Marks Custom Creations
Bronson, FL

Art, design, and metal have always been a part of my life. Throughout my childhood and school years, I enjoyed many art mediums. My family and I collected rocks and minerals that we started polishing and eventually setting in metal. Then many years of precision machining metal and prototype work.
Being a self-taught metal smith I only know one way to make jewelry, as fine as I possibly can. I hand fabricate my designs using quality American refined and milled sheet & wire. I work in sterling silver 14kt and 18kt gold. The pieces are a blend of exciting design and high-quality metal work. I start a design on paper, to get an idea of size and balance. Next, using oxygen/propane as a heat source, I build the setting for the stone. Sometimes there are as many as 20 solder joints in the basket alone. Constructing the remaining portion of the set includes a lot of measuring, sawing, forming, filing and fitting. Pre-finishing the metal and several soldering operations are then required. Finishing the metal is a skill many designs out of the work, instead, I challenge it. I also grind and polish the lapidary stones that are starting to influence my style again, which is constantly evolving in style as well as skill.