Wilbrand brings unique brand of handmade clay jewelry

Lincoln resident and Wee Wisdom preschool teacher Britni Wilbrand has been rolling up some holiday cheer as she crafts new Christmas polymer clay earrings and key chains through her business, Branch Clay Company.
On Nov. 1, Wilbrand was able to bring her holiday-themed clay jewelry to the Fall Into the Holidays Shopping Spectacular that took place at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds.
“I love connecting with people in general,” Wilbrand said. “The craft fair in Aurora offers an opportunity to see the regular customers I’ve gained over the years and also meet new people.”
Having lived all over Nebraska, Wilbrand’s family has found a hometown in Aurora, with her parents and her two sisters calling it home.
“Aurora has become our home away from home, because that is where we go now for holidays and when we see family and visit everybody,” Wilbrand said. “It feels like we have lived there, even though we haven’t. Just through family, we have connected that way.”
Wilbrand worked as a preschool teacher from 2008 to 2014 and started working part-time at her church, the Southwood Lutheran Church in Lincoln, from 2018 to 2023 to find a creative outlet for herself. When her sister, Cassie, gifted her a pair of clay earrings, she took it upon herself to take up the craft herself.
“I had stayed home and was helping do stuff at our church, so I didn’t have that creative outlet that I was needing or wanting,” she said. “After she gifted those to me, I just started playing around with it and seeing what I could do with this and what I would enjoy, what would others maybe enjoy.”
Wilbrand grew her creative outlet alongside her daughter, Maci, who frequently helps her at craft shows. Along with the support of her family, Wilbrand transformed her creative outlet into a business selling her crafts in 2023.
“When I shared that with my family, it was their encouragement that helped me and pushed me towards what I was thinking about anyway, but their encouragement definitely was something that helped me,” she said.
During the holiday season, Wilbrand has been focusing on bringing her own style to her jewelry by crafting different types of Christmas trees, as well as 25 styles of snowflakes.
“I have a lot of different styles of snowflakes and then I have a metal charm that I put on them, too,” she said. “I’ll add different things to the clay. There is like a metal charm with essentially fake diamonds, jewels on there and that can overlay on top of the clay just to make it more unique.”
When crafting her earrings, Wilbrand begins mixing colors for her clay.
“I personally like to mix and match to make my own colors, because the stock is not always what I’m looking for,” Wilbrand explained. “I like to make various colors and put them together to make different ideas. It’s not like soft clay. It’s a little bit harder.
Wilbrand has used cutters she found through other small businesses to create a variety of different shapes as well.
“I have a clay roller I use, and then through other small business owners through Etsy and a couple of people that I know from online stores,” she said. “I might order different, essentially little cookie cutters, but they’re clay cutters that people 3D print. I use those to make more generic designs. I also like to do some freehand to make things on my own as well.”
If there isn’t a design that fits what her customers are looking for, Wilbrand will find the right cutter to create the design they want.
After baking her clay for an hour, the fun begins with putting together the metal pieces to bring the earrings together.
“Once I have the creation done with the clay, then I hand-drill everything with a little Dremel tool that I have,” she said. “I pick out the individual hardware, the metal pieces, and this is on the custom side of it, where I can pick and choose depending on what I am making, and I put it together using all the different hardware that I have.”
Her favorite part of the creative process is offering her custom orders to her customers.
“I can still serve the customers however they want, if they want,” Wilbrand said. “A lot of people love sports. Let’s say Aurora, for example, I have nieces and nephews who are super involved in the schools there. I will make a lot of husky pawprints.
Or if they want something baseball, I can make that,” she added. “I can make something specific to their team... I can do printing if I want to put their number on for volleyball or something.
With every piece she makes, Wilbrand constantly strives to make each design her own.
“I think sometimes the hardest part for me is I want to be unique and not have every piece look like everybody else’s,” Wilbrand said. “Sometimes that’s a challenge, because I’m not the only person who makes clay jewelry, but I’m trying to continue to find something new and different ways to make essentially the same thing. Like, how many ways can I make volleyball (earrings), especially high school or college-level volleyball earrings?
“That’s also something unique about a handmade product is I don’t mass produce things,” she continued. If you have a pair of earrings, there’s not going to be 15 pairs of those out there. I have only made one or two of that exact pair.”
Throughout this season, Wilbrand has been attending local craft shows in Aurora, along with Seward, Lincoln and Norris, where she has participated in high school craft shows.
“I love to do the high school ones that are kind of fundraisers for the schools,” she said. “I try to do a lot of those, too. They’re just different and fun.”
Wilbrand has been seeing her hard work pay off as she recalls her positive interactions with customers and vendors at area shows.
“When you start to get years into it, you get repeat customers,” Wilbrand said. “You go to the same shows and you get to meet wonderful vendors. The customers who come back just to see you or always stop and say they’re wearing my earrings to the show and are excited to show me. Definitely meeting the people wasn’t something that I expected. That’s just the social piece and that connection.
“Coming from an upbringing where I didn’t necessarily have somewhere where I loved very long, it’s been fun to really have some of those,” she continued. “Especially in Aurora, with a family connection as well, to kind of get to see some of those same people over and over again.”
Wilbrand looks forward to adding more jewelry to her set, including clay necklaces and bracelets.
“I’ve made some for myself so I can test them out, but I haven’t made those for sale yet,” she said. “Same with necklaces. I would love to do that. I need to have 1,000 hours in a day to get all my ideas out there. My brain is always full of ideas, just needing more time to do them.”
As Wilbrand continues to grow her business, she will always be appreciative of the support she and her family have received from the community of Aurora.
“I know they have embraced my family as people who live there, but just the fact that they feel like they have embraced me as well,” Wilbrand said. “That’s not something anybody had to do, but they chose to do it. I’ve always appreciated that.”
Wilbrand’s jewelry can be ordered by contacting her through the Branch Clay Company Facebook page.