DinnerWear Stories

"My mom was a member of the 'Popular Club Plan' in the 1950's. She fell in love with these dishes, and waited until she had enough in her Popular Club payment plan to buy them!

After having received the china, we had keepsake jewelry made to share with my sister and our granddaughters on Christmas Eve. We were thrilled when our family  immediately put their necklaces on! They all wore their jewelry to Midnight Mass that night, bringing the memory of their grandmother with them and reminding them of the beautiful relationship they had."

-Carol and Don Cook

"I was gifted the remaining bits of my mother’s century old childhood tea set and some Japanese plates that were hers. Luck was on my side as I searched for an artist who could create jewelry from this heirloom china.

DinnerWear Jewelry was able to preserve memories of the precious, once-played-with china, and it lives again!

Mary-Ann crafted eight pairs of earrings, thirteen pendants, six charms, one brooch, and one tie clip - all bound with sterling silver."

-Kathy Stillings Moore

"Thank you so much for the work of art that you created! My son's mother in law hosted the family Easter Dinner. During the dinner, one plate from the family China set was dropped. While helping with the cleanup, my husband took a shard of the dish remembering the 'dinnerwear jewelry ' lady. You created a beautiful pin/necklace of the piece of China that brought tears to my eyes when I saw it. We gave it to Mary Ellen for Christmas and she loved it. Throughout the afternoon, I saw her touching and looking at it. Thank you so much for the beautiful work you do."

-Susan

"I have used Mary-Ann for 3 different gifts made from precious remnants of dinner plates. One was a shard from a plate that was the only thing a relative had left of her mother. Mary-Ann made earrings and a necklace that were perfect! Each gift produced tears from the recipient - what can be better than that? (I must admit I have also purchased pieces for myself!) Highly recommended!"

-Terri

"I can not say enough positive things about Mary-Ann. She is a joy to work with! Her designs are beautiful and well made. The pendants she made for my mother and sisters with my mothers china will be valued treasures for years to come. She truly cares about her customers and her craft. I have ordered from her before and plan to order in the future! (I may need to make pendants for my nieces!)

I highly recommend shopping from her and wish I could give more stars!"

-Mary

"The jewelry is so beautiful. It's such fine craftsmanship was beyond my expectations.

I have recommended this vendor to all my friends and family."

-Deborah

"Mary-Ann Wood provides craftsmanship unparalleled by any one in the same genre. I recommend her services to anyone."

-Jeanne

"I had DinnerWear (Mary Ann) create memorable broken china jewelry pieces for my family after the passing of both my mother and aunt. It is a great tribute to both of them and, when we wear the pieces they are always close to our hearts making it more comforting!"

-Maryanne

"Mary-Ann is such a lovely and creative person. I didn't *really* know what I wanted her to do with a plate from my Uncle Andy, but she took the lead and ended up creating a set of earrings and pendant that was perfection. It was from a plate that read very masculine but she pulled it off. It is a great way to remember my uncle. The jewelry gets many compliments and I always have to answer the inevitable question of where I got it!"

-Rachel

"DinnerWear provided our family with the most beautiful set of keepsake broken china jewelry pendants made from my grandmother's china tea set. We could not have asked for a more perfect experience from start-to-finish! Mary-Ann was a pleasure to work with; she's a true artist and professional who works very hard to make custom gifts that everyone absolutely loves. I plan to hire her to make custom jewelry for my upcoming wedding, as well. Highly recommended!"

-Melanie

"I recommend Dinner Wear Jewelry for many, many gift occasions.

Mary-Ann's work is creative, unique and lovely. I have a set of my grandmother's china and many of the pieces were broken in a move. I took them to Mary-Ann and she listened carefully to my description of what I wanted. The result was a set of beautiful pendants for me and all my cousins. I also gave one to my sister-in-law because my brother was using that china when they first started dating. This particular pattern had a floral border design with sections that reminded me of hearts, which I love, so Mary-Ann cut and shaped those sections exactly the way I wanted. At the time, she was doing more abstract shapes, but she took my idea and made exactly what I had in mind. As a bonus, she uses several different kinds of findings and chains. My sophisticated cousin got hers on a gold slide; her hippy daughter got a pendant on a black cord, etc. We are all different, but we share common memories and our Dinner Wear necklaces make that connection all the more tangible. There are all kinds of possible ways you could use her creations, for example, as gifts for bridesmaids. Find one broken or chipped piece of your family's china, ask your future mother-in-law for a piece of hers and have Mary Ann design a pendant that uses pieces of two incomplete dishes to make one beautiful new whole item. Symbolic, poetic, and better for the environment than tossing out the chipped plates! Are you Irish? She does great work with old Belleek. English? Check out her Wedgwood cameos. Use your creativity. You'll love working with her and you'll love the end results."

-Louise