Metalsmith Anita Roelz is motivated by two strong forces. First, to advance her art and second to support her partner, Pamela Creamer, in her struggle against Lyme disease.

Circle Stone Designs located on Montsweag Road in Woolwich is the studio in which Roelz designs and creates jewelry  from beach stones and silver.

Roelz’s signature piece is a necklace formed from a beach stone suspended in the center of a pounded silver ring. Her studio contains boxes of weathered, rounded stones collected from beaches which she prefers to keep secret. 

“Beach stones are very tactile,” she said.

She insists, however, that stones that are not used are eventually returned to their source.

Each stone is drilled in the precise location that will balance evenly within its silver ring.

“I have always had a style sense,” said Roelz. “I knew what I wanted to do.”

Roelz’ craft began seven years ago partly out of necessity. She and Creamer owned and operated the Creative Turtle in Boothbay Harbor. The gallery featured dog portraits by Creamer, but as her disease advanced, the couple had to close and sell the store in 2012. They have since come to rely on income generated by Roelz.

Roelz studied her craft at the Maine College of Art starting in 2009. Over the years she has branched out from the hanging stone necklaces to create a line of jewelry based on pounded silver and brass.

Along the way she has collected an antique anvil and several hammers which she uses to create texture in the metal surfaces.

“I use the hammer to create the patterns taking the energy from the story of the tool that I use, a story that I don't even know,” she said.

Roelz's work has been exhibited at juried shows in various states east of the Mississippi. She is represented by several shops in Maine from Brunswick to Bar Harbor. In Boothbay Harbor her work can be seen at Calypso. 

Roelz sells by commission and has a long list of return customers. She has a display of her work at her home in Woolwich that can be viewed, commissioned and purchased by appointment only.

Roelz said that much her time has been dedicated to supporting Creamer who is involved in extensive treatment and exhausting efforts to convince doctors that her chronic form of neurological Lyme’s requires serious recognition from the medical community and the insurance industry.

Last year Roelz started a new project with the creation of Heart Strength Necklaces in response to her grandson’s treatment for a heart defect. The brass and silver suspended hearts were offered for purchase. The sale of 44 necklaces yielded $5,650 in donations to the Children’s Heart Foundation.