We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cory and Maggie Miller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Cory and Maggie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?
Weathered Hands is a husband and wife owned small business showcasing our different crafts. We decided to start our business together because we both had something creative to offer but we wanted to step into this new journey supporting one another the whole way. Family businesses run deep with Cory’s family. His parents had their own business they ran together as well as his first job was at his Uncle’s heating and cooling business. When working with family, it becomes more personal either good or bad. Sometimes work doesn’t end when you clock out and business conversations run deep into family dinner or bed time. However, being able to work with someone you care for, holding the same values and intentions feels more authentic. As from a customer perspective, supporting a family business means you are helping the lives of the people you are purchasing from. Whether it be a good review, or a repeat customer, investing in family businesses means investing in the people.
Cory and Maggie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Our names are Cory and Maggie Miller, a husband and wife artistic duo. For years we have enjoyed the outdoors, hiking, traveling and taking in all of nature’s beauty. One day while hiking on a trail near our home, Cory saw something shimmer on the ground and picked it up for a closer look. He realized it was more than just a rock but the top piece of a crystal. After that day, he went far down the rabbit hole researching everything to know about rocks and minerals here in the western United States. Camping trips and planned adventures soon became expeditions to hunt for crystals. Now, Maggie isn’t very fond of digging holes, however surface hunting for crystals along with foraging for mushrooms became her new hobby on these trips. What started out as a few rocks for the yard soon took over the entire basement and Cory became interested on how to turn this material into something more. He picked up some used lapidary equiptment and put in some hours of labor just to fix it up to be useable. After cutting some material he collected, he quickly realized that there could be a lot of beauty found inside a dirty old rock. Hours and hours of cutting stones turned into trying to create wearable art for family and friends. Maggie happily obliged to be the test subject as well as calling first dibs on any new pendant he created.
In January of 2022, we sat down for dinner and decided to turn a hobby into a side gig. Cory is a full time HVAC Technician, being in his field for 15 years and Maggie is a full time Sonographer, working in the medical field for 8 years. We were excited to start a business together and knew we would be dedicating most of our free time to it. Cory worked away at cutting material from the previous years’ digging trips and Maggie made sure all the business requirements were squared away along with starting her own creative line called Of Clay and Earth. We felt selling in person fit who we are more than just creating an online presence. Our pendants have stories. They came from the earth, formed millions of years ago and we are the first to hold our eyes upon them. Then they are transformed into beautiful pendants, all inspired by what Cory is feeling the stone has to share. From her botanical clay earrings to hand foraged mushroom worlds, Maggie’s pieces are truly handmade with detail and care.
Cory:
Joining a mineral club was one of the very first sources of information I found when looking into crystals. It has been a huge resource for me to gain knowledge from lifelong rockhounders to getting to dig crystals with a group of like minded individuals. I highly recommend anyone that is interested or even as a family, to join your local mineral club and get out to explore some amazing places. My material will always be hand collected unless there is a specific mineral I cannot dig up myself. In those cases, I still source the raw material and hand select which ones I will use to cut. My story began with me hiking and finding crystals myself and I want to maintain that original foundation, knowing each stones story and so that anyone that buys a pendant from me also knows who dug it up. I will always be taking classes to expand my knowledge and investing in equipment to keep my self up to date on new work.
Maggie:
Working with clay has always intrigued me. I have followed many potters and clay artists over the years and never thought I would have the creativity of my own to make anything. After we decided to start a small business, I gained the courage to sign up for a local pottery class. It wouldn’t start until May of that year and I didn’t want to wait to get my hands on clay, so I purchased some polymer clay to get me started. My goal was to gain the knowledge on how to create tiny details, that way when I started my pottery class, I would already know how to mold the clay to create features on my pieces like mushrooms or flowers. I fell in love with polymer clay and instantly I knew I wanted this to be a part of our market season. The jewelry I am creating is very light weight, which means I can be creative in its details and not worry that they will be too heavy for someone to wear. I’m also very conscious of ear sensitivities as I struggle with wearing certain metals myself, so all my jewelry is hypoallergenic! I believe my ability to be so detailed comes from my health care background. As a Sonographer, my eyes are trained to see small details and pick out what doesn’t look right. I’ve been able to transfer this knowledge into my artwork. I’m reminded of how intricate and small some of my details are when customers point them out to me in complete amazement. This year, I am excited to announce that the Of Clay and Earth line will be expanding to showcase some of my pottery I have been working on as well as my tiny worlds. I have my own wheel and kiln at home so I can create pottery whenever I want. As for my tiny worlds, I have been foraging for mushrooms and other nature items this past year to create my own perspective of what it would be like to peer into the world of mushrooms and forest creatures. I am hoping to incorporate some of the rocks and crystals we go out to dig for into more of my pieces.
Together:
Being able to showcase our crafts in person and be accepted as who we are has made this new journey for us incredible. Thank you to anyone that has supported us thus far. Whether it be kind words at a market or helpful advice for the business. We truly appreciate everyone along the way!
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
Our love story is pretty black and white. We met through online dating. A year of sporadic messages eventually turned into a meet up and the rest was history. You grow up being told you will know who the love of your life will be and until that day we didn’t believe in it. We spent many years sharing each other’s hobbies from hiking, off-roading, rock hunting, and generally being in the outdoors. We’ve always been there to support one another and have really enjoyed being in business together so we can spend more time doing what we love.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
The best source of new clients for us have been our local farmers market. It was our first introduction as a business and we have received nothing but great feedback since. Being able to showcase our craft in person gives customers an opportunity to put a face to the creativity and hear our story. People then can know who they are buying from and choosing who to support. We’ve gained social media followers at our markets by advertising our social handles right on the table, that way if anyone wasn’t interested in buying that day, they could at least follow us for potential future purchases.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.weatheredhandsjewelry.com
- Instagram: @weatherdhands @ofclay.andearth
- Other: https://ofclayandearthstudio.etsy.com/
Image Credits
Photos taken by us