There’s something special about the way old things call out to us. And over the past 12 years, I’ve discovered that old spoons can call out like sirens, invoking a deep, nostalgic fondness in us. It’s been a delight to watch this play out again and again with each antique sterling spoon I’ve transformed into a ring or necklace. I watch these pieces become instant heirlooms, whether it’s for a person who finds a treasure at a show, or the messages I receive after someone sees a particular spoon that resonates so deeply with them. It gives me a sweet satisfaction in my work that I could not have foreseen years ago when I picked up my first antique spoon.
My journey with spoons began in 2012. I was in the midst of the struggle every creative encounters, reconciling my passionate drive to create with some sort of purpose worthy of the sacrifice and effort required of the creative journey. I had dabbled in a few mediums: ceramics, photography, painting, silversmithing and graphic design, enjoying each to some degree but was still left with a feeling of: “OK, but why? What else?”
Working with silver scratched the creative itch more than the other mediums, even though I struggled to decide what to create. Thus, I found myself working for a small jewelry company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, while also selling antiques at a local antiques shop. While commiserating with a coworker about my lack of creative direction, she suggested I merge my interest in silver with my love for antiques and try my hand at making spoon rings.
I was hesitant because spoon rings were nothing new, as they have been around for more than 150 years. But then again, there is nothing new under the sun, so I decided I could pour a little of myself into the idea and see if it could grow into something meaningful.
I jumped in with both feet, opening an online shop and deciding on the name Lady Forge. While the process of bending spoons doesn’t involve forging, the name was a nod to working with metal, while also remarking on my creative journey. My work will inevitably evolve and, as I create, I will also evolve. I am the lady being forged.
In addition to making spoon rings, my work began with vintage and antique silver-plated silverware, dated railroad nails, foreign coins, tiny bulbs, and antique hardware, which I combined with stones and pearls to make necklaces, earrings and bracelets. I liked the idea of pairing old, man-made objects with older, natural ones. Hunting for these beautiful old objects was exhilarating, and hunting for treasures became a fond pastime for me, my family, and my close friends.
I began showing my work at art markets and festivals. As I watched people engage with my work, I noticed how captivated they were with the spoons specifically, often sharing stories about why a particular pattern spoke to them. For example, the flowers in a pattern were the same flowers their mother used to grow; the weathered-faced prospector in a pattern reminded them of their grandfather; the stork holding the little baby in another pattern resonated with their own adoption story. Hearing these stories and seeing the spark of connection in their eyes when they tried on one of my spoons was deeply moving for me.
I began gravitating toward the stories as I worked — the stories the spoons evoked in people and the stories of the spoons themselves. Research became a more prominent part of my work as I learned about the old silverware companies and discovered their designers and artists. I learned the names of many of the patterns and the significance some of those names held. All of this offered a small window into the world at the time they were made. The emphasis placed on certain design elements and historic figures spoke volumes.
The spoons had stories to tell.
For 10 years, I showed my work at art markets and festivals. The jewelry I created evolved as my personal life did. I moved from Oklahoma to my home state of Montana, where I met my other half, Matt, and we married in 2019. Strangely enough, it was in the midst of the pandemic that I decided to turn Lady Forge into a full-time venture.
Montana’s lax attitude toward the pandemic provided more opportunities to continue my work in ways other states wouldn’t allow. But in the end, even we were not exempt from the toll the pandemic took on the economy, and we found ourselves moving across the country to Michigan to pursue a new job for my husband. Right after our big move, I had a video go viral for the first time and everything drastically changed for Lady Forge.
I had been dabbling with posting videos on TikTok and Instagram for a few months. Videos of making spoon rings with fun music, videos of spoons before and after, even a few funny ones of me making things or talking about hunting for spoons. In May of 2022, I got a comment on one of those videos: a follower sharing that they just made their first purchase of a ring made from the 1902 Lily pattern by the Whiting Manufacturing Company. I decided to use that comment to make a video telling the story of the spoon they chose while I made their spoon ring. The video exploded.
My website was flooded, and orders poured in. I was shocked and not at all prepared for the volume of orders and messages I received. I spent the next month working overtime to fill the orders, while giving some serious thought to the opportunity I had been given and the corner Lady Forge had just turned. It might have been easier if this opportunity had come at a quieter time in my life, but you can’t choose when the stars align and a life-changing opportunity presents itself. You just have to dive off the cliff and build wings on the way down. I found that I thrive on those cliffs.
