Elena DeRosa

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If you're looking for a unique gift for graduates, Father's Day or a June bride, and you find yourself in Studio Metalworks, don't be surprised if you also pick up a little something for yourself.

The gallery of handcrafted, mixed-media arts and jewelry recently moved into West Village on Virginia 419 in Roanoke County after having been located for three years on Crystal Spring Avenue in Roanoke.

"I came in here, and the traffic has been unreal," owner and designer Brandon Comer said. "I would say that 80 percent of the customers that come in here did not know about me before."

The eclectic shop is home to 40 to 50 artists whose handcrafted pieces Comer said you won't find anywhere else in the Roanoke Valley. She explained, "I do not generally get more than one or two of an item because I don't want people going out the door feeling like they're going to see themselves one hundred times."

With prices starting at $15 and going up to a few thousand dollars, Comer said her customers are "just all over the board." Teenagers are fond of the jewelry, textile belts and little handbags. Men are drawn to the wooden game boards, metal tavern puzzles, metal sculptured wine bottle holders and cufflinks. Conservative clients are attracted to the glassware, lamps, wall planters and hand-painted silk scarves.

But the gallery's most frequent regular customers are mothers. "They're usually young, hip moms just looking for something fun," Comer said. "Most of the people that come in here want something that has kind of a punch, something that's unique, that just stands out and catches your eye, makes you go 'Wow!' "

Jewelry sales outnumber other items two to one, with Comer's original designs tending to sell a little faster. Comer said her style runs the gamut depending upon her mood when she sits down to create. "I can sit down with the same materials, and one day it will look really elegant, and the next day it looks really hippy, and the following day looks really conservative," she said.

Some other featured designers include Oran Bumroonchart, a New York college student who specializes in glass pendants and flower-wrapped stone designs. Laura Beamer of Oregon sets vintage bottle caps in sterling silver to make cufflinks, pendants, bracelets, rings and earrings.

One popular jewelry line is from McKenna Hallett, a Hawaiian designer who does not use any heat to create her pieces, or any materials that are harmful to the environment, in her collection. Saving rejected metal parts from ending up in a landfill, Richard Kolb of Kentucky uses scrap and recycled metal parts to create unique and whimsical sculptures.

Hanging on the wall are colorful "Passion Flowers," sculptures made from recycled aluminum and hand-painted by people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities at a vocational workshop in Ohio. The sales are used to continue to create art opportunities and employment in the Appalachian region.

Always on the lookout for new and original talent, Comer said she just wants to maintain what she's been doing and find some new hip artists that nobody in the Roanoke Valley has seen before.

You might have seen Aaron Foster on HGTV's show "FreeStyle." He also creates artwork using vintage license plates, and in July will be visiting the studio.

While Comer referred to her old location as a hidden little gem, she said her new home has been great. "It's kind of like a little neighborhood. We all look out for each other," she said. "It's been very fun. I've enjoyed it so far and look forward to many years here. I really do."

Studio Metalworks, 3549 D Electric Road, 981-1967.