Miles artwork 
In general, I not only create the art, but find and cut the raw materials,, make and assembled the beads. Design and cast all metalwork, including pendant caps and clasps. Not always, because I need a low end bread and butter product I can sell for less money. I specialize in Alaska materials since this is where I live. Link to my bio Bio.  

Left is a picture of my selling space at the Tucson gem fossil show I have been selling at for over 20 years. My mother lives in Tucson so began showing up at gem show time in Jan each year.  I acquire some products to utilize in my art at the show. 

metal casting 

Most caps you see on pendants are metal I carved in wax and then  lost wax cast custom to this piece. I do all my own work and do not send any out nor have any employees. I used to hand saw metals, each one of a kind hand draw and cut. I wanted to explore 3-D so explored the casting. I discovered I can carve an original, make a rubber mould for the wax and am then able to cast a hundred copies. Tough each cast tends to be unique because I mix my own metals and the metal mix is different for each cast. Likewise the cast wax figures can get combined, or added to a seperate wax cap and then cast. 

Custom wood

I  specialize in Alaska wood that has no commercial market, which makes it unique in the world. Much of Alaska wood is beautiful but not hard, so needs stabilizing to take a polish and be hard. I tried many methods and settled on a product called cactus juice, which is as thin as water and stays this way till cooked. I often use dye to bring out the wood pattern more. I make pendants belt buckles bolo ties, knife sheaths etc from this wood 

Stone work 

I specialize in Alaska rocks I find cut polish myself. I live subsistence so spend a lot of my time on the river. I support this by looking for unique stones along 1,000 miles of river system. Some orugh rock I trade for with natives, and some rocks I Aquire at the Tucson gem show each year when I go to also sell. I used to buy the cut rocks but they can be very expensive and not quite what I had in mind! I cut rocks leaving a natural outline and so it is reversible. This helps the material be unique to me.