MindYourMonsters

Hypoallergenic Customizable Body Jewelry

Columbus, Ohio On Etsy since 2009

15,869 Sales | 5 out of 5 stars

Buyers are raving!

This shop got multiple 5-star reviews in the past 7 days.

MindYourMonsters

Hypoallergenic Customizable Body Jewelry

Columbus, Ohio | 15,869 Sales

5 out of 5 stars

Shop owner

Contact

Announcement    APRIL 2020 UPDATE: Hi! I am back! I am doing a gradual reopen because I won’t have any help with packaging for a while. That means that items will come back one at a time based on the parts available and how long things take me. Let me know if you’re looking for something in particular, and I can prioritize getting it back in the shop.
COVID19 PRECAUTIONS: I’m sending jewelry with alcohol pads, but I still suggest washing your jewelry with soap and water before putting it in! Packaging is still repurposed but it is primarily natural materials upon which the virus cannot remain viable through the mail.

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These designs are all customizable. I can make them as finger rings, ear huggies, nose rings, dangles, ear charms, on earwires, and with titanium press fit posts. Just ask and if it’s possible I’ll set up a custom order for you. This jewelry is handcrafted in the studio, so things can be changed and moved around.

Cute jewelry shouldn't be size restrictive!

PS. Current Coupon Codes!

CLIMATECHANGEISREAL - $2.00 off
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My packaging is sustainable and usually re-purposed! That means that I source everything post-consumer, guilt-free and other hyphenated words.
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I also send a special seafood watch list as a gift with almost all of my domestic shipments. They're handy wallet guides from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation that help people choose sustainable seafood via the Seafood Watch List.
Remember: We now have the technology to catch all the fish in the world and the responsibility to make sure that we don't.

Announcement

Last updated on May 11, 2020

APRIL 2020 UPDATE: Hi! I am back! I am doing a gradual reopen because I won’t have any help with packaging for a while. That means that items will come back one at a time based on the parts available and how long things take me. Let me know if you’re looking for something in particular, and I can prioritize getting it back in the shop.
COVID19 PRECAUTIONS: I’m sending jewelry with alcohol pads, but I still suggest washing your jewelry with soap and water before putting it in! Packaging is still repurposed but it is primarily natural materials upon which the virus cannot remain viable through the mail.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

These designs are all customizable. I can make them as finger rings, ear huggies, nose rings, dangles, ear charms, on earwires, and with titanium press fit posts. Just ask and if it’s possible I’ll set up a custom order for you. This jewelry is handcrafted in the studio, so things can be changed and moved around.

Cute jewelry shouldn't be size restrictive!

PS. Current Coupon Codes!

CLIMATECHANGEISREAL - $2.00 off
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

My packaging is sustainable and usually re-purposed! That means that I source everything post-consumer, guilt-free and other hyphenated words.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

I also send a special seafood watch list as a gift with almost all of my domestic shipments. They're handy wallet guides from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation that help people choose sustainable seafood via the Seafood Watch List.
Remember: We now have the technology to catch all the fish in the world and the responsibility to make sure that we don't.

Items

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15869 Sales
8319 Admirers
 

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Sara

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Sara

Reviews

Average item review
5 out of 5 stars
(3241)
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quality 257 shipping 299 customer service 240

Updates

9 months
Working on a tiny custom Angora Goat for a customer!! This is a rough stage, but the finished version is so shiny that I can’t take a photo easily! It’s 3 layers of sterling with a 16g 6mm threadless post attached in a custom spot so it fits her ear.

Tagged in this photo

  • Pentagram in Sterling Silver on Surgical Steel Pick Your Post Earring. Perfect for Helix and Cartilage and Labret Piercings.

    From shop MindYourMonsters

    $20.00
    Free shipping eligible

    • View all 9 updates

    About MindYourMonsters

    Sales 15,869
    On Etsy since 2009
    • This is Sara's jewelers bench, where all the actual metalsmithing happens. Featured is an assortment of safety equipment
    • Frequently, people request custom work, like this set of textured gauged hearts I made for a lovely customer in Canada.
    • All this silver scrap metal will be melted down and recycled into new sheets of sterling silver. Smiths <3 recycling.
    • Instead of models, designs are usually shown on multi-color actual-size drawings of ears for an accurate size comparison
    • Semicolons are melted and then carved into shape by hand. Every semicolon is as unique as the person who will wear it.

