Registered Master Craftsman, Warren L Fletcher, of Massachusetts, devoted a lifetime to metalsmithing, passing on his self-taught know-how to son-in-law, Wayne Simmons, in the early ‘70s. He, in turn, taught son, Mark, the trade. When Wayne was first learning to spin, he and wife, Dale, began the first of the casting. They made molds from the shells found on the beach, cast them in pewter for jewelry and figurines. Over the years they made hundreds of molds and made some beautiful pieces of jewelry and some fine figurines. Mark’s wife, Winnie, also added her talents to the casting operation.

From ‘74-’86, Wayne operated The Pewter Shop, in Fort Walton Beach, FL. This shop served as both workshop and retail outlet for some of the nation’s finest handspun holloware and handcast jewelry and figurines. In ‘86, the shop was closed in order to devote more time to arts and crafts shows. Wayne, Mark, and Dale are all award-winning artists. ( Wayne and Mark both retired from the USAF.) Due to illness and surgeries, production and sales were suspended in the fall of ‘03. Wayne passed away in ‘06. Dale is now bringing the inventory out of storage. From time to time, the products will change as we are able to assemble more.

For all of our castings, we create our own molds using RTV-type rubber. We use real shells as masters, but most of our original masters are carved from wax or wood. Our casting is strictly gravity feed and all of our finished pieces are solid pewter. There are approximately twelve individual steps from start to finish in the hand casting process - pouring, sanding, filing, soldering, engraving, ageing, polishing, lacquering, assembling, etc.