San Francisco-based nail tech G Molina provides sparkle in more ways than one: She complements her nail designs with beautiful handmade jewelry. “I’ve always loved making jewelry,” she says. “As a kid I would make simple beaded bracelets and necklaces, then eventually I wandered into other crafts like macramé and craft wire jewelry.” After taking a hot metals jewelry class in college, she learned professional techniques like casting, soldering, and setting stones.

Molina finds jewelry-making a calming process. “It’s kind of like a puzzle or a rubix cube — the piece isn’t finished until the puzzle is solved,” she says. “Anything that allows me to create and examine the process along the way is very meditative for me.” The biggest challenge is working with soft metals like gold. “I’m only working on wire-wrapped pieces at the moment due to my lack of workspace. When wrapping with gold you need to be very careful — if you bend the wire too many times it will snap, so there is very little room for error.”

Molina sells her pieces by word of mouth through clients, friends, and family. “All my pieces are custom-made,” she explains. Sometimes clients bring stones for her to make into jewelry, while others commission an entirely custom piece. Molina tailors each piece to the person it’s designed for. “I usually like to get a little info for custom pieces like date of birth, natal chart info, or if you have any specific situation going on that you’d like help with, so that I can tailor a piece with a stone and metal that resonates with the person it’s for,” she says.

Find Molina on Instagram @itsagcreation.

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