It’s been two years since that first video went viral, and my business has grown more than I thought possible. Both my work and my personal life have undergone many changes. We welcomed our beautiful daughter and then our sweet son into the world — my proudest creations. Balancing work and family has been a learning process, and I have had to relax into the currents of change.
My work has continued to evolve. I’ve stripped away all but the most meaningful aspects of my work: the spoons and the stories. I no longer work with the other antique treasures and stones I once incorporated into my pieces, but focus solely on sterling silverware, letting the original designs speak for themselves and enriching them with stories I’ve discovered from their past. I kept a small reminder of those old days in the Lady Forge logo I still use today: an Edison bulb surrounding a cluster of quartz crystals.
I also gave up showing my work at markets and festivals. My website and social media accounts keep me quite busy, and I no longer have the time to put together a show. It was a bittersweet parting, as I loved engaging with people face-to-face and feeling the exciting buzz in the air at art festivals. I hope to be able to do shows again in the future.
My days are quite full now. Lots of baby giggles, question-filled conversations with my toddler, and the sweet busyness that comes with having a family.
Time in my studio is precious and very productive. My studio feels like home on a deeply personal level. It’s filled with things I’ve collected over the past 12 years; things I have created, things that remind me of sweet times and things that “spark joy,” as Marie Kondo would say. This space is the truest snapshot of Brittany, and I’m grateful I can keep such a strong piece of me alive when I know the demands of motherhood can leave one feeling like they’ve lost themselves a little (or a lot).
Time in the studio is spent immersing myself in spoons and discovering their secrets, feeling not wholly unlike a dragon with its hoard. I film myself transforming them into rings and necklaces, and then create the narration to tell their story. I communicate with followers and customers, responding to questions and requests for specific patterns or designs. Then I hunt for more spoons. And every so often, I just sit back in awe at all of this, my heart so full of gratitude.
I know this season of my creative journey won’t last forever. I sometimes wonder if social media isn’t conducive to sustainability when it comes to my business. It seems that a business is either actively growing or actively dying on social media. Either the hype dies down and the business dies with it, or you get to a point where you have to choose between growth or keeping the personal touches and direct communication with customers, which is the heart and soul of small business. And I would retire my hammers before I make that compromise.
Regardless of what the future holds, I’ll ride this wave until it brings me to the next shore, embracing the change, adapting, and allowing myself to be the lady that is forged in this creative journey.
There’s something special about the way old things call out to us. And over the past 12 years, I’ve discovered that old spoons can call out like sirens, invoking a deep, nostalgic fondness in us. It’s been a delight to watch this play out again and again with each antique sterling spoon I’ve transformed into a ring or necklace. I watch these pieces become instant heirlooms, whether it’s for a person who finds a treasure at a show, or the messages I receive after someone sees a particular spoon that resonates so deeply with them. It gives me a sweet satisfaction in my work that I could not have foreseen years ago when I picked up my first antique spoon.
My journey with spoons began in 2012. I was in the midst of the struggle every creative encounters, reconciling my passionate drive to create with some sort of purpose worthy of the sacrifice and effort required of the creative journey. I had dabbled in a few mediums: ceramics, photography, painting, silversmithing and graphic design, enjoying each to some degree but was still left with a feeling of: “OK, but why? What else?”
Working with silver scratched the creative itch more than the other mediums, even though I struggled to decide what to create. Thus, I found myself working for a small jewelry company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, while also selling antiques at a local antiques shop. While commiserating with a coworker about my lack of creative direction, she suggested I merge my interest in silver with my love for antiques and try my hand at making spoon rings.
I was hesitant because spoon rings were nothing new, as they have been around for more than 150 years. But then again, there is nothing new under the sun, so I decided I could pour a little of myself into the idea and see if it could grow into something meaningful.
I jumped in with both feet, opening an online shop and deciding on the name Lady Forge. While the process of bending spoons doesn’t involve forging, the name was a nod to working with metal, while also remarking on my creative journey. My work will inevitably evolve and, as I create, I will also evolve. I am the lady being forged.
In addition to making spoon rings, my work began with vintage and antique silver-plated silverware, dated railroad nails, foreign coins, tiny bulbs, and antique hardware, which I combined with stones and pearls to make necklaces, earrings and bracelets. I liked the idea of pairing old, man-made objects with older, natural ones. Hunting for these beautiful old objects was exhilarating, and hunting for treasures became a fond pastime for me, my family, and my close friends.
