A little story about my Many The Miles seaglass and beach stone necklace.
One day our 21 year old daughter asked us if we were familiar with singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles. Yeah, she knows what we like. We were instantly hooked on Sara's music. (She's a three time Grammy nominee, by the way) Have you seen her on the a capella competition show The Sing-Off? She's one of the judges. Adorable, smart, and oh so very talented.
So my husband is a bit of a musician himself, and one evening while I was working on a new necklace in my studio, he was playing one of our favorite Sara tunes on the piano upstairs.
The necklace turned out to measure more than 60" long and somehow the name "Many The Miles" just seemed to fit. So the necklace was named for Sara's tune. As you can see, there are tiny little silver tags scattered all around the necklace which I can stamp for customers if they ask me to.
A short time later the necklace was purchased through my Etsy shop by a lovely customer in Roumens, France. We'll call her Diane. (Because her name is Diane) After much back and forth via email with Diane over how to ship the piece to her safely, she asked me where the inspiration for the name of the necklace came from. It seemed so appropriate as it would be traveling MANY the miles to get to her! I told her about the Sara Bareilles tune that gave the necklace it's name and sent her a link so she could listen. She loved it, and said it was the first she'd heard of this performer. What would she like stamped on the 12 little tags on her necklace? Yep. "Many the miles."
Perfect. Done.
Oh, and Sara, if you start to see a spike in your popularity in Roumens, France over the next few months, I think I should get a little of the credit for spreading the word.
I'm more than happy for you to share posts from my blog to your blog, twitter etc. However, please do take the time to credit my work and or images with: Photo courtesy of SToNZ/SmARTwork Studio, Inc.
I have been making art as long as I can remember. (Arts & Crafts camp? Art classes at the museum? Sign me up!) My art passion led me to art school (Go Blue!) where I followed the path of commercial graphic arts. This in turn, led me to illustrating greeting cards for a huge corporation for many years and eventually running a graphic design/illustration business from my home studio while I raised my twins. If you are an art person you know that working with your hands is an addiction you cannot shed. So, I am back to my passion of making jewelry. I have also always been a beach girl, collecting sea glass, shells and beach stones from every beach I visit in my travels. When I discovered I could actually combine my two loves: making creative and fun stuff (I have also sewn clothing, wood burned, painted furniture, dyed silk scarves...oh, the list is endless) with hanging out on beautiful beaches collecting natural treasures, I knew I’d found my dream! So, here is SToNZ. I only have 2 wrists and one neck, and way more stuff than I can wear myself, so it’s time to share.
Susan Saltzman
Now available! See photos of SToNZ™ jewelry in a new book from Rockport Publishers/Quarry Books entitled "1000 Jewelry Inspirations" by Sandra Salamony Pages 28 & 29
