All About the Bar Collection

Not so basic, basics.

You don’t have to be “basic” to appreciate quality, wearable basics that ground your style on a day-to-day basis. We all need easy, everyday pieces that make us feel bespoke in an understated, not “trying so hard” ways.  This is where hand-crafted and fabricated jewelry takes the cake and is the inspiration behind my “Essentials” collection and especially, the bar collection. 

Luxury Minimalism 

The Bar collection is the essence of luxury minimalism. Understated, yet has the power to shift the entire feel of a look. It elevates. It consists of the bar necklace, the slide necklace (the horizontal version of the bar necklace) and the bar earrings photographed below. Each piece comes in bright and oxidized silver. No matter how effortless you want your look to be, you’ll never lack style when you add a dash of metal. 

Perfectly gender neutral, these pieces can be worn by men or women, dressed up or down, easy enough to wear every day, and special enough to set your style apart.  Silver necklaces for men and women may be common, but they are not always handmade.

The Bar Necklace in bright silver

Small Bar Earrings in oxidized silver

The Slide Necklace in oxidized silver

The Bar Collection Necklaces

The Perfect Layering Piece 

We love to layer. Rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets. Sometimes a piece of jewelry is enhanced by the piece layered next to it, as if it has a best friend that reminds it how special it is. It’s also such an easy way to make your basic clothing apparel look better. 

The necklaces from the bar collection are the perfect layering pieces.  One reason being, they have a heavy clasp and the pendant is heavier too. The weight of pendants and clasps are important to consider when necklace layering because they can help prevent tangling. Layering a heavier clasp/pendant with a lighter necklace is the best way to prevent such disasters. 

How to Layer Necklaces 

Beyond functional reasons for layering the bar collection necklaces, there’s also plenty of aesthetic reasons. Here are some tips for layering necklaces that really spell out why the bar and the slide necklaces are the perfect necklaces for layering, especially if you’re new to layering jewelry. 

Start with a choker 

Start your layering at the base of your neck with a cute choker and taper down. Either the bar necklace or slide necklace would work well layered with a choker. 

Mix chains

Mixing chains is a great way to layer. Thin and thick chains go well together while also adhering to the anti tangle rule of wearing a heavy necklace. Link chains are great for layering with standard, thin necklace strands.  

Work with Different Lengths 

If starting with a choker isn’t for you, experiment with longer necklaces. For example a 24 inch necklace and 36 inch necklace go well together. Start with two and as you build your collection you can add more. 

Customization for texture 

Pendants with custom stamping work really well for layering. The engraved lettering adds nuanced texture that’s balanced out by simpler pieces. We’re now offering custom stamping for our bar necklace which was previously only available for the heavy cuff bracelet.  Add names, initials, dates, or words that represent sweet memories or your personal brand. Head to the essentials collection to get yours!

The Bar Necklace with custom stamping in bright silver

The Bar Necklace

Anyone can easily wear this with jeans and a T-shirt or pair with the Helio earrings for a lewk! Since this necklace is in the medium length range it could layer well with a choker or possibly a longer necklace at 30 - 36 inches. Now available for custom stamping!

The Bar Necklace in oxidied silver

The slide necklace

The Bar Necklace in bright silver

The slide necklace is closer to a choker length, so it might layer well with a true choker depending on how the chains compliment each other. Since the chain of the slide necklace is light, it would probably layer best with a chunker choker. This piece looks great on its own too. If you have a cute collar bone, show it off with this necklace!

The Slide Necklace in bright silver

The Slide Necklace in oxidized silver

The Bar Earrings

These earrings can pull off a feminine look just as easily as a masculine look. Making them the perfect silver stud earrings for men or women. The oxidized silver has an extra masculine edge when worn by men while the bright silver studs lean more feminine. 

The large Bar Earrings in oxidized silver

Small and large Bar Earrings in bright silver

The large Bar Earrings in bright silver

The bar collection adds so much value and versatility to anyone’s jewelry collection. Whether your style is more edgy or traditional this collection blends in as if they were made for either!  Head to our Essentials Collection shop to browse the Bar Collection and other hand fabricated, wearable sterling silver jewelry.

MeritMade Commentary - Men’s Handmade Jewelry: the perfect Father’s Day gift 2023

Since men often have less opportunity than women to express themselves, jewelry is a great way to define their personal style and wear something that represents who they are and their sentiments. This post includes some of my favorite men’s pieces from awesome shops, designer friends, and of course from the MeritMade collections. Click on any of the photos to purchase or learn more about each of the featured items.

