
Allie Perry:That. They're kind of clunky. It's a very old solution. I don't think it's going anywhere. It's a. It's a tried and tested way to magnify what you're working on. Craft optics has sort of elevated that in that you can get prescription glasses with them. The little binoculars allow you to magnify your work without being very close to it. So it allows us to sit up straighter, have better posture, work in a more ergonomic way that we're not going to cause back pain and neck pain which, if you're a jeweler, you have back pain and neck pain at some point in your life. It's going to help avoid that because the posture will help you avoid that.
Corkie Bolton:It's another small business and I met Jeff out in Tucson last year and they make these for quilters, knitters, dentists, and I'm so glad that we've been able and other jewelers to connect them to other jewelers because I agree this is a game changing product, that is an investment, but it's so worth it. Same with me, I have a prescription, so to be able to have my prescription in the glasses and then you just flip down, like you said, the magnifier it's, it's amazing and you can use it when you're polishing, sawing, soldering.
Corkie Bolton:There's a little bit of a get used to stage. Yes, once you kind of have them, you're wearing them around your neck and you, you know you put them on when you need them. It's a, it's a really wonderful thing and for me it didn't.
Allie Perry:I just I don't have just kind of a regular prescription for my eyesight. A couple years ago I had a cataract and I had to have the cataract removed 20 years before most people do. But it drastically changed my vision and how I was able to work, to the point where I couldn't work for a while. So the craft optics allow me to take my very specialized sort of vision situation and account for it and correct it at the bench.
Allie Perry:I know a lot of people think that these they are expensive. I'm not going to say that they're not expensive and I think a lot of people think they might be too expensive, but without them I couldn't work. For me they are a literal lifesaver for my business. So if you can find them at a trade show and talk to them and try them on, I'd say that I didn't. I listened to other jewelers who I trusted, and I'm happy that I did, because I either need my craft optics or my microscope. Without them I'm kind of the way that I were have worked for the past 28 years Wasn't working any longer. This allowed me to go back and continue those you know sort of practices that I used before, cause I could see.
Corkie Bolton:Definitely, and you know I'll occasionally do posts about them. And some people do say OptiVisors work and great for them, and I always appreciate the comment and to that I say amazing.
Allie Perry:Yeah, do it.
Corkie Bolton:To me the clamping around the head.
Allie Perry:Optimizers have this little screw and it like squeezes your skull a little bit with a big mark across your forehead all the time forehead marks, microscope raccoon eyes, polishing compound on me, disgusting fingernails.
Corkie Bolton:I'm looking great at the bus stop after school when I go from working to picking my kids up. I just look like I've been working in a coal mine.
Allie Perry:That's right.
Corkie Bolton:All right, I want to plug Nicole Ringgold's book, which is also on my list, because it's called Mastering the Art of Jewelry the New Silversmith. If you're looking for a gift for a fellow jeweler or a small item that you know you want to hint to someone, this book is just awesome because Nicole is the ultimate misfit, the ultimate rogue jeweler. She's an educator, she is a naturist and she really created her own techniques for fusing sterling silver using a propane oxygen torch. No one ever said to her hey, you can't do that, so she just did it, which is like I love that.
Allie Perry:Yeah, me too. I'm a big fan of learning every way to do something. A lot of people will tell you there's a right way or that's the wrong way. I think if the tool you're using works, that's the right tool. If the method you're using gets you the result you want, that's the right method. There might be better methods.
Allie Perry:I'm not gonna argue and say everything that you do or not you personally but everything you do as a doula is the right quote. Unquote right way. But I'm a huge fan of messing around at the bench Try something. That's why my shirt says Faco Try it, get your hands on it. And I love that she did that, because so many times we're told that's wrong, you can't do it that way. And we're told that you can't do it that way because that's always the way it's been done and I hate that as a reason for anything. You shouldn't do something just because that's how it's always been done. So I like that she stepped out and is comfortable in making these amazingly intricate pieces and teaching other people that they can do the same thing.
