Talk about ammonite, trilobite, and coprolite and watch Maxine Rosenthal’s eyes light up. No, she’s not a paleontologist intrigued with the study of ancient fossils. She’s a fine arts jeweler who incorporates organic materials into high-end, silver necklaces, earrings, and brooches. Most of her materials she finds at gem and mineral shows where the vendors come from all over the world. Rosenthal spends day upon day searching for just the right materials for her beautifully crafted jewelry.

Holding up a black and white piece she chimed, “It’s an orthoceras from Morocco and I cut it into this shape myself.”

She then placed the orthoceras on the craft table of her home studio and proceeded to wrap a thin strip of fine silver around the piece. She then combines it with additional silver and fossils to make it look like it should have been there from the beginning of time. The finished piece will hang from a silver chain to be worn and adored.

The petite Wilmington artist is brimming with enthusiasm for her profession – as she should be.  Rosenthal was just juried in to be a Delaware Master Artisan.  She will be showing next at the prestigious Pennsylvania Guild Fine Craft Fair, coming July 25-26, at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington.

Rosenthal has been told that she’s doing a “skeuomorphic” process, taking design cues from the original piece to make a new one, a “translation.” She sees her materials from the critical eye of an artist. In other words, we may see a rock, but she seems something with “ornamental design cues.” One of these cues, for example, is the Mayan design pattern that she etches on silver which an ancient stone will soon rest upon. The metal and the stone need to “translate” to each other for the design to make sense.

“I love combining my etched sterling, inspired as it is by earlier civilizations, with life forms that are even older, much older actually, than the ancient civilizations.”

Some of the centerpieces of her artwork are quite unconventional. “I even use fossilized dinosaur egg shells,” said Rosenthal. One of her most impressive works incorporates the ancient ammonite which has the swirled pattern of a nautilus.

Rosenthal always had an interest in art from a very young age. By her teen years, she was involved at a junior program at the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, near her Woonsocket, R.I. hometown. As an adult, when her primary focuses were family and a full-time management job at the DuPont Corporation, she supported the arts through the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art and the Delaware Art Museum. In the early 1970s, she was very involved making and selling wheel-thrown and hand decorated pottery.

But it was while she was still working at DuPont in the 90s that she really found her calling. “One day, a friend introduced me to polymer [plastic] clay when I couldn’t find a pair of earrings to match a much- loved sweater. It was from that first experience of creating those earrings that launched me into my business.”

Rosenthal began selling her polymer jewelry both direct and through a local gallery (Blue Streak) within a few months after that first creation. Upon leaving DuPont in early 1997, she studied metals at the University of Delaware with her DuPont package retraining dollars.

Today, her business is quite successful, even in these financially difficult times. Rosenthal finds that people are still spending money on much-loved craft pieces. Her artwork ranges in price from $40 to well into the thousands. Occasionally, Rosenthal also takes on projects to custom-design pieces for clients who have specific ideas in mind. “Those projects begin with a sketch,” said Rosenthal.

A Congregation Beth Emeth member, Rosenthal finds it interesting that many of the shapes she uses in her art could translate to Jewish symbols as well. “I’ve been asked if some of my pieces are mezuzahs. While I haven’t made any, it is clear that I unconsciously use that form in my artwork.”

Her honors include becoming a Master Artisan in Delaware by Hand (2009),  awarded second place in Lapidary Journal's Jewelry Arts Award in the bracelet category (2005), and received a Delaware State Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship Award (2003). Her work has been exhibited at juried and invitational shows and galleries throughout the United States.

For more information, view Maxine Rosenthal’s website at www.maxrosenthal.com . Info on Delaware by Hand and Master Artisans is at www.delawarebyhand.org .  The PA Guild of Fine Craft Fair, in Wilmington from July 25-26, is at www. pacrafts.org.