Meet Caitlin Clark

Today we’d like to introduce you to Caitlin Clark.  

Hi Caitlin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
My husband, Peter, and I started rock-hounding a few years back. We would have little weekend trips up the west shores of Lake Michigan in search of rocky beaches. In the beginning of 2021, we adopted our senior Australian Shepherd, Rucy from Pound Buddies in Muskegon, Michigan and she became part of our rockhounding team accompanying us on every trip we take. Our collection of Petoskey stones began to grow, and I knew I needed to come up with an idea to showcase the intricacies of the stone. In 2021 I started by googling ways to showcase them, what worked best to bring out the patterns, and I soon found myself in a deep rabbit hole of the world of Petoskey stone jewelry. Most jewelers that shape and polish their own stones have a lapidary machine – which is a machine used to shape and polish stones using sanding wheels. Without making a major investment into one myself, I opted for the next best thing, sandpaper and a good amount of elbow grease. For the next year, I tinkered away, figuring out what worked best and how to improve the shaping and polishing process. I found that using 80-grit sandpaper all the way up to 3000 grit and then using an aluminum oxide polish gave the stones an amazing finish. I then would shape the stones to fit into bezels that I could find at my local craft stores, and once I thought I really had the process down, I moved over to setting the stones in fine sterling silver jewelry. I have yet to master the craft of silversmithing, but it’s something that I have been teaching myself about as I go along in this journey. I continued working away at my newfound hobby never really sharing my photos online as I was nervous to put my work out there but always talked about eventually opening my own Etsy shop. In November of 2021, while walking Rucy through the woods, I told my husband how excited I was at the progress I had made on a few sterling silver rings, and without hesitation, he asked to see my phone, and before I knew it- right there in the woods he started the process of opening up my Etsy shop. We brainstormed names as we walked, and I decided I wanted the shop to be in my middle name. Thus, the name- Made By Morgan Gifts was created. If I’m being totally honest the idea of putting myself out there for not just Facebook friends to see but the whole world scared me half to death. What if I fail? What if I don’t sell anything at all? What if I’m a complete laughingstock? But Peter was there to quiet my thinking and encourage me to keep going every step of the way, and I will be forever grateful for that. I believe it was the first week of December that I had my first sale, and the amount of excitement that I felt was unparalleled. My first order- hooray! And from a complete stranger all the way in Washington no less. From their orders slowly trickled in, and in January of 2022, Bridgette Jones from Blue North Art reached out to me and asked if I would like to sell my jewelry in her gallery. I’ll never forget the feeling I had while reading her email and the disbelief that this was really happening. Just this last month, I had my first wholesale order from Northwind Blooms in Elk Rapids, and I’m really without words with the success that I have had since this all began. What started as a fun hobby has now reached a level of success I could have never dreamed of. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
This journey has not gone without some bumps in the road. I would say that one of the hardest things for myself was the determination to keep moving forward, to keep creating even when the sales were not coming in. I could have easily said – right this isn’t working, it’s not good enough, why did I bother starting this? But I really just needed to carve our my niche and figure out what sold and what didn’t without taking it to heart. Like I said, it’s really quite hard to put yourself out there, and it would be all too easy to become discouraged and give up. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I make Petoskey stone jewelry that my husband and I handpick from the shores of Lake Michigan with our very silly dog, Rucy. Petoskey stones are Michigan states stone and funny enough they are not actually a stone but a fossil. A fossil that is 350 million years old from a time where Michigan was covered in a warm shallow sea durning the Devonian time. I shape and polish the stones by hand using only sandpaper, water, and aluminum oxide polish. I’m very proud of the fact I self-taught myself all that I needed to know in order to have this be successful. I think the fact that my husband and I hand-pick our stones brings an extra special aspect to each piece that I make. You’re not just buying a piece of jewelry when you shop with Made By Morgan Gifts. Each piece holds memories of a day well spent in the sunshine on a beach far from home with the ones I love most in search of stones that Lake Michigan waves may or may not wash up on the shore. 

What was your favorite childhood memory?
I was raised in Grand Haven, Michigan, and I can remember my family taking a trip up to Petoskey, Michigan, mainly to comb the lakeshores in search of Petoskey stones. I was very little at the time, and the way my dad explained how to find these stones made it feel as if we were all on a treasure hunt I believe that’s when my love for these stones started. All day we were hunched over digging through stones and swimming along the shore in search of our great treasure. I believe in the end, we only found a few stones, but that was more than enough to spark a lifelong love for the activity. 

Contact Info:

• Website: Etsy – Made By Morgan Gifts
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madebymorgangifts/