Senior Melody Granier and sophomores Ashley and Grace Stokes make and sell jewelry. Photo by: Matthew Libersky

By Matthew Libersky

When senior Melody Granier came to Plymouth High School as a French foreign exchange student, she brought her  jewelry-making hobby along with her.

At PHS, she met sophomores Grace and Ashley Stokes who took notice of her work while in her SRT. Granier showed them pictures of her jewelry, and the two learned how to make them.

The three saw the opportunity to sell their pieces, using a Facebook page as advertisement. Their customers include several PHS students and teachers, like substitute teacher Ms. Shirley Gidley.

“I bought a lavender and pink ring from them for my great-granddaughter Emerson. She is a ‘girly-girl’ who likes to wear jewelry, so I thought that it would be the perfect Easter present for her,” Gidley said.

“I saw one of them walking down the hall with one of their rings on. When I asked where they bought it, they said that they made it. I bought one for my great-granddaughter for $8.”

Grace and Ashley only make rings, but Granier also makes earrings. Their jewelry is made of common Swarovski crystal beads — though they recently made a trip to a bead store in Valparaiso to see if they could find any special beads to add to their projects.

They use nothing other than beads, string and their hands to make the beads — no other tools. “We make the ring first and then create the band to fit the person last,” Grace said.

Granier said that some of the rings take about three hours to make, but some are easier and take closer to an hour.

They find patterns for the rings on the Internet and in books, and then make them themselves. “As we got more experienced, we were eventually able to make our own patterns,” Ashley said.

Originally, they intended to sell the rings to girls to match their prom dresses. Since they are making them from scratch, they can pick the exact color that the customer thinks would look best. “Just using different colors can make the ring look completely different than one of a another color,” Grace said.

“Then, our friends at school started asking us to sell them the rings,” Grace said.

Their main source of publicity is their Facebook page titled “Princess Paillettes” — Paillettes means “sparkle” in French.

In a continuation of the French motif, they also give all of their ring designs a common French girl’s name, like “Camille, Victoire, Juliette and Sandrine,” Ashley said.

The Stokes twins have only been making jewelry for a couple months, but Granier has been making jewelry for about six years in France. “I plan on doing this all my life, and definitely when I go back to France,” Granier said.