About Marie Of Sweden

My name is Marie Fredriksson, I live in Sweden and I am first of all a calligrapher. I love letters of all kinds, shapes and colors with passion. I’ve had this interest for more than half of my life, and have spent many, many, MANY hours practicing letterforms.

The ice cold winter of 2009-2010 I began experimenting with etching my hand lettered calligraphy onto metal and was fascinated by it. The method is not new, but I hunted the web for countless hours to find the best possible instructions. And then even more hours was spent with more or less successful experiments.

I began etching on copper and turned the etchings into jewelry, then moved on to stainless steel, sterling silver and aluminum (or aluminium, as we say in Europe). I love working with all metals, enjoying their different characteristics: warm, rustic copper, shiny steel, classic silver and soft, warm aluminum. And it’s always exciting to se my letters etched permanently in metal! :)

About the calligraphy

The type of calligraphy I mostly use for my jewelry is a personal, lively and semi cursive italic hand. I never use strict guidelines when I write, but prefer to let the letters dance along, contributing to a lively, happy and personal appearance. I decorate the slightly undulating letters with well-balanced flourishes to enhance the quote lettered.

About the words

The words, quotes and messages I put on my jewelry can be anything from classic Latin quotes and sayings and powerful single words to proverbs and phrases meant to encourage the wearer. The design is meticulously executed, since I know that it will be etched in metal and probably be around for a very long time. It better look good! :)

About the etching process

The etching process includes quite a lot of steps and it takes quite a while to finish a piece of handmade jewelry.

The design is always executed by hand using my favorite tools – steel nibs and ink on paper. The original is then scanned, printed onto a special transfer film and transferred to hand cut metal. Then the edges and back are masked with tape and the piece is submerged in a salt solution for an exact amount of time with low electricity added to it. This is where the magic (ie. electro etching) takes place. After that the metals is cleaned, sanded, polished, drilled, oxidized and finished in the best possible way to make for a piece of jewelry that will last a long time.

Electro etching is an environmentally sound method where no acids are used (acid etching is the most common method). In most cases a simple table salt solution will work wonderful! With electro etching the liquid can be used over and over again, whereas an acid solution weakens and must be replaced regularly.

Anyway. Should you ever buy one of my jewelry pieces, I hope you will like it and wear it for a long time to come!