A behind-the-scenes look at the growth of Mah-Jongg Jewelry by Patty
I looked up recently and realized that I haven’t written much about what I’ve been doing for the past three months. The short answer is: I have been making, drilling, stringing, packing and shipping more mah-jongg jewelry than I ever imagined.
The longer answer is that Mah-Jongg Jewelry by Patty has grown tremendously—and so have I.
When I started this business, I knew I had something unusual. I have loved mah-jongg tiles since I was about 10 years old, when my mother played three times a week. There is something special about taking vintage tiles—some from the 1930s and 1940s—and giving them a new life as jewelry.
What I didn’t know was whether other people would see what I saw in them.
Now I know they do.
May/June: Wholesale Took Off
June was the month when this began to feel like much more than a promising little business.
I had started selling wholesale through Faire, and boutiques around the country were finding my jewelry. I created bundles to make it easier for store owners to try a ready-made assortment, and those bundles became an important part of my wholesale business.
By the middle of June, I had received 36 wholesale orders, including four reorders. One of those was a $700 reorder. I had worried because things had been quiet for a few days—and then that order came in.
That is one lesson this business continues to teach me: a quiet day does not mean the business has stopped growing. Orders are uneven. Sometimes nothing happens, and then suddenly everything happens at once.
By the end of June, I had shipped 435 pieces of jewelry and brought in more than $7,000, making it my best month at that point. I had multiple wholesale accounts, repeat buyers and hundreds of pieces to make and ship.
I also hired my assistant, Mo.
At first, Mo helped primarily with drilling tiles. Drilling vintage mah-jongg tiles is careful, time-consuming work. You cannot rush it, especially when you are working with beautiful materials that cannot simply be replaced. Over time, I began teaching her more of the jewelry-making process, although I still do the final tying myself. She has become an important part of this business, and she is very good at what she does.
Taking a Chance on Boutique Outreach
I also took a fairly big chance by putting together approximately 100 packets for boutiques. Between the folders, envelopes, printed materials and postage, I spent around $700 to $800.
At first, I did not receive any orders directly from those packets. Of course, I wondered whether I had wasted my money.
Then one of the boutiques I had contacted placed an order—and later placed a large repeat order. That one customer alone ultimately spent around $1,000 with me, which paid for the entire campaign and then some.
It reminded me that marketing does not always work immediately. Sometimes you plant a seed and have no idea whether it will grow. Then, weeks later, an order arrives.
Reorders Became the Real Story
New orders are always exciting, but reorders may mean even more to me. A reorder tells me that the jewelry didn’t merely look good to a store owner—it sold to her customers.
By early August, I had received 60 wholesale orders, and 15 of them were reorders. That meant one out of every four orders came from someone who had already bought from me.
One Idaho boutique eventually placed its seventh order. Another customer placed a second order before she had even received her first shipment. She called me, we had a lovely conversation, and then she ordered again.
I heard from one retailer who had purchased about $2,000 worth of jewelry. She told me that a man walked into her store and bought five bracelets just like that. She was thrilled—and so was I.
I also received an order from a Merle Norman cosmetics boutique, which surprised me in the best way. Mah-jongg jewelry is not limited to one particular type of store. Gift shops, boutiques, museum stores and other specialty retailers can all make it their own.
Growing Beyond Wholesale
Wholesale has been a major part of these three months, but it is not the whole story.
My Etsy shop continued to bring in sales, favorites and wonderful reviews. My Shopify website began receiving more direct orders, too. I also turned on Etsy’s offsite advertising and discovered that my jewelry was appearing in Google searches.
Imagine searching for vintage mah-jongg jewelry and seeing your own work at the top!
I have always known that this is a very specific niche. There are plenty of inexpensive, newly manufactured mah-jongg bracelets online, and occasionally you will find someone selling one vintage bracelet. But I have not found anyone else creating vintage mah-jongg jewelry on the scale that I am.
I am building something that is genuinely different.
Tournament Postcards and New Ways to Reach Players
This summer, I also had 1,000 postcards printed to distribute at mah-jongg tournaments. That felt like another leap of faith, but I wanted to reach the people who already understand how special these tiles are.
The postcards began going out at events, and before long I saw more orders coming through my website. I cannot prove that every order resulted from a postcard, but the timing certainly made me believe they were helping.
