Two tone copper bangles and cuffs

This didn't happen over night...


It seems like jewelry making was something I’ve wanted to do since the beginning of time. I remember always wanting to go to the bead shop down the street, or go in search of a bead shop wherever our family went on vacation. I took beading classes from the local bead shops in early elementary school, and continued to bead, make lanyards, friendship bracelets, cross stitch, sew, paint, draw, etc. throughout Junior High and High School. However, while earning my B.S. in Environmental Horticulture and Urban Forestry at the University of California at Davis, it all came to an end. I was too busy using the left side of my brain to even notice that my right side had shut down. At a point during my senior year I noticed that I missed being crafty. I held a few crafty parties with some of my friends and couldn’t really produce anything. I tried drawing, but couldn’t think of anything to draw. I had artists’ block!

A couple of years of post-college traveling went by and the only form of art that I practiced was photography, and a bit of sketching. I found myself in Yarmouth, Maine in January of 2007, living in an un-insulated attic and without a job. My mom had started her gem and mineral business by then and her wire wrapper wanted to concentrate doing shows rather than custom wrapping. I was able to convince my mom to let me do some of the wire wrapping (even though I had never done it before). She sent me a few gems, I bought some pliers and wire, and the rest is history!

- Mei-Ling Cheung

Whimsical Elegance 

The most frequent comment that I hear about my jewelry is Everything is so unique and different! This is why:

Most of the high-end gems are hand selected by Frances Fujii (my mom), owner of "The Gem & Mineral Collector". She is continually on the lookout for unique gems and loves to purchase directly from the mining group or lapidary artist. Her amazing eye for shape, composition, color, uniqueness, rarity and overall quality ensures that you are getting some of the best quality gems in the world. I have a stockpile of her inventory that is just waiting for the right inspiration or the perfect accent stone to come along.

My true inspiration comes from the beauty of each gem. My first step is usually laying them all out, singling some out to be wrapped alone, matching others together and orienting them to my liking... then I set them aside for a while. The ones that I can't stop thinking about are what I tend to work on first. Once I become inspired then I will sometimes sketch the design… but I often don't follow the sketch; most of the time I just wing it. I usually have no clue as to what the end product will look like until it’s done.

The wire is either Sterling Silver, 14 Kt Gold Filled or 14 Kt Gold. I use brass and copper for the custom nametags. Copper Creations I’ve become fascinated by the blue patina that is created when you treat copper with ammonia. I absolutely love how uncontrollable, abstract and deep each of the pieces develop. This is a 4 – 7 day process that depends on a few variables. No one piece is the same. Items on a Whim My hand forged items are even more unpredictable than the wire wrapped items. I love bending and hammering the metal, flaring and texturing it.