• Blog
  • In the Studio
  • FAQ
  • Contact Me

Moonspinner

Artisan Jewelry by Michaela Batstone

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Shop

FAQ

Some things to remember when purchasing a Moonspinner piece:

Please keep in mind that all aspects of Moonspinner are managed by me alone. I am responsible for handling communications, finances, shipping, social media, photography, and much more beyond the metalsmithing. I try to make as many pieces as I am able for each collection, but each piece takes hours, and sometimes days, to complete from start to finish.

Make sure you look at all the photos of the pieces you are looking to purchase, because I try to photograph these pieces from every angle, in my hand for size reference, and in natural light, so you can see exactly what you will receive. I want you to be sure you are purchasing the perfect pieces!

If you do not see a piece in my store, it means that it is sold out. Generally, I use up all of my gemstones of particular sizes and shapes, so I usually cannot do custom pieces for sold out designs. Though I will often put out a call for ring size suggestions and style opinions!

When do you update the shop?

You can find shop update times and dates in blog previews and on my Instagram account. If ever there is a postponement or shop update change, it will be announced on Instagram first.

I try to share ample preview photos and give enough lead time (usually a month) for those who are interested in purchasing something. Depending on the collection, pieces are often claimed very quickly, so my advice is to be in the shop when the pieces are expected to go live.

Some designs and themes are annual, others are purely by whim and inspiration. Feel free to send me a message if you’d like to know if a particular theme or design will be coming back.

Do you take reserves?

Unfortunately no, all items in my collection releases are first come first served. I wish there was a less hectic way to do this, but my number one priority is that it is fair for everyone, which is why I don’t take reserves.

How fast do you ship?

Pieces from my limited collection releases will generally ship within 5 business days of purchase.

My made to order items will ship within 2-4 weeks, and is dependent on how many other in process orders there are ahead of your purchase.

You will receive a tracking number when your order ships. In the event of a lost or damaged package, I am unfortunately unable to provide extensive assistance and advise you to contact your local post office immediately. If you need your order by a certain date, please contact me prior to purchase to discuss shipping possibilities.

International Customers – Please keep in mind that international mail may be held up for up to 4 weeks at customs. Depending on the laws and regulations of your country of residence, you might have to pay additional customs fees or taxes when you receive your package.

What is your return policy?

I generally do not offer returns or exchanges unless I inadvertently shipped a defective item. I pack all of my orders with great care and cannot be held responsible for damages due to postal transit. In the rare occurrence that a package does get lost, please contact your local post office with your tracking number and file a reimbursement claim. Please remember that color varies from screen to screen and while I take great care to photograph my products accurately your monitor settings might be slightly different from mine.

How should I care for my jewelry?

General Care – Avoid contact with lotions, perfumes, and beauty products. Remove jewelry before washing hands and showering. Avoid harsh chemicals and cleaning agents. And storing jewelry in a jewelry box will help to prevent tarnishing when you are not wearing it.

Sterling Silver – Naturally, sterling silver jewelry will tarnish over time. This is not indicative of poor quality. If you notice your jewelry discoloring or losing its luster, use a polishing cloth to help bring back the shine. It will not, however, buff out any scratches. Also, please note that sterling silver has a small amount of copper in the alloy to which some individuals with sensitive skin may have reactions.

Oxidized Sterling Silver – The oxidization on those pieces that have been antiqued is not permanent, and will fade in some areas with wear. To keep the oxidization as long as possible, avoid silver cleaning solutions and prolonged exposure to liquids.

Brass – Brass will develop a natural patina over time. But you can keep it bright by polishing with a polishing cloth after every wear and storing in a jewelry box.

Do you resize?

Generally no. If you are unsure of your size, contact me and I can send you a little ring sizer, free of charge! If you guess or measure with improper tools, there is a chance your ring might not fit. Please note that some styles are not able to be resized at all due to the width of the band or detailing on the ring.

Also, please keep in mind that wide bands and saddle style bands will fit snug, and the general rule of thumb is to purchase wide rings 1/2 size larger than your regular ring size.

Do you wholesale?

I am afraid not. My pieces are already priced with minimal profit, to be able to create wholesale, I would have to raise my prices, which I am not comfortable with.

Unless otherwise noted, all images, designs, and writing is property of Michaela Batstone. All rights reserved.

Newsletter

Sign up below for exclusive previews of new collections, glimpses behind the scenes, and words on the inspiration behind the work.

I am pushing through drifts of snow and snapping i I am pushing through drifts of snow and snapping ice from pine boughs, all to gather up enough winter for my North Wind Collection!

