I started making jewelry in my mid-twenties mostly out of practicality. I wanted the trendy, expressive pieces I saw everywhere but didn't want to pay for them, so I figured I'd just make them myself. I've always used fashion as a way to say something about who I am, and the idea of wearing something truly one-of-a-kind, something nobody else had, stuck with me.

Life got busy, and the jewelry got put away. Then 2020 happened.

Like a lot of people, I needed something to do with my hands. I picked up bead weaving, starting with brick stitch seed bead earrings, and fell back in love with it fast. Seed beads are endlessly fun to work with — the color options alone could keep you busy for years, between the mattes, the metallics, the irises, the transparents. I was immediately drawn to the boho, fringy, dangly styles. Big earrings. Statement earrings. The kind you notice.

From there I kept going. I taught myself to work with copper wire, wrapping and shaping and hammering it by hand, and started learning about gemstones along the way. Every stone has its own character, its own color story. Pairing them with copper and seed beads is where things started to get really fun.

Then something kept happening. A friend would wear a pair of earrings I made her and I'd catch myself just smiling watching her in them. Someone would stop me on the street to ask about a piece I was wearing, something I'd made myself, and that feeling never got old. It made me realize these pieces were meant to be out in the world, not just in my jewelry box.

Pretty Fine Sunshine is made right here in Austin, Texas, one piece at a time, by me. Everything is handmade and genuinely one-of-a-kind. If something catches your eye, it's probably the only one.

I'm glad you're here.

— Susie