    Building accessible work through sustainable business.

    This shop started as a hobby while Sara slowly finished her Zoology degree at Ohio State University. When she discovered that narcolepsy interfered too much to follow her science dreams, she stubbornly finished her degree and then took the leap from online Etsy hobby shop into a full time vocation.

    She started off making simple, glued, polymer-clay gauged earrings and, piece by piece, funded a full metal-smithing studio and the necessary education and skills to produce high-quality handcrafted body jewelry.

    Mind Your Monsters is now a nickel-free studio focused on affordable design-first jewelry. Design-first jewelry came about as a response to restrictive sizing on flat-backed jewelry. Body jewelry is normally mass-produced, so it is only available as a on a certain style or size of post.
    That sucks.
    So Mind Your Monsters created the (only) Design-First, Pick Your Post body jewelry shop online. Because each piece is custom handcrafted, customers can find the design they like and THEN select the way they would like to wear that jewelry. Due to limitations in the interface, jewelry options are focused on hypoallergenic flat-backed internally threaded/press-fit posts. However, more diverse options are always available by request or in a special shop section.

    Design-first jewelry is more sustainable than mass produced options because there's less waste. Only the base surgical steel and titanium components are engineered and ordered in bulk. The designs are sourced from a huge variety of sources or made on site. These are maintained in small numbers based on perceived demand. Handcrafting the jewelry custom for every order has another benefit: it ensures that every piece is made from known metals, because each metal behaves differently when heated to ~2000°F. Any metal question can and will be answered based on extensive research because Sara is, at heart, still a scientist and doesn't approach things any other way.

    Packaging for Mind Your Monsters jewelry is built around the goals of ethical production and sustainability. Everything that can be sourced re-purposed is acquired post-consumer. Anything else comes from specialty sustainable packaging producers who make it out of post-consumer recycled paper.

    In the future, Sara hopes to expand with the goals of providing more flexible jobs for other disabled people. This is not a profit-focused business model because Sara finds herself unable to give a f*ck if her goals aren't focused on reducing suffering and improving the world. Looking fancy is fun, but it's not something to live for. Upcoming Mind Your Monsters goals include:
    • Acquiring an amazing piece of equipment that will allow soldering to titanium (a metal that does NOT play nice with torch-soldering.
    • The hiring of a business manager who can help with expansion and can let Sara focus more on production.
    • Finding an accessible space along bus lines to open a secondary studio space to train new artisans and eventually increase volume while decreasing time-per-order.

    We also look forward to releasing a new motto:
    Mind Your Monsters LLC
    Now taking itself far too seriously.

    Around the web

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    Shop members

    • Sara Klips

      Owner, Maker, Designer, Curator

      Scientist turned disabled artisan. Narcoleptic lover of monsters. Caretaker of the uncharismatic. She'll tell you everything about bugs if given half a chance.

    • Lindy L.

      Shipper

      Lindy is an expert at working with people who have disabilities. She makes the sustainable packaging possible. Without her help it wouldn't be possible for Sara to keep up with everything.

    Shop policies

    More information

    Last updated on Oct 3, 2019
    Frequently asked questions
    Whats this weird black ring on the post that arrived?

    That's a silicone o-ring. I, personally, find that they help with adjusting fit on jewelry, so I try to include them on any longer posts and, eventually, with all of the gauged posts.

    Will my jewelry be less shiny over time? Why? Is it bad metal?

    All the jewelry from MYM is uncoated. That means that the silver and brass aren't protected from patina. Some people are allergic to the coatings put on jewelry to protect it from patina. You can protect your jewelry from patina by putting your own coating on it the second it arrives. When it gets to you, it's just been shined by hand on my jewelers bench, so that's the best time to add a coating if you want one.
    The easiest and cheapest coating to use is a clear nail polish to which you know you're not allergic. It will chip off eventually and can be replaced as needed. You remove it with nail polish remover and redo it whenever. Note: Only do this with metal jewelry, not opals or stabilized gemstones!

