11 Main

11 Main, Inc. A New Marketplace Of Specialty 

Shops and Boutiques

I was hand selected on Friday to be a part of 11 Main

and they are giving you 20% OFF!

Visit my new shop and you'll 

received a special gift.

Start shopping and get

20% OFF

your purchase at 11 Main.

(Code: SHOP11)

Shop Now!

About 11 Main: As an invitation-only marketplace, 11 Main carefully selects merchants, making some of the best and most differentiated boutiques available to shoppers. The site, currently in beta, features a wide range of products, including one-of-a-kind items, not available at mass merchants and other large e-commerce sites. 11 Main offers shops in a variety of categories including Fashion & Style, Home & Outdoor, Jewelry & Watches, Baby & Kids, Collecting & Art, and Crafts, Hobbies & Toys.

Sea Fan Coral Collection

New Sea Fan Coral Collection

Water Drop Features

Sea Fan Coral Wide Cuff Bracelet

Sea Fan Coral Wide Band Ring

Sea Fan Coral Tear Drop Pendant

Sea Fan Coral Tear Drop Earrings

Sea Fan Coral Narrow Wide Cuff Bracelet

Sea Fan Coral Pinky Dome Ring

Please use our Contact Page to find out more 

about our new Sea Fan Collection.

Octopus and Seahorse Champagne Glasses

A commission job from Claysie & Dan...yup, they are getting married!

Completed!!!

These are almost finished! Here is my husband adding the Oxidation to bring out the details in these two little sculptures.

 They are wanting two very special champagne flutes for their wedding day. Dan's flute will have the Octopus and Claysie's wants hers to have one or two seahorses on her champagne flute. 

Updated July 31

About 20 hours of work but it's definitely taking shape.

It about half finished, I just need to lock myself in the studio for about three days to complete the wax model.

Claysie & Dan have allowed me to share their ideas so the Octopus and Seahorse Champagne Glasses will be available to purchase. I will have additional information once completed.

Thanks for looking!

Carpet Anemone Ring in the making...

I have been saving pictures of the Giant Carpet Anemone for about a year now knowing that there was a ring in there. Finally finding a little time to sculpt, I had an opportunity to let the design spill out of my brain onto my ring mandrel. I have about 4 hours of work in the ring so far but I already know, it's going to be beautiful. 

The key to the design is making it look like exactly like a piece of carpet. That means that the edges have to curl under and it has to have its carpet like dots on top of the anemone. It's Saturday and I don't think I have the patience for that today, maybe on Monday but if you read below, you'll see that the the gigantic carpet anemone occurs in blue, red, green, purple, and pink color. So that being the case, I want to set a round 5-6mm faceted colored stone in the center of the anemone with a 14k bezel around the stone. 

Once completed, I'm pretty sure this ring is going to Rock!

To inquire about this piece, please use the "Contact Form" to the right and mention the Anemone Ring. Thanks for looking!

Stichodactyla gigantea
Range: Red Sea, Japan, Micronesia, Fiji

Stichodactyla gigantea, or the Gigantic Carpet Anemone, is rarely imported, grows very large (up to a meter in diameter!), has a thin central column, and has slightly longer tentacles that give this anemone a “furry” appearance. Stichodactyla gigantea resides in the shallow intertidal sand flats, where it is an opportunistic predator and scavenger, consuming animal matter, fish and invertebrates washed in and out with the tide. Like Stichodactyla haddoni, the gigantic carpet anemone will need a deep sand bed in the home aquarium, though in contrast, cannot pull itself completely beneath the sand. While the gigantic carpet anemone is not as sticky or aggressive as Haddon’s carpet anemone, it is still a predator, and will sting and consume anything brushing by its tentacles. While all large carpet anemone species need intense lighting, the gigantic carpet anemone will require the most intense. The gigantic carpet anemone occurs in blue, red, green, purple, and pink color morphs.

Information was taken from an article: Carpet Anemones: Big, Beautiful, and Deadly By Mike Maddox

Leaf & Twig Rings - a little play on the tree truck heart.

Engraved initial ring with beautiful leaves 

and twig design with a matching band.

  

Leaf & Twig Rings

This is my play on the Tree Trunk Initial Ring but in a more feminine way for her. 

This is a sweet and innocent tribute to love, the ring is personalized with you and your significant other's initials carved into the bark. The leaf and twig band is equally beautiful with flowing leaves which make the perfect pair for your wedding or as a commitment.

Lake Norman Magazine - Accessible Art

Dawn Vertrees of Dawn Vertrees Jewelry in her Cornelius home studio working with a lost wax process to sculpt a decorative wine glass ornament commissioned for use in an upcoming wedding.

-Grant Baldwin Photography - Grant Baldwin

Dawn Vertrees, 54, Etsy store: DawnVertreesJewelry

After retiring from a lengthy 
corporate career, an unexpected mentor came into Dawn Vertrees’ life. Volker Kracht, a senior master jeweler from Germany, put off retirement for three years after seeing a stunning orchid pendant that Vertrees made from three sheets of wax.

Since 2001, Vertrees has pursued different artistic media, starting with ceramic jewelry and moving on to the world of Lost Wax, which she works in today to make fine artisan jewelry like intricately designed rings and pendants depicting tree frogs, turtles, starfish, and other nature-inspired subjects.

Along the way, she’s picked up numerous awards at festivals and art shows across the Southeast while making a living 

from her craftsmanship. But when the constant travel started to take its toll, Vertrees turned to the Internet to keep her business going.