As you may remember, I decided to move the North Wind Collection (as well as the Mossflower Collection) to a biannual schedule. I love these stones, these palettes, these seasons so much that when I work with them, I want to honor them with as bounteous of offerings as I can muster. And so they take months and hundreds of hours to conjure.

Therefore, to make space in my year for all the new collection ideas I have had tucked away in my sketchbook and gemstone cabinet, I decided to make those two seasonal collections every other year, rather than annually.

All of this to say, this will be the last North Wind Collection until 2023, but it is going to be SUCH a beautiful one!

Oh! Quick little poll for you, I am feeling pulled in two different directions in my earring creation. Which do you prefer: light, lilting, dangly earrings with small stones and perhaps a fringe OR bold, drop earrings featuring slices of stone?
After asking you in a poll and in the comments of After asking you in a poll and in the comments of a recent post, it looks like you would much prefer an early March release, rather than a February one, for the North Wind Collection.

This will allow me catch a bit more winter, create more pieces, and give me a bit more time to share the stories behind these designs.

I have so so so much to share with you. If only I could tear myself away from the bench to snap some photos of everything I have finished!

I haven't settled on a date in early-mid March quite yet, I need to see how long things will take me to finish. But you will be the first to know!
The surprise collection from yesterday is all sold The surprise collection from yesterday is all sold now, but garnet will return!

I have been collecting garnet, redder hessonites particularly and some almandine, for about four years with the intention of a big collection.

I am a bit like a crow with my gemstones, I find a little handful of beautiful turquoise or agate, and I tuck it away in my gemstone cabinet.

I have another little surprise collection planned for sometime next month. What stones would you like to see in an upcoming collection? Do you have a favorite that I havent worked with yet? One you'd like to see return? I would love to know!
Edit: Sold Out (Just three left! Sizes 6, 9, and Edit: Sold Out

(Just three left! Sizes 6, 9, and 11.)

As I mentioned before, I am hoping to do semi-frequent surprise collections throughout this year to offset the fluster of my scheduled and long-anticipated collection releases. These surprise collections will allow for serendipity to carry my pieces to their intended owners.

For some of the collections, I will give a slight heads-up on the blog, since I know social media algorithms can be really problematic. I will put up a blog post announcing the date and time when the previewed collection will be released.

Other collections will be true surprises, and I will announce on social media the moment they land in my shop.
Surprise! The very first of my surprise collection Surprise! The very first of my surprise collections just landed in the Etsy shop. 

Valentine Rings. 

Sweet, romantic rings featuring natural, faceted hessonite garnets. The January birthstone, and a wonderful representation of love, I think. They range in hue from deep cherry to magenta to brick red. Set in ornate inverted heart bezels with beaded circlets to accent them, romantic and regal.

They are set atop half-round hands for comfort and fit true to size. 
The sizes available will be 6, 6.75, 6.75, 7, 7, 7.5, 8, 8, 8.5, 9, 10.5, 11.
My hands are flying over sharp sterling edges and My hands are flying over sharp sterling edges and a color palette that reflects the world outside my studio windows. I am enthralled by blue this year, and you will be able to find a lot of it in this year’s North Wind Collection. There will be the deep, crackling teal of moss kyanite, magical shimmer of moonstone, the soft liquid blues of aquamarine, and the dusky snow-squalling blues of dendritic agate. Deep winter ice and shadows on snow, all encased within stone.

(Here is a sneak peak at a new necklace design!)

I am oscillating between release times for the North Wind Release, the last week of February or the first week of March. Do you have a preference? I would love to know!
✨A call for ring sizes!✨ With my recurring co ✨A call for ring sizes!✨

With my recurring collections, most designs don’t make an appearance in every iteration. Some designs I only make once, others I revisit every now and again. A few weeks ago I asked which designs you’d like to see return from last year’s North Wind Collection. And I heard a resounding call for Winter Current Rings.

And so, I have scoured every drawer in my gemstone cabinet, and was able to gather the sweetest little bowl of teal kyanites for the rings. Nearly two hundred people raised their hands when I asked who was hoping to claim one during the release, and I am afraid I wont be able to make that many. But I will have a good offering of them! A few dozen with the sweetest, wintery gemstones.

And now, if this is a design you’re hoping to scoop up during the release, let me know in the comments below your ring size! (They fit true to size.) I want to try to have the best spread of ring sizes possible, and I will make the most requested sizes.

I hope you are weathering 2021 comfortably. Perhaps by catching snow squalls and spinning magic out of ice, all while holding a steamy mug of something warm.
❄️ Winter Oak Earrings ❄️ I made a versio ❄️ Winter Oak Earrings ❄️

I made a version of these for my very first Mossflower Collection, featuring a round shape and little prehnite gemstones. My initial vision for these were of sturdy oaks, rough in texture and bold in their size. And those earrings reflected that.