Corkie Bolton:Absolutely. You could take workshops with her as well, and I need to state for the listeners what your FAFO means. It's F around and find out Listeners what your FAFO means. It's F around and find out School of metalsmiths. Maybe I could put a bleep over that, that'd be fun. But yes, nicole's awesome, the book is awesome and, if I may, I just think that when the holiday craziness is over and that's whether or not you didn't sell out your collection, but you were just on the grind and you made all this new work One thing I love to do in the new year is to just make some fun personal projects, and this book has some amazing projects, so you can get it and do something completely outside of your style. I'm using quotation fingers here for those that can't see, because I think we get so stuck in. Well, this is what sells, this is what my customer is expecting. I like to just do a fun project just for me.
Allie Perry:So yeah, and with her style a lot of it's fused. If you are solely fusing, you're not adding a bunch of solder to that metal. If you don't like what it is, you just melt it down and start again. So it can be a really fun project to do. It can be that freeing after holiday to do. It can be that freeing after holiday. Let me just go do what I want to do with the bench, but it's not wasteful in that you could make it and sell it, make it and keep it, make it and re-melt it. So it's a really freeing method because you're not sort of putting a bunch of other junk in the metal when you're working with it.
Corkie Bolton:Definitely. I also wanted to talk about the mini portable dust collector and I have to give shout outs to rusty Creek designs on Instagram. They were the ones that originally created a tip about it. Allie just held hers up. We don't really do video for the podcast, but I kind of wish we did. Maybe we should just put this on YouTube.
Allie Perry:Turn the comments off and just a little vacuum cleaner. I don't use it at the bench because I have so many sweeps I think I would just kill the little vacuum cleaner. But I use it at my desk, I use it crafting, I use it to pick up glitter, I use it to pick up everything. So you don't have to be a jeweler for this one. Everybody can use one of these for Christmas and their stocking stuff or for Hanukkah.
Corkie Bolton:Honestly, I bought two and I had one in the kitchen where my then like five-year-old could just clean up his own crumbs and he feels very like he's. You know, it's an $11 mini vacuum, but it's surprisingly very suction. Yeah, I think mine might be rechargeable mine is too.
Allie Perry:I think mine is. Oh, it's not dead, oh my god. So this is a great product review, because I haven't charged this in forever.
Corkie Bolton:I've never charged mine, it's still working.
Allie Perry:I just moved studios so this hasn't been used probably in months and it just turned right on, no problem.
Corkie Bolton:Yeah, and then I do use one on my bench pin and stuff. Like if I've been sawing and I have like my bench pin has holes in it and metals getting stuck, I'll use it sometimes, even recently, when I'm engraving. If I did a lot of grinding out for like pave, I'll just run it really quick over the piece and it just collects the gold you know. So it's. This is a great, fun little item that you know it could honestly be for anyone, I think, who likes to, you know, get vacuum in just that satisfaction. So I want to talk tumblers because to a lot of beginners they are a really great way to get a uniform sort of finish.
Corkie Bolton:I confess that I don't utilize tumblers quite so much in my work now I'm doing mostly one-of-a-kind gold pieces and I tend to hand polish things. But on my gift guide there is this super affordable impress art tumbler. It retails for $1.35. They'll no doubt have some Black Friday deals too, but I own this tumbler. I tried this tumbler. They'll no doubt have some Black Friday deals too, but I own this tumbler. I tried this tumbler and, honestly, for the person that's putting in 20 rings or a few pendants, it's honestly great.
Allie Perry:Yes, and tumblers have come a long way you know, and I agree, for my fine jewelry I hand finish all of it. For a lot of my silver pieces that I do in a batch, I don't use the tumbler for a final polish, because that's not what it does. It burnishes the surface. It makes it shiny. If you're looking for a more rustic finish, you can run some steel through it. I also love that polishers, you can run ceramic compound. You can. An old school trick is to use walnut shells. There's all kinds of things you can throw in a tumbler with your jewelry and have it work in the background. I think that's the best part about a tumbler is, especially as a one person business. If I need something to be tumbling, it can be doing that in the background while I'm doing something else. So I feel like you get twice as much out of your day, you get more out of your time and a tumbler is the perfect way to do that.
