Life on the road as a traveling musician is good for the soul. It can open windows to new experiences, create lasting connections and inspire discovery right at the fingertips.

As one half of the acoustic folk duo Flagship Romance, Jordyn Jackson is fortunate to share it all with her partner in marriage and music, Shawn Fisher. Together, the pair travel the country, playing intimate venues and house concerts, leaving a piece of their hearts in every city.

Handplayed Handmade is the jewelry collection crafted by Jackson using upcycled guitar strings with beads and semi-precious stones gathered along the journey. It allows her to take a little piece with her as well and created a new opportunity to share more than just her music with fans beyond the traditional concert merchandise.

“When we’re touring, it’s nice because some women are like ‘I listen to iTunes, so I don’t want your CD, and I don’t wear t-shirts, and I don’t really have room on the wall for a poster but I would [like] to take a piece of this concert home with me’,” she says.

“Shawn uses really nice strings and when he would take them off, I would feel bad throwing them away because they’re so pretty.”

Jackson showcases her creations at www.handplayedhandmade.com and will set up from 5-9 pm Dec 15 at the North Beaches Art Walk in Neptune Beach. She will also participate in the Riverside Arts Market Holiday Market. Prices vary and her diverse catalog is available on her online store at www.flagshipromance.com and www.handplayedhandmade.com.

But today, on a sunny Saturday November afternoon, Jackson looks camera ready for a boho chic editorial wearing a wide-brimmed hat, high-waisted jeans and an ethereal peasant top all accented by her own creations. Her tear-drop earrings, a delicate bracelet and a statement ring are all fabricated from her husband’s steel guitar strings with a bronze coating that makes them perfect for jewelry making.

“Shawn uses really nice strings and when he would take them off, I would feel bad throwing them away because they’re so pretty,” says Jackson of her husband’s Elixir strings. “We just had this big pile of strings, but I had no idea the coating would be so good for making jewelry.”

Over the holidays last year, Jackson says she plucked a couple strings from the pile to make a pair of earrings for herself with pieces from her childhood bead kit and jewelry she no longer wore. She sent a photo of her creation to Fisher, who asked if she found the earrings on Etsy.

“I said ‘no, I made it’ and he said ‘well, that means that you have to do this because this is your thing’,” she says. “Now when we go places, I barter for something or I find the coolest little bead shops.”

“When we’re touring, it’s nice because some women are like ‘I listen to iTunes, so I don’t want your CD, and I don’t wear t-shirts, and I don’t really have room on the wall for a poster but I would [like] to take a piece of this concert home with me’.”

And sometimes, the pieces find her. On a tour stop to play a house concert in Green Bay, WI, Flagship Romance met Philip Nelson and Barbara Richmond. The couple, both musicians, lost their 20-year-old daughter Claire to a brain aneurysm.

“She was a musician as well. They were very close, and they decided to start hosting house concerts because they wanted to bring music back into their home,” says Jackson. “They felt like this was a good grieving process for them.” Richmond asked Jackson for a custom piece made from beads she purchased with her daughter so they could make jewelry together. She donated the rest of the beads to Jackson to preserve Claire’s memory and send some of her joy out into the universe.

“The last time we were up in Green Bay, we stayed with them and Barbara brought out this big thing of beads. She said, ‘I would love for you to make me something that I can have to remember Claire. Then I want you to take these and make things and make people happy with them and share your story’,” she says. “It’s really beautiful that something like making jewelry could turn into something so inspiring.”

Just like writing a song, nothing is deliberate when Jackson sits down to create a new piece of jewelry. She responds to what speaks to her. And just like her music, all of Jackson’s pieces are connected to a memory, like the trip from Seattle to Portland where she picked up a beautiful strand of cracked agate at one of the country’s largest bead stories or the stones she found during a stop in Asheville.

“Most of the time it’s whatever jumps out at me, whatever is unique or has a story behind it,” she says. “I like unique things and things that I’ve never seen before.”

“It’s more than just selling jewelry. It’s a whole experience.”

Handplayed Handmade also fills custom orders using pieces provided by customers or in a requested style. Blue is the most popular color so Jackson always makes sure she has plenty in stock. She admits that it can be hard to let go of certain pieces, but it’s easy to fall in love with something that is so much a part of her story. “It’s like foster jewelry for me,” Jackson says.

She once bought got a piece of Labradorite, an opalescent stone found in Labrador, Canada, that she intended to keep as her own. She made it into a necklace and said ‘this is for me. This is my piece’. To test the waters, Jackson included the necklace among her Art Walk merchandise. It sold immediately. “It was my absolute favorite,” she says. “I was like ‘please take care of it’.”

Jackson sends each piece of jewelry off with love in the hopes that it will be a source of joy wherever it goes. “The people that really appreciate the jewelry are the ones who really appreciate the story,” says Jackson. “It’s more than just selling jewelry. It’s a whole experience.”

BONUS

Flagship Romance’s latest video, “Sally the Snowflake”

https://youtu.be/qjXQt6j74OU