MUNCIE, Ind. — The total solar eclipse is slowly approaching. A local Muncie business owner is making jewelry dedicated to this rare occasion.
Melissa Wright owns The Crafty Bee, an almost 10-year-old handmade jewelry business with pieces made from polymer clay.
Wright’s excitement for the eclipse comes from the rarity of this remarkable event.
“We’ve not seen any of this—if you’ve not been outside of Indiana, you’ve not seen this ever in your lifetime, so it’s literally a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Wright said.
Although she is excited about the eclipse, that’s not the main reason she made her eclipse jewelry. Her attendance at the Muncie eclipse held by Magic City Market encouraged her to create these unique pieces.
“I want to have a good variety of different kinds of jewelry, you know, for anybody. I wanted to attract the masses to come and see all my jewelry and see what I have,” Wright said.
Because the jewelry is handmade, each piece is different; none are identical. Wright says her pieces aren’t as easy to make as they look. Her intricate process takes time and patience.
“If it’s some intricate designs that I’m doing, like for the eclipse, then it takes several hours to build up the clay to be able to get that design and then all the processing to go through it—there’s a lot of steps to go through it,” Wright said.
Eclipse jewelry is available for purchase and costs $24 to $40. If interested, contact The Craft Bee on Facebook.
Contact Kahmara Munn with comments at kahmara.munn@bsu.edu
