Photographers-turned-jewelers Rebekah and Mike Luedcke  make Dungeons and Dragons dice out of resin.

Photographers-turned-jewelers Rebekah and Mike Luedcke  make  a variety of ear rings, pins and bracelets

Photographers-turned-jewelers Rebekah and Mike Luedcke.

Photographers-turned-jewelers Rebekah and Mike Luedcke  make Dungeons and Dragons dice out of resin.

Photographers-turned-jewelers Rebekah and Mike Luedcke  make  a variety of ear rings, pins and bracelets

Photographers-turned-jewelers Rebekah and Mike Luedcke.

CEDARBURG — What started out as a casual activity will be turning into a business with its own shop at the Cedar Creek Settlement.

Rebekah and Mike Luedcke, owners of Forever Young Photography, will be opening up a space where they will be selling handmade jewelry from their new business venture, RESINstance is Futile, sharing space with a new lifestyle set for their photography business. The new shop will be located on the third floor of the Settlement next to the Forever Young Photography studio.

The Port Washington couple has been in the photography business for 22 years. Rebekah Luedcke works full-time as a photographer for Forever Young Photography and Mike Luedcke works part-time.

The Luedckes started experimenting with resin in 2020 when there wasn’t any work available due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

They weren’t even planning on making jewelry or selling what they made, Rebekah Luedcke said, but people kept asking about the things they’ve made.

“We just started making more and more because people were asking to purchase it,” she said.

Rebekah Luedcke added that she hadn’t made jewelry before 2020.

Not only do they make jewelry, they also make their own Dungeons and Dragons dice out of resin, which Mike Luedcke makes himself. Rebekah Luedcke also uses resin to preserve flowers and makes resin ring holders with flowers in it.

The couple now sells their items online, at various shops and they go to craft shows.

Rebekah Luedcke said she is experimenting with other mediums other than just resin. She now also makes hand painted wood earrings. Rebekah Luedcke is working on making things with clay, but said she hasn’t perfected it yet.

Rebekah Luedcke said she thinks it’s really cool when people compliment and wear the jewelry she has made.

“As a photographer I’ve always been creative. I’ve always taken art classes and things growing up,” she said. “But this was kind of a whole new thing; it’s very different, obviously, from photography. It was a lot of fun, we just like people being able to wear our jewelry.”

Rebekah Luedcke recalled being happy when she saw someone she didn’t know at the doctor’s office wearing earrings she made.

Rebekah Luedcke hopes to have her jewelry shop open in early November. She said she is shocked and amazed that this is happening.

“We’ve never expected it to grow so quickly,” Rebekah Luedcke said.

To shop or learn more about RESINstance is Futile, visit resinstanceisfutile.com. For more information about Forever Young Photography, visit foreveryoungphotos.net.

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