Corkie Bolton:It's just jewelry, asmr. It's like, yeah, swoosh, yeah right, I also love plastic media, but what I'll say is, if you don't want the microplastics to go into the water, you can then put them into a bucket that can go to hazardous waste. I often take any fluids from my tumbler and I just put it in my refining bucket and I put it out in the sun and it evaporates into my sandpaper, my paper towels, because this is the ultimate way to collect any of that metal and filter it and not put it down the drain.
Allie Perry:Yeah, I filter everything. I also don't use chemicals in my tumbler. There are chemicals out there that allow you to get a brighter finish or get it faster, or whatever. I use, dawn, I use dish soap because I know that if it goes down my drain it's not going to hurt anything. It's not going to end up in the water supply and hurt the fish Like. I try to be really eco conscious in my decisions that way. So use a tumbler, you can use whatever kind of compounds you want, or you could just use dish soap to keep it clean, especially if you're working in your kitchen or in a third bedroom or something and you don't want chemicals in your house.
Corkie Bolton:So I'm going to hit you with something really weird right now. I just had this vision of you and I doing a sketch comedy piece where you're like I'm a Dawn girl.
Allie Perry:So you think that's a joke, but I am a hundred percent a Dawn girl. I have literally tried every other soap. I've tried them in the ultrasonic. I use Dawn in my ultrasonic. I use Dawn everywhere in my shop and it's effective. It works, it smells good and if it's safe for penguins and oils, bill, it's safe for me and my shop and my dogs, the penguins.
Corkie Bolton:Oh God, I'm going to cry. Maybe we'll do some sketch comedy together in the future. Who knows what's going to come of this. Honestly, there is nothing more satisfying than creating a funny video, even if it doesn't hit. Yeah.
Corkie Bolton:I just have to. I have to bring this up. I'll link it in the show notes. The only time I made a TikTok video, basically was there was this Gen Z, very popular on TikTok jeweler, but this guy had like a snake in his video and he was making a ring. I think it might've even been like sponsored content for Pepe, but like he didn't have a bench pin and he and I'm not being like shady, but it just so happened that I, my kids, had like that exact snack as a stuffed, that exact snake as a stuffed animal. So I like did a video of us side by side where I was doing all his like mannerisms and I'm wearing the snake Like to me. I still laugh about that video. It did not get me customers, glory, viral, anything, but it sparked joy. So maybe we'll make a Dawn video. Oh, my goodness, All right.
Corkie Bolton:Last grouping on my gift guide is just to talk about like consumables in general. If you're thinking you kind of touched on this earlier If you have a jeweler in your life and you're like, what are they going to use? If you get them some consumables and consumables for those that don't know how they're defined. Get them some consumables, and consumables for those that don't know how they're defined, it's a range of items that get consumed I don't know if I'm allowed to use the word in the definition sandpapers and other abrasives, solder, flux spray, those kinds of things. And for this small section I've done so much work with Guest Line this year. I'm so appreciative to them, honestly, Like they. Just every month I've been working with Lindsay, who works with GuestLine. She was formerly at Metalworks in Mass and they just like are like what are your? What's the what's good for the community? What can we teach them? Like so good, genuinely. So one of my top items is always soldering clay. Yeah, what are your thoughts?
Allie Perry:Soldering clay is one of those things I don't use it very frequently. I worked in for a long time. I worked in a trade shop and for a long, much longer time after that I worked in a store Soldering clay. For me it's a little bit longer to set up and it's a little bit longer to clean, so I was very much interested in time. I wanted I put a lot of things in water instead of soldering clay, but there are certain jobs that soldering clay is the only thing that's going to work. It's the only thing that's going to prop it up and protect it at the same time. I think, even if you're someone like me who doesn't use it all the time, you should have it. I have several versions of soldering clays and pastes that are heat shields, because when you need it really nothing else is going to do the job absolutely, and I would say for certain things as well, I agree with you.