“I got so tired of being out on the road that one day while my husband was filling up the motor coach with gas, I created an Etsy site and at each rest stop and break I had, I photographed my pieces so I could continue to make money without having to constantly travel to shows,” Vertrees says.

The Internet opened up more doors for Vertrees, allowing jewelry retailers in St. John, Virgin Islands and Disney resorts to discover her pieces and add them to their collections. 
In the coming months, Vertrees says her business will come full circle as she’s in the process of building a wholesale market and will eventually only sell through brick-and-mortar stores.

“It’s the circle of life of being a jewelry designer. Art shows come first, then Internet, and then wholesale and possibly, a a few wholesale shows,” Vertrees adds.

Read more here: Accessible Art

DV Catalog: Dawn Vertrees 2014 Catalog

Wholesale Contact: Julie King Julie@buydawnvertreesjewelry.com, or by phone at 340-344-0410

New Sea Fan Coral Cuff being made.

The wax models have been completed and now being cast along with two bonus pieces...a Hibiscus Ring & Pendant.

Sea Fan Coral Band
Wax Model

Sea Fan Coral Cuff Bracelet
Wax Model

I'm sculpting a new Sea Fan Coral Cuff Bracelet, 

it's a simple, sleek look with realistic details to give you that wow factor.

Coral's are all the rage in the design world right now and I'm so glad I started my collection 5 years ago. I have always loved the feeling the ocean has given me...it's relaxing, it releaves stress and I want my ocean reef jewelry to create that same feeling in you.

To accomplish this, I take the high road and hand sculpt each piece using the wax wires shown on the left. Each wax wire is cut and placed to create the look of fan coral.

It also allows me to create soft polished edges and flowing lines that curves around the wrist...this also means doing the right thing by not taking the corals from our oceans, a pledge I took several years ago.

Creating Ocean Reef Jewelry is a passion for me and I am excited to be bringing you a whole new collection.

Please keep looking, there is more to come.

Ocean Reef Flip Cuff Bracelet

Ocean Reef Flip Cuff Bracelet

Have you ever thought about buying an heirloom?

An heirloom can be a piece of jewelry you purchased or a piece you had made...either way, this special piece of jewelry should bring out your emotions, your thoughts or just put a smile on your face. It's something that has brought you joy and you want to pass it down to the next generations for them to cherish and enjoy as well.

Needless to say, my daughter will be getting quite a few heirlooms especially this one. It only took one trip to the islands to fall in love with the ocean and everything in it but the most fascinating part of the ocean to me has to be the sea fan coral...its soft skeletal design gracefully moves with the currents. It's that movement I wanted to capture with this new Collection. I wanted to recreate that movement without it actually moving but I also wanted the piece to tell a story.

Such as the Starfish finding a safe place to land or the tip of the sea fan capturing a large pearl for its own enjoyment. I hope that whoever wears a piece of my sea fan jewelry, sees the movement that I see and simple takes you away for just a moment.

So whether it's a piece of jewelry that I create or one that I have made especially for you, I always imagine it being passed down to the next generations and bringing joy to the one wearing it.


Materials: Sterling Silver & 14k Yellow Gold
Pearl: Natural Color Freshwater Pearl, No Dyes.
Finish: High Polished
Size: Medium

A Few Options

The starfish is cast in 14k Yellow Gold and the Pearl shown is a 11mm Natural Fresh Water Pearl. Other pearl options are South Sea or Tahitian. Pearls that are 10mm-11mm work well with this design.

I have sculpted several starfish in various sizes, so a cluster would also look fabulous on this cuff.

Additional Pearl Options: Please let me know if your would like another pearl besides Freshwater. I would be happy to locate your pearl at the best price available.

My process for creating my Sea Fan Coral Jewelry

A piece of 16 gauge wax wire is cut into 2-4mm lengths and each one is soldered together to create the fan coral design. There are no shortcuts for me when creating my wax pieces. It's a labor of love and the results are something that I am very proud of. It takes great equipment from my caster to get these right. I push the limits when it comes to sculpting and casting.

When Volker (Master Jeweler) ask me, what did I want to learn? He said I can teach you everything about making jewelry! I asked if I could think about it overnight. I came back to him the next day and ask if it was OK just to concentrate on sculpting the wax to make jewelry? I told him I felt my time would be better spent on design, and spending the time needed to creating realistic wax models with the detail I felt they needed. He said it was OK and I never regretted my decision not to do it all.

Murex and Sea Fan Coral Fusion Cuff Bracelet

More Information, Click Here.

Murex & Sea Fan Fusion Cuff Bracelet

Creating Wearable Art

To this day, when I walk on the beach, I would see shells, starfish and corals washed up on the shore. The seaweed or coral would be intertwined with the shells as they rolled back and forth with the waves.

I guess some people would just ignore the mangled clump of sea life but I could see a painting laying on the sand, or as a scarf around your neck or a piece of jewelry wrapped around my arm. It was those fascinating little pieces that were the inspiration for making this cuff.

The Cuff is half Murex Shell and half Sea Fan Coral...just two fascinating pieces that came together as one.

So when I sit down at my bench, I have the opportunity to create just that, wearable art. It may take a month, sometimes several months but eventually, I will walk out of my studio with a piece of art that has never existed before.

Material: 92.5 Sterling Silver

Finish: High Polished

Size: Medium

Overlapping Sea Fan Coral Adjustable Ring

Overlapping Sea Fan Coral 

Adjustable Ring