Spruced Handmade owner Melita Matzko stands in Homegrown Silver and Stone on Frazier Avenue, which is where much of her local-inspired merchandise is sold.On any given day, Melita Matzko might wear silver cicadas on her earlobes or a sparkling basil leaf strung around her neck.
The North Shore resident and jewelry artist runs her business Spruced Handmade on Etsy.
The jewelry she sells features hand-carved metal clay, molded into images of pure silver or copper trees, fish, the Walnut Street Bridge and even old-fashioned cassette tapes.
“I loved sculpting miniatures, so when I heard about metal clay I realized I can actually do something with my tiny sculpting skills,” Matzko said. “I started playing with it and I just fell in love. [Metal clay] is an amazing medium.”
From her jewelry designs to her two-ply birch business cards, most of Matzko’s inspiration comes from nature, and her true-to-life cicada earrings are no exception.