I am continuing to look for larger tournaments, particularly those with 250 or more players. For a large event, I am happy to donate a nicer piece of jewelry as a prize. I love the idea that a player might discover my work at a tournament and take home something made from the game she already loves.
New Colors, New Designs and Scarcer Materials
I have also been experimenting with new products.
I introduced bracelets made from new pink tiles and ordered black tiles to test next. The pink bracelets are fun, colorful and much more affordable than my vintage Bakelite pieces. I priced them at $25 retail and $15 wholesale, which gives customers another way to enjoy mah-jongg jewelry without buying one of the more expensive vintage designs.
If the pink and black bracelets do well, I may eventually try purple and blue. I am learning not to order everything at once. I can test the market first and let my customers tell me what they want.
I have also been creating tiny double-sided bone earrings, necklaces made with cherry-backed Bakelite tiles and bone-and-bamboo necklaces with several bead and coin combinations.
At the same time, the supply of genuine vintage Bakelite tiles has become one of my biggest challenges. These tiles are not being made anymore. Once they are gone, they are gone.
In August, I found and purchased three Bakelite sets at $500 each. I was thrilled to find them, but that price also meant I had to rethink what I charged. I made the difficult decision to raise the retail price of my Bakelite bracelets to $80.
I never want to raise prices simply for the sake of charging more. But I also have to price these pieces according to what the materials cost and how difficult they are to replace. Each bracelet is becoming a truly limited vintage piece.
August: My Biggest Month Yet
August was extraordinary.
There were days when the orders seemed to pour in faster than I could fill them. On one day, Mah-Jongg Jewelry brought in about $2,000. The next day brought another $868. In one week alone, the business made more than $4,000.
By the end of the month, my sales had passed $10,000 and were likely close to $11,000.
I took days away from my other work because I had orders to fill. That was an important moment for me. This was no longer something I squeezed in around the edges of my life. It was demanding real time because it had become a real, growing business.
I have worked some very long days. On one of them, I spent about eight hours on the business and made 22 bracelets. There have been tiles everywhere, jewelry everywhere, packages waiting to go out and a constant list in my head of what needed to be made next.
It has been exhausting at times.
It has also been exhilarating.
I Am Learning as I Grow
Not everything has worked perfectly. I have tried marketing services that were not worth the money. I have dealt with returns, shipping questions, technology that refused to cooperate and websites that used my photographs without permission.
I have changed jewelry cards, worked on bracelet holders, redesigned care instructions and experimented with better ways to package the jewelry for boutiques. I have learned that the smallest details—how a bracelet hangs, how quickly an order ships or how clearly I explain the natural age marks in a vintage tile—can make a difference.
I am still learning when to spend money and when to wait. I am learning which products deserve more investment and which ones need to prove themselves first. Most importantly, I am learning to trust my own judgment.
A Business Built from Something Personal
The best part of all this is that the business began with something deeply personal: memories of my mother and her love of mah-jongg.
Every time I turn an old tile into a bracelet, necklace or pair of earrings, I feel as though I am preserving a little piece of the game’s history. These tiles were held, played and enjoyed long before they reached my worktable. Now they get to begin another chapter.
And perhaps that is what I am doing, too.
I am 65 years old, and instead of winding down, I am building something. I am thinking bigger than I did three months ago. I can see the possibility that Mah-Jongg Jewelry by Patty could eventually become my full-time work and allow me to step away from the work I have done for many years.
That dream feels much more real today than it did in June.
And Then I Took a Vacation
After these whirlwind months, Gary and I spent five wonderful nights at Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya in Mexico. I came home tired, happy and already wanting to return.
For once, I stepped away from the jewelry, the orders and the constant feeling that I should be doing one more thing. I swam, ate wonderful food, went parasailing, had an amazing jungle-spa experience and remembered that celebrating the life I am working so hard to build matters, too.
Of course, now I am home—and back to the jewelry!
What Comes Next
The holiday season is approaching, and I expect October through December to be busy. I am continuing to build inventory, reach new boutiques, support my repeat customers and develop new pieces without losing what makes this business special.
Three months ago, I hoped Mah-Jongg Jewelry by Patty was gaining momentum.
Today, I know it is.
I am proud of the business. I am proud of the jewelry. And yes, I am proud of myself.
Thank you to every person who has bought a piece, placed a reorder, shared my work, handed out a postcard or simply encouraged me. You are helping me build the next chapter of my life—one mah-jongg tile at a time.
—Patty