How to know if the man in your life would love a piece of handmade jewelry

Obviously, if he already wears jewelry, he’d probably love to have more! Especially if it is handmade and from you. If the man in your life doesn’t already wear jewelry, you can probably tell if he’s the type that would.  Typically men who have an interest in music, the arts, or if they put some effort into their appearance, you can bet that they would appreciate a unique piece that compliments their style.

4 Basic Categories of jewelry for men. (obviously there are lots more, but this should get you started in the right direction)

Earrings

I think most of us can agree that guys with earrings are usually pretty hot. Men’s earrings are fairly easy to find. Even if the jewelry is designed for women, there’s often gender neutral styles, like stud earrings, that will work well for men.  We really love the small Bar Earrings and Large Helios from our essentials collection as a staple jewelry piece. 

Bar Earrings (Small) from the MeritMade Essentials Collection

Helio Earrings (Large) from MeritMade Essential Collection

Petal Stud Earrings by Edna Madera

Skull Earrings by Amuck Designs

Necklaces

Yes, of course men can wear necklaces too. The dog tag necklace or bolo tie are both timeless examples of a men’s necklaces that have been worn for decades. A pendant style necklace, whether metal or leather is a classic look for a guy. Layering necklaces can also create a good look for men. One or two chains with a third that has a pendant looks great with a simple t-shirt. The bar necklace from our essentials collection is an everyday piece that can easily be worn on its own or layered. 

The Bar Necklace from MeritMade’s Essential Collection

Brass Toggle Necklace by Cat Bates

Bolo Tie from the MeritMade Artisan Collection

Rings

Rings represent many things that men identify with, like sports championships rings, wedding bands, and chunky statement rings. Depending on their personal style, men can easily wear multiple rings and even a ring stack of bands.

Rings are very personal, especially to men. If you’re unsure how to select a ring for your guy you can invite him to a workshop at our sister company, Alloy: A Metalsmithing Community. We host metalsmithing classes in Kansas City, MO throughout the year including the original, Make a Ring Workshop, Stacker Ring Workshop, and DIY Wedding Band Workshop.  It’s the perfect opportunity for your guy to make the ring he really feels represents him!

Custom made MeritMade ring

A couple MeritMade custom rings on my friend John Creagar

The Carpe Diem Ring by Alex a Mano from Visual Index (this awesome little shop in North Carolina carries MeritMade jewelry too)

Wedding Band made in the Alloy Metalsmithing Workshop

BRACeLETS & CUFFS

Cuffs may be my favorite men’s accessory. They look great as a stand alone piece or paired with a watch. A leather or beaded bracelet can add a casual edge to any look, but we also really love our solid sterling silver heavy cuff. It comes in various sizes. We recommend the large or extra large for men.  It’s a classic statement piece worn on its own with jeans and t-shirt or as an accessory to a more elevated look. If your guy is daring enough to tread into advance styling options, layering cuffs of different materials such as sterling silver paired with a leather bracelet can be a really fun look.

We especially love the Heavy Cuff as a Father’s day gift. You can easily customize the cuff with a personalized message (something like your kiddos’ names, birthdates, or coordinates of your home would be sweet).  The custom stamping option can be placed on the inside, outside, or side of the cuff. You’ll find the option to select custom stamping towards the bottom of the page.

Heavy Cuff Bracelet from the MeritMade Essentials Collection

Channel Cuff by Cat Bates

Twisted Cuff Available at Guevel (one my favorite menswear shops in KC)

Why we love jewelry as a Father’s Day gift

Father’s Day is so special because it gives us the chance to show the men in our lives how loved and appreciated they are for their hard work and all that they provide. We love handmade jewelry as a Father’s Day gift. It’s the perfect combination of sentimentality and personal expression! Men don’t often ask for styling help, but deep down they appreciate a gift that elevates their look and that they are proud to say was a gift from you. 

Do you have an appreciation for handmade and hand crafted Jewelry like we do? Stay in touch with us! Sign up for our email, if you get through the first few emails you will receive a special discount to shop for yourself or someone special. We have two collections. First, The Essentials Collection, your everyday pieces that still feel elevated. Second the, The Artisan Collection, true one of a kind pieces that can never be duplicated.

MeritMade Commentary - Prairie Collection

I’m so excited to be releasing the Prairie Collection for purchase in the online shop! The pieces included in this collection are quite possibly some of my most favorite pieces I’ve ever made. In this post, I’m going to share with you the process and backstory that makes this collection so special.