I began showing my work at art markets and festivals. As I watched people engage with my work, I noticed how captivated they were with the spoons specifically, often sharing stories about why a particular pattern spoke to them. For example, the flowers in a pattern were the same flowers their mother used to grow; the weathered-faced prospector in a pattern reminded them of their grandfather; the stork holding the little baby in another pattern resonated with their own adoption story. Hearing these stories and seeing the spark of connection in their eyes when they tried on one of my spoons was deeply moving for me.
I began gravitating toward the stories as I worked — the stories the spoons evoked in people and the stories of the spoons themselves. Research became a more prominent part of my work as I learned about the old silverware companies and discovered their designers and artists. I learned the names of many of the patterns and the significance some of those names held. All of this offered a small window into the world at the time they were made. The emphasis placed on certain design elements and historic figures spoke volumes.
The spoons had stories to tell.
For 10 years, I showed my work at art markets and festivals. The jewelry I created evolved as my personal life did. I moved from Oklahoma to my home state of Montana, where I met my other half, Matt, and we married in 2019. Strangely enough, it was in the midst of the pandemic that I decided to turn Lady Forge into a full-time venture.
Montana’s lax attitude toward the pandemic provided more opportunities to continue my work in ways other states wouldn’t allow. But in the end, even we were not exempt from the toll the pandemic took on the economy, and we found ourselves moving across the country to Michigan to pursue a new job for my husband. Right after our big move, I had a video go viral for the first time and everything drastically changed for Lady Forge.
I had been dabbling with posting videos on TikTok and Instagram for a few months. Videos of making spoon rings with fun music, videos of spoons before and after, even a few funny ones of me making things or talking about hunting for spoons. In May of 2022, I got a comment on one of those videos: a follower sharing that they just made their first purchase of a ring made from the 1902 Lily pattern by the Whiting Manufacturing Company. I decided to use that comment to make a video telling the story of the spoon they chose while I made their spoon ring. The video exploded.
My website was flooded, and orders poured in. I was shocked and not at all prepared for the volume of orders and messages I received. I spent the next month working overtime to fill the orders, while giving some serious thought to the opportunity I had been given and the corner Lady Forge had just turned. It might have been easier if this opportunity had come at a quieter time in my life, but you can’t choose when the stars align and a life-changing opportunity presents itself. You just have to dive off the cliff and build wings on the way down. I found that I thrive on those cliffs.
It’s been two years since that first video went viral, and my business has grown more than I thought possible. Both my work and my personal life have undergone many changes. We welcomed our beautiful daughter and then our sweet son into the world — my proudest creations. Balancing work and family has been a learning process, and I have had to relax into the currents of change.
My work has continued to evolve. I’ve stripped away all but the most meaningful aspects of my work: the spoons and the stories. I no longer work with the other antique treasures and stones I once incorporated into my pieces, but focus solely on sterling silverware, letting the original designs speak for themselves and enriching them with stories I’ve discovered from their past. I kept a small reminder of those old days in the Lady Forge logo I still use today: an Edison bulb surrounding a cluster of quartz crystals.
I also gave up showing my work at markets and festivals. My website and social media accounts keep me quite busy, and I no longer have the time to put together a show. It was a bittersweet parting, as I loved engaging with people face-to-face and feeling the exciting buzz in the air at art festivals. I hope to be able to do shows again in the future.
My days are quite full now. Lots of baby giggles, question-filled conversations with my toddler, and the sweet busyness that comes with having a family.
Time in my studio is precious and very productive. My studio feels like home on a deeply personal level. It’s filled with things I’ve collected over the past 12 years; things I have created, things that remind me of sweet times and things that “spark joy,” as Marie Kondo would say. This space is the truest snapshot of Brittany, and I’m grateful I can keep such a strong piece of me alive when I know the demands of motherhood can leave one feeling like they’ve lost themselves a little (or a lot).
Time in the studio is spent immersing myself in spoons and discovering their secrets, feeling not wholly unlike a dragon with its hoard. I film myself transforming them into rings and necklaces, and then create the narration to tell their story. I communicate with followers and customers, responding to questions and requests for specific patterns or designs. Then I hunt for more spoons. And every so often, I just sit back in awe at all of this, my heart so full of gratitude.
I know this season of my creative journey won’t last forever. I sometimes wonder if social media isn’t conducive to sustainability when it comes to my business. It seems that a business is either actively growing or actively dying on social media. Either the hype dies down and the business dies with it, or you get to a point where you have to choose between growth or keeping the personal touches and direct communication with customers, which is the heart and soul of small business. And I would retire my hammers before I make that compromise.
Regardless of what the future holds, I’ll ride this wave until it brings me to the next shore, embracing the change, adapting, and allowing myself to be the lady that is forged in this creative journey.
