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SSMagpie.com owner Cheryl Fuhs gave her husband an enthusiastic “yes” that night in 2009 when he asked how she’d feel about selling everything,buying a boat and sailing around the world.
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When making jewelry, Fuhs takes her creative inspiration from the sea.
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The ‘SS’ in SSMagpie.com actually stands for sterling silver.
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Find coastal beauties like these earrings on Fuhs’ website SSMagpie.com.
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Maintaining a sailboat is a constant task, but one Fuhs and her husband often tackle together.
A Good Vibes story.
After being assured that pirates wouldn’t be a problem, Cheryl Fuhs gave her husband an enthusiastic “yes” that night in 2009 when he asked how she’d feel about selling everything, buying a boat and sailing around the world.
The initial order of business was creating a 10-year plan for their dream and purchasing their first sailboat—a Bayfield 32’—followed by expectations of spending the summer sailing the Chesapeake Bay and sipping sundowners on the dock. Instead, they began experiencing boat problems from the first outing, followed by myriad issues that required fixing over the next six years. Every weekend was spent sleeping in a small, hot tent and working on the boat in the parking lot of the marina. Before long, the townspeople began referring to them as “the tent people” and the marina’s slip holders as “those crazy kids on the lot dock.”
Despite setbacks, the couple kept their eye on the prize. In 2010, Fuhs began making jewelry, knowing that leaving their corporate jobs before standard retirement age would necessitate an additional form of income to help keep the dream alive. Like many jewelry designers, she started off stringing beads and selling them to friends and family. Over the years she segued to taking classes from professionals to enhance her skills and figure out her preferred design medium.
By 2015, she’d launched her website, SSMagpie.com, and begun selling to the public. “I love working up a sketch from some form of inspiration and then bringing it to life with my own hands,” she says. “Whether I’m designing from my imagination or working on a custom piece with a client, it’s so rewarding to take what’s envisioned and turn it into a piece of jewelry they’ll treasure.” Fuhs takes her inspiration from the sea, crafting primarily in sterling or pure silver and incorporating gemstones such as Larimar and Blue Topaz, freshwater pearls and natural sea glass into her designs.
The name, SS Magpie, was born out of a dream to live life aboard a boat, and while the ‘SS’ actually stands for sterling silver, Fuhs is frequently asked if Magpie is the name of their boat. “When I was young, I loved sparkly things, especially jewelry,” she says. “I’m still that way, so friends often called me magpie after the bird that loves shiny objects.”
While still working on the first boat, the couple decided to buy a second—a Cabo Rico 38’—they expected would be their future floating home. Then reality set in. “We realized we might someday want or need a place to come back to, so we started looking for a small home base,” Fuhs says. Using Google maps, they searched the southeastern coast for clusters of “sticks”—sailboat masts in marinas—and soon settled on the Northern Neck. “It checked all the boxes: plenty of marinas, easy access to the Chesapeake Bay and Intercoastal Waterway, low crime rate, accessibility to good healthcare, milder weather and friendly people,” she says. After buying a home in White Stone in 2015, they became weekend residents until December 2019, when they moved in full time.
Her husband left his job in 2017 to work full time on the boat, living aboard one boat while working on the other. Fuhs followed in fall 2018, leaving her corporate job to devote herself full-time to SS Magpie. They spent summer 2019 living aboard the smaller boat while he continued work on the larger, and she built her business, testifying that, “If you can make jewelry in the cockpit of a sailboat, you can do it anywhere!” This past fall, they moved the Cabo Rico to Rappahannock Yachts where they’re currently completing the refit to continue their sailing adventure in 2022.
Fuhs has learned why sailors say that plans are written in the sand at low tide. “This experience has taught me a lot, the most valuable being patience and the ability to hold onto my dream, even when things don’t go as planned,” she says. “Learning to sail is easy, fixing a boat is not. If you’re going to live on one, that skill is more valuable than anything else.”
Yet even in a pandemic, her jewelry-making continues. Fuhs admits that jewelry might not be a necessity like food and water, but owning a special piece can bring back the joy and connection we all need, a reminder of when our only care was keeping a margarita cold. “My hope is that the designs and my stories inspire others to follow their dreams and take SS Magpie along for the journey.”
SSMagpie.com | Visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/ssmagpie, Instagram page @ss_magpie, or call 267-636-0344 for more information.