18 years of making jewelery in Wimberley

“If you find a good jeweler you stay with them. It’s like a good doctor or a good mechanic. They are just hard to find,” says Craig Calley.

Craig and his wife Cheryl have run Calley’s Jewelry on the Wimberley Square for almost 18 years now. They do it all. If you want a custom-made ring or bracelet, Craig will design it and make it for you. If you have a necklace that’s broken, Cheryl will make it good as new. If your watch stops running, not a problem. They’ll drop in a new battery.

Calley’s Jewelry is a small, family-run business that caters to local folks. “Our business is probably 60 percent repairs and probably 90 percent local,” says Craig.

The couple have been jewelers for a long time. In fact, they are approaching their 40th year in the business. Cheryl learned the trade through the horology program at Kilgore Junior College. Horology is defined as the study of time measurement, including watches and clocks, but the Kilgore program also included jewelry design and repair. Craig learned through various mentorships, experimentation and hands-on experience.

“We’re fortunate to be able to make a living at something we like doing,” says Craig.

Even though Sunday is a busy shopping day in Wimberley, you’ll find Calley’s closed so they can spend time with the family. On other days, when there’s a soccer game or other special event with one of their grandkids, they may close shop early. It is truly a family business.

They opened their first jewelry store in Waco in 1979. Craig worked his way up the ranks at UPS and was transferred all over the state. In 2000, they decided they liked the feel of Wimberley and settled here to raise their two children, Cliff and Chelsea. Both are graduates of Wimberley High.

They pride themselves on personalized service and being part of the community. “When people first come in they ask if they can trust me,” says Cheryl, “I tell them ‘my name and number is in the phone book and we have been here for 18 years and aren’t going any place.’ ”

Craig and Cheryl both a have small work tables in their tidy, upscale little shop. Cheryl repairs broken jewelry and also fashions custom pieces. When grandma comes in with a diamond studded necklace and wants it shared among the grandchildren, Cheryl will figure out a way to spread those diamonds around so everyone is happy. She also takes those family heirlooms and updates them, adding a contemporary look.

Craig starts from scratch. For example, he’ll work with a customer to get just the right look for a ring. He creates a mold out of wax and runs it by the customer. Then casts the ring in gold or silver and makes sure that’s what they want before mounting the stone and putting on the finishing touches.

Calley’s does not actually cut the precious stones. They leave that up to Larry Woods, an award-winning

stone cutter who lives near Blanco.

They work with every type of stone imaginable — diamonds, emeralds, peridot, you name it. “Lots of people here sell $20 rings. That’s not us,” says Craig, who is also the president of the Wimberley Merchants Association.

The Calleys have seen the price of metal soar over the decades. When they first started, gold was $120 an ounce; now it’s in the $1,200 an ounce range.

The average price of a custom-made ring is $2,800 or so and it takes about two weeks to deliver the finished product. “We have done it as quickly as 48 hours,” says Craig. “”But we’ll never do that again.” Adds Cheryl with a laugh, “We were young and hungry then.”

Much of the work on the custom jewelry is done in a shop in their Wimberley home.

The custom design work makes up between 10-15 percent of their business. The rest is repair. Cheryl notes that as the price of precious stones and gold and silver has climbed, some manufacturers have scrimped. “There are certain pieces I don’t even want to repair because they are paper thin,” says Cheryl.

The Calleys take great pride in using the best-quality materials, innovative designs and delicate workmanship.

“One of the most rewarding compliments we get is when people come in here and tell us that this is the coolest jewelry store they have ever been in,” says Craig.