While I smith in the studio, I can look out towards the slender, leafless birches and tremendous trees beyond them, thick and sturdy. And what a thing to see a tree in winter: weathered, bare, still. To run hands along branches slick with ice, touch the coarse bark in its hibernation. But in that same moment to know that they will soon shake the ice off their arms, kick the snow off their toes, and then toss on their green, glowing mantles.

And so, these earrings are for them. The winter version of my Oak Earrings. Emulating the beauty of great, frozen trees, lovely in their roughness and glowing with winter. Earrings for walking through frozen oak glades and filling your pockets with winter.

They are sawn in a marquise shape, seemingly spilling below the ear. The surface is textured, weathered, and oxidized. And at the bottom of each earring, a beautiful kyanite. I have sawn a window behind the stone so these gemstones truly glow below the ear.

So far I have only made this pair of Winter Oak Earrings. I wanted to put out a call so I could get an idea of how many I should make. So if these earrings are calling out to you, and you think you’d like to claim a pair during the release, let me know in the comments below!
Friends! I have decided that I am going to start s Friends! I have decided that I am going to start sprinkling surprise collections throughout the year. Since the long-scheduled shop updates can be a bit hectic and frustrating, I think a few small, surprise ones will allow for serendipity.

I will let everyone know about surprise collections in posts here that will be simultaneous to when the pieces appear in the Etsy shop. Since the algorithm can be a bit of a bother for some people, I will try to put a blog post up the day before. So if you are signed up for the newsletter, you will get a collection preview and the timing of the release slightly in advance. (You can find the signup on my website.)

First surprise collection coming soon!
❄️ February Rings ❄️ The companion design ❄️ February Rings ❄️

The companion design to last year’s January Rings. They will feature shimmering white moonstones and icy aquamarines, varying in surface cut.

Some of the aquamarines are the deep blue of an arctic lake, and others the softest blue, like early morning blue skies above a winterscape. The variations of blues and the different ways in which they shimmer and glow will be so splendid to see all together.

I finished these just as the fresh snow arrived, and I was able to catch a few snow crystals and place them daintily around these gemstones. I tucked a few frosty pebbles around the stones, and set them all atop a heavy-weight half round band. I have lightly textured the surface of the bands to look like a lightly trod footpath over fresh snow.

I am in love with this design, I have been wearing the aquamarine ring all morning, tilting it into the light to look down into its crackling depths. These are truly rings made for queens of winter. Made for holding snow squalls in the palm, and reaching into frozen pools towards the deep undercurrents.  Rings for February.
————————————

The rest of the February Rings are unfinished and waiting for bands, there will be a few dozen made for the collection. If this design is calling to you, let me know in the comments your ring size and whether you prefer shimmering white moonstone or icy aquamarine! (These rings fit a smidge snug as the bands are about 6mm wide, but I think ordering your true size is just fine.)
I am positively thrumming with excitement about my I am positively thrumming with excitement about my upcoming North Wind Collection! I only have a few designs that I will be revisiting from last year (thank you to everyone who weighed in on the polls!), which means my bench is covered in brand new sketches, prototypes, eager piles of gemstones, and tools just itching to be used.

This morning it snowed a fresh blanket, cedars dipping under the weight and the pond all but swallowed up. And it arrived just in time, because I was able to reach my hand out the window and pluck some snow crystals from the air for these February Rings I am making. Shimmering white moonstones and deep, icy aquamarines will be set beside some daintily resting snowflakes and mounds of snow.

Keep an eye out here because I am going to send out a call for ring size requests so I can know how many to make for all you snow queens and winter walkers.
Goodness it is dark these days! I am so thankful f Goodness it is dark these days! I am so thankful for the solstice, what a relief to be walking into light. I have been steadily tinkering away on a beautiful North Wind offering for you, often in near complete darkness. The shadows of winter will be tucked under all the stones, nestled around mounds of sterling snow, above drippy icicles, and around gently resting snowflakes. A winter collection infused with the longest night feels perfectly fitting, does it not?

I recently put up a few polls on the type of jewelry you are most hoping to catch in the North Wind Collection. Looks like you dear souls are looking forward to rings and earrings, of which there will be a bounty!

If you have something specific you would love to see, let me know below!

I am going to be posting photos of the first new designs soon, and I hope to hear from you so I can get an idea of how many to make of each. So keep an eye here so you can raise your hand when you see the design that makes your winter-loving heart sing. 💙❄️
Follow on Instagram

Navigate

  • Blog
  • In the Studio
  • FAQ
  • Contact Me

Theme by 17th Avenue · Powered by WordPress & Genesis