    My jewelry got a patina that I don't like. What do I do now? Is it ruined?!

    Ack!! No!! Not ruined at all!

    I don't use plated metals, so your jewelry is absolutely not ruined! All you need is to get a polishing cloth (I suggest a "sunshine cloth") and wipe your jewelry down. In fact, it will look EVEN BETTER than it ever did because the texture of the design will start pop! Well cared for metals are like fine wine. As long as you treat it nicely, it will look better and better as it ages. Just be sure that you run a sunshine cloth over it once in a while.

    Protip: Save your sunshine cloth in a baggie and cut it into 1"x1" squares. Use each square until it's black and shiny. Just protect the cloth from debris and always store each square in its baggie, or else you risk scratching your jewelry!

    My jewelry is turning my skin green! What's happening?!

    Anytime that a jewelry starts to turn skin green, it's actually due to something that your skin secretions and the air are doing to the metal. That color (the same color that the statue of liberty is) is a chemical reaction with copper.
    This usually happens with brass, because brass is an alloy of zinc and copper.
    Whenever brass is heated to the temperatures needed to solder it to steel the more-reactive copper atoms are drawn to the surface of the metal. I remove the copper that does escape the alloy, but if you leave brass exposed to moisture and skin long enough, some of that copper that's still there will start to oxidize green.

    Great news: It can be both prevented and removed fairly easily.

    How do I prevent copper from oxidizing green?

    You can do this naturally or chemically.
    The natural method is to just keep your jewelry clean and not leave it in when you shower. Prevent moisture from being trapped behind it, and you should be able to avoid that oxidization of copper.

    You can also avoid metals with high copper content. It's found in brass, bronze, and (in much lower amounts) in sterling silver. (Sometimes on sterling silver there can be copper that ends up being around the solder point, although jewelers work hard to remove or avoid that. )

    Chemical avoidance is probably easier. To prevent the green, you just need to protect the metal from moisture and air. Just coat it in clear nail polish, Renaissance wax, any other patina protector. No air = No green.

    What size do you suggest for my piercing?

    Without seeing you, I can't say. My automatic answer is to ask your piercer. Just give them a call and ask what they pierce with. You can even take your current jewelry into them and ask what gauge it is. They should be able to tell you.

    If you can't do that but you know that you wear a larger gauge than a regular earring, then I suggest getting an 18 gauge. if you have scarring or the hole is in a groove, then I suggest an 8mm. Also, if your piercing was done in the past year, I would err on the side of caution and go longer. If you're still having swelling, the last thing you want is to have jewelry that's too tight.

    If you don't, then try the 18 gauge 6mm.

    If it doesn't fit, I accept returns.

    I'm having trouble getting my jewelry in! I've never worn flat backs like this before. How do I put it in?!

    This, like most things, takes practice.

    Your piercer can help you if you absolutely can't do it yourself.

    If you're doing it on your own, my personal trick is to take a regular earring and insert it through the hole from the front, and then meet it with the new post from the back, and push the earring out while inserting the new post. It straightens the hole and makes sure that you don't irritate the heck out of your piercing by stabbing aimlessly everywhere.

    I have a tool that helps get the front in if you have arthritis, long nails, or stubby fingers. Look for it in the Add Ons section, and it's called the Handy Dandy Grabby Friend!

    What if my jewelry breaks?!

    Due to the fact that this jewelry is made by humans, there's always a chance of something breaking. Because of that, I have a 100% replacement guarantee for broken jewelry for a 180 days (Etsy's limit). Just send me photo documentation of the break and I will replace it or refund you depending on the circumstances we discuss.

    I HATE changing jewelry. What's the post type that stays in the best?

    The Press-Fit or Threadless posts are the most durable ones. They can be tightened manually. They're my personal favorite.

    After that, I like wearing split-rings with my EarKlips hooked on, especially those from the Lobestone line. Those are easy to switch out, but stay on really well the rest of the time. They also dangle and can attach to the split ring without having to open the ring itself.