ABOUT
The body is an altar.
Tempered Earth is a handmade adornment studio exploring the relationship between jewelry, embodiment, and self-expression.
To me, the body is an altar because it’s where we experience our lives. There’s something meaningful about intentionally choosing what we dress it with. What we place upon the body can become an honoring of the self, the life being lived through us, and the people and stories that made our lives possible. Adornment is one way we can tend to and honor the body.
Each piece is created in small quantities, using materials chosen for their texture, history, and connection to the natural world. Jewelry doesn’t always have to have a special meaning, but I’m interested in what happens when it does. A piece can simply be something we enjoy wearing, but it can also mark a specific season or become something we put on when we want to feel a little more like ourselves.
My hope is that the things you find here become part of your own rituals and stories. I hope they’re worn often, layered with your favorite pieces, and made meaningful through the life you live in them. Because the pieces are made by hand and many of the materials vary naturally, no two are exactly alike. Those variations and the particular character of each material are part of what makes each piece its own.
The Name
I chose the name Tempered Earth while thinking about what it means to be changed by life, including the challenging parts, without being broken by it.
Tempered speaks to strength developed through experience. Tempering is a process that uses heat to make a material stronger. To me, the word represents the ways life can transform and refine us while we still remain ourselves.
Earth represents the natural world and the foundation we come from. It makes me think of ancestry, nourishment, stability, and possibility. The earth holds both what has ended and what has the potential to grow next.
Together, Tempered Earth reflects transformation, rootedness, and the possibility of continuing to grow through what changes us.
The Practice
That same attention to change and transformation shapes the slow, intuitive rhythm of the studio. Rather than producing large collections or adhering to a constant release schedule, the work unfolds in chapters. Offerings are small bodies of work inspired by a particular season, symbol, or inner landscape. Each contains only a handful of pieces, created as one-of-a-kind works or in very small editions.
Meanwhile, Intervals emerge between those larger chapters: singular works and limited releases born from experimentation, unexpected inspiration, rediscovered materials, or an idea that wants to be executed. Once a design has left the studio, it may never return in exactly the same form.
This website serves as a record of the evolving practice. Alongside the jewelry, the Maker’s Journal includes essays, research, and Field Notes about the materials, histories, questions, and ideas shaping the work. Writing is part of my studio practice and another way for me to explore the relationships between adornment, memory, and embodiment.
The Materials
I frequently use African brass and glass beads, sandcast beads, freshwater pearls, reclaimed and vintage components, natural stone, ceramic, and gold-filled details.
Rather than creating an entirely new aesthetic with every release, I return to certain materials, colors, textures, and shapes across collections. New materials and techniques are added when they feel right for the work. The intention isn’t for every collection to look the same, but for the studio to keep evolving while remaining recognizably Tempered Earth. I want a piece made years from now to still feel connected to the work I’m making today.
The Maker
Tempered Earth was founded in 2026 by me, Stephanie Long, also known as Stevie Reneé. I’m a multidisciplinary creative, jewelry artist, writer, and embodiment facilitator whose work explores the relationship between creativity, the body, and transformation.
Jewelry has been part of my creative practice since I was a little girl designing pieces alongside my mother. Together, we had a small jewelry business called Bead Garden Designs, which was my earliest introduction to making adornments for others. Years later, I founded Sol Eclectic, where I began developing many of the visual instincts that would eventually find a different expression through Tempered Earth.
After years as a journalist, editor, and wellness practitioner, working with my hands feels like a natural extension of my work. Tempered Earth is both a return to a creative practice I’ve loved for more than 25 years and a deeper articulation of it—shaped by everything I’ve learned about storytelling, embodiment, change, and the ways making can bring us into closer relationship with ourselves, our histories, and what we adorn ourselves with.
Every piece is designed and made by hand in my home studio in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Inquiries & Collaborations
I'm open to commissions, as well as select collaborations with shops, stockists, stylists, editors, and other creatives. If you're interested in a custom piece or working with Tempered Earth in another capacity, I'd love to hear from you: