By Holly Erickson
Special to The Leader

Shirley Moss, a petite woman with flowing waist-length hair and a welcoming smile, is The Chainmaker.
She created her first chain when she was just 16 years old. As a project for her high school jewelry class, she set out to recreate a fine chain necklace her grandfather made for her mother. While the necklace had been lost, the matching bracelet remained. So, link by link, Shirley disassembled and reassembled the interlocking pattern until she understood exactly how it all came together. Through this process, she discovered a real love of chain-making.
“When you're in high school, there's so much stuff going on in your head,” Moss explained. “To sit at a jeweler's bench and focus was a real gift.”
What began as a high school project soon became a calling. From jewelry shows to markets to vending on street corners in the Caribbean islands, Moss continued to learn new styles of chainmail from around the world.
True to the words on her business card, “Meditation in Metals,” decades later, the precise patterning and methodical practice still lulls Moss into a zen-like state.
She begins with a large spool of fine silver or gold wire, which she meticulously wraps around a rod-shaped tool called a mandrel. Then, using a jeweler's saw, which looks like a dainty version of a hacksaw, she cuts through each turn of the wire to form perfectly round links. Now, she is ready to begin fashioning links into sturdy, elegant chainmail jewelry. Some of her more intricate pieces take days to make, with as many as 32 links per inch. “I try to make things, even if they're delicate, as strong as possible,” Moss said.
It is the strong yet delicate nature of chainmail jewelry that led Moss to start a beloved family tradition. When her great-niece was nearing her first birthday, Shirley pondered what to gift a baby. She decided to make her a Byzantine-style chain, the same style as that first necklace patterned after her grandfather’s design. Alternating links of 14-karat gold and silver, Shirley made a tiny bracelet, just four and a half inches long. With each birthday until adulthood, she added links to her great-niece’s chain. Now, every new baby in the extended family gets a “tradition chain” for their first birthday.
Beyond upholding a familial tradition that spans generations, being The Chainmaker has allowed Moss the flexibility to follow other passions, like her work as the Port Townsend Food Bank manager. Her dedication is such that for nearly 30 years, she has molded her career around her passion for feeding the community. “The food bank is all volunteer work, and it's a big job,” said Moss. “So I run that and then make a living doing the chain work.” 
As the food bank manager, Shirley coordinates more than 100 volunteers. She has seen the organization through two major location moves and helped shape the offerings available today. She added Saturday hours, allocating half the day for seniors to have a quiet, relaxed shopping experience, and half the day for working families who can’t make it on Wednesdays. 
Shirley also cares deeply about the quality of the food offered to the 200 families served each week. Produce is purchased from local farms coupled with donations from Food Bank Growers, a non-profit collective of community and individual gardens. “We have an abundance of fresh, organic produce throughout the whole growing season,” she said.
Over the years, Shirley has won multiple awards for her work at the Port Townsend Food Bank. “But it's really about the community, the volunteers, and the people that we're serving,” she said. “It just feels really important to be giving people healthy food.”
After many devoted years, Moss is taking a step back from her role as the food bank manager. She continues to volunteer, but now takes more time to spend with her family and enjoy her craft. No longer traveling for jewelry shows, Shirley vends solely at the Port Townsend Farmers Market, just minutes away from her home. She loves the sense of community connection and pleasant surprises it brings, like the 30-year-old chain necklace that just arrived for repair. “It’s kind of like old friends coming back,” Moss said. “Jewelry becomes more sentimental with time, and to be part of that is really fulfilling.”
Find Shirley Moss, The Chainmaker, at the Port Townsend Farmers Market on Saturdays, April through December, sawing links on her mandrel and fashioning them into timeless pieces of jewelry that can be passed down for generations. 
Market dates are listed at
jcfmarkets.org.
With the Market Insider, Holly Erickson of Jefferson Cwounty Farmers Markets presents an inside look at the people, histories, and passions behind the booths of our community’s vibrant marketplaces.