Silver Shamrocks

It’s mid-morning and Maura Dickerson is talking to her cat Mews and to the shamrocks that grow in her garden. Sometimes she plays them music. And she always encourages them before she picks the ones ready to become part of the jewelry she’ll be offering at the Galway Market.

shamrocks growing in Maura Dickerson’s garden in Galway.

Maura Dickerson of Ocean Moon Designs tending to her shamrocks in Galway.

“I tell the big ones they have done their job and need to make room for the babies to grow. I pick the ones I need for the jewelry and just talk to the rest. I know it sounds crazy but I do think it makes a difference,” she says.

Ocean Moon Designs at the Galway Market.

Owner of Ocean Moon Designs, she has been selling at the Galway Market for years now but it’s only the past half dozen or so that she’s made a name for herself with her silver shamrocks.

Maura of Ocean Moon Designs

She impresses a single shamrock into silver that looks like putty, bakes it in a kiln where the shamrock burns out and leaves an imprint in the silver. Those silver shamrocks become necklaces and earrings people from around the world are taken with.

One silver shamrock ready for wear.

In fact, she keeps track of where they go and so far she knows they have been taken back to every state in America, and on every continent worldwide. That is a lot of silver shamrocks!

The book where Maura keeps track of where her silver shamrocks go.

“Most people think they are made with a stamp,” she tells me. “When I explain that each one is a real shamrock and that no two are ever alike, like snowflakes, they really take interest and spend some time picking out the perfect one for them.”

A scattering of silver shamrocks ready for the kiln. No two are ever alike, just like snowflakes.

You can find Maura and Ocean Moon Designs weekends at the Galway Market, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Etsy.  Hear her tell all about how she makes them and why in episode 33 of Erin’s Isle.