Findings Worth Finding: A/D Adornments

I've been interested in minerals and semi-precious stones since I was about six years old (I have very distinct childhood memories of dragging my parents through the Hall of Gems in the Field Museum of Chicago, each time we visited the city). It's therefore not surprising that I use a lot of stone in my jewelry designs. One of the things I'm always on the lookout for when I visit shows, new bead stores and/or new websites (it's amazing how many ways we can indulge our addiction for beads and findings these days, isn't it?) are nice stone clasps. To my mind, a beautiful clasp adds a tremendous amount to a design, but it can be a little challenging to find just the right one.

I was first attracted to Chicago-based A/D Adornments at a show a few years ago not by the high quality of clasps, semiprecious beads or lovely assortment of chain that the company carries, but by the fact that there were excited shoppers six deep around the booth. After waiting patiently (okay, there might have been a little tactical use of elbows involved, but I was polite about it), I finally was able to wade close enough to the booth to actually see, and drool over, its contents. Kathy Domokos, proprietor of A/D Adornments, takes stunning pieces of druzy quartz, turquoise, agate, fossilized ammonite and other stone, as well as a lovely assortment of vintage buttons not pictured here, and turns them into box clasps for a beautiful finishing statement in any piece of jewelry. They range in size from modest single strand clasps all the way to big, showcase triple-strand clasps.

So, if you like fine clasps the way I do, I highly recommend A/D Adornments. You can find the company at various bead shows throughout the Midwest (including the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee, this week) or by visiting their website.

Written by guest blogger, Melissa Lee. Read her blog at Strands or visit her etsy shop to see more of her work.