iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 11/09/2026

Here are my finished "rats in hammocks" earrings. Pet rats love hanging out in hammocks, and these are no exception!

Two silver earrings on a white background. They each depict a rat in a hammock perfectly sized to hold their body, facing forward, with their tails hanging down behind.

Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 14/05/2026

Took this little wax earring carving of a rat in a hammock to the caster today 🐀 Launching the business soon and so far half my designs are rat-based 😅

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 27/01/2026

I was back in Mesa AZ last week taking an awesome chasing and repousse class with the wonderful teacher and toolmaker Saign Charlestein - here are some exercises I worked on at various stages of completion

A completed chased fleur-de-lys design in copper, mounted in a pitch bowl

A repoussed fleur-de-lys design mounted in a pitch bowl, before flipping and chasing

A completed chased Celtic knot design in copper, held in a hand, next to a fleur-de-lys design in copper, lined and mounted in a pitch bowl

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 26/11/2025

Still working on some details (and getting a store set up etc) but here's a preview of my first production jewelry piece 🐀🧀

Silver pendant of a sleeping rat dreaming of a golden cheese. The chain goes through the cheese and the rat swings freely beneath

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 13/09/2025

Here's a sleeping rat dreaming of cheese that I hand-carved in wax at a figurative wax carving class with Kate Wolf in Portland, ME. This is the first thing I've carved in wax that I'm genuinely excited to cast, and I'm seriously considering getting a mold made and selling pendants 😄

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 18/08/2025

Final tally of my lapidary work from 8 days of classes with Michael Boyd - I focused on the lapidary side, but learned a ton about integrating stone and metal, and excited by all the possibilities this opens up for my own designs 😄

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 10/08/2025

Made these over the past few days in lapidary class and now I'm obsessed with rocks

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 05/08/2025

Spent most of the day cutting and milling the drawers for my jeweler's standing bench, and started gluing. There are 7 drawers on each side and the smallest are only 1.5" high - perfect for making small and narrow things like files and measuring tools easy to find.

A drawer in the process of being glued together, clamped on all sides

Stacks of cut drawer sides in multiple sizes with milled rabbets - 14 drawers, so 56 pieces total

Trimming the long edge of a drawer side on a table saw

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 29/07/2025

Designed drawer stacks to hang under my standing bench, and was making solid progress on them until the template guide bushing came loose, wrecked itself on the router bit, and spun across the floor in a shower of brass shavings. Project on hold until I can get a replacement bushing 😩

A stack of routed plywood panels, with a plywood template clamped to one, and a router and damaged brass template guide bushing sitting on top

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 24/07/2025

Downtown for some errands today and took the opportunity to wander through the Fens - always enjoyable!

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 25/06/2025

Took a class on chasing silver earlier this week - it's not quite finished but I'm happy with how it turned out!

A piece of silver in a pitch bowl with a chased spiral design

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 29/05/2025

Almost finished this kinetic pendant - just needs patina, polish, and final assembly. The top spiral is mounted on a teeny tiny ball bearing 😁

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 03/04/2025

Finally putting the finishing touches on my custom jeweler's motorized standing bench 🎉

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 28/02/2025

Got over my anxiety about ruining my solid maple bench top and finally routed out a slot for the bench pin bracket... not perfect, but it'll do!

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 15/02/2025

I think my first bluesky selfie is overdue

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 12/02/2025

Work in progress of my first attempt at plique-a-jour translucent enamel

Pierced silver pendant with translucent plique-a-jour enamel inlay on mica backing and metal mesh shelf, straight out the kiln

Holding the pendant up against the light to show the translucent plique-a-jour effect

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 09/02/2025

Being extremely indecisive about what size to make the wings on my new jeweler's bench

An unfinished maple wooden top on top of white motorized standing desk legs. A bench pin bracket is positioned in the center of the benchtop front, and a piece of wood is taped onto the side, with multiple other indications in green masking tape. Several pieces of maple lumber and a carpenter's pencil are resting on top.

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 27/12/2024

Not very creative, but soldering basket settings for stud earrings out of 20ga (0.8mm) sterling silver wire is good practice

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 26/12/2024

Today I learned the hard way not to let liquid flux soak into a new, porous ceramic fiberboard and torch solder before letting it dry fully... The resulting steam-powered explosions and flying hot metal were startling 😅

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 27/11/2024

It's a huge mess right now! Planning to paint the walls and put up pegboard to hang all my tools, and once it's kinda organized I'm going to build a bigger jewelers bench using a standing desk frame

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Mikayla H @mhut.ch · 27/11/2024

I recently moved and now have a much bigger space for my metalsmithing! I'm still setting the studio up, but here's the first piece I made in my new space - reticulated silver with keum-boo (24k gold foil) accents, set in a sterling silver frame

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