Heavy metal: Mother and daughter joined forces to make personalized jewelry at Red Fern Studio

Morgan Dollar and her mother, Becky Foster, have been making jewelry for many years, but recently collaborated to operate Red Fern Studio, an Etsy shop featuring handcrafted metal bracelets and stud earrings.

Dollar opened the Red Fern Studio Etsy shop in May 2015. An etched copper fern pendant Dollar had created before opening the business inspired the studio's name, and she says to her, the necklace symbolized a recommitment to her passion for jewelry making. That symbolism resonated when she pulled a book from her bookshelf that she hadn't looked at in quite some time and found a pressed red fern leaf in its pages. She took it as a sign and continued with the name for her business.

At the same time, Foster also was running her own jewelry business on Etsy.

"I was determined and I had tried several times in the past to start my own jewelry business, but I could just never get motivated enough to make it full time," Dollar says. "But I was determined this time, so I opened my Etsy shop and my mom had her own Etsy shop, so we were kind of doing it independently and mine just really took off."

By line:Red Fern Studio in Jackson, Missouri.Laura Simon

What started as a renewed hobby quickly became a flourishing business.

By line:Red Fern Studio in Jackson, Missouri.Laura Simon

"I just kind of hit a home run with personalized bracelets, especially for bridesmaids," Dollar says.

As the business grew and orders started coming in, Dollar says she needed Foster's help to keep up with all the orders. And since Foster is a school bus driver in Jackson and is off during the summer, she's been working full time in the studio since summer break began.

"It just got to the point where we decided she needed to work with Red Fern Studio full time," Dollar says. "We both just needed to join forces there instead of doing our own thing independently."

Dollar's husband, Bay Dollar, also began working at the studio to help keep up with the shop's sales, which have amassed to more than 1,300 transactions since it opened.

Foster has more than a decade's worth of experience in jewelry making, which originally began when she made jewelry years ago to match the clothing she sold in her tanning salon and clothing store in Jackson.

Red Fern Studio in Jackson, Missouri.Laura Simon

She took some time off from making jewelry and started up again around 10 or 12 years ago, but says she always has been creative and good with her hands.

"I've just always been a person that had to be doing something with my hands all the time," she says. "I've always been big into crafts, making different things, and I've gone from crocheting to drawing to making wooden products, and I've tried a lot of different crafts, but [jewelry making] is the one that I enjoyed the most, too, so we kind of had the same interest."

Like her mother, Dollar is passionate about crafting unique items and making original, long-lasting, one-of-a-kind pieces.

"I think I just love the idea of wearing your art, your little creations," Dollar says.

Although Red Fern Studio mainly works as an online shop, the studio does have a location on East Jackson Boulevard in Jackson, and they will take custom orders by phone or on site. With Dollar living in Cape Girardeau and Foster in Perryville, Missouri, Jackson seemed like a manageable meeting point.

Red Fern Studio in Jackson, Missouri.Laura Simon

"Honestly, we just found this place and it was perfect," Dollar says. "We were open to Cape or Jackson, but it was just kind of an easier middle ground to meet."

The shop typically isn't open to the public, but is the main workshop for creating and packaging the jewelry for shipment.

To create the personalized bracelets, the shop's best-selling items, Dollar and Foster use mainly sterling silver, brass and copper, and impress premade metal stamps one at a time by hand to achieve the buyer's desired message.

"None of them look the same, obviously, and they're not always perfect, but that kind of plays into the handmade feel of it," Dollar says.

Dollar and Foster like working with metal because it is durable and has a everlasting feel.

Red Fern Studio in Jackson, Missouri.Laura Simon

"I personally love metal, anything with metal, just manipulating it in different ways, because it's so permanent by the time you're done with it, and it can last forever," Dollar says.

"There's just so many things you can do with metal, and you can create it your way," Foster says.

Jewelry from the studio has been shipped all over the world, with past shipments going to places throughout the United States, France, England, Switzerland, Canada and other places.

"It's really neat just knowing that our jewelry is all over the world now," Foster says.

The women agree independence is the best part of having their own business, especially because of the versatility of scheduling their own hours and working in a creative setting.

By line:Red Fern Studio in Jackson.Laura Simon

"Just the ability to create your own lifestyle Â… and just freedom with your time, with the direction that you take the business," Dollar says. "If something's not working we can always change directions, we can just kind of mold this business to fit our lifestyles."

Red Fern Studio can be found on Facebook at facebook.com/theredfernstudio/ and on Instagram as @redfernstudio. Find their Etsy shop at redfernstudio.etsy.com. Alongside Red Fern Studio, Dollar and Foster also enjoy making original pieces like necklaces, which they sell at area craft shows and on special order.