Macro Molecular Materials (M3) for Artisans and Industry
Macro Molecular Materials (M3) for Artisans and Industry

Small Shops Make Money with M3 Mokume

All of the products shown in the header photo are all suitable for sale in high end gift shops, jewelry stores and anywhere with a bridal or gift registry.  They were all produced by small shops, mostly with a single crafts-person,  many using basic wood working tools.  Most importantly, they will all look just as good 100 years from today.

Heirloom quality, is what sets M3 Mokume apart from most other materials used to produce luxury goods with the exception of the Noble Metals.  Exotic hardwoods (unless stabilized) can crack and or shrink in as little a 5 years. Acrylics and plastics can degrade in 5 to 25 years.  I learned this the hard way.

I am a collector by nature, and my collection of handmade writing instruments, mostly procured in the late seventies and eighties, is the reason why I invented M3 Mokume.  Over the years I watched some of my favorites go from beautiful to worthless simply while sitting in the display cases.  Wooden pens cracked, acrylic pens shrunk and the plating bubbled off of many others.  

I engineered M3 Mokume to give pen makers and wood turners a new wood-grained material, that can be worked with their existing tools and will look great forever.  The results are all over this website and the internet.  Google “M3 Mokume” and enjoy the collection of amazing images that grows every day.

Engineered to be beautiful with true heirloom characteristics is why luxury goods produced with M3 Mokume are suitable for sale in jewelry stores and other fine gift establishments.  These same luxury goods also sell well online as the millennial generation has embraced this material for their wedding rings and bridal gifts, perhaps due to its relationship to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

M3 Mokume is a safe, stable, inert material which is impervious to electrolytic destruction and CAN NOT Corrode, Rot, Rust, or Tarnish more than 1 Macro-Molecular Molecule deep.  No M3 composite will support microbial life of any kind, so no bacteria can eat it and the composites that have high levels of pure copper are antimicrobial as well.  Click On What is M3 to get a better understanding of how these remarkable characteristics have been achieved. 

M3 Mokume is not for the beginner crafts-person.  If you have not yet learned the requisite skills to produce quality parts and products with perfect alignment, fit and finish; then please practice with less expensive materials first.  Be sure to Click On Working with M3 when you feel that you are up to the challenge.  When it comes to producing luxury goods, if its not perfect then it not a luxury good.

I selected the items for this post because they are simple in design and don’t take what i refer to as a lot of “heavy lifting” to produce.  Yet they can command top dollar in the right establishment (brick or digital) with the added allure of “handmade by a local artisan” and in some cases by a local Veteran.  Over the years I have worked with veteran groups to encourage able-bodied and disabled veterans to consider producing luxury goods with M3 Mokume, as all of the processes involved can be made handicapped accessible.

Making Money with Luxury Writing Instruments (if you want to charge luxury prices don’t call it a pen)

Producing fine writing instruments using commercially available parts has been an art and small business passed down for generations and there are many fine pen parts, or pen kits to chose from.  The key is to match M3 Mokume with pen parts of equal or higher value.  Pay the extra money for the better plating as the end result will be well worth the added investment.   Look for pen kits and designs that allow the Jewelry Store to add value to the item by incorporating precious or semiprecious stones as well as custom engraving.   The Majestic series by PSI is a great example because the Swarovski crystal in the clip is easily removed and replaced with a natural diamond.  

The crown is another place for a skilled jeweler to add in this case a colored natural diamond.
Windex Blue Diamond set in Majestic Junior Pen Clip. The blue diamond looks great against the Cobaltium Mokume.

I have a number of customers that do very well supplying the gift shops in their local Churches, Temples and other religious institutions with gifts for Bar and Bat Mitzvah, Holidays, Confirmations and of course Weddings and Bridal Registries.

 

 

 

 

 
 
Making Money with M3 Mokume Cuff-links, Tie-Tacks, Money Clips Inlays, Earrings and other small adornments.

I am not addressing wedding rings or other jewelry items here as they require a much higher degree of skill.  The M3 Damascus cuff-links shown here were made from the cut off ends of a pen blank.  Instead of throwing the small scraps away, this clever crafts-person turns his cut-offs into beautiful cuff-links that match the M3 Damascus fountain pen that was produced with the rest of the blank.  The findings (parts) are available in all varieties of configurations and metals (look at Etsy, Ebay and Rio Grand for jewelry parts).  Once the M3 Damascus cut-offs were sanded and polished, they are easily epoxied to the findings.  What a great idea for matched sets and up-sell items.

Make Money with M3 Mokume Cutlery Handles.

Again, true knife making requires a skill set well beyond this simple yet elegant cutlery handle.  These were produced with a M3 Mokume Pen Blanks that were simply sanded, polished and drilled to accept the “tang” of the cutlery.  Although, much harder to find, high end cutlery is available online with a “stick tang” where the handle would be, so you can epoxy it into custom handle.  The M3 Mokume handles are dishwasher safe, feel great in your hand and will look great much longer than the Sheffield blades shown here.

I will continue to update this post regularly with the rest of the items in the header as well as other great product ideas.  Please send me your product photos along with your success stories so I can include them for others to learn from.

Thanks

Mike