Corkie Bolton:If you're soldering a bale onto flat pendant, I'm not going to use soldering clay, right, I'll, I'll push the bale into a soft soldering board or I'll just I'll use Lion Punch, forges, t-quad, I'll use a third hand. But when you do something like you made a sphere pendant and you're soldering something onto that a component, something that would not sit flat because maybe it's got curvature onto that a component, something that would not sit flat because maybe it's got curvature, soldering clay is a game changer for that and I would say, a time saver in setting up those interesting scenarios in which only solder soldering clay can save the day.
Allie Perry:Also good for things that you don't want under pressure, some things you don't want to put in your third hand because they can't be squeezed while you're heating them, because they'll get destroyed. Soldering clay is perfect for that stuff totally.
Corkie Bolton:And just a note, it's non-toxic, it's reusable as long as you don't like burn the crap out of it, and when you do, you just kind of like take off the crusty parts and put them in your yep refining bin or bin. For even though it's non-toxic, I just you know.
Allie Perry:Yeah, I do this.
Corkie Bolton:Yeah, and then you know I have sandpaper sticks and these wheels that I really like, that you know. And then I put fire scoff flux, just because it's a real treat yourself kind of flux.
Allie Perry:Have you ever used it? I have. I used it a long time ago. I have other favorites and I tried it and it didn't surpass my favorite. But for those people who aren't comfortable applying it in one place, or if you have a bunch of stuff because it comes in a spray applicator, it's really easy to apply to everything all at once.
Corkie Bolton:Yes, and the reason I say it's a sort of treat yourself is because it's this formula, which is a what do you call it? Like a fire scale protectant and also a flock. So it has that pre-protection that you would get from dipping your work in denatured alcohol and boric powder, but it's not going to like dry out or it's not like flammable, like that is. So it's just kind of a fun thing to try out. Same thing spray bottle. You do have to be aware, though, that, because you know I think the um one ounce spray is $13, so it's if you want to try it, that's. That's not bad, but also like be careful spraying it everywhere, because it is more of an investment. But I like it. I think it's been really good at preventing that that purpley fire stain.
Allie Perry:Yeah, and I'm the first one to say. Even if I say hey, it's not my favorite, I don't think that should ever discourage anybody from trying it, because you can line up 10 jewelers with the. Give them the exact same project to do and they'll do it 10 slightly different ways with 10 different tools or methods or tips or tricks. So try it to spend the 13 if you think you're interested and if you don't end up liking it, it's 13. You're not making this massive investment into something that you're not going to use. You'll use it and then you'll know I think I just said something controversial.
Corkie Bolton:I like the whole fire scale or fire stain, oh my gosh.
Corkie Bolton:People get up and are different different no personally, I meant I meant fire stain, yes, which is the cuprous oxide, purple staining of the copper coming to the surface. Yes, but oh, heaven forbid. And I mean I remember like can I be honest? Like a few years back when I was starting this out, I remember someone was like fire scale, but they meant like fire stain and I was like judging them, which was not kind of me, like I'm not a judgy person. But then I realized I was like people are just repeating what they've heard. It's also not worth coming at someone.
Allie Perry:So like I accidentally say fire scale when I met fire, don't come at me, bro right right, I obviously knew what you meant, so I wasn't going to correct you on it. It's not. It's not worth the time to correct somebody on that if you know the difference, great and if you're, if you're especially working with silver, you should know the difference. But it's, it's just terminology. It's not going to hurt or help anybody to use the exact right word in that situation.
Corkie Bolton:But this flux will prevent fire scale and fire stain. There you go it is, though. So I mean anyways though, but that's just a fun little side note, I'm glad I could go public on record, I think even in my book I say I'm referring to it as fire stain. This is what it is. You know, I quoted oh my gosh gosh Tim McCrae's book, because he, like you, know whatever, but the the whole like scientifical, scientifical, it's all falling down you got me yeah. I'm just anyways though, so you know, just worth noting.
