One last trunk

By DEVIN WEEKS

Staff Writer

COEUR d’ALENE — Buttery blue aquamarines, dyed Peruvian opals and occluded rubies from India are among the many exotic stones in Marlo Faulkner's handmade jewelry collection.

Each piece has a story — the sparkly glass comes from artisans on the Venetian Island of Murano, the sterling silver is crafted in Bali, the creamy jade is mined in British Columbia.

"These come from the result of volcanic activity,” Faulkner said, studying the deep reddish-purple Indian rubies Thursday morning at Cheryl Burchell Goldsmiths in Coeur d'Alene.

"When it cools, it forms crystals, and depending upon what’s in the crystal, you get rubies or you get sapphires or you get emeralds. It really depends upon what the chemicals are."

For 15 years, Faulkner, of Coeur d'Alene, has acquired colorful stones, bones and corals to lovingly craft more than 2,000 necklaces, bracelets, earrings and other unique pieces.

"It's like being in a kitchen and being a chef," she said. "There are so many ingredients and they sort of talk to me. That's going to sound crazy, but they do."

Faulkner's passion for her creative craft began when she was a little girl. She said her dad and his best friend were "rock hounds" who would dig for garnets in Emerald Creek near St. Maries.

"They used to bring tons of these home and put them in a (rock polishing) tumbler," she said. "I grew up with the sound of the tumbler going all the time."

Her dad used to take her with him when he visited a jewelry mechanic, further encouraging the future artisan to seek out the craft.

“I’d take sketches of rings that I’d like to see or pins and things and they used to make them for me, because I was a kid,” she said, adding that she’s had a “lifelong attraction” to geology and jewelry design.

Faulkner, 76, is a retired English teacher who continues to contribute her writings to numerous publications. She said jewelry design became an outlet for her when her son was deployed to Iraq and she couldn't write because she couldn't focus.

While visiting friends in California around that time, she walked by a store “and their window was filled with this marvelous jewelry. I had to go in,” she said.

“It turned out it was a bead store and they had all these trays full of all these fabulous stones just like I’d grown up with," she said. "I was like a kid in a candy store, so I started putting things together. I still have the necklace I put together that day."

She has since created several pieces for herself, friends, family, charities and to sell at trunk shows or display in local galleries.

"A trunk show is a show of products either created by an artist or put together by a salesman,” she explained. “It comes from an 18th and 19th century term where salesmen would come through the West, especially.

“It’s an opportunity where everything someone has is actually in one place," she continued. "In the olden days, they were in trunks; a trunk show today means generally an artist or a designer brings everything they have to one place and shows it."

Faulkner will host her last trunk show Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. at Cheryl Burchell Goldsmiths, 1524 Northwest Blvd. in Coeur d'Alene.

She said she’ll miss making the pieces but it's time to give it up because of arthritis and eyesight that's not as keen as it used to be.

She has donated to various nonprofits in the past and plans to donate whatever is left from the trunk show to another worthy cause. About 500 of her creations will be on sale for half off wholesale price.

Items from Cheryl Burchell Godlsmiths will also be on display and available for purchase in Burchell's new expanded shop. The Dinner Party will host a wine tasting during the show.

"When it's over, it's over," she said. "I've had very, very supportive clients and patrons over the years.

"It's been a good run, but it's time to let it go."