When Beth Millner decided to open up a storefront at 521 West Washington Street, she knew there would have to be growth before she was able to bring in support staff. Well, that growth has definitely happened for Millner, who now has two part-time employees working with her at
Beth Millner Jewelry.
Christy Budnick, who works a few days per week, and Laurel Mills, who works approximately two days a week, both hold bachelor in fine art degrees from Northern Michigan University. Budnick concentrated in photography while Mills' concentration is in metalworking.
"Christy helps with photography of jewelry, packing and shipping online orders, tagging, inventory, customer service, jewelry assembly and some jewelry finish work," says Millner. "Christy spends most of her time taking pictures, tagging and shipping jewelry. Carefully making sure each online customer gets the pieces that they have ordered.
"Laurel is helping with finish work, fabrication of jewelry and photo editing. Her day consists of a lot of filing and sanding of metal. Each piece of jewelry is cut from a larger sheet of metal, each edge and corner must be meticulously filed to a smooth finish."
Both employees also make their own jewelry outside of their time at Millner's location. Budnick makes wood-fired ceramic jewelry under the name Maple Arts, and her work can be found at Zero Degrees Gallery on Third Street in Marquette. Mills designs and makes sterling silver and copper jewelry, which is available online in her
Etsy shop.
Beth Millner Jewelry is offering some special promotions for down town Marquette's Ladies Night Thurs Nov 15 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The event is listed at this
link on Facebook.
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Beth Millner Jewelry
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