Meet Sarah Morrison of Sarah Madeline Jewelry in Central Phoenix

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Morrison.

Sarah, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As a child, I enjoyed making jewelry from string, beads, and whatever I could get in my craft kit. In high school, I moved onto ball chain, soda tabs and nail polish jewelry (the 90’s!). In my early 20’s, I picked up the pliers set my dad had given me and started collecting jewelry supplies. The pieces I made starting piling up and I decided to sell them to my waitress friends. This grew into selling in local shops, setting up at markets and more! Living in Phoenix for 10 years, I have really been grateful for the artist community and opportunities there are to be self-employed.

I was originally self-taught. But had a desire to grow and learn, I took metalsmithing classes in 2017. I had earned Americorps scholarships from previous service work and never thought that going back to school was something I wanted until I realized that Scottsdale Community College offered jewelry making. It opened up many new doors for me and changed my original style and skill.

I like to experiment with different designs and still enjoy wire wrapping, beading and more while integrating my new skills. My pieces are always changing as a result, growing in abilities, but will have the Sarah Madeline signature look of simple and organic.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being an entrepreneur is full of self-doubt. I often wonder if anyone even likes the items I made, or if they will sell. Sometimes I try something new and it totally fails. I sometimes still have terrible days where I spend many hours prepping for a show, haul all my gear to a location, pay for the spot and make almost no money.

But there are so many things that bring that scale-up; I get to stay at home with my son, making my own hours, working for myself, having customers love a piece so much it feels like it was meant for them specifically when I made it. I often have shows where I exceeded all my expectations & goals, it removes the doubt right away! It is always an interesting, unpredictable and exciting road.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
Sarah Madeline Jewelry has really changed over time and I am regularly honing in on, what I do, how do I do it differently than others, etc. I believe I have become a local artist that can offer a variety of southwest, dainty and feminine styles for various price points for all. I also genuinely care about people, my customers. For example, I will polish up pieces that were purchased a year ago, replace chains and love to receive Sarah Madeline Jewelry selfies. I have met so many lovely customers while selling jewelry and watching them decorate their life with my pieces. I just can’t describe the joy that women supporting women bring and how when I can make someone feel even more beautiful than they already are with my craft, it just makes me so proud.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I remember when my dad gave me the set of jewelry pliers for the first time. I think I kept asking him to fix jewelry for me or make things for me. He just wanted me to do it myself, ha. But after the pliers had sat on my dresser for a while, I picked them up and started doing repairs myself. I am old enough to have not had resources like YouTube to watch to learn to make jewelry back then. I just played with pliers and made stuff. I remember this fondly because it is just telling of who I am. If I want to figure something out, I will.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sarahmadelinejewelry.etsy.com
• Email: sarahmadelinejewelry@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sarahmadelinejewelry
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sarahmadelinejewelry

Image Credit:
all photos by Sarah Madeline

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