Prairie Collection Long Necklaces
Left: Green foxtail under watch crystal
Right: Indian grass under smoky quartz

Each piece in the collection is a hand-fabricated hollow constructed box. To make a box, you have to create walls, a top, and a bottom. The pieces are all cut from a sheet of silver and bent or formed to the correct shape. Once you have the pieces ready to go, then it’s ‘torch time’, and everything gets soldered together. The process of soldering can get a bit complicated when making a box. I won’t dive into those details here, but suffice it to say it’s not always easy. After you have a box fully formed and created, you can begin the tedious work of filing, sanding, and finishing. Creating hollow forms is a more complicated and time consuming than a simply constructed piece, but the technique gives you the ability to create some very unique shapes and volume that just wouldn’t be possible any other way.

Want to learn a bit more? Check out this post on Ganoksin about how to create a hollow ring.

Want to learn how to create rings yourself? Check out our other studio Alloy Metalsmithing and get on the email list to get notified about our make a ring, stacker ring, and other make and take focused workshops.

Various stages of hollow form construction.

I’ve been fascinated with creating boxes since my college days, and it’s something I’ve explored in my more recent MeritMade work as well. I’ve used the forms to elevate stones and create unique spaces and shapes.

Left: Piece I made in college (2002?). Yes, it is weird, but it’s an example of a hollow form
Right: Lapis earrings (2018)

But, then it hit me! If I’m building boxes, then I should have something in them! At first, I thought it might just be fun to hide things inside like a secret. After further thought however, that didn’t seem very fun since I would be the only one who knew the secret. I really wanted what was inside to at least be known by the wearer. Why not replace the stone on top with a piece of glass or quartz and create a window? TA-DA. The idea was born. And the contents of the box? I had been wanting a way to use the prairie plants I collected. They were the perfect treasure to fit inside the little boxes.

Prairie Collection Earrings
Plant: snow on the mountain

It is an environment where nothing comes between me, the sky, the horizons, and my dreams.

- Ed Butterfield

The prairie is a truly special place. Wide open spaces, thunderstorms that shake your core, and skies so black you can see the whole dang Milky Way. Each of the little bits of plant that you see in this collection are a small part of that amazing place.

Kansas Prairie

Harvested in September 2018, the plants all come from a stretch of prairie in South Central Kansas that has never been farmed. In fact, you can still see the buffalo wallows left behind by the migrating herds. Drought resistant, lovers of sunshine, these plants reign supreme. With few trees to be seen, the grasses and wildflowers are what literally hold the whole prairie ecosystem together. Native Americans and early settlers understood their value and revered them as both food and medicine.

Prairie grasses and flowers harvested and cataloged. (sept 2018)

The following is a list of the plants in this collection. Many of the comments are from a wonderful book, “Wildflowers & Grasses of Kansas: a field guide” by Michael John Haddock. If this topic at all interests you, I highly recommend it as a guide.

• Common Sunflower: First cultivated by Native Americans, this plant does it all. Sunflower oil is extracted and used for cooking, paints, soaps, and hair oil. The seeds can be eaten and ground as a flour. Purple and black dye can be made from the seeds and yellow dyes from the flowers. Due to it being one of the lightest natural substances, having a specific gravity of 0.028 compared to 0.028 of cork, even the pith of the plant has been used as life preserver filler.

• Snow on the Mountain: It is a relative of the poinsettia. A stand of it can make the ground appear as if it is covered in snow. Despite its beauty, it is poisonous to cattle.

• White Sage: Aka wormwood, mugwort, sage wort etc. has been long held sacred by Native Americans. Used as tea, burned, or even brushed across a surface, it has the power to both purify and protect.

• Green Foxtail Grass: Not a native plant but more of an opportunist, it provides fair forage value when young, and birds eat the seeds. It is also known as “green bristle brush”.

• Indian Grass: It is one of our most important native tall grasses in the prairie ecosystem. It is very nutritious and is readily grazed by livestock. Birds and small mammals consume the seeds.

• Blue Grama: Like Indian grass, it is an important part of the prairie ecosystem. It survives extreme drought and is a nutritious plant for grazing. Both Blue Grama and Indian grass can be planted for erosion control due to their extensive and long reaching root systems.

• Goldenrod: Native Americans chewed the roots to relieve toothaches. Ground up leaves or boiled leaf extract can be used as an antiseptic lotion. Most importantly, it blooms late in the season and is a valuable source of pollen for bees during that time. Just so you know, goldenrod does not cause allergies. It blooms at the same time as ragweed, who is the actual culprit.

• Dotted Gayfeather: The roots of the dotted gayfeather may be cooked and eaten. Native Americans have used a tea made from the root to help with swelling and intestinal pain. It is thought to help stimulate the liver and kidneys. It is worth noting that its amazing root system can grow up to 16 feet deep! Native originally to the prairie, it is now grown worldwide in greenhouses for its ornamental value.