Allie Perry:And don't judge anyone, lest you be judged, don't come at anyone a way to help educate people when they ask, but don't attack people when you think they're wrong and they're not asking for help.
Corkie Bolton:Yeah, I should do a podcast episode on like the 10 most controversial posts of the year. That'd be fun.
Allie Perry:You would have years worth of content Years.
Corkie Bolton:I know, maybe you could come back on for that.
Allie Perry:I'd be happy to content here's. I know maybe you could come back on for that. I'd be happy to. There's controversial things in jewelry that we're doing wrong or we're not doing the same way as someone else. So it's this sort of nightmare, taboo thing that we're doing like it's endless.
Corkie Bolton:It's funny, though, because with everything controversial that happens in the world, in the jeweler world, it's more like, literally, they called it fire scale.
Allie Perry:I know, I know they did the job. They're watching a video. They're doing everything correctly. You see that they're doing everything correctly. They're solving the fire scale slash stain problem correctly, whatever they're dealing with. But they use the word wrong and it's like everything else they put in the video goes right out the window Completely. The whole point of the video was lost because of one word.
Corkie Bolton:I know it is engagement, but it doesn't pass the vibe check. No for sure, okay. And then, lastly, I think I sort of bookmarked my gift guide with promoting something that comes from the society. But guess, one has my book and I appreciate that. And if you're already shopping and you want to throw it in your cart, rio Grande does too, just saying, and some of those other brands. But the book came out at this point, I think it was 2002. It's going pretty strong it's I.
Allie Perry:I am very I love having books in my studio. A couple years ago I spent a couple of semesters teaching beginner classes at the local university. These were things that I could do. I could do the tasks with my eyes closed, but to explain why what I was doing was working was so far back in my brain. It was decades ago in my learning. So to have a book in your studio where you can go reference hey, what's the silver going to do if I do this? What's the copper going to do? How do I make that specific kind of clasp? Again, it's so entry level, I don't use it anymore. Like it's super handy to have reference books in your studio, so I'm all for it, get it. Get every book you can get and stick it somewhere in your studio. They get dusty and dirty and the pages get torn and ripped. And it's okay because you're going to use them to make yourself better.
Corkie Bolton:Absolutely.
Allie Perry:All, absolutely Allie. This has been fun. Thank you for having me. It's been fun for me too. I love talking about the field. It's rare in my personal life that I could talk about this stuff, because usually no one knows what we're talking about as jewelers well, that's part of the fun of the podcast.
Corkie Bolton:I geek out when I get to talk to someone else and just the way that we're laughing over dawn in a tumbler and you know the misuse of words. You know down right like no. No one else is gonna quite understand. You can find Allie on Instagram at Allie Perry Designs, and I will link that in the show notes. You're also on TikTok same handle same handle.
Allie Perry:I'm same handle on most social media platforms Facebook, linkedin, although I'm not really on LinkedIn. Youtube I take that back about YouTube. Youtube, my handles are all screwed up. I have multiple accounts that are all screwed up, but Allie Perry Designs if you're looking for me, that's the handle. You'll find me on social media.
Corkie Bolton:Absolutely. I'm going to link Allie's small business 2024 holiday gift along with my 2024 Holiday Gift Guide and that's it, thanks.
Allie Perry:Allie, thank you so much for having me. This was a blast.
Corkie Bolton:I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Huge thanks to Allie Perry for joining me. I had such a blast chatting with her. I hope you enjoyed our laughs and our tangents while we discussed my holiday gift guide for jewelry makers and her small business gift guides If you haven't already head over to the show notes to check those out. If you're loving the podcast, it would mean the world to me if you subscribed, rated and reviewed it. Just once is all it takes. And if you'd like to take your support even further, you can join me on Patreon at patreon. com/m etalsmithsociety. Your support there helps keep this podcast going and lets me create even more content for you. Thank you so much for tuning in and I'll catch you next time.