Prairie Collection Statement Necklace
Plants from left to right: snow on the mountain, dotted gayfeather, sunflower, goldenrod, white sage

Boxes are often meant to hold treasures, and I have no doubt that, now that you know a bit more about the grasses and flowers that are part of this collection, you also view them as treasures to be kept and respected. I’m so happy to share a bit more of the process and history of these pieces with you. Shop the complete collection HERE.

As the artist for this collection, it is my preference that these little boxes only hold prairie plants. Thank you for honoring this decision, and know that at this time I am unable to to take custom requests to fill them with something else. If you are interested in a custom piece to commemorate your special place or time, I would love to create something specific just for you. My current custom load is full through January, but if you don’t mind waiting, please reach out to me via email, kelly@meritmadekc.com. I will save you a spot.

xo, Kelly

MeritMade Lessons - Torches

Author: Kelly Conner

One of my favorite parts of metalsmithing is the fire! Here is a super basic overview of what you need to consider when buying a torch to create all the fire you need.

First lets talk anatomy:

Torch: This is just the part the the flame comes out of that you hold in your hand. You will want something that has multiple tip sizes that you can change out. These additional tips will greatly increase the scenarios that your torch can be used in by changing the size of the flame.

Hoses: Make sure your torch comes with the necessary hose or hoses. Green hoses are for oxygen and red hoses are for flammable gas.

Regulator: This is the thing that screws directly onto the tank and connects your hose to the tank. It is important to buy the right regulator for the type of tank that it is attaching to. For example a regulator needed for a propane tank is different then one needed for an acetylene tank.

Tanks: Depending on the torch you pick you may need 1 or 2 tanks. Every torch needs a mix of "air" and gas. The gas is what is burning, and the air is what controls the flame. The torch and regulators will also determine what type of "air" and gas you will use. Air can either come in through a vent or through a hose from an oxygen tank. (Oxygen will make everything hotter. Acetylene + Air = HOT vs Acetylene + Oxygen = SUPER HOT) In the jewelry world, gas is typically acetylene or propane. There are many others, but it is what you see jewelers using 90% of the time.

My recommendations & what I use:

My main torch is sometimes called a "plumbers torch". The brand is Prest-O-Lite, and it uses an acetylene b tank. It came with 4 different tips that I can change out to adjust the size of he flame. One of the main benefits of this torch is that it only requires 1 tank (not 2) and it can solder in a wide variety of scenarios. The one negative of this torch is that it doesn't solder super teeny tiny things well. Even using the smallest tip, the flame is a bit too big for the super teen tiny things. You can likely buy this torch at a welding supply shop.

If I was buying my first torch all over again, I would get the Smith® SilverSmith™ Acetylene and Air Torch(pictured above). Its basically the same as the Prest-O-Lite but has a wider range of tips for soldering super tiny things. Just like the Prest-O-Lite it only needs 1 tank, an acetylene b tank. If you go this route, order some additional/larger tips too. You can get the acetylene b tank from your local welding supply shop.

I also use a small torch, the Smith® Little Torch™. The little torch is a beautiful little guy and most jewelers use it as their only torch. However, if you plan to make anything larger in sterling silver (3"+ and solid) this might not provide a broad enough flame. To reiterate though, most jewelers don't do that. I'm a bit weird :) This torch, despite it's small size, gets super hot. That is because it is a combination of gas and oxygen This combination also offers greater control of your flame size and gas/air mix, since you can adjust how much of each you want. You can buy this torch as either propane/oxygen or acetylene/oxygen (I went with the propane (want to know more about the difference between propane and acetylene - click here)). Like the other Smith torch you will want to buy this one online. You can then buy the tanks at the welding supply shop.

I will also point out that a lot of jewelers starting out like to use butane torches. These are inexpensive, compact, and don't require a trip to the welding supply shop. That said, they really don't have the range needed for more complex and larger scale work (anything over 2 1/2 inches). If you want to learn more about butane torches you can check out THIS LINK to a video by rio grande and THIS LINK for a well written article on butane torches and their limitations. 

Don't hesitate to reach out to me with questions. I know this can be an intimidating and scary descision. 

If you you’re ready to get serious about metalsmithing check out my other studio, Alloy Metalsmithing. We offer group workshops, private events, 1:! lessons, as well as a bench membership for aspiring serious to semi serious metalsmithers. There’s something for everyone whether you are a total beginner, a seasoned metalsmither looking for a community and bench, or just want to try it out for fun and to make something memorable.

We’d love to see you there